The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-09-26
STATEMENT FROM
SUPT. {. E. LOOMS

In response to a request for a state.
ment of the operators side Of the strike
question, the following has been given
out by j.. l.. Loomis. superintendent
of the Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western company's mining depart
ment
No fair consideration Of the present trouble
in the coal fields can be given without first con.
sidcrng the relationship between the anthracite
and bituminous mining sections Of America. The
conditions under which these two classes Of coal
are mined are in no way identical. and the cap.
tai investment required to produce ton of an.
thracite is many times greater than is necessary
to produce a ton Of bituminous coal
For years the operators Of the anthracite and
biutuminous coal fields have been fighting com.
mercially for the extension OF the Use Of their
product. II Is evident, therefore, that two bus.
nesSes which are so directly antlgonstic, com.
mercialy, cannot be operated under an aitlia.
tion Of their employees, for it must be apparent
that whatever operates to decrease stop the
production of bitumnous coal must be adyan.
tageous to the producer Of anthracite coal, or
vice versa.
The present truoble in the anthracite coal re.
gion is the direct result Of organization perfect.
ed ana carried out by officials OF the United Mine
Workers Of America, whose interest mp TO this
time, has always been with the production of b.
luminous coal
The financial report of the United Mine Workers
OF America for the month Of July gives a list
Of forty.siX organizers and employees who arc
pad on an average Of Sllg.GG per month, account
OF salary and expenses. These men, from Prcsi
dent John Mitchell down through the list, with
but two or three exceptions, are men whose
practical knowledge OF coal mining las been
confined TO the bitumnOus district.
nj, ,s,,1 Ill.
stand out only two real demands:
Iirst-The recognition Of the United Mine
Workers Of America as an organization.
Second-An increase in the yearly earnings Of
employees in and about the anthracite mines.
In regard to recogniton The United Mine
Workers. in addition TO he being otficered and
affiliated with the anthracite operators conpeti.
tors, have shown themselves thoroughly ire
sponsible, and have taken a position that all
miners shall repudiate their obligations TO en-.
ployers who are dealing honestly and fairly with
them, simply for the purpose Of crppling whole
industry and running the good as well as the
bad engaged in ii, and, in the Markle case some
days since, the labor leaders insisted that the
miners must Nepudiate contract they had with
their employers and 50 on strike even il their
demands wer, complied with. Under these cir.
cumstances there ought to he no question in the
minds of the public why the anthracite operators
cannct, under any circumstances, recognize a
union of this character.
An increase in yearly earnings can be brought
about in two ways:
First-An increase in the rates to be paid which
operators claim the conditions will not warrant
careful compilation of statistics indicates
that the miners and laborers in the anthracite
regions are being paid, generally speaking, fair
wage for fair days work. In the Bellevue mine
Zone OF the first to go out on strike), the August
pay'rolls show an average monthly earning Tor
the miners of SG7.3j, after all deductions, ac.
count powder oil, etc, an average Of S3.O
per days worked, while the laboreTs averaged
Sl.9S per day, and a carefully compiled state.
ment of all the Delaware, Lackawanna and West.
cIn mines shows that the average daily net wage
OF the miners for the year 1899 was 50 &c for ten
hours work, and the miners labOrer5, 81 81
While this wage is based on a working day of
ten hours, it is well known fact that the
miners and inside laborers do not actually work
that number of hours; eight hours is a very lib
eral estimate OF the time actually worked
In short, il would seem evident from the above
that the wages paid miners and laborers in the
anthracite fields compare very fayorably with
those paid any worker in the same general class
OF labor.
Regarding the cry of inhumaniy in the en-.
ploNment Of boys in the anthracite coal districts
these are the facts:
No boy is employed except upon the written
statement Of his parents that hc is above l2
wears OF age, at which the laws of the state Of
Pcnnsylvania permit him to become a worker ont
side OF the mines To obtain for him a position
inside the mines mule driver, the first step
on the road to promotion, his parents must pre-.
sent certificate to the effect that he is over the
age Of II years. These boys all earn % per cent
more for the days they work than boys Of the
same age in the general field of employment
throughout the country.
An increase in the mine workers income must
come from an increase in the number OF days
worked. Nothing which the United Mine Work
crs have yet proposed will have a tendency to
increase the number Of days worked. ON the
other hand. the conditions which they have
brought about are tending daily 10 decrease the
working days for the anthracite miners
Ih" operators, ON the other hand, have been
most persistent in their efforts TO enlarge their
market and the production Of anthracite coal
has steadily increased during the past year;
thousands of great industrial concerns have been
induced to burn anthracite coal, but many Of
these industrial plants are now, on account of
the strike brought by the United Mine Work
cTs, being obliged to return to the use OF bilu-
minOu9 coal The miners in the btumnous re.
gion, as result, are fcaping the benefits of the
anthracite miners misfortuncs
u will take years for the anthracite coal mnerS
to recover from the damage to their interests
which have already been afflicted by his tuning
over TO the representatives OF the bituminoIs re.
Gion Chis greatest competitoD this temporary
management Of his affairs.