The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-06-25
COAL OPERATORS AID MINERS
 HOLDING JOINT CONVENTION

Continued from Fifth Page)
 Pearson. T. c. culverhouse, T. Fl. Ald- rich, w. r. Aldrich, W. II. Rassinger
 The conference took a recess until o'clock D. m.
 Fairley's Speech.
 On reassemblin9 Chairman Flynn rec ognized Mr. Fairly, who started the scale discussion. He said.
 MT. Chairman and Gentlemen of this convention: Both scales are now before the convention. and l notice that therc Is consid erable difference between the pro position of the miners and the reply oi the operate There was one remark thai was made ty MT. Aldrich this morning that was very gratifying to me, ant tHf>>t was thar the conservative charac- ter of the scale was such that he could not see any particular difficulty in ar irving at a settlement There nave been various rumors this past week or two cf possibility Of Q suspension of work. Let me say to this convention that for eight years this State has had the bless ings of peace. The miners are just as desirous of continuing peace this incom- ing year as they have for the past eight. Put 1 want to say to the opcr- ators. and l say it with all seriousness,  cannot be accepted.
 We have made certain propositions in our scele that have called for consider ation for three or four years and no serious consideration has evtr been giv- en to those propositions. I want to say, gentlemen that the time has arrived that we will insist that certain changes we ore asking for shall be granted. l refer to the eight hours per day. No good req eos hSa hv ha in Alabama why the eight hours per day shall not bc granted here, the same as it is granted in every other State, nearly, in the Union, Every State north of the Ohio river has run on the eight hour day for three years while we have been go- ing on under the old system of long hours, and l want to say that that set tlement Is up for settlement in this con- vention. Another matter is that there State, and 1t will be, so far as we are concerned. It will be at sn increased rate over what you have paid heretofore There Is no State ip the Union that pays as low a day wage scale ns Alabama. There .s no State in the Union where pos abilities and chances to pay higher wage IS equal to the State of Alabama. Conditions of the iron market are such that we could not ask for more for dig ging coal than we are entitled to.
 Price Of iron.
 The condition of the iron market Is much brighter today than it was twelve months ago. Selling prices are very much higher, with more permanency attached to the market, The selling price of coal in Alabama is higher, and I want to give credit while passing to the Alabama op- orators for that state of affairs. The sell I'm of hit1irninOllS coal ia htChSr in Alabama than In any state in the union, and yet we are receiving the lowest day scale and working the longest hours of any state in the union with the excep- tion of the two Virginias. Those are the reasons why we ask for revision of the scale. Those are the reasons why we ask for an eight-hour day. Two weeks ray is a thing guaranteed in every state in the union with the exception of the two Yirg1nias.
 Drifting back to the eight hours per day, every class of labor Is having shorter hours. We had strike in th9 city of Birmingham two or three weeks ago, where the plumbers had eight hours a day granted them and an increase In wages, and If the men above ground whc are working in Gods sunshine can have an eight-hour day, then the necessity oi | the miner, who Is working under ground is greater than any men outside of th' | mines. The tendency of the times in ev | cry branch of labor is for shorter hours and want to say that the miners in Ala bama are going to insist that that con- cession is made when this contract Is made. (Applause-)
 "The men have asked for five cents z ton increase as maximum, and want to say that that Is a fair proposition. IT this age of prosperity, we, as working men, believe that he have right tC share that prosperity, just as much a: the operator has. And, when we consider that the price of iron has advanced iron possibly $10 a ton twelve months ago tC SIS a ton for No. iron, then we say tha we are entitled to some share of tha prosperity. So much so MT. Chairman that only last week the United States Steel Corporation, considering the improv ed condition in the steel and iron business considering the enhanced prices they were getting for the material, advanced the price of wages to their employees ovel 10 per cent. That was a voluntary ad
 vance. I want to say that the miners 1T Alabama are seeking to have some DOT | ton of the increase in prices that is being
 obtained in this State. The other ques | ton that I desire to call attention tC from the mems side of the case, Is tn,
 weighing of coal.
 We have met year in and year our fol | eight years and this question has been Ill
 and laid on the shelf year in and yea | out. But we have determined that tn, coal shall we weighed for two reasons | The first reason that 1t is an injustice t, the men who are working by car measure | The car has a tendency, regardless O. what denial may be offered-the car has tendency to grow, and we know tha wherever car measure Is paid, that tn, car does grow. The miner is not gettinf paid the price that he contracts to worl for.
 "On the other hand. 1t ts an injustice to the operator who Is weighing all his coal; in other words, the man who Is l paying by measure has an undue advan. l tage over the man who Is paying b, weight. Every company in the state sell. It's coal by weight at 2000 pounds to tn, ton, and we propose, as matter of fair ness and equity, that the operators shal pay on the same principle as he sells hi
 article for. In other words, these are tn reasons particularly why we ask thos changes. l want to say to them that
 am glad there are so many of the olC | faces we have been accustomed to mee | for years past here, and I want to sa, to them with all seriousness that I can not believe that when they made tn, proposition to renew the present scale | for another year that they were actually serious, because the change in conditions | this last year has been so much improved in selling prices, for iron in particular and coal that they cannot, with reason believe that the miner is going 10 accept