Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-07
DIFFICULT TO ADJUST
Are Demands Of Strikers in
Anthracite Region.
RECOGNIZING UNION
THIS rs MOST SERIOUS QUESTION
OF ALL OTHERS.
Some Interesting Facts and Figures
That Are Unknown to the
General Public.
UNION

The demands of the anthracite coal min
ers which have been refused by the opera
tors. are comparatively few in number, but
they are not in general known by the pub
lie. AS a result of the demands about 14o,-
900 miners and ldborers are not working,
and valuable properties are not only idle
but are now being seriously damaged by
the flooding of the mines. Owing to the 10
cation CT the mines some flood much'easier
than others A mine. for example, directly
underneath the Schuylkill river would nat
urally be flooded sooner than one on
mountain side. The pumpmen and firemen
having in large numbers stopped work, the
operators are seriously crippled
1t would be difficult to attach special i'm
portance to one of the various demands of
the miners for which they are striking.
They insist on all of their demands. In the
last strike the miners came off victorious,
and doubtless their success at that time
gives them hopes of ultimate victory in
this. To properly understand any one Of
the demands it is necessary 10 know of
the conditions which prevail in the anthra
cite coal regions.
What the Conditions Are.
First. there are about six hundred mines.
| These have all been opened and developed
of different customs Miners work In what
| is known as the buddy system. One
miner acts as contractor, as it were, hires
his helpers, buys the tools, powder and
supplies, and Is credited by the company
with the amount of coal which he sends to
the surface or mouth of the pit He and
his employees for they are practically such,
go into and come out of the mine at any
time they see fit; work as long as short
time as they may wish.
To this class of laborers Is attached the
name of miners. The supplies, powder and
other things, are charged to the boss, and
he allows the company to pay his laborers
1t is nothing unusual for the miner, by his
energy and industry, to make a hundred
dollars per month. To be sure, he more
often gets less. But miners are not mate
rally different from other classes of labor.
The sober and Industrious miner makes
good wages; the unreliable and lazy miner
will be paid accordingly, for the compensa-
ton is dependent upon the results, namely,
the amount of coal which comes to the
mouth of the mine. 1t should be recalled
that in addition to the miners there are be-
low ground company men" who en-
gagged in propping up the roof, in laying
new tracks and making repairs to old ones,
boys to drive mules and open and close
doors.
Above ground are the men employed in
the preparation of the coal in the breaker,
drivers of teams, lumbermen, carpenters
and mechanics of various trades. These
strikes. his failure to send up coal stops all
of the work about breaker.
Difficult to Adjust.
Any matter is difficult to adjust in the
anthracite coal regions, If one consider
equity and justice. The thickness Of the
different veins, the friabilty Of the various
Goals the depth and class of haulage, all
vary from colliery to colliery and to fix
a definite price for any service would be
most negotiable and unjust Nevertheless
the demands of the United Mine Workers
appear to be aimed at absolute uniformity
One of the demands in the present difficult
ty is what Is known as the 'eight-hour
day. The position Of the operators in this Is
that 1t would be no advantage to the miner,
but in fact a disadvantage. AS the miner
is paid per car for the coal he sends up 1t
can be easily seen that to the slow, met hod-
ical miner the rule would work a hard
ship. On the other hand, If the hours are
limited, the supply of coal would be limit
ed. This would be expensive, for the COM
panies would be compelled to hire addition
al teamsters and runners, furnish more
mine cars and mules, but with no apprecia-
BILE increase in the coal that would be sent
to the breaker.
Recently some statistics have been pre-
pared from actual observation on the num-
Der of hours that miners, under the present
system, spent underground. 1t was found
that each miner chose to remain at work
about half the time that the breaker was
operated So that If the breaker was
scheduled to work ten hours, the miner
spent about five hours at work.
Some Statistics
Statistics have also recently been made to
show the per hour wage that the miner re-
ceives. In one district the. average was 40
cents per hour; in another 65 cents This
adequately shows the inequality of uni
form price for mining and the relative wage
received. Other mechanics about golfers
receive an. average of about 30 cents per
hour; blacksmiths receive % cents; moIders,
271a cents: plumbers 3D. cents and carmen
ters, 80 cents. Outside men receive 12h to
10 cents per hour; breaker boys get to 10
cents per hour.
OF course, coupled with the eight-hour
demand is the ten-hour pay making a net
increase of twenty-five per cent. The on
orators claim that they cannot afford to nav
the increase and also that it would be- If
granted, no advantage to the miner
The number of hours worked by the en-
ployes of one of the large companies during
1901 was 1885 1881 ten-hour DAYS. If from
this be computed the wages it Will be seen
that the miners are at least fairly we'll
paid. 1t has been said that the extraordi
nary risk that the miner has to run should
De compensated True it is, that he runs
great risk, but in these days all the means
known to science are used for his protec
ton and We'll being-millions of cubic feet
OF air per minute are famed into the
mines; electrical appliances are Installed
throughout, and il is no idle statement 10
say that the hazard is, as a rule, no great
er than IN any factory and machine shop.
Minimum Wage Scale.
Again, the miners demand a minimum,
wage scale. This. the operators claim
means that the miners want assured to
each employee an income per day whether
earned or not. When 1t is considered that
there are conditions varying, that the
veins, are from very thin to very thick
difference in the quality of the veins rock
roof, and amount of refuse, it would seem
that any interference with the present ar