The age-herald., 1900-06-29
JOINT COMMITTEE
 TO PREPARE SCALE
Miners and Operators Could Not Agree on Any ot
 the Propositions Presented.

 s'If all coal went into the manufacture | of iron then I would be glad to go into a contract to pay an advance or zH2 cents on each advance of 9 cents on iron, but great quantities of Alabama coal are not converted into coke nor used in the manu- | facture of iron. We are trying to do every thing we can for our men; we try to an | ticipate their needs; we have recently built | hospital at a cost of 5000 which Is absolutely free to our employees. Had Enough Discussion w R. Fairley: 'T think the question of | the first proposition has been sufficiently l discussed and I think we had as well take l a vote.'
 Mr. Bynum of Pratt City: "One year | ago times were prosperous and the com- panies did not hestitate to make a con | tract with on a sliding scale and hxed | the minimum of $S per ton with sl1 as the highest price from which we could receive any benefits. According to the reports of l the examining boards the Tennessee Coal, | Iron and Railroad Company has been sell l ing iron for the last several months at | over $l6 per ton. That's the reason we ask for a share of the profits. You made | over 8 a ton above the maximum specineo 1 in our contract and we now ask that the maximum be raised. No one else apparently caring to discuss | the question, the president caused the hrst section of the proposed contract to be read | and then called on the miners to vote hrst | The chairman of the miners cast elghe | votes for it's adoption, and the chairman | of the operators committee voted eight | noes. The chair declared it lost. First section Defeated It read as follows: That the price of mining be a minimum | of 55 cents pet ton when all grades of pig | iron net the T. C., I. & R. R. Co. $9.00 or | less f. O. b. cars at furnaces in Alabama, 1 and for every advance of fifty cents per l ton in the net price received for all grades | of iron there shall be an advance of 21s | cents per ton in the price of mining until | the net price received for all grades of l iron reached ten dollars per ton when the | price of mining shall be sixty cents per l ton Thereafter the price of mining shall | advance 2h cents for each one dollar ad- vance in the net price received for all | grades of iron until the mining price | reaches 65 cents per ton, which shall be the 1 maximum"
 | The second section was read. It was as | follows:
 "The difference between Pratt Mines and l Blue Creek shall be five cents per ton.' General Manager Mccormack of the Ten | nessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, l said that the present rate was unfair, not | to Blue Creek, but to Pratt Mines. Taking
 the output per man at each place, and with | Pratt Mines receiving 55 cents, Blue Creek | should get 41k cents.
 
 | existing conditions was not due to the
 | character of the coal or the seam, but the
 men could not get the work. | The vote resulted eight for to eight
 | against its adoption, and it was declared | lost
 | Section three was read as follows: | "Sayreton, Mary Lee, Graves and Coal | City to be based on Pratt Mines scale" | A motion was made to adopt the section | as read.
 I 5o1a tod aloti fo | that while it had thicker seam than | Pratt, lot of dirt had to be contended | with. He said it was about as hard pick l ing as there was in the State. | Coal from Kentucky MT Matthews of the Graves mines said l he was not a maker of iron or coke, and l that his product had to be thrown on the | market in competition with other coals l mined at a lower scale. Continuing, he | said: Here in Birmingham we have to | come in competition with Kentucky coal | which is mined at 46 cents per ton. No less 1 than 2,SOO cars of Kentucky coal have been | shipped into Birmingham since February i, 1. In Tennessee the miners get 45 cents | per ton for digging a better grade of coal, l and this also comes in competition with our l product"
 | A colored delegate from Graves mines ] said the day men there received the least l wages of any day men in the district. He l | that the company derived big profits out of | this.
 MT Matthews replied that he paid the | highest wages paid by any company on l that vein, and that his books would show | that their old miners who had been with | them for years had been docked but very | little; that it would not average $2 per | month.
 | A delegate from Sayreton said the Re- l public Iron and Steel Company had been l very lenent with the miners; that the yard l men had been advanced 15 cents and that | the were satisfied Too Much Slate | MT. Adams, manager of the Republic Iron and Steel Company, stated that the slate l at some of the companys mines was a l serious question, and had seriously threat | ened the shutting down one of the com | panys furnaces. He said this coal could 1 not be sold on the market. l The vote the section was tie, the | miners voting for it's adoption and the 1 operators against it.
 | The fourth section was read. It is as l folows
 'When the size of coal is reduced to be- | low three and one-half feet there shall be l an advance of five cents in the price of 1 mining, and if the coal is reduced to three l feet under there shall be an advance of 1 ten cents per ton in the price of mining | This does not apply to the big seam at | Blocton."
 | The vote was a tie and the motion to adopt was lost.
 | The fifth section was read and defeated. | It was follows:
 "All low coal shall be measured the first l and fifteenth of each month and be paid | according to height when measured' | The motion to adopt defeated. | Sixth section:
 l "Warrior shall be based upon Pratt scale with the difference of 121s cents All dead work and day labor to go up and down | with the mining price," | motion to adopt was defeated. 1 MT. Mccormack stated that his negative | vote was based on the balance of the scale | and not on the differential proposed. | Seventh section: "All room turning shall 1 be paid fifty cents advance over present | prices. Cross cuts or break through shall | be paid air course prices Said cross cuts 1 to be 50 feet a part" motion to adopt the section as read