Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-27
STRIKE COMMISSION
All the Members Were Pres
ent.
OPERATORS ON HAND
MR.. MITCHELL REPRESENTS THE
ANTHRACITE MINERS.
Judge Gray's Suggestions to Both Sides
as to the Presentation Of
Claims and Answers

The anthracite coal strike commission
| met at 2 o'clock this afternoon in the room
| Of the interstate commerce commission
which is devoted to public hearings. There
| was present a large crowd of newspaper
men and others interested in the proceed
! fngs. The meeting was to hear the views
| of the coal operators and the miners as to
| methods of proceeding. place and times for
| holding hearings
| Since the last meeting of the commission
| Mr.. Carroll D. Wright, who had formerly
| been made the recorder, had been appointed
a member of the commission in addition to
| his duties as recorder. Mr.. Wrights ap-
| pointment gives the commission seven
| members, the odd number allowing ma
| jority rule on all questions instead Of q
| two-thirds rule, which would have been
| necessary with the body composed Of six
members. The fact that Mr.. Wright has
recently made a report on the conditions
| In the anthrac cite regions, which has been
| widely published without criticism indi-
Gates that both the operators and miners
| have confidence in the fairness of his judg-
| ment. AS both a member of the commits
| sion and Its recorder Mr. Wright will have
| most important position in all the delib-
erations and work of that body. 1t Is the
| duty Of the recorder to plan the methods
for carrying on the work. with the approval
1
eral executive officer of the body.
1t was announced that Messrs. Hanna
| and Budlong, the well-known stenogra-
! piers of this city, had been appointed off,
| cial stenographers for the coal commission,
| and that they will furnish daily transcripts
| of the proceedings.
Today's Session.
| At minutes of o'clock the representa-
| tives Of the coal operators arrived at the
| rooms of the commission and were given
| front seats Directly above the seats on a
| platform removed from the members OF
| the court was a picture of President
| Roosevelt. that the operators sat for
| some time studying the features of the
| man who brought about the arbitration
proceedings by means of which they reluc-
| tantly recognized the existence Of a union
Of their employees headed by John Mitchell.
| present were President George F. Baer Of
| the Reading. e. B. Thomas of the Erie,
John B. Kerr. representing Thomas Fowler
| of the Ontario and Western; David Wilcox
| of the Delaware and Hudson and Alfred
| Walter. representing the Lehigh Valley.
The coal companies represented by the rail-
| road officials are as follows: E. B. Thomas,
| Hillside and Pennsylvania Coal Company;
Alfred Walter. Lehigh Valley Coal Com
pany: w. H. Truesdale, Keel and Lacka-
| wanna David Wilcox. vice president
Delaware and Hudson Company; Geo. F.
| Baer. Philadelphia and Reading Coal and
| Iron Company; John B. Kerr, Scranton
| Coal Company. Elk Hill Coal and Iron
| COMPANY.
| Mr. Mitchell was accompanied by Mr..
| Walter Edward Weyl, who appeared merely
| as his assistant" and not as his attorney.
| Mr. Weyl is not lawyer, though later in
| the proceedings Mr.. Mitchell will be rep
resented by an attorney, whose name has
not yet been announced Mr.. Fahey, one
| of the district presidents of the miners,
| was also present. The room was filled with
| spectators and newspaper men.
Just prior to the entrance of the commits
| sion Assistant Recorder Moseiey announced
| that Judge Gray who would preside, should
| be addressed as the chairman and not the
president Of the commission
The commission then entered, all men,
berS being present.
The Miners Demands.
Mr. Mitchell said the miners would be
prepared to submit their case beginning
next Monday. He said he had the formal
demands of the miners made on the opera
tors, and which resulted In the strike. and
| he presented them.
Judge Gray said the commission wanted
the statement of the demands of the miners
on the one side and the answer to those
claims the other side. He did not want
any rhetorical statement, not an argument,
but merely the claims and the answer.
Mr.. Mitchell said he had prepared a con-
else statement of claims The demands
formulated by the Shamokin convention
are: An increase of 20 per cent to employees
performing contract or piece work, a reduc-
ton of 20 per cent in time of salaried en-
ployes, coal to be paid for by weight, wages
and conditions of employment to be incor-
porated in an agreement, together with q
satisfactory method of settling grievances
that may arise from time to time, in order
that strikes might be unnecessary.
Mr.. Baer in reply said he had no extend
ed statement He was anxious to have one
thing understood
I'VE have no objection to MI Mitchell ap-
pearing here but they did object to having
him appear as the representative of the
United Mine Workers. They did not OBJ
ject to having him appear as the repre-
sentative of their miners
Operators Will Assist.
Mr.. Baer said the operators would be pre-
pared to meet the miners in the region and
to assist in giving all information. Many
of the Individual operators are not repre-
sented, and they were not consulted and
not compromised by the letter he had writ
ten.
Judge Gray suggested that they could be
represented At the meeting next Monday
they would determine which of the COM
panies could be taken up first and the place
of meeting could be determined by the To-
cation of the coal company taken up
Mr.. Baer made point of saying that the
case of each coal company would be dealt
with separately. He would contend for the
sliding scale in the regulation of wages.
II shall urge the adoption of that profit
sharing plan" he said. (which gave us
peace formerly in our alton to our
employees"
Mr.. Thomas of the Hillside Iron and Coal
and the Pennsylvania Coal Company was
the next to speak. He said he noticed that
the word arbitration" had been applied to
the commissions work. while he wanted 1t
considered as an investigation.
Judge Gray said the Presidents tnstruc-
ton settled that as an arbitration.
Mr.. Thomas also urged that the condi-
tions in each Of the mining companies We're
dtfferent and could only be considered sep
arated. He thought more progress couio
be made by a physical examination OF the
coal region.
Judge Gray's Suggestion.
Judge Gray suggested that a statement o.
claims should be filed on both sides before
they proceeded with the investigation
Mr.. Baer. In reply to question, said i
would take the operators two or three days
to file their statement. He said they would