The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-03
HEWITT ON MINERS WAGES.

Limited Work-A Good Word for op- l orators.
 Bar Harbor, Sept. 2.-Abram S. Hew- lit, whose recent statements regarding the situation of the strike in the an- thracite coal fields has caused discus sion, was asked yesterday to reply to the statement made by President Nit chell and other prominent sympathizers with the miners cause. following MT. Hewltt's utterances of recent date.
 Mir. Hewitt was averse to continuing the discussion at this particular time. He said that he felt he had discharged himself of duty in giving out the al- ready published interview. and that so far he had seen no communications in rebuttal which prompted him to make reply. His interview had accom- plished, he said, the purpose for which it was intended. It had opened up a fruitful field for discussion that had l brought from many sources an ilIumi- hating light which was being turned on all sides of the question, and was giving to the public the opportunity of passing Judgment upon the strike as the opera tor sees it. MT. Hewitt stated that he did not wish to be drawn further into a controversy.
 In reply to number of questions MT. Hewitt answered casually. When asked as to the surplussage of labor in the coal fields and the limited hours of work, he said
 There Is more than sufficient labor in the coal fields at the present time, and the union is itself responsible in a measure for the limited amount of work and resultant pay accorded each miner. For the men being made members of 1 the organization 1t becomes necessary l to subdivide the work among them, that each man is employed a shorter number of hours with a consequent de- l auction of wage earnings. The union seeks to have each man paid the same wages for this shortened time as was paid when the supply of labor was less and the time of employment longer. | The men then were paid sufficiently l high wages to maintain standard of | living that was satisfactory, as is wit messed fin the case of many of the mines, notably the I4ehigh Coal and Naviga- l tfon company. It was because Of the l satisfactory standard of living and wages that the excess labor was attrac- ted to the coal fields"
 Speaking of President MitehelIs i statement that the coal strike had little l political significance. MT. Hewitt mere l ly cited the instance of the last presi- dential campaign when the labor vote became a most important question In national politics and forced a compro- mise when there would otherwise prob ably have been a long drawn fight.
 There is one phase of this strike" said MT Hewitt, ito which the public as a whole has not had it's attention drawn. It is mistake to suppose that the mines are in the hands of seven or eight individuals who alone reap the rewards of victory or suffer the disad- vantages of defeat In this crisis. The mines belong to many thousands of stockholders and bondholders, who out number the men that are employed. It l is a vast field divided up among all sizes of investors. Speaking of the i earnings of the anthracite mines, while they are immensely productive and val uable industries, their earnings are not what they are commonly supposed to ] be. In the case of one of the oldest l lot,, iy, ncxrl. vania the earnings for the last sixty years have averaged approximately six 1 per cent.
 "The men who to-day are administer l ing these concerns are executing the duties of their office, not for their per- sonal ends, but in the interest of very large public According to the state ments that have appeared as coming from the miners union, 1t has been sug- gested that the question of higher wages for shorter hours be met by the operators by raising the price of coal to the public, which must be made to suf- fer the compromise"
 MT. Hewitt drew from the case of G. B. Market & Sons an illustration point ing to the responsibility of the miners organizations In the face of repeated violations of contract and their agree ment to submit all local differences to arbitration and not to be influenced by the disputes arising in other quarters, they nevertheless in 1900, at Mir. Mitch elrs solicitation, notwithstanding that their condition was eminently satisfac- | tory, joined the general strike that was | called by the Unted Mine Workers In that year It is this responsibility, the absence of corporate qualities that calls for firm stand on the part of the ope- rators, who are in duty bound to guard