Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-08-23
INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION
REVIEWS It's EVIDENCE.
SOME INTERESTING CONCLUSIONS
REACHED REGARDING THE
MINING INDUSTRY.
WEST VIRGINIA CONDITIONS.
STATEMENTS OF MINERS AND
OPERATORS AND WHAT
THEY SHOW.

anthracite region, there seems to be no
considerable approach as yet toward
/ such unification among the bituminous
mines. An association exists in West
4 Virginia, says the report, which di-
/ vides orders and cars in proportion to
! the producing capacity of the mines
and sells in the western markets
through single agent Concerning
/ railway discrimination, the report
says:
| There Is no evidence of freight dis
! elimination between individuals, unless
f the assertion of one witness that coal
! from West Virginia has been sold at
+ lake ports at less than the published
rate of freight may be so regarded The
/ existence of such a discrimination is
repeatedly denied. There is, however,
some testimony to the effect that rail-
roads which have coal mining interests
in the bituminous fields adopt the same
policy as the anthracite roads of
charging high freight rates, and so di-
minishing the value of coal at the mine,
while raising the price to the con-
| sumner.
West Virginia Coal.
complaints are made of rates which
are regarded as unduly favoring partic
ular regions( The rates on West Nir-
ginia coal are special source of COM
plant 1t is asserted that rates from
West Virginia to Lake Erie are lower
than from Ohio mines, not more than
half as distant and that coal is car
ried from West Virginia to st. Paul,
perhaps a thousand miles, as cheaply
as from Illinois. say 400 miles. These
conditions are thought by one witness
to be due in part to ownership or
mines by railroads or by their officers.
1t is also suggested, however that 1t
may be due more to the anxiety of GER
tain roads to get business, especially
roads that are financially weak.
/ Considerable space is devoted to the
company store system, which is said
to have greatly declined in most parts
of the country. All testimony agrees
however, that it still fiourishes I'M
diminished in West Virginia, where the
organization of the miners has little
foothold West Virginia operator
who says that he knows of no opera
tors who do not have. company stores
asserts at the same time that prices
are not excessive and that miners are
free to deal elsewhere II they please
He admits, however. that the miners
organizations protest against the
prices." The miners complain that the
company houses are usually cheaply
made. of boards straight up and down,
not weather-boarded. and often not
mastered. The water supply and other
conveniences are said to be of the
poorest. The conditions are alleged to
be the worst in West Virginia and best
in the anthracite region. One miner
!, of houses
in Ohio which were built in 1872 for s95
each. and rent for S. or Sc month.
II is asserted that in West Virginia the
rent is usually about 81 room.
PInint of Miners.
"The miners complain that influence
is brought to bear upon them 10 make
them occupv the company houses, and
that the occupation of the houses is
made a means of coercion in tires Of
strike. A West Virginia opa 'ator adj
mits that tenants are ordered out ~hen
they strike, but declare they are not
compelled to live in the houses, and
are not Disseminated against if they
do not. that 80 per cent of his employees
own their own houses. and that III
MANY cases he has given aid in acquir-
ing them.
"A
and employe and the regulation of
wages by mutual agreement, there is
this paragraph:
1T seems to be agreed that the oper-
ators as we'll as the miners benefit by
the agreement system. The numhe: Of
disputes and strikes is greatly dimil-
ished. and the several districts and the
several operators within each district
fai l.
ton with each other. The uniformity
of conditions which the agreements n
troduce is a matter of congratula ton
to those who are brought under them.
1t is complained, however, that the I'M
organized condition of West Virginia,
and the consequent lower wages and
longer hours that prevail there, put lie
other districts at disadvantage. 1t
is the desire of the operators OUTSIDE
of West Virginia as we'll as the organl-
cation of the miners, that the miners
OF that State be brought into the union,
in order that the conditions there may
be brought to level with those of
other States. 1t is asserted on behalf
of the West Virginia operators that
they do have a conference and an
agreement with local organization of
miners; but it is alleged on the other
side that this local organization is man
aged and supported by the operators
themselves, and is not genuine labor
union"
Earnings of Miners.
The daily earnings of miners in West
Virginia are stated by an operator to
be from s1.25 to 81, and by miner at
| 81 25 as an average and SIZE as max
| imum. The States semi-monthly pay
nent law is not enforced, nor is the
law requiring coal to be weighed before
screening, the State supreme court
being equally divided as to its con-
stitutionality.
THE representatives of the miners"
says the report, complain not only Of
what they think the unfairness of the
screening system in general. but of
| variations in screens, due in some cases
to their construction and in some eases
| to their need Of repairs. The usual
screen is u feet 6, with fiat bars, IA
inches apart 1t is complained that
some operators have used screens with
as much as so square feet of surface
| instead OF u. and with acknowledged
| bars Ia inches apart. Indeed, a West