Waterbury Democrat., 1902-06-23

transport coal to market, they receive tariff upon 2,24O pounds, legal ton, but when the miner is being paid for his labor he is required to produce and load from 2,740 to 3,19O pounds for a ton, and it is against this fragrant in justice that the anthracite mine work CTS so vigorously and justly protest The operators. say of course, that the excess weight is required to compen- sate for impurities and refuse matter that is loaded with the coal and can not be marketed. But if their state ment be true why is it necessary to continue a system of docking by which at times they arbitrarily deduct from a miners earnings from 10 to 15 per cent of the total as a penalty for load ing impurities for which they have al ready penalized him in excess weight? It must be obvious to every intelligent observer that the coal companies de- rive a considerable income from the continuance of this system of measur- ing the earnings of their employees, as they thus receive a large amount of marketable coal for which they return no compensation to the miner. The miners have asked that the coal they produce shall be honestly weighed and correctly recorded.
 This recital of facts disposes of the operators claim that they cannot af- ford to pay living wages for faithful service and unceasing toll amid sur roundings constantly fraught with the gravest danger.
 The reports of the mine inspectors bureau of the state of Pennsylvania show that during the past decade the average yearly fatalities in the anthra- cite coal mines we're 437 and that for the year 1901 there were ASA fatal and 1,256 nonfatal accidents. This means that for every 119,000 tons of coal brought to the surface one person is killed and more than two seriously in- jured; it means that for each day the mines are in operation more than two persons lives are sacrificed and more euan five persons are injured. Indeed it is q matter of record that eight times as many men and boys are killed and injured annually in the anthracite coal mines of Pennsylvania as were killed and wounded in the American ranks in
 
 As we said in the opening paragraph of this statement, we have done all that honorable men could do both to avert and to end this strike. It is now apparent that the real purpose of the coal operators is to destroy organiza- -tion among their workmen. If by any chance they should succeed in their de- sign, which is not at Ell likely, another labor organization will spring from the ruins of the United Mine Workers of America, and the contest for living wages, for humane conditions of en- ployment, for better 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 boys and girls of tender years and frail physique to the mines and mills, there to de- stroy their youthful vigor in an effort lO dSSlSI tHelI uHuerpdlu pdIeutS tO maintain their families
 Conscious of the great responsibility resting upon us, apprehensive of the danger threatening our commercial su- premacy should the coal miners of the entire United States become partici- pants in this struggle, we repeat our proposition to arbitrate all questions in dispute, and if our premises are wrong, if our position is untenable, if our de mands cannot be sustained by facts and figures, we will again return to the mines, take up our tools of industry and await the day when we shall have more righteous cause to claim the approval of the American people.