New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-01-11
OPERATORS OPEN CASE.
.Dr KIND TO STRIKERS. :
,,l,c,hanf's Message When Settlement
Has Reached.

nal companies TO present its side of the
-----orersy with the anthracite mine workers
-sed both sessions to-day of the Strike Ar
,-s-ion Commission Three persons appeared
80 the arbitrator on behalf of the com
- They were James H Torrey. of Scran-
- the company's principal counsel in the alb
.e,ce Of David Wilcox the president AM
~sne-al counsel. who Is i'll; Charles c. Rose Of
e--enton superintendent of the mining depart
-,snt Of the company and Abel I Culver. Of
~sw-York controller Of the company Mr.
re-rey outlined the company's case Superin-
,snden1 Rose told Of the conditions in and about
she oorpany's twenty-four colIieries and Con
.-oIler Culver presented the wage statements
and other statistics having q bearing on the
issues before the commission.
Chairman Gray. who is III was unable TO be
present. and General Wilson again presided
Commissioner E ". Parker was absent from
the afternoon. session. having been called TO his
bone in Washington by private business
Mr.. Torrey's statement was in part as fol-
lows.
FIRST company 10 enter upon tho business Of rninna;
and transporting out Of the State its anthracite
the beginning of the 1900 strike the relations be-
rween The company and is employees had been
friendly and harmonious and that the Inception Of
Tela1fons was coincdent vim fla e 4 i Ine s
Nine Workers.
With almost infinite labor and pains and by the
aid Of an army Of clerks and accountants q vast
array Of Information has been accumulated for the
use q Tie COMMISSION Win reference TO the
wages and conditions Of employment of our en-
testimony which viii be offered il win be demon
sra1e6 that there is no merit il the first demand
ing the year Of 1891 TO employees performing con-
tract work 1t viii be SHOWN that both the rates
paid and The annual earnings upon this kind OF
work are larger than paid in the bituminous
coal nelcs Tor similar work and the wages paid for
occupations recurring skill and training
We are satisfied the commission viii find there
Is no manual employment requiring so little train
ing OF skill the exposure to little risk OF health
% +1 1890 Sib OF 50 s4ll portion
pensaUed il wages The work Of the anthracite
the employment Is not extra hazardous. and is
more thsn eTain 1sT neaItnfu ~ We shall show
been material advance in the cost of living. We
snail negative the unsupported claim that the chill
age by submitting list Of our employees whose
parents. which average about S54o.
To the second demand Tor an eight hour day for
company men the evidence which has 1lready
been outlined will TO large extent apply In
VIII show that even during the period when coal
was most in demand and the collieries were oper-
~ <7- res sons naTfv due 70 TIE voluntary action
Of the men and partly To causes beyond the con-
trol either OF the company or the men
the weighing OF coal and the payment by the ton
for mining we shall show tnat for many years this
company mas PAID az some o. Us mines oy Welght
and at Others by the car We shall show the
-eight ard Der car and that q practical uniform
Try OF wages results from both systems We shall
ex thar either system was unfair or resulted in
inadeQuate or unequal remuneration for the labor
actually performed
Mr.. Rose took the stand when Mr.. Torrey
finished Under examination by Mr.. Torrey, he
said that the company required the men 10 load
from , 80 TO 2 $50 hundredweight TO car. that
the size OF mine cars differed at various col
Iieries and that the prices paid the men varied
with the size Of the cars He ended his direct
testimony by reading letter he received from
the president Of the company, R NJ Olyphant,
al the close Of the strike Il was as follows:
The strike is ended Now to sum up;
FIrst-Ns are 10 stand by the men who nave
erance Of language OF threats 70 others In other
W9rcs = they g are 1eyliec, S SeEIle not again
Second-Neke allowances. so far as possible, for
on their return Give a good welcome They are
not al bad who are misled-
~ once a fair selection should be made.
- I've besI 13fi+T IF crsTe a-not be employed
FTfthzYou Should instruct your foremen 70 act
good viii and re-establish kindly feelings toward
the men under them
On cross-exanination by C s Darrow. for the
miners MI Rose said that before the 1900 strike
the contract miners earned from $3.50 70 sou
= year. He thought that 5000 TO $3.50 year
received as q result Of the 1900 strike the wages
the mine workers now received We're reasona-
BILE He said that eight hours a day was fair
He thought that the hours of the hrenen, who
work twelve hours day and twenty-four hours
every other Sunday. were fair. and added that
the position was much sought He would nx
the minimum age limit for boys working in and
about The mines at eighteen years
The commissioners asked Mr.. Rose many
questions in reply to some Of which he said
that since the union entered the field the COM
panv was having trouble IN getting an honest
topping On its mine cars In reply TO Mr.
Mitchell he said that the men were not load
ing as much coal now as they did before the
1900 strike.
You have the power to dock them. haven't
you2" asked Mr.. Mitchell
We have. but we don't fully exercise it.
was the reply.
When Mr. Culver took the witness stand he
first presented two large volumes which con-
tained 2 complete CODY of the payrolls Of the
company He explained great length Wnlcn
figures were accurate and indicated DINERS
which were practically correct but 10 Whlch Ne
could not certify. because the company had 10
gather them from sources other than its own
books
csntage of men receiving certain wages ms
showed that 8 per cent OF the company 5 men
were receiving more tf1sn ls eeo6 - 5000
Der cenr 500 TO $500. ID per cent S6Uo 70 S4p'
10 r,er cent $500 10 5000. 10 per cent S4Oo TO
$500 . Der cent $500 10 500. per cent S-oo 70
s900 - DC y,er cent received less than SZUD-
TIE coraynission requested the Information III
This form but Mr. Culver protested that IL was
nor a fair statement unless il was accompanied
nv q . HE showing how many days the men
worked. For instance, those who earned less
thar 500 a year worked on an average OF ABOUT
half a month in the entire year 60,
II odd 70