Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-02-28

the operators proposition, said, in eff
feet: Il have had many dealings with
the miners organization recently, and
have found that they always treat
all questions judicially. l have never
yet had occasion to censure them for
refusing to act fairly on any question.
Now, we have some on during the past
year under the agreement which we
propose be used the coming year. OF
course, this agreement was made hur-
riedly and some points We're not made
as clear as they could have been and
/ think the whole thing should be
somewhat overhauled and made clear
err. We have submitted to you the
proposition to keep up substantially
the scale as it was last year.
we admit that conditions of bust
Hess have been good in the past year,
but we cannot see any outlook for bet
ter business in the future. think all
the miners and operators will agree
with me that present indications are
that the business will be no better
and may be not so good as last year,
and therefore we feel it impossible to
raise the scale of wages.
when we decided to submit the
same scale some of the operators ia
vored taking a position where we
could compromise, but we finally de-
cided to take a stand where we in
tended to remain and to stay there.
About Holidays.
1--WE came here not to increase the
price of production but to reduce IT..
We do not propose to do this by re-
ducing wages but by getting the min
ers to take more interest in the affairs
of the operators. There are too many
holidays and too many days following
holidays. This is our greatest griey-
ance I believe that when we enter
into an agreement the miners should
take enough interest in the work and
in the welfare of his employers to stay
at his work when he should.
"There are three or four days in
connection with every holiday when
it is Improbable to carry on our
mines. In my own interest, have
had times when l could not afford to
run the mines because the men were
laying off on account of holidays.
Last year the trouble was about
the uniform screen. We adopted a
uniform screen and now the question
is with the weighing"
Reese saw 1t Coming"
Mr.. Reese again took the floor in
behalf of the miners, and said in
part: when the uniform screen
was adopted last year it did not re-
move the question of the mine run.
thought I foresaw when you voted to
spend the SIS or $50 for the screen
bars, that you would use this matter
as an argument this year against the
mine run question. but to our minds
this does not kill that matter.
In regard to the matter of men
working less than full time, would
say that some of them do not work
the full time according to the con
tract, the officers and the association
have done everything in their power
to have them do so. We have told
them that they could be discharged il
| they laid out drunk more than two
days after pay day, one day after the
Fourth of July or three days after
Christmas. If there be anything rea
| sonable more than this that we car
possibly do we are willing to do SO
| We have always said that if a mar
| violates the contract he can be dis
charged.
Now, as to the mine run question
of all the arguments | have heart
from the operators, and l have heard
good many, | have not heard one
which would convince the miner
| The operators say that it would in
crease the percentage of screenings
| This is all based on the dishonesty o.
/ the miner on the suppositfon that he
will buy powder like a boy-just tt
shoot away. But the miners are EN-
ployed by the operators. The pres
ent system is an incentive for mar
to produce small coal. The marke
| demands coal which we cannot gel
over the uniform screen. 1t appears
to me that it will be the best wher
we can furnish coal as the buyer
wants it. You can now sell only two
grades of lump coal.
zone of your arguments is that your
competitors are all on the mine rur
system in Illinois, Missouri and some
other states.
The miners of Iowa are just as hon
est as in other parts of the country
and they are also possessed of as much
ohlll uo oIiCl ihihSl
1.-The present system encourages the
hiring of inexperienced miners ant
the inexperienced miners are largel!
responsible for the explosions which
have recently occurred"
Mayor Phillips Talks.
Mayor TJ.Phillips,of this city, wht
was miner thirty years ago or less
replied to Mr.. Reese and gave sor
of history of mining commencing will
1 the '60's, when, he said, there were
three classes of miners, the "bulle
digger, the expert MINER" and the
| pumpkin roller" He said that the
miners of the present time are re
sponsible for the conditions of mining
and that the explosions which have
recently occurred in this part of the