Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-03-20
Miners and Operators do not
Mince Words.
ALL SPEAK PLAINLY
Operators Pass the Motion Made Last
Night in the Meeting of the Scale
Committee Which Threatened to
Disrupt the Meeting.

the motion that caused the trouble
last night, making the minimum top
scale SLIGO in the second, third and
fourth districts, except firemen, engi-
neers and night watchmen. Fourth
class engineers were abolished. leav-
ing the remainder of the engineers
scale the same as last var. The min
imum scale for tailrope engineers is
~ per day or $55 per month. There
was no settlement arrived at in regard
to the night watchmens' scale.
A Warm Session.
Although plain words are spoken at
all times in the joint miners and OPP
orators scale committee, last evening
witnessed one of the warmest sessions
the miners and operators Of Iowa had
ever held. The members of the COM
mittee were brought face to face with
the fact that strike is imminent, in
spite of all the smooth sentences
which have been framed in past meet
ings to tide the situation over. AL
though there may be no strike in Iowa,
and everyone connected with the coal
industries sincerely hopes that there
will not be one, the situation as it now
exists is critical one and requires
lGNGl-uGdu6u consideration.
A Great Difference.
The real root of all the trouble is
the fact that the operators of the
state have not a good organization.
While every coal miner in Iowa is
member Of the union and is governed
by that organization, there are many
operators who are not members of the
Iowa State Operators association. In
addition to this the miners union is
as one man, the majority rules on all
questions and the minority submits to
this rule in silence. On the other
hand the operators have weak or
ganization. Although five min
ers could be selected from the
district organization who know the
conditions existing at every mine in
the district, there are not fifteen, nay
ten, operators who can intelligently
make scale for all the mines.
The inevitable result of this condi-
ton of affairs is that the miners scale
committee comes to the meetings pre-
pared to vote intelligently on all ques-
tons, while the operators committee
does not. It's members know the con-
ditions at their own mines but not at
the others, even in the sub-district
where their mines are located They
are afraid to vote for measures which
would not affect them injuriously, for
fear that they would work hardship
upon their neighbors. In consequence
of this the scale committee does slow
work and those who are not ION the
inside" fail to see the reason for this.
Last evening the committee reached a
point where it could go no farther on
account of the fact that the operators
did not know how to vote.
The question which was the immedi
ate cause of the trouble was the tor
labor scale for the second, third and
fourth districts, which includes the
state of Iowa with the exception of the
Centerville or southern district. The
miners want uniformity in this scale
and they are willing to lower the
wages of some of their men to get it
The operators committee was divided
eight on the side of the miners view
of the matter and five against, when s
vote was taken, and inasmuch as
two-thirds vote is necessary on eact
side to carry any question that is i'm
portant, the miners lost, although the.
voted as a unit.
President John P. Reese, OF the mi
ners' district union, presented mo
ton providing for uniform top labo
scale, with minimum wage of SIG,
in the second, third and fourth sub
districts. David Campbell, of Cleve
land. one of the operators, moved as ;
substitute that the minimum price TO
top labor be $1.60, and that all thos
who are receiving more than tina
amount at present be paid the SAM
next year as they are getting now
this motion to include all branches o
top labor except engineers, firemel
and night watchmen. After the mi
ners had caucused they voted for tn
substitute but the operators surprise
them by voting against it; that is
eight voted for the substitute and fiv
against it. This lacked one vote fror
the operators side of carrying the sui
stitute, as two-thirds, or nine Citerall
s 23) votes were required.
The operators claimed that the
were unprepared for such motion, a