The Wilmington daily Republican., 1900-01-30
MINERS CONFERENCE
Opening Of the Debate on the New
Wage Scale. -...s....
MINERS WOULD FORM A TRUST,
H. l.. Chapman, an Operator From
Ohio, Declares the Men Would Con-
troll Every Business Interest of the
Country-FOr Increased Wares.

ONlO, declares the Men Would Con-
troll Every Business Interest of the
Country-For Increased Wages.
Indianapolis, Jan. 30.--The first busi-
ness of the joint conference of miners
and operators was the submission OF
the reports Of the joint scale commit
tee. The propositions made were prac-
tically the same as have been pub
lished heretofore. The miners demand
ed an advance of 20 cents per ton on
run OF the mine basis. The operators
offered an advance of 8 cents yer ton
for mining, with the screens remain
ing the same as at present. Another
further condition in this proposition is
that the state Of Illinois, which is now
on run of the mine basis, must come
in under a double standard arrange
ment and return to using scroons.
President John Mitchell, of the Mine
Workers, moved the adoption of the
miners scale. F. H. Robbins, Penn
sylvania operator, moved to amend the
motion by adopting the scale of the
operators. The matter was then OPEN
ed for discussion.
President Mitchell was the first
speaker, and said that during the past
year the price of coal had been higher
than for several years, while the cost
of living to the miners was also higher
without an advance in wages to meet
1t. Under this arrangement he said
the operators were making a good
profit, which he thought should be d.
vided with the miners.
Mr.. Robbins answered by saying 80
or 80 per cent of the coal mined was
contracted for Immediately after an
agreement with the miners had been
reached, and as consequence the
mine owners proflted nothing by the
advance in the market. He said that
run of mine basis would be suicidal
to the interests Of the Pittsburg dis
trict for the reason that the coal had
to be carefully mined, because it went
to the great lakes and had to be
handled several times in transit, hence
must be gotten out of the mines in the
best possible shape. He added that the
coal had to go into market where
other coal was met that had been
placed on sale at less cost for min
ing, therefore quality was demanded
to get the advanced price which the
Pittsburg miner was forced to have
Mr.. Robbins then cited the advance in
the wages received by other trades
unions and stated that the average ad-
vance was per cent. The miners, he
said, had received an advance of IS i
per cent at Chicago and were now Of !
fered an advance of IA per cent, MAX
ing total of 80 per cent in the last !
three years.
John P. Reese, member of the min !
ers' executive board from Iowa, re-
piled that the facts should not be lost
sight of In figuring this average. The
miners wages had gone lower during I
the panic than those Of any other
craft. He outlined the attitude of the
miners and said they were willing to
discuss the matter dispassionately and
arrive at settlement.
The last speaker was H. L. Chap
man, Of the Ohio operators, who took
the position that the miners were en-
deavoring to form trust He said:
II have been In favor of united labor
for the past 20 years, and no man has
spent more time and labor and pro-
more money than / have
in this Joint movement, but am fore
ed to say you are violating the first
principle when you attempt to adjourn
sine die at the close of this conference,
20 as to head of any other state asking
admission at the next meeting. This
IS a partnership and should require
he consent Of both parties for radi-
al consent of this kino. Another 1
hing, do you know what this defense
und you will attempt to raise means?
t means you will be forced to control
very business interest in this country;
hat you will control all of the great
'ailroad systems on the continent and
control all of the steamship lines en-
ering or leaving its ports. 1t means g
more. 1t means you will control the 7
domestic consumption and say whether I
n not the poor people Of this land
lave fuel to cook their humble meals J
With. This will be nothing more or :
ess than one gigaGlic trust. and you i
will be the stockholders" g
x&u .