The labor world., 1900-09-22

AS the Miners strike is the main
topic Of discussion today, it may not
be amiss to give a few reason that have
led to the present trouble.
Grievances of the Miners.
The story Of the grievances and suf-
ferings of the miners of the Wyoming
valley would fill book. The chief
grievances may be summed up as fol-
lows: The company stores, the month
ly payment of wages, the mine bosses,
the docking and measuring system,
short time and division of labor, and
the cost of powder. ~
First as the company stores. TO
begin with they are unlawful under the
statutes passed by the Pennsylvania
state Legislature. The companies deny
such a thing as company store exists
but it is a mere juggling of words, as
they are called supply stores These
stores supply the men with the neces-
saries Of life and the account is de-
Quoted from the mems wages at the
end of each month. The prices in
company or supply stores range from
10 to 40 per cent more than in outside
stores, and fair average would be
25 per cent. "The men don't have to
deal with the supply. stores if they
think they can buy cheaper elsewhere =
say the operators. But it is fact that
the man Wha persists in dealing else
where suffers excessive dockage, is
given bad breasts to work in is limited
on cars and in dozen other ways is
disciplined.
Object to Monthly Payment of
AS to the payment of wages monthly,
the operators say it is done to keep
the men from quandering their
money. There is a statute in Pennsyl-
<vania requiring that all labOring men
be paid at least once in two weeks.
There seems to- be a law there to cover
every one Of the men S complaints, but
the companies appear to regard stat
utes, as applied to them, in the light
Of jokes. The only explanation [ have
heard for the failure to pay twice a
month is that it saves bookkeeping
and thus obviates a lot Of expense and
stores
Mine Bosses Abuse Their Power.
Now, for the mine bosses. They
have almost dictatorial power. They
abuse the power. They are kings
away down in the bowels of the earth
Some Of these bosses go so far as to
compel their subordinates to suffer in
dignities which would make Sulu
commit suicide.
Then Comes the Docl&ase
AS to the docking and ''measur-
ing the operators say in their state
ment that wages are the same now that
they always have been. That is, a
man gets as much per ton, but a car"
is a ton For years the cars have
been steadily growing larger. There
have been strikes, or threats of strikes
and the operators have granted cons
cessions.
Straightway two Or three inches of
plank are added to the sideboards Of
the car. The Pennsylvania statutes
declare that a miners ton shall be
2,240 pounds. The cars now in use
hold 3,400 pounds, and must be heaped
up four and six inches high SO that
after all legitimate slate and dirt dock
age the company has one ond one-half
tons of clean marketable coal.
For mining this the men get on an
average 80 cents per ear. That is how
the coal is, measured : =.
After car has been filled is. hoist
ed out of the mine to- the top of the
breaker. Here it is dumped The
breaker boss, who is another despot as
tyrannical as the mine boss has a dock
ing clerk at the. top of. the breaker
This man--often one. who. has never
been in: a mine and knows nothing.
about the business glances at the car
Of coal, or fails to glance at it it he
sees fit and marks on the board "half
car .docked" or quarter car docked,"
as he sees fit. There is no appeal for
the miner. The dockage' rightly ap-
piled is proper, but it is hardly reason
able to suppose that any miner would
be fool enough to spend his time half
filling car with dirt. rock or slate
At any event the men are docked Is
Or 20 per cent and sometimes much
more on all the coal they dig. AS to
short time and dission of labor this
next to the powder grievance is the
chief complaint of the men. Of course
the inhuman indignity to wife and
daughter cannot be classed nor com
pared with the ordinary evils. The
men go into the mine at $50 or I O'Clock
in the morning. The manager or sup
erintendent orders that a certain num-
Der Of cars be sent down to be filed
that day. If there are 100 men and 300
cars one would suppose that each one
would get three cars, but not SO. The
mine boss may do as he sees fit and
he does. His favorites get the easy
working "breasts'' or faces They
also may get s or 10 cars to fill for their
days work. The luckess miners, OBJ
iects Of the bosses dislike. are sent to
q hard narrow vein. These men, too,
may get but a single car for the day.
When the car is full they must stop.
Each miner has a helper who is paid by
the day The helpers time goes on
whether the miner has one car or ten,
SO that it may happen that a miner
is actually poorer when he puts work
than when he began
What One Miner Earnct.