Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-30
Iowa Coal Mine Owners Lose
Heavily Because Miners
Take Nancy Holidays
FAMINE MADE NO DIFFERENCE
Many Miners Quit Wednesday, Not Re-
turning to Work Until Monday, in
Spite Of Promises, in Some Cases, to
Return Friday--operators to Demand
Concessions at Joint Conference.

| DeS MoineS, Dec. 30.-The situation
| in the Iowa coal fields during the past
week has strengthened the determine
| ton Of the operators to insist upon
some marked concessions at the joint
| conference in March to determine a
| ing the year commencing April 1, 1908.
The point the operators will insist
upon will be the provision of a penalty
to be inflicted for failure of miners to
work. This point has been under con-
sdieration since the meeting of the OPP
orators in Des Moines last month, but
the past week has made them more de-
termined than ever to insist upon it.
With a coal famine staring the people
of the state in the face, and with prac-
tically every mine in Iowa from Week
to two weeks behind orders, a large ma
jority of the miners of the state, instead
of returning to work Friday after their
Christ nas holiday, remained OPT Of the
mines until yesterday morning. Most
of them, 1t is claimed, quit Wednesday
at noon and We're out three and a half
days. In some instances 1t is claimed
they We're paid Wednesday, with the
understanding they would return to
work Friday, but failed to keep their
promises.
Des Moines operators claim that
where 1900 men should have been
working in the mines Friday and Sat
urday, not to exceed 400 were at work.
fn Yny,ln ,ira
says that he had only seven men at
work Friday and Saturday. He kept
the mine going for the sake of the coal
the seven men We're getting out and to
keep air and water out, but says that
the coal cost him about three times the
price he got for it. Other operators tell
the same stories. They say the refusal
of the men to work during the holiday
week, with the state swept by cold
waves and the visible supply at the
vanishing point, has made the coal sit
uation in the state worse than it has
been in ten years, and they express
doubt II they will be able to get back
into touch with their trade for three
weeks to come. 1t is charged that the
failure of the miners to work will me-
cessitate shipments of coal into the
state from Illinois and has cost the OPP
orators thousands of dollars.
The only penalty now is the privilege
given the operators to discharge men
who fail to continue at work. The ops
orators say that they can not avail
themselves of this because they need
the miners too badly snd that the min
ers, realizing this, lay off when they see
fit. They claim that officers Of the union
admit the business oe their complaint,
but say they are helpless to compel the
men to remain at work
Two plans have been suggested to
cure this evil. One is that the new
agreement shall contain clause penal
izing the local union for every half day
its members lose except where good
and sufficient excuse exists, and anoth-
Ell is that the agreement permit the
companies to withhold portions of the
wages of the miners to provide a fund
against which they may present a claim