The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-29
TALKS BACK
TO Mr.. BAER
Continued From First Page.

we favor Incorporating in the form of
an agreement, the wages that shall be
paid and the conditions Of employ
ment that shall obtain for a specific
period.
AS to the reasonableness of these
demands we have proposed to submit
to and abide the award Of an impartial
board Of arbitration.
There could be no grosser perver-
sion of truth than the assertion of the
operators that the mine workers union
is a lawless organization"
Mr.. Mitchell argues to show that
the lawlessness is on the other side,
and cites facts in support of his state
ment that the strike was justified.
Inconsistency is Alleged.
"Reverting to the demands Of the
miners for increased wages and i'm
proved environment" Mr.. Mitchell pro-
ceeds, Mr.. Baer claims that he cannot
possibly pay an increase in wages that
would amount to 10 or Is cents per ton
to the miners, but he and the allied
presidents admit that they can afford
to sacrifice, temporarily, a large mar
ket and lose millions Of dollars rather
than pay this increase; nevertheless,
without advancing the miners wages
one cent the operators did raise the
market price last year from 80 to SO
cents per ton and at the present time
Mr.. Baer and his fellow presidents are
forcing the public to pay Sc to $40 ex-
cess upon ton in order to save this
same public 10 or Is cents.
Mr.. Baer states that 40 per cent of
the coal produced is sold in the market
below the cost of mining; but he fails
to say that the larger portion of this
40 per cent is made up of grades Of
coal for which the miners received no
compensation whatever. Indeed, up to
few years ago, or before the installa-
ton of washeries the miners were
locked for loading this very coal which
brings small prices now in the mar
ket; and, according to Mr.. Baer's pro-
cess of reasoning, the miners would re-
ceive less wages for the larger grades
because they mine the small sizes
gratuitouSly.
'The rise in wages in 1900 was more
than counterbalanced by an increase in
the cost of living, which left the miners
worse off than ever before.
MIR. Baer claims that the average
pay per working day in his mines is
$1.89. Admitting, for the sake of argu-
ment, the correctness of his figures,
this would make upon the average
number Of working days in 1901, a
grand annual total Of 1858 per en-
ploye, or an average of sos per week;
SAiCo, eIo o. iCSulI VI IllS Op-
posed and bitterly regretted advance
wrung from the operators by the strike
of 1900, the average adult employee Of
the Reading Coal & Iron company is
permitted to spend upon himself, his
wife and his children the munif1cent
sum of $1.01 per day.
Fighting for the Children.
Involved in this fight are questions
weightier than any question of dollars
and cents. The present miner has had
his day. He has been oppressed and
ground down, but there is another gen.
Grafton coming up, a generation of lit
tie children prematurely doomed to the
whirl Of the mill and the noise and
blackness Of the breaker. 1t is for
these little children we are fighting.
We have not underestimated the
strength of our opponents; we have
not overestimated our own power Of
resistance. Accustomed always to live
upon little, little less is no unendur-
able hardship.
'It was with q quaking of hearts
that we asked for our last pay en-
velopes; but in the grimy and bruised
hand of the miner was the little white
hand of a child, a child like the chill
dren of the rich, and in the heart of the
miner was the Soul-rooted determina-
ton to starve to the last crust of bread
and fight out the long dreary battle to
win life for the child and to secure
for it place in the world in keeping
with advancing civilization"