The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-17
STATEMENT OF LEHIGH co.
ARG GUMENT AGAINST DEMANDS
OF THE MINERS.
That for Twenty Per Cent. Increse In
Wages Denounced as UDJustifiabIe-
Miners Reasons Given tn Support of
the Demand Said Not TO be Founded
on Faet-GoOd Homes and Ample
School AccOmm Odations.
School Accommodations.

AAS OS0ANAN SAAsA GNoe 81 oO
on Fact-GoOd Homes and Ample
School AccOmm o Odati0ns.
Philadelphia, Nov. 49, - The state
ment of the Lehigh Coal and Naviga-
tion company, submitted to the anthra-
cite coal strike commission, now in ses-
sion at Scranton, Pa, in answer to the
demands of the miners, was made pub
lie here to-day. The answer recites the
development of the company from the
date of it's charter in 1922, refers to the
expense of operation and to the compar-
atively small profits, and declares the
demands of the employees for an in
crease Of 20 per cent. is unjustifiable
the reasons given in support of the de-
mand not being founded on fact. Ac-
compaEying the statement are two ex-
hibits. One shows the earnings of the
employees of the company for one year,
based on the time worked during 1901.
the number of the several classes Of
workmen and the rates paid according
to the pay roll for the first half Of May,
1902. The other is a catalogue of overt
acts charged to the striking employees
of the company during the recent con-
test the riots, assaults and disturbances
of various kinds being numbered as up
wards of sixty. The answer states:
1.-THE Lehigh Coal and Navigation
company Is the Oldest corporation en-
gagged in the mining of coal in the anth-
racite region. 1t was chartered in 1922,
and was the successor of the Lehigh
Coal Mine company, which was organiz-
ed in 1903 1t also acquired certain
rights on the Lehigh river which were
granted in 1918.
1t owns and controls about $4,000
acres of coal lands in Carbon and
Schuylkill counties, which are estimat-
ed to contain over 5O0,0O0000 tons of
available unmined coal Its employees
number about 6,000 and it's capacity of
production is over 100000 tons month.
It's capital stock and funded debt
amounts to upwards of $S2,000,000. All
of it's capital stock and bonds were
issued for full value, but although it's
more important coal lands were pur-
chased at time when the country was
wilderness, and all its lands have
been acquired at moderate price, the
dividends upon its capital stock to date
only average 402 per cent. The profit
on coal mined by the company during
the ten years ending December 81, 1901,
has average 1t.09 cents per ton after
charging off taxes on coal lands and de-
probation, but not including any
charge for royalty which represents the
value of the coal in the ground. Nor
were the rates of freight upon the rail-
road exorbitaht, as is shown by the
fact that the company operated its own
canal, but found It advantageous to
send the coal to market over the rail-
road, rather than by the canal"
Referring to the claim of the miners
that better wages are paid in the btu
mnuos fields for substantially similar
work the answer states:
1.-The company does not know what
rate of wages is paid in the bituminous
coal fields throughout the country, but
there is nowhere in any fields 'substan-
TALLY similar work to that which is
done under contract in the mines of this
company. 1t is a fact, however, that
miners.of ordinary skill and experience
have always been able to go from the
mines of this company to any other
mining region throughout the country
and obtain employment.
I'm 1901 for a days employment con-
tract miners earned an average of SS.14
per day; skilled laborers $2.S1, unskilled
laborers $1.S3, boys 81 for work under
ground. The rates for outside labor
average as follows:
skilled labor s1.96, unskilled labor
$1.2S, boys II cents. The average an
nual earnings of adults were $475.25.
Denial is made of the claim of the
miners that their earnings are insuffi-
cient to main the American standard of
living, and concerning the employees Of
the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co.
these figures are given:
"Out of 3,049 families $40 own their
own houses. Pianos will be found in
146 and house organs in S37. The COM
pany owns and rents to its employees
GIL houses at an average rental of $4.
a month. The character of these houses
is fully up to the average in any part
of the country occupied by any one
class of workmen. 1t has been the pol
icy of the company to sell surface
rights to those of its employees who de-
sired to put up their own homes, and
for many years there has been a steady
demand on this account. The town of
Summit Hill has population of about
5000, and almost the entire surface,
with the dwellings,, is now owned and
occupied by employees of the company.
THE families of the employees have
ample school accommodations, with
capable teachers, and over 5000 chill
dren are in attendance, while over rs
percentum of the whole fund expended
in the region is derived from taxes paid
by this company on it's coal estate"
Regarding the employment of boys,
the statement says:
"Slate-picking is a very easy occupa-
ton compared to the work done by the
boy upon farm, and many are needed
to take care of the mine mules and 9TH
er light work. and in this way the
wages of the household are largely and
legitima tely increased. Since 1887 more
than two hundred and fifty young men
have gone from Lansford and other viii
lages in the neighborhood to normal
schools and colleges and become mining
engineers, attorneys, chemists, dem
lists, architects, ministers and priests.
Some of the foreigners have to live
in a very niggardly and ssqualid man
ner, so that they may accumulate the
larger part of their earnings and re-
turn to EllrOpe to live in idleneSS: but