The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1902-12-12

One C0oA OomDany Treats
Iss Enpisyss
Scranton, Pa, Dec. 9.-Almost IL
entire time Of the days sessions a
the coal strike commission was taken
up by the mine workers in pref entiao
their side of the controversy with O.
b. Markle Il Co., In the Haxleton ~
gion. The miners placed witnesses
on the stand who gave testimony n
show that the company refused b
employee them because they belonged
to the union; had evicted them from
their houses for the same cause; thaa
the docking system was intolerable,
that the question Of the men getting
the ten per cent. in wages granted
as result of the 1900 strike is much
in doubt. because the men do MOI
know how the company is figuring Il
out; that the price in powder, which
enters into the computation Of the
the size Of the mine cars has in
creased, but the wages have net. Two
Hungarian women, one Of them tbs
mother Of the boy who testified On
Saturday, were placed on the stand.
and told how the Markle company de-
Quoted house rent from the la1
wages Of their husbands, who were
killed in the mines, and Low The com
pany attempted to get Their to sign
payer which would abs live the Mar
kles from damages for the 1eath Of
the men. The women also confirmed
tae story told by the breaker boy
that the children had TO work with
dead fathers was paid OF
The Markle company was not rep
resented by its own lawyers before
the commission, although ii had
nmple notice that testimony affecting
II. collieries would be preserved. The
commissioners expect the company to
bring in evidence in reLutIal 10 the
stories told by witnesses on aturday
and Monday.
TIE commissioners we're very muck
ru.rrised to-day to learn that the ten
percent increase grlnted in lDco was
not n straight-out raise in wages
hlt instead, 21a per cent increase
and reduction in power Of ~ rss
cent i. making the net increase 10
earnings ten per cent, which the mi
ners claim is not being paid by the
Markle company. through some way
of figuring which they do not under
stand. The question came in for con
siderable discussion. and no one iE
the court room could give the com
mission a satisfactory explanation.
There was furry at the after
noon mission when Lawyer Ira III
Burns, Of Scranton, for the indie
pendent companies, referred TO the
president of the United States az
Teddy Roosevelt" The remark
brought out an emphatic objecticH
from Brighten. Wilson. and the gen
eral was sustained by Chairman Gray.
The commissioners made another
request on the companies to present
figures as quickly as possible, and a.
a result the Erie company, late in
the day, submitted statistics regard
ing wages. hours and other data re
lating to the subject. The data made
quite large bundle.
The powder question came before
the commission at the afternoon ses-
sion. and caused considerable discus
sion, and when IL was over the com
knew little more about the
intricacies of the question than they
did before. 1t was brought about by
Commissioner Clark asking for the
recall of Paul Dunleavy, Ma-kle mi
ner. who had testified at the morn
ing session. Mr.. Clark read to the
witness the statements of wages sub
mitted by him in the forenoon, which
showed that some months he owed
the company money for powder. The
witness could not tell clearly how il
was that he was In debt and added
that in his way Of thinking the ten
increase granted by the
company in 1900 was not nm increase
1T all. He explained that the com
pany, along with the other coal com
panies, granted the men a reduction
in the price of powder from 81 anf
1910 to $3.50, but that the reduction
in the powder was to be considered
In the ten-per-cent. increase in
wages. In other words, they get
h-per-cent. increase in wages. and
the powder reduction amounted to an
increase in wages of III. or 10 per
rant al