The Portland daily press., 1900-10-04
COAL FOR MARKET.
A Description of the Process as Cen
orally Practtced.

The Archibald (Pa.) Citizen, which IA
vors the side of the miners, prints the
following:
The average person knows so little
about the method of preparing coal for
market and about the grievances that re-
suit therefrom that the following account
of the process, written without malice,
may nave some interest. Tie conditions
as explained here exist at all the collieries
in this part of the valley. Whatever differ
ences there may be are differences of de-
gree rather than Of principle. In view of
this fact, it is not necessary to refer to
any. particular col liery. Whatever is
written may be applied, without a reser-
walton, to any colliery in the northern
anthracite region.
There is no uniformity in the method
Of mining coal. Thus, at most of the
mines the men are paid by the ton. At
9th ers they are paid by the car. There
is nothing like uniform ton or a stand
ard car. The former ranges from 2800
pou nds to 5000 pounds; the latter from
IL to tons. In every place the cars
differ in size. They are differences in
the pay given for rock work; for the
opening OF chamb bers, etc. AT some mines
the men get well paid for certain kinds
of work, while at others they get no pay
at all.
When the coal leaves the mine and be-
fore it is ground in the breaker, each
carload is weighed, and credit is given to
the miner for tonnage, depending on the
weight OF the ton at the particular break
er. Thus, II the car contains 5000 pounds
and the operator is in the habit of c0ns1d-
ering 28O0 pounds his standard ton, the
~ iv1o7s rofc c4of7it fO7s two toms Of IF
the standard at the breaker is above 2800
pounds the miner gets credit for so much
less than two tons.
i AS the coal is dumped the "docking
boss'' inspects 1t and he is at liberty to
dock the miner a ccording to his own
Whim. Generally the dOckage varies
from 800 to 1909 pounds per car, and it
very frequently happens that the miner is
dOcked for dirty coal whether he de-
serves it or not. The operators figure on
a certain amount OF dOckage daily, and
at a breaker of ordinary capacity II often
runs as high as 4) tons. The amount of
dockage each day is deducted from the
output of the miner for that day, and
the amount thus left forms the basis for
the so-called balancing Of the scaIes'' to
be referred further on.
The coal is then ground into various
marketable Sizes At some brea kers,
when there is demand for sizes smaller
than chestnut, the sizes larger than chest
nut are diverted into special chutes and
these sizes are again conveyed to the top
OF the br5aker. Then they are run
through again and ground into smaller
Sizes For all the sizes smaller than
chestnut, and there are five, the men do
not get one cent OF pay. About one-tlfth
of the coal run through the breaker is
ground into those sizes.
The coal is then loaded into the big
L. - ,, -
Before it leaves the breaker it is weighed
again. This time the standard ton is
2240 pounds and the operators are paid ac-
cOrdlng to that standard. The weight
of all the sizes smaller than chestnut is
deducted from the net tonnage as shown
by the small scales at the top of the
breaker. 1t most generally happens that
even after deducting the smaller sizes the
tonnage is greater on the large scale than
1t is on the small scale. This is due to
the fact hat the coal on the large scale is
weighed according to the 2240-pounds ton,
while on the small scale it varies, as we
have ta1d, from 2000 to 5000 pounds. DO
the men get credit for the additional ton
nageP Oh, mol There is nothing said
aboutsit. A few years ago the men got
credit for an OVerplus, but they have not
lately 1t is estimated that in this So
called balancing of the scales' the men
lose about 4 per cent. of the coal they
mine.
At some of the mines where coal is
paid for by the car, there must be a Ger
tain amount of topping on 1t. If the
car should be an inch below the standard
hight the miner is docked quarter of a
car. 1t may readily be seen that this is
an Item of considerable c consequences.
Another innovation at mines where coal
is so loaded is the ''bony-boss. 1t is the
duty OF this man to examine the coal be-
fore it is taken out of the mine. II the
car contains dirty coal, or the topping
is not of the required height, he has the
privilege of docking the car or else send
Ing it back to the miner from whom it
comes, to be filed again,
These are facts which cannot be denied.
If they can be-, the columns of the Citi-
zen are open for that purpose. 1t is alb
surd for any one to say that the miners
have no real grievances. They are not
such fools as to strike for shadows. There
must be something real about such con-
ditions as would Induce every one of the
$4,000 workers in this valley to quit work
as one man.