The age-herald., 1900-06-28


 ion for unanimous vote.
 That the sessions shall be open to the public, except when otherwise ordered
 That the following shall be the order of business:
 Report of rules and regulations.
 Report of the scale committee of the miners.
 Disposal of the report of the scale com- mittee of the miners.
 Adjournment.
 The report of the committee was accept- ed and the following were designated to cast the vote for each side
 For the miners-Ed Flynn, ]. s. Lloyd, J. G. Smith, G. B. Reynolds, S. l.. Brooks, c. W. Cain, A. s. Scott, Primus Hutchin- son.
 For the operators-G. B. Mccormack, N. Baxter, r. M Jackson, T. H. Aldrich, Pete Thomas, T. G. Bush, W. T. Brown, R. II. Pearson.
 An informal recess of twenty minutes was taken to allow the operators to con fer with each other
 Report Read
 When the convention assembled the re- port of the miners scale committee, as published in the Age-Herald yesterday, was read in full, and then considered sec tion by section The first section was as follows:
 Section That the price of mining be a minimum of 55 cents ner ton when all grades of pig iron net the T. C. l. l. R. R. Co. $9 or less f. o. b. cars at furnaces in Alabama, and for every advance of fifty cents per ton in the net price received for all grades of iron there shall be an advance of 2R cents per ton in the price of mining until the net price received for all grades of iron reaches ten dollars per ton, when the price Of mining shall be sixty cents per ton Thereafter the price of mining shall advance 2h cents for each one dollar ad- fV. ha Y,vi.a faa. Dl1 grades of iron until the mining price reaches 65 cents per ton, which shall be the maximum.
 A motion to adopt the section as read was made and the chair announced that it was open for discussion, but no one ap- parently caring to discrS 1t, the previous question was called.
 Chairman Flynn of the scale committee stated it was just taking up time to vote the section, he would cast his eight votes for it's adoption and the operators would vote against 1t. He suggested that the different sections be read, and a vote taken on each, and then joint scale com mittee be appointed.
 The appointment of such committee without going through the formality of voting on all the sections, as that would take up unnecessary time, was urged by one of the delegates. Another delegate wanted an expression from the operators as to the reasons they had for opposing the scale proposed by the miners.
 MT. Fairley said the operators had made no demands: that they had merely offered to make the same contract for next year that Is now in existence. That being the case,' he said, it places the miners in the attitude of the attacking party and It is their duty to show why they should have the advance. The reason for an ad vance of 10 cents per ton has not been touched upon in a single speech. He said that iron he hapkhpna of trade
 "The question is, should the same price be paid for mining coal when iron is sell ing at sl6 as when it sells at $7 or $S?'' He said that no contract was ever made on a speculative market MT. Hassinger and Colonel Baxter, he said, had recently made the statement that the market was good and that the average price received for iron was over $16 per ton.
 MT. Baxter Replied
 MT. Baxter replied to MT Fairey that in the interview referred to he stated that the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company had orders enough to keep them shipping for some time and that the condi- tion of the European market was such that they hoped to make sales there but that he had quoted prices in Europe at $l.5G below domestic prices
 MT. Fairley said he did not think he had msquoted MT. Baxter. Colonel Bush, he said, had stated that all that was said was not meant, that the statements were made to influence capital to invest in the district.
 The selling price of coal, he said, had not dropped so far as he knew below the prices that obtained when iron was selling at ST per ton. If it has you will have to prove to the miners of Alabama that such is the case. He said he wanted peaceful settlement but the operators would have to recede somewhat from the proposition they had made.
 It was after time to adjourn when MT Fairley sat down. but the time was tended thirty minutes to allow MT. Baxter to reply to him.
 MT. Baxter stated that he very well remembered the interview referred to by MT. Fairley and that every iron market in Alabama and the south was interested in it.
 Tt was to counteract the influence of a statement made by President Gates of the American Steel and Wire Company. Mr. Gates had made statement over his sig nature saying the price of steel was off and that there would be a decline of from s to g per ton in iron My directors called on me to know if the company had orders -sits books to keep the furnaces running several months. My interview was in tended at the time to check tendency to demoralization and to hold up the market l say now that am not ashamed of that article It was in the legitimate discharge of my duty; it was proper interview and it was correct.
 Desiring of placing as much iron on the other side as possible and to maintain prices on this side, we sought to sell there For that reason l directed our agent in Europe to accept $1.50 less than the do- mestic price. l have made no statements in newspapers publicly for the purpose of influencing anybody to invest in the district. When I want anybody to invest here l go to the pe-son and place the con- dition before him.
 Labor Gave No Trouble
 T have often been asked about the labor here and if it gave any trouble. I have al- ways said that our labor gave us no trouble; that we had always Jotten along toget' r in harmonious manner. It has been said that we had union labor, and replied yes, and we believe in union labor
 We make about 75,0O0 tons of iron a month and we always have orders on hand for future delivery. The result: Last year. when we were paying you for min ing a price based on iron at sl1 and $11.50 per ton we were getting T and S75o me y,rin for, fo,, tlx