Waterbury Democrat., 1903-01-05
TIE MARKLES' REPLY
Independent Coal Operators
 Submit Statement
HOW MINERS ARE CARED FOR.
Many Years of Uninterrupted Work Until Mitchell Tried to Organize Employees In 19OO-Earn-
 fngs of Contract Men.

fngs of Contract Men. PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 5.-The an l swer of G. B. Markle & Co.,, independ- ent coal operators, to the demands of l the miners was submitted to the an l Shracite strike commission, which as- sembled in this city today. It was | written by John Markle, managing
 partner of the firm. The statement is | in part as follows: .'.' '"The present firm was formed on
 Dec. 80, 1889, for the purpose of min ing coal upon lands held by the firm
 under lease from the Union Improve
 ment company for thirty years from Jan. 1, 1890, and from the Highland Coal company for thirty years from
 Jan. i, 1892 The mines are situated at or near Jeddo. The firm employs about 2,400 men, and many of it's employees reside i'll the villages of Ereeland, about two miles distant, and Hazle- ton, about seven miles distant from Jed do. The lessees erected and own all the improvements upon the property, in cluding breakers, stores, shops and ten ement houses.
 From the time of my first connec- ton with the business in 1880 there have always been resident physician and assistant physicians upon the prop erty until recently, with the exception of a short interval. The firm selected the head physician, who chose his as- sistants, and we collected 75 cents month for the married men and 50 cents month for the single men over twenty-one, and the amount collected was paid over to the physician without charge or deduction therefor. This agreement was not compulsory upon the men or families.
 'Tn the early part of 1898 my wife employed at her own expense trained nurse to look after the sick, and later, when this nurse retired, another nurse from St. Luke's hospital in Bethlehem took her place, who introduced the sys- tenn of district nursing in the borough of Jeddo and in the neighboring will ! lages.
 ''Stores for the sale of general mer chandise and of miners supplies have always been maintained upon the prop. erty and have been and are an accom- modation to the men and their families. The men have never been required to deal there.
 By the terms of the coal leases G. B. MarlSle & Co are required to pay all the taxes upon the property. The taxes paid by the coal operators constitute the largest portion of the taxes col lected in the county" I
 Continuing the answer says slid- ing scale basis of labor had been agreed upon in 1875 and had from that time been generally in force in the Lehigh region In September, 1S97,a a commit tee of miners presented certain de- mands to the firm. An agreement was then in existence between the com pany and men to settle differences by arbitration. The company replied to the demands and received no further communication from the miners. Work at the mines continued uninterrupted until the latter part of 1900, when John Mitchell made his headquarters at Hazleton and endeavored to or ganize the Markle employees.
 In September, 1900, another list of grievances was furnished the firm, the company's answer being that if the men were not satisfied with the reply the officials would be willing to arbi- trate The next communication from the men demanded arbitration, but the committee selected by the employees reported that the latter had broken their agreement with the company by striking before their grievances had been submitted to arbitration.
 Finally on Oct. 27, 1900 a committee of the men appealed to the firm for an adjustment of the differences. This was accomplished, and on Oct. 29 work was resumed at the mines.
 The answer further states:
 Between 1900 and 1902 many re- quests were made for the correction of alleged grievances, which were all talk en up and considered and acted upon, but neither individually nor collective ly, orally CT in writing, did the men make any complaint in reference to the method of collecting the dues for the doctors or the priests, nor was our at tention called to any defect in respect to ventilation or unfair treatment at the store nor as to the size of the cars nor as to the slope cleaning or the dock ing until April, 1902, and we had every reason to believe that, taken as a whole, the nen were entirely satisfied with the conditions of their employ ment.
 "In the course of the hearings at Scranton complaint was made of the size of the cars, but in reality the size has not been changed, as will be proved by the testimony of the builders, who will be produced. It was also alleged that the docking was excessive, but the accountant will testify that it was less than per cent. Objection was also made that the full 10 per cent advance was not given. The manner in which the advance was computed was repeat edly explained to the men, and it will be shown by the expert accountant that 1t was correctly calculated"
 Attached to the answer are several exhibits, one of which is statement showing the earnings of certain con- tract miners during eleven and one