Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1902-10-23
Our Washington Letter.
WASHINGTON. Oct. 20, 1902

WASHINGTON. Oct. 20, 1902.
The settlement of the coal strike,
which means so much to such a large
number of Americans, has been ac-
complished and the people must
thank Mr. Roosevelt for the result.
While the indications are that, soon
or or later, the operators would have
had to back down from their unwar-
ranted position, their having done
SD now is due 10 the earnest and in
telligeDt efforts of the President.
As President Mitchell remarks in
his letter accepting the arbitration
commission appointed by the Presi-
dent, If the operators had been will
ing to submit the matter to arbitra-
ton at the outset. and as they have
done now there need have been no
strike, and it is to be hoped that the
lesson of the anthracite strike OF
1902 will burn deep and will result
in the calling in Of fair and disinter-
ested arbitrators in all future labor
difficulties.
*.#.+
I'm the November bulletin of the
Bureau of Labor appear speeches
made to the President by the opera
tors ut their first White House con-
ference, along Nth a number of sta
tistics concerning the industry.
Among other things, the statement
is made over the signature of Presi-
dent Baer that, to the 26, 27O miners
employed by the Reading mines,
wages were paid which average
1896. 20 per year. From this amount
must be deducted rent and cost of
powder and oil, the assessment for
the company doctor, ETC., leaving a
net balance for the miner and his
family Of $14S, a little over -. rs per
week. On the surface, the miners
appear to receive good wages by the
day, but the number OF days en-
plOyed reduces the weekly income
to the figure given. If there were
plenty of miners who were willing
10 return TO work ut those wages,
provided they were given adequate
military protection, it is interesting
To know what becomes of that album
dant prosperity which is the re-
publican slogan and on which Mr..
Hanna urges the people to stand
pat.
-
While the utmost satisfaction is
expressed with the personnel of the
arbitration committee the President
has appointed, il is generally con-
coded that the work before the COM
mission is Of a herculean character.
Among the contentious of the miners
are that they shall have q represen-
tative at the weighing dumps who
shall be appointed by their union
and shall be paid by the operators.
They also demand 20 per cent in
crease Of wages and an eight hour day
for the laborers, the miners proper
working by the piece. There may be
noinjustice in the present system of
docking, but i'm view of the figures
it is not surprising that the miners
belive there is. For instance, from
one colliery of the Delaware and
Hudson. there were mined 234, 32S
tons Of coal and the miners were
paid for but 1SS, 329. In another
c0lliery Of the same company the
coal mined amounted to 497 ,23S and
and the miners were paid for 413,-
46l tons. In an Ontario and Hudson
colliery the coal mined amounted to
80, 926 and the miners were paid
for 2S9, $50 tons. These figures are
taken from the report of the state
mine inspector.
-.
Secretary Shaw has finally been
compelled to resort TO the purchase
of bonds. He has long resisted the
pressure in this direction for the
reason that he did not wish to follow
in the footsteps of Secretary Gage,
but once he began tocater to the de-
mands of the Wall Street interests
they forced him toit. estimated