The Oskaloosa herald., 1903-01-01
MUST WORK
Operators Will Insist on Reg
ulating Holidays.

pes Moines, Dec. 3O,-The situation
In the Iowa coal fields during the past
week has strengthened the determine
ton Of the operators to insist upon
some marked concessions at the joint
conference in March to determine a
lnew scale Of prices for mining coal
during the year commencing April 1,
1903.
The point the operators will insist
upon will be the provision Of a penalty
to be inflicted for failure Of miners
to work. This point has been under
consideration since the meeting of the
operators in Des Moines last month,
but the past week has made them
more determined than eyer to insist
upon it,
With a coal famine staring the peo-
ple of the state in the face and with
practically every mine in Iowa from
a week to two weeks behind orders,
a large majority of the miners Of the
state, instead of returning to work
Friday after their Christmas holiday,
remained out Of the mines until yes
terday morning. Most Of them, 1t is
claimed, quit Wednesday at moo and
were out three and a half days. In
some instances it is claimed they were
paid Wednesday with the understand
ing that they would return to work
Friday, but failed to keep their prom
Uses.
Des Moines operators claim that
where $500 men should have been
working in the mines Friday and Sat-
urday, not to exceed 400 were at work.
One operator who employs 125 miners
says that he had only seven men at
work Friday and Saturday. He kept
the mine going for the sake of the
coal the seven men were getting out
and to keep air and water out, but
says that the coal cost him about three
times the price he got for it. Other
operators tell the same stories. They
say the refusal of the men to work
during the holiday week, with the
state swept by cold wave and the
visible supply at the vanishing point,
has made the coal situation in the
state worse than it has been in years
and they express doubt if they will be
able to get back into touch with their
trade for three weeks to come. 1t is
charged that the failure of the miners
to work will n~ecessitate shipments of
coal into the state from Illinois and
has cost the operators thousands of
dollars.
The only penalty now is the privi-
lege given the operators to discharge
men who fail to continue at work.
The operators say that they cannot
avail themselves of this because they
need the miners too badly and that
the miners, realizing this, lay off
when they see fit. They claim that
officers of the union admit the just
ness of their complaint, but say they
are helpless to compel the men to
remain at work.
Two plans have been suggested to
cure this evil. One is that the new
agreement shall contain a clause pen
alizing the local union. for every half
day its members lose except where a
good and sufficient excuse exists, and
another is that the agreement permit
the companies to withhold portions Of
the wages of the miners to provide a
fund against which they may present
a claim for failure to work without
leave of absence and that the amount
Of his award shall be adjudicated by
the executive committees of the two
organizations.
The operators contend that the loss
of time is the greatest evil they have
to contend with and will insist that
some adequate remedy for 1t be pro-
vided.
1t is generally conceded that the
miners at the joint conference will
make a demand for an increase in
wages. 1t is expected that a mini
mum scale of 81 a ton for screened
coal in the central and southern por-
lions of the state will be asked for.
There is a feeling that this demand
win have to be conceded for the rea-
son that many of the operators dur
ing the rush of business of the past
few months have voluntarily paid this
amount as an inducement to the
miners to work for them and are still
paying it and in mines where the
price is but so cents.
There is little probability though
that this advance will be granted un-
til the miners make concessions for
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