The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-11-17


What period did you refer to? A. I meal
the period running back twenty-five year
from now q. From now or from 1907
A. From the beginning of the strike o
lp2. The strike Of 1900 improved the con
uitions OF employment somewhat. q
What knowledge have you OF any reduc
ton OF wages ever having been made il
the anthracite region In all that time. A
, nave very general knowledge OF re
auctions having been made by increas
Ing the size OF the cars the men wer,
compelled to load: requiring more top
ping; increasing the size of the ton: cut
ting of OF pay for dead work: allowances
aud so forth. q. Your knowledge IL gen
cral aud founded on what people have
| told YOU? A. Necessarily, II was the re-
| suit OF reports made to me- u. But yot
do not know OF any general reduction In
the rates of wages in the anthracite re.
| gion In that time. do you? A. | do not
Know or any general reduction; no. sir
any more than as / have informed YOU
A Fall in Wages.
| y. As ! understand. there was In the
bituminous region an average fail as low
as 20 cents day. 1s not that SO? A.
do not know that that is so. q. Did you
not so state before the Industrial com
mission. a. might say. for your infor-
| nation, that at the time of my testimony
| before the national Industrial commits
sion, | was speaking on informal ton then
| in my possession that I presumed to be
| correct. \ reference to the coal report s
| of the same year Indicated that | had
| included IL my cacuIa tions thirty per
| cent. OF the employees out of the mines,
| who were not directly engaged in nilrng,
| coal. and necessarily that MY testimony
| would indicate that wages were forty-two
per cent. lower than they really were at
that time: and since that time there
| have been further increases of some sixty
| per cent. q. Now, what have been the
Increases in the anthracite wages? A.
| There has been an increase of ten per
cent, generally speaking. q. What. since
| 1898. have been the increases in the
| bituminous regionn A. Since 1898? O.
Yes. A. There was an increase of egh-
| teen per cent. In the spring of lS9S, and
| an Increase of twenty-one one-huu-
| dredths per cent. IN the spring of 400
| There was also an increase Of eleven per
cent paid in the fall of lS97-at the close
| OF the strike Of 1897 q. Were those in
| the districts which are organized or
| We're they general? A. They were in the
districts where we are organized. .. You
do not speak about the industry general
ly or do YOU? a. Very generally. be-
cause we are organized in the industry
very generally
Q. notice that you stated in Golfers
Weekly that the earnings Of the anthra-
cite workers are less than those of any
other class Of working men in the
United States. Now. upon what compari-
son do you base that statement? A. Re-
ference to the income of different classes
OF workingmcn, from the scales of wages
made by their organizations, and the
scales prevailing in the communities q.
And do YOU intend to produce those data?
a. Yes. sir
$1.O1 Per Work Day.
3. What are the wages of the anthra-
cite workers with which you make the
comparison" Will you state them? "A.
The wages of the anthracite mine work.
ers. using Mr.. Baers published state
ments as a basis are little less than
Sl,01 for each day in the year. He saws
that the income Of his employes-that his
employees receive s.S9 a day for each
work day, and l used his statements in
my calculations. Q. That is. yon apply
his statements to the whole region? A.
Yes. sir c. And then do YOU divide the
total amount earned by the total num-
Der OF employees? A. 7 simply took his
statement of wages and applied it to all
the men. l assumed that it was a fair
avera2e-a fair crterion--as to- what
they were earning in all the other COM
panics' mines. | believe that to be true |
because that company pays as high a |
rate OF wages as paid by other COM
phhi'>. ". bO YOU Know lldt. a. |
know by comparison of the tables of |
earnings that the Reading company's !
wages are up to the average. .. AS I |
say again. when YOU get al this matter |
do You make the total number of men
employed irrespective of whether they |
worked every day. or whether. as one of |
the members of the Industrial commits
sion suggested to you, some Of them
have died, or what? A. Well. T say that
simply took the statement of Mr. Bacr
yes. certainly. I divided 1t among the
"6' days III the year @. And YOU regard
the yearly earnings as the proper criter-
ion" a. Certainly q. And not the daily
earnings? a. Certainly ! regard the an
nual earnings of a man the only fair
basis. as he has to eat 365 days in the
year.
q. Now. let me ask you. in reference 10
your demands. what they amount TO-
The first demand is for horizontal ad-
vance on all contract work. an advance
OF twenty per cent. as I understand it,
of present earnings" A. Yes |
sir. G. And the second is for an increase
in the case Of all day work. Of twenty
per cent. irrespective OF present earn
inSS" A. Yes, sir. @. Now. the third Is
weighing and paying for coal by the ton
OF .2io pounds, al Il minimum of sixty
cents per ton. That is ii. isn't IT.? A.
Yes. sir. @. Now. is this included i'm the
lirst demand, or is it merely different
method OF demand. The twenty per cent.
would be added to the present prices. un-
der the present methods and the meth
DDS would he changed, and the reduction
made to the sixty cents as minimum
price per ton. Q. Then it is not de-
mand that the contract work shall be | ,
further increased and the miners shall
he bald at the rate which You suggest
net for merchantable coal but the sub
stance winch they send out OF the mines |
The demand is for sixty cents a ton
Tor run of mine coal | presume that
everybody is familiar
Run of Mine Coal.
9. When yon say run of mine cour'
'ou mean coal before il Is cleared of it's {
Impurities by being put through the
breakers" a, II is before It passes
through the breaker, Q. Before II
'asses through the breaker? A. Yes, sir. 7
:, Then would not that really mean a !
lemand for very considerable addition I
o The amount payable for contract work T
'ver and above the twenty per cent. A. y
am not aware that it would although I
nave hot--l Will say that the matter e
'ns been very carefully calculated by the I
anthracite mine workers themselves, and b
am not entirely sure as To what the b
Inference would he: but on what infor- II
nation had. presume that sixty cents
ton was not high price to pay the I
miners for mining anthracite coal II Is
he same price that is paid for mining
luminous coal. @. You regard II really, y
therefore, as branch of the first de- IA
rand, A. 1t is. q, Not as a demand for /,
in addition? A. ! do not un- II
erstand that it is asking for more than o
n increase of twenty per cent. @, Wen, u
oppose it should turn out that it We're h
, that extent. you would he inclined TO "
'ithdraw it, Is that the idea? a. That p
epends entirely on how your calcuIa- n
ON. ,ya,a ,,.da m ,ba ,o,,,nn,,t., -, a