The sun., 1902-11-16

lie said he could not do 10 al present, but
| is having tables prepared that will show
| that He had the scale Of wages paid in
| the Erie mines, however. he said. In a
| general way he was familiar with the
| differences in the scales of wages paid in
| the bituminous and the anthracite fields.
| and he knew that the bituminols mine
workers received almost 50 per cent more
| Mr.. Mitchell explained that he did not want
| Ia he understood a. speaking for contract
! men. He meant those who have a fixed
| rate Of wages.
Mr.. Macyoagh questioned the witness
J concerning remarks that he had made at
times about wages that yielded the Ameri-
! can standard of living He was asked
| what percentage of mine workers are Of
| foreign birth and answered that he did not
! know. He was certain that all Of them
wanted to maintain the Ameriacn sauda ri
OF living. An incom" of $500 n year would
yield a fair standard of living, he thought
MIR. MacNeagh was asked what was the
earning power of the workmen who conn.
here from foreign lands. MIR Mitchell
stood, however, that II was much less than
the wages that are paid here.
Would YOU h" surprised To learn that
IL il onc-thrd less?'
Possibly true"
Would you bc surprised TO learn that
the annual income of miners III foreign lands
is less than slOo?"
Well said Mitchell hcstatngly, Il do
not know"
Mr.. MacNeash wanted To know what
was the average rate of wages paid in the
United States to maintain the American
standard of living.
Mr. Mitchell answered that he did not
know.
so" queried the lawyer, you are abso-
lutely incompetent to inform this commits
sion why We should pay our men $500 a
year each, except for the sentiment al reason
that you have expressed that each man ought
to have s6oN?'
NO, | think not" answered Mitchell,
Il am having tables prepared that will
show what vou ASK | do know that men
much wag's for the same line Of work "a
they are paid ia other places
THE WORK OF BREAKER BOYS.
Mr.. MacVeagh questioned Mr. Mitchell
about the pay of breaker boys. You say
that they ought 10 be paid "A dollar a day
each" he said Il have just askei mes
senger bov here how much he gets and
he answered SIS a month.
Mitchell-That's more than the breaker
boy gets.
Macveagh- But the breaker boy does not
work every day.
Mitchcll-No, but he has TO live every
day.
This caused much laughter.
Mr.. Mitchell intimated that business
that could not pay living wages to liz en-
ployees ought TO go out Of existence.
In connection with IN" statement 10y Mr..
Mitchell that a man To live according to the
American standard must earn at least SEQ
year the witness was asked If he kHe"
the general wage rate that was paid q farm
employees in this country. MIR. Mitchell
answered that he thought that he did. Il
vas higher in the summer and lower in the
winter, and board went with II.
Mr. Mitchell said that he knew that the
rate did not average sGO0 year. He thought
that it would he from eighteen to thirty
dollars q year and board.
Would it surprise you to learn that it
il less than 1872
Il rever heard that il was"
Mr. NcVeagh then took up the matter
Of tNe children TIM, work in the mines and
asked the witness If he did not know that
there are a great many foreign-born people
here who come with the sole purpose Of
amassing enough money to go back home
again. Mitchell answered that he war
aware that there were few such: He
was not aware that some OF the people re-
ferred To send their children early 10 the
mines as 70 amass money that they
might return 70 the old country a. soon as
possible
MITCHELL DoDGEs QUESTIONS. p.
Mr.. NacNeagh then asked Mr Mitchell
how many hours day the contract miner
works Here Is whcro the president If
the United Mine Workers found II necessary
TO dodge plain ur' '.ti.us. He knew that
two-thirds of all the ;ouple in the room
were correctly informed upon this point,
and he did not want TO prejudice the com
miSsioners by making il appear that the
task Of the miner il often easy. HIS first
remark was that the min.r generally worked
a. long a. the breaker did. He added
hastily that no was not IN possession of
sufficient data 10 answer the question a.
fully as ha should The eight-hoir day
was not for coutact mon. Mr. Mitchell said
~Do YOU not know" quoried MacNeagh.
that a contract miner having good cham
Der is seldom found in it after 10 O'Clock
in the morning."
There were several miners in the rear Of
the hall and they laughed so loudly al this
as to interrupt the court. Mr.. Mitchell ,
went on TO explain that the contract miner
goes TO work very early IN IN" morning, and
even If he remained in his chamber only
until 10 O'Clock he had performed quite a
number of hours Of labor.
Would you bc surprised TO learn that
in many instances this man does not come
to work until O'Clock in the morning:"
MIR. MacNeagh added:
Il am not saying this upon my own au-
thority, or from my own knowledge am
now quoting from an official doc Cument,
printed in the Bureau Of Mines for Penn
svlvania in "A report from the First Anthra-
cite District
Mr. Mitchell answered that often men
were cOlnlFlltl 70 NdNt lHe lllllleS very
early because there were not cars enough
available 70 enable them to do a full days
work.
MacVeagh-lf men only did work three
hours day in the mines do you think that
500 year would he too much for them?
Mitchell-lf a man only works three hours
a day in mine | would Say that 500 "A year
would be too much for him, but ! do not
want to be understood a. saying that $500
a year is enough for all classes Of labor in
the mines. The contract work men would
ge' much more than that For vNarlv
wage Of $500, men not contract woTkmen
ought To work at least eight hours n day.
INCREASE ~ PRICE OF COAL.
"You are aware" remarked Mr. MacVcagh,
.that any aivanoe in the price of coal that
YOU force by your demands for more wages
will have to be borne by the consumer
Did you not yourself urge such a course
on the operators il, 1907
Il never saw any operators in 1900"
Mr. Mitchell replied after some sparring
Mr. Mitchell said ne vas aware that part of
the increase granted the men in 1900 would
have TO be borne by the consumer He
said the increase in wages averaged ahou,
5 per cent and the increase ia the price of
coal was much more than that
Mr.. Mitchell VAS asked If ho did not know
that a great many Of the poor in the great
cities have difficulty now in getting means
to buy coal enough to keep them from
freezing. and that any increase of wages
asked w the men would increase the Gur-
dens Of the people whose only fault was that
they were miSeraily poor.