The Savannah morning news., 1902-11-13
The REAL CONTEST
IN THE NINE STRIKE ARBITRA-
TION CONFERENCE.
IS RECOGNITION OF UNION,
AND THIS THE OWNERS WILL RE
SYST TO THE LAST.

Five Replies to President MitcheIrs
statement Filed With Strike Com
mission Delaware and Lacka-
wanna Company UnequivocaIIy As
serts That 1t VIII Under No Cir
cumstamces Enter Into Agreement
with the Association Known as
the United Mine Workers of Amer
lea. Nor Will 1t Permit Said Assoc
citation to Dictate Terms.
Washington, Nov. 12.-That the an
thracite coal mine owners will resist
Ia the utmost every effort to make the
recognition Of the United Mine Work
ers of America an issue in the arbitra-
ton. which is now in progress, is made
evident by the replies to the statement
of President John Mitchell of the min
ers' organization, which have been filed
with the strike commission. There are
five of these answers in addition to that
of President Baer, which was given out
Yesterday, and all dwell with especial
emphasis and marked unanimity on
this point They also agree in resist
ing the demands of the miners for an
increase of pay for piece work, a re-
duction of hours for time work, and
for the weighing rather than the meas
urement of coal.
Recorder Wright left for the anthra-
cite regions to-day, taking these re-
plies with him. In addition to the
statement made for the Reading Com
pany by President Baer, the list COM
prises the replies of the Delaware and
Hudson Company, the Delaware and
Lackawanna, the Lehigh Valley, the
Pennsylvania and the Scranton Coal
Company.
The reply of the Delaware and Lack
awanna Company, signed by w. H.
Truesdale, says:
This company unequivocally as
serts that it will under no condition
recognize or enter into any agreement
with the association known as the
United Mine Workers of America or
any branch thereof. Nor will it per-
NIT said association or it's officers to
dictate the terms and conditions under
which it shall conduct it's business"
Mr.. Truesdale declares that it is in>
possible to adopt uniform rate to be
paid to the miners for a unit of coal
mined at all mines. On the point of
general prosperity, he says that prior
to the introduction of "agitators and
mischief makers the anthracite work.
ers were, on an average, as prosperous
comfortable and contented as any body
of workers in similar employment in
this country The wages, it is de-
clared, are such that frugal employees
have saved substantial amount every
year.
Mr. Truesdale resists the demand
for a reduction of 20 per cent in hours
of labor, saying that no branch of
business employing thousands of men
can hope to compete successfully in
the markets of the world if its hours
of labor are restricted.
President Olyphant of the Delaware
and Hudson company in his reply de-
clares that the wages paid by his COM
pany are just and adequate. He also
says that chose of it's employees who
perform contract or piece work. as a
matter of their own volition, work only
about six hours a day and take num-
erous holidays without the consent or
approval of this respondent, and their
earnings, by hours of actual work, are,
therefore, much higher than those in
any similar employment.
President Olyphant also takes excep-
ton to the proposition to arbitrate the
question of the recognition of the Min
tIS OHlOU. Ills pOSillOn pidCtu OIi
the ground that the organization seeks
to control the entire fuel supply of the
country; that as the union is unincor-
porated it is incapable of making a
binding contract.
President T. p. Fowler speaks for
the Scranton Coal Company and the
Elk Hill Coal and Iron Company. He
asserts that if the average wage earned
by the anthracite piece workers is less
than that paid to workers in other en-
pIoyment, it is because they fix their
own hours of labor and the amount of
their earnings"
On the question of miners unions, Mr..
Fowler says:
I'VE deny that agreements between
employers and employees, through
workingmen's organizations, are bene-
fetal and successful in the bituninous
coal fields or elsewhere. and assert
that any such agreement as a method
of regulating production would be, and
is injurious to the best interests of the
public"
The statements made for the Lehigh
Valley and the Pennsylvania companies
cover the same ground as the other
statements.