The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-06-23
APPEALS FOR
 ARBITRATION,
Continued from First Paoe)

any necessity for this triple charge on hard coal, for all other kinds of freight very much more troublesome to handle and more perishable-are carried at a far low CT rate.
 Tn connection with this section atten- tiCn IS respectfully directed to the fact that ton of coal as the consumer un- derstands 1t Is not ton of coal as the miner Is paid for 1t; that when the con- sufner purchases a ton of coal he re- ceives 22i0 pounds a legal ton when the railroad companies transport coal to mar ket they receive tariff upon 224O pounds. legal ton; put when the miner is being paid for his labor he is required to pro- duce and load from 2740 to 3190 pounds for ton; and 1t is against this fragrant in justice that the anthracite mine workers so vigorously and justly protest.
 As to the Docking System.
 The operators say, of course, that the excess weight Is required to compensate them for impurities and refuse matt CT that is lcaded with the coal and cannot be marketed; but if their statement be true, why Is it necessary to continue a system of docking by which at times they arbitrarily deduct from a miners earn inBs from 10 to 15 per cent of the total as renalty for loading impurities for which they have already penallzed him in excess weight The miners have asked that the coal they produce shall be hon. estly weighed and correctly recorded
 This recital of facts disposes of the operators claim that they cannot afford to pay living wages for faithful service and unceasing toll amid surroundings constantly fraught with the gravest dan ger.
 The reports of the mine inspectors bureau of the State of Pennsylvania show that during the past decade the average yearly fatalities In the anthracite coal mines were I37, and that for the year 1901 there were ASA fatal and 1256 non fatal accidents; this means that for every 119,00o tons of coal brought to the sur face one person Is killed and more than two seriously injured; that for each day the mines are in operation more than two persons lives are sacrificed and more than five persons are injured. It is a mat = ter of record that eight times as many men and boys are killed and injured an nually in the anthracite coal mines of Pennsylvania than were killed and wo unded from the American ranks in the ST TEnish-Americsn war.
 Not a LawIess Class.
 "Yet if one were to credit the stories that appear in the columns of the daily press it would seem that the men who daily risk their lives working in the bowels of the earth were a lawless class That they have been grossly maligned is proved by the records of the police courts and the testimony of the chiefs of police departments of the four la.gest mining communities in the anthracite field, namely. Scranton, Wilkesbarre Hazelton and Shamokin. The reports prove there has been no infraction of the law and fewer arrests during the time the strike has been in progress than like period preceding it. It Is now appar- ent that the real purpose of the coal op- orators is to destroy organization among their workmen. If by any chance they should succeed In this desgn-which is rot at all likely-apother labor organiza- ton will spring from the ruins of the United Mine Workers of America, and the contest for living wages, for hu- mane conditions of employment for bet ter education, for higher citizenship will go on until the men who produce coal the originating motor power which drives the wheels of commerce and industry, the product that is so essential to the welfare of society. the mineral which is the very foundation of our national prosperity, shall receive for their labor sufficient compensation to relieve them of the necessity of sending their bows and girls of tender years and fra,l plly- siaue to the mines and mills there to de- stroy their youthful vig3r in an effort to assist their under paid parents to main tain their families.
 (Signed) JOHN MITCHELL. "President United Mine Workers of
 America"