Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-04
MADE PUBLIC TODAY
INCREASE OF WAGES AND RE
DUCTIoN OF HOURS ASKED.
Also Recognition of the Union and
System of Satisfactorily Adjust
ing ALI Grievances.

| furnished to the operators. who will reply
| in three or four days. The miners state
ment in full Is as follows:
| To the Anthracite Coal Strike Commits
sion: The mine workers make of the op-
orators the following demands, which were
formulated by the Shamokin convention.
held March IS to a. and for the enforce
ment of which the strike was inaugurated:
90 Per Cent Increase Of Wages.
First. An increase of 20 per cent upon the
prices paid during the year 1901 to employees
performing contract or piece work. This
demand is made on account of the following
reasons:
The present rate of wages Is much lower
than the rate of wages paid in the bitumin-
Gus coal fields for substantially similar
work.
The present rate of wages is lower than
is paid in other occupations requiring equal
skill and training.
The average annual earnings in the an
thracite coal fields are much less than the
average annual earnings In the btuminous
coal fields for substantially similar work.
The average annual earnings in the an
thracite coal fields are much less than the
average annual earnings for occupations re-
quiring equal skill and training.
The rate of wages in the anthracite coal
fields is insufficient to compensate the mine
workers in view of the dangerous character
of the occupation in relation to accidents,
the liability to serious and permanent dis
ease. the high death rate and the short
grade life incident to this employment.
The annual earnings of the mine workers
are insufficient to maintain the American
standard of living.
The increased cost of living has made it
impossible to maintain a fair standard of
life upon the basis of present wages and
has not only prevented the mine workers
from securing any benefit from increased
DrOSDeritV but has made their condition
poorer on account of it.
The wages of the anthracite mine work.
ers are low that their children are pre-
maturely forced into the breakers and mills
instead of being supported and educated
upon the earnings of their parents.
Wages are below the fair and just earn
ings of mine workers in this industry.
Reduction of 20 Per Cent in Hours.
Second. reduction of 90 per cent in
hours of labor without any reduction of
earnings for all employees paid by the hour
day or week. The second demand is SINH
lar to the first, in that it is designed to in
crease the hourly rate of wages of mine
workers employed by the hour day or
week. and all reasons applicable to the
first demand are asked to be applied to the
second with repetition
In addition thereto We submit the follow
ing:
The ten-hour day is detrimental to the
health. life. safety and well being of the
mine workers.
Shorter hours improve the physical. men
tai and moral conditions of the workers.
Shorter hours increase the intensity and
efficiency of labor.
The tendency of national and state gov
eminent of organized trade and of produc-
ton generally is toward shorter hours.
A working day of eight hours is suffi-
GENTLY long for the best interests of the
| workingmen and of the community.
System of Weighing Coal.
Third. The adoption of a system by
which coal shall be weighed and paid for
by weight wherever practicable: the mini
mum rate per ton to be 60 cents for legal
| ton of 2.240 pounds; the differentials now
| existing at the various mines to be main
| tanned.
| This demand is made on account of the
following reasons:
| Measurement by the legal ton wherever
| practicable is the only honest and lust
| system of measuring the earnings of mine
| workers.
| When the operators sell or transport coal
| it is on the basis of legal ton of 224O
| pounds.
The excessive ton was originally intended
| to compensate the operator for the weight
of the small sizes of coal, which were then
| discarded, but which are now utilized and
| sold, and therefore there is no present ne
| cessity for the use of any other than the
| legal ton.
| lie duOptlUIl VI lIllS system WOulu remove
| an incentive, both to the operator and the
| worker, the cheating and dishonesty and
| would allay jealousy among the miners and
| prevent unjust discrimination and favorit-
| ism.
| The change of the present system to the
one asked for would prove a strong factor
| in aflaying suspicion and discomfort among
the mine workers.
| Agreement of Employer and Employee.
Fourth. The incorporation in an agree
| ment between the United Mine Workers OF
| America and the anthracite coal compa-
| MES of the wages which shall be paid and
the conditions of employment which shall
obtain, together with satisfactory methods
for the adjustment of grievances which
| may arise from time, to the end that
strikes and fockouts may be unnecessary.
following reasons:
| The anthracite mine worker should not
| be compelled to make or sign individual
agreements, but should have the right to
| form such organization and choose such
| agents and officers as they desire to act
collectively instead of individually when
| they deem that their best interests are
| subserved thereby.
| Agreements between employers and en-
| ployes through workingmen's organizations
are the ordinary method of regulating pro-
duction and wages in the bituminous coal
| fields and in other large industries and
| with the spirit Of the times.
| Unions of workingmen tend to the bet
| ter discipline of the men and to the i'm
provement of their physical. moral and
| mental condition, and to the preserva-
tion of friendly relations between employer
| and employee.
Experience shows that the trade agree
| ment is the only effective method by which
| 1t Is possible to regulate questions aris-
| ing between employers and employed in
| large industries, and that a trade agree
| ment is the only possible way to estab
lish the relations between employers and
the wage workers in the anthracite fields
on a just and permanent basis and as far
as possible to do away with any causes
for the recurrence of such difficulties as
those you 0he anthracite coal strike com
mission) have been called in to settle
| Respectfully submitted.
| JOHN MITCHELL
Representative of the Anthracite Mine
| Workers.