The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-24

SIDE LIGHTS SHOWING WHAT HAS
LED TO PRESENT DEADLOCK.
Why the Operators Find IL Impossible
10 Grant Demands-The Miners
and the Laborers.
New York Evening Post.

II should be kept clear, for one thing,
that the men who are now raiding farm
fields for food, applying to charity organ
izatiOns and standing about the trade
union headquarters seeking means with
which TO keep themselves and families until
they work again. are the common laborers,
the most unskiIled, most unintelligent.
most incapable. BY reason OF the immense
quantity OF them in the world these Ia
bOrers are the cheapest; what they have
TO sell is OF little comparative worth-it is
simply the ability to use a shovel ten hours
a day. They number $4,000 out Of the $4,000
men employed at mines in the anthracite
regions.
Their pay ranges from $3.50 to $40 day
(some being paid by the amount Of work
done. and some by the hour. and they
work 10 take Mr.. Mitchelrs own figures.
200 days year. AS there were 800 strikes
last year-the Delaware & Hudson Com
pany had 124-you will see that part of the
100 days during which they earned nothing
was not directly chargeable TO the COM
panies. Every circus, almost every funeral,
almost every national or church holiday
polish. Lithuanian, Bohemian Greek Irish,
English. American, Magyar, German. Ro-
man Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Lutheran.
etc. will draw enough men from the mine
90 put it hors du combat put IL out of serv-
ice, since one mans task depends on an
others, for "A day. Then there are shut
downs for accidents or for repairs; and
then there are operators who shut down
because they have produced all the coal
they can sell for that year.
STATUS OF THE LABORERS.
These common laborers come from Ed
rope to better their fortunes. They are en-
PIoyed by. and are in the pay of, what are
called contract miners-men who are skill
ed in methods of getting coal from under
ground safely, and who should know how
deep to drill. how little powder to use so
as not to endanger life and the stability of
the supports and the shafts. These common
IabOrers, who use the shovel and the pick
are not responsible TO the company at ALL
but 10 the miner.
The company pays the miner for cutting
the coal and putting it aboard car at the
spot where he is cutting or blasting. But
the miner. being skilled, having served his
apprenticeship and gained a knowledge of
how 10 mine coal safely, decides that he
can as well hire men less capable than he
TO do the dirty work of shOveling the coal
into cars and picking out the slate, shale
and rock that come mixed with the coal
Anybody with man s muscles can do that
SO he hires one two. or three men as
helpers They are his men; he pays them
what they are willing TO work for, and
can dismiss them If they not Satisfac-
tory. All the companies do is to with
hold each pay day from the contract
miners envelopes the amounts the
contract miners report that they owe, and
put the amounts into envelopes for the
helpers If certain employees say they want
TO contribute each month so cents to their
special church, the company w1thholds
that amount likewise and transfers it to
the church designated. The process is
merely a convenient clerical one.
IL the common labOrsrs. therefore.
IN need of assistance after three months of
idleness. 1t is only the condition which COM
mon labOrers, with skill, special
knowledge of how TO do anything. would
fan into anywhere after such period.
Here is letter from the manger of the
Associated Charities in one Of the three
regions:
In regard to restitution. there is great
deal, particularly among people who have
never asked for aid; % per cent. more than
usual
do not know so much about the miners
grievances; but do know the last was the
most prosperous year have had in my
experience of nine years with Board of
Charities.
The outlook was good for the summer.
and l am only speaking as one, l regret
that we have the strike, as my sympathy
IS with the poor.
QUALIFICATIONS OF A MINER.
Presently if the laborer has the capacity
he learns enough about mining coal to be-
come himself a miner If he can pass a
required examination he receives a certifi-
cate of competency. Only such men as
have such a certificate are permitted under
law (Which the miners themselves had
passed. 10 mine coal, l. e., do blasting, etc
When he becomes a certifcated miner he
himself hires common laborers TO do the
dirty work while he simply does the blast
ing and that the walls are not made
insecure. He contracts with the company
10 MI with clean coal at so much per
car. or so much per ton, or so much per
1900 pounds. In some mines the basis of
payment is so much per cubic yard of coal
cut and not loaded into cars. Official fig
ureS show that the miner works scarcely
six hours a day. and that his net earnings
after paying the wages of his IabOrers and
for the powder he has used and the oil he
has burned IN his lamps, range from s. 40
10 81 Taking names at random from the
1-ackawanna COmpanys pay roll every
fifth name). IL was found that the net
amounts paid TO each of these contract
miners IN that particular month ranged
from $50 TO tl00.
What miner. with his assistants can
earn in day, or a week, or a month de-
ponds upon the number of hours he wants
no work, the ca acity or diligence of his
assistants, and the pleasure of the union
Sometimes, when a man is Industrious and
ambitious. union steps in and fOrbids
him to produce more than six carloads Of
coal a day Then the richness or purity of
the vein the miner is working makes a diff
ference TO his earnings. Sometimes rocks
stop his progress for time. but again he
may strike clear vein, easy 10 mine
winch VIII enaplC MN 10 operate with Ia
Cility and with little expenditure of powder.
PROFITS OF FORMER YEARS.
In old times. when the measures were
fresher and profits TO the owner larger. the
miners made great wages. They used to
blast and cut lot of coal, and then, leav-
ing their shovelers 10 do the rest, go to
Europe for a couple of months But COM
petition became keener. and the market
demand FOR hard coal did not keep up with
the capacity OF the mines, and the charac-
Ter OF the demand made difference in the
cost OF production, and economies had 10 be
instituted. For instance:
Most of the mines are leased. and are
not operated by their owners. There is a
fixed rental. besides a royalty for every
ton Of coal taken out. Twenty years ago
the royalties paid by operator to owner
were from - cents 10 . cents per ton for
sizes larger than chestnut to-day royalties
are from 80 10 % cents per ton for all sizes
above pea. and from = to 10 cents for sizes
below pea Thus not only have the royal
ties increased a great deal, but where they
used TO be paid only on large sizes they
now have 10 be paid on all sizes. There
Is more expense now for sitting out waste
materials per cent. OF the product which
formerly salSble must now be thrown
upon the dump. In 1880 - per cent. of the
coal taken out was OF sizes sold al a profit;
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