Evening star., 1900-09-18
MINERS GRIEVANCES MINIMIZED.
John IL. Garrett Explains Real Animus
of the Strike


John B. Garrett, vice president of the Le-
| high Valley Coal Company, made the fol-
| lowing statement yesterday in review of the
| various grievances alleged by the United
Mine Workers to exist in the anthracite coal
| fields
This company conducts no stores, nor
does it exert any influence upon employees
to prefer one merchant above another; this
l believe to be also the case with the large
| mining companies generally.
This company employs no doctors and
makes charges against It's employees for
medical service to them or their families.
Inquiry has satisfied me that this is also the
| case with the companies generally, and that
| the company doctor is charged for only by
individual operators, and by very few or
these.
'Semi-monthly pay is observed by us in
a few cases being all in which the men
have demanded it, 1t would be observed
anywhere were the demand made as called
for by law. l may frankly state, however,
that in my judgment more frequent pay
ment is undesirable for both the employer
and employe, pay days, whenever and as
often as they occur, are followed by de-
creased efficiency on the part of the men,
resulting in reduced time lessened output
| and consequently increased cost.
The of the word ton as applied to
1880 pounds is a msnomer: it is simply q
unit of measure which might be called q
and is the quantity of the actual coal plus
bone. slate and other foreign material, for
the removal of which certain payment is
made under the agreed scale of wages. 1t
was probably originally adopted as repre-
senting approximately the amount of crude
material from which ton OF prepared coal
could be expected, but the amount would
necessarily vary at several mines and from
the same mine at the hands of different
workmen.
THE price charged for powder is ap-
parent but not real grievance. In some
regions s.. Is per keg is charged, in others
81 80 per keg. This of itself should be suffi-
cient evidence that the compensation of the
miner is Get independently of the price Of
powder, a net return for a days labor
must be essentially the same in neighboring
fields where one or the other price is
charged for the powder. To illustrate: II
man is employed for a special piece Of
work in which powder must be used the SUI
perintendent agrees with him as to the
amount which he should earn with indus
try and with care of the materials intrusted
to him. the value of the powder required in
a days work is added to the intended daily
wage, and the sum of the two Is agreed
upon the pay Of that man for the work
in question; thus, If a man were valued at
s.. so per day. and with due care he would
use keg of powder valued at s.. IS in five
days, the days consumption of powder. 80
cents would be added to 10. and he would
be engaged basis of $3.05 per day, and
charged with powder used at the price
agreed upon. The same method is adopted
in fixing the price of work paid for by the
car.
Another evidence that the price Of pow
der does not create an injury to the miner
is shown by the fact that when the subject
was agitated some time ago one of the
larger companies offered to reduce the
charge for powder to its then current value
provided the men would consent to such re-
vision of their wages as would continue the
same compensation for their labor as they
had previously received under the agree
ment which was then operative. This was
promptly rejected, showing that their pur-
pose was to effect an increase of wages,
and that If this could not be obtained they
preferred to maintain the apparent griev-
ance, which could be and has been from
that time to this used ground of COM
plant of unfair treatment.
1T Is well that the public should under
stand that there would be no occasion for
the price of powder to enter into the pay OF
the miners were 1t not that safety of per-
son and property absolutely requires that
the operator should keep a firm hand upon
both the quality and quantity of powder
taken into the mines.
eliminating the foregoing alleged griev-
ances from the list formulated by the
United Nine Workers nothing whatever re-
mains but a general demand for increased
pay and recognition of the order as the
agency through which differences should be
adjusted. That the methods of the order
are arbitrary and unjust is evidenced by
the inclusion in the list Of grievances OF
matters which are purely local and apply
to very few indeed of the anthracite en-
ployes. while they put before the pub
lie as general grievances for which the op-
orators body are responsible and which
they have the power to correct; also by
their determination to provoke tens of
thousands of men to strike who neither
have nor profess to have any grievance
whatever against their employers. Under
such circumstances it is not to be wondered
at that employers should resist the inter-
ference and condemn such an agency as
one utterly unworthy Of use In the adjust
ment of differences between themselves and
their employees