Evening journal., 1903-02-13


next three years: that from the 1st Of
November TO the 1st OF April, 1903. all
employees, other than contract miners.
shall be paid an additional s per cent.
That on and after April 1. 1903. for
each five cents in excess of the $4.50
per ton on the average price realized
for white ash coal in the harbor Of
New York, on all sizes above pea,
wages shall be advanced 1 per cent;
the wages to rise or fall ! per cent
for each five cents increase or de-
crease in prices; but they shall never
fall during the next three years below
the present basis.
The average price for each region
to be ascertained by competent ac-
countant to be appointed by Judge
Gray. chairman of the commission. or,
in case, for any reason, Judge Gray
cannot act, then by one of the United
States circuit court judges holding
courts in the city of Philadelphia The
compensation OF the accountant to be
fixed by the judge making the ap-
pointment, and to be paid by the ope--
ators in proportion to the tonnage
! each mines; each operator to submit
a full statement each month TO said
accountant of all sales of white ash
coal, and the prices realized there
from, (. o. b., New York, with the right
of the accountant to have access to
the books to verify the statement.
Mr.. Darrows Speech.
Mr.. barrow, in opening. made a
complimentary reference to the pa
tience of the commission, reviewed
the strike and all the sufferings it en-
tanned, and said: Il shall apologize Cor
none of the mistakes of the men, but
I do say it does not come from their
accusers to call them criminals"
He went on to tell of the operators
refusal to give the men more money,
and said: "As a consequence of this
act. 1900 men lay down their tools
Of trade. and we have seen 100000
men, women and children reduced to
want and starvation for six long
months. We have seen the president
of the United States appoint this com
mission to settle this difficulty, and
then, in the last hour of this proceed
ing, the man more responsible than
any other comes before this com
mission and says we will do exactly
that which these men demanded nine
months before, and which they, in their
] ufrr
pidity, refused. Why did not Mr.. Baer
go to John Mitchell nine months ago
as he came to this commission today?"
you can do just as you please about
recognizing the union. If you do not
recognize it, it is because you are blind
and you want to bump up against it
1 some more that is ALL 1t is here to
/ stay, and the burden is on you, and
not upon us. There is neither the pow
er nor the disposition in this court,
I take it. to destroy the union. And
II these agents of the Almighty can
not see the union, they had better
blunder along still few more years,
and possibly after while they viii know
it is here and recognize it themselves"
Passing to the wage statements hand
ed to the commission, Mr.. Darrow said
the operators have been deceived by
their own accountant, and that when
Mr. Baer informed the senator of this
state, the president of the United
States and the commission of how
much wages his men were getting. he
gave them information at least 80 or 40
or so per cent. beyond any facts that
really existed
IF, at the end of all this time and
labor, he is willing TO give us or 10
per cent. upon the figures that he says
correctly represent our earnings" Mr.
lDarrow said. I'VE will be very glad,
indeed, to take it. From the begin
ming of this strike until the end, what
lever you may say about whether the
miners knew what they we're getting
OF not, these operators have never Civ
en- out a correct figure OF made a state
ment that would stand the light Of day
for a single moment when they talked
to the public"
Counsel then spoke of the skill re-
quired by the anthracite miner and the
dangerousness of the occupation. lie
brought in review the crippled and
blind miners who took the witness
stand and called the commissions at
tention to the fact that six out of
every thousand are killed in the mines
each year. Il have had a computation
made" he said. covering every COM
pany that has fled schedules with this
commission, and in Mr.. Baer's COM
pany only about a third of them got
over S400 in the year 1901.
"Only "a per cent. of all the Read
ing's skilled workingmen,' he said,
get 5000 a year. per cent. get be-
tween $500 and 5000, and So per cent
Of all the men who appear on the pay
roll as contract miners get less than
$500 a year OF these So per cent. a
large number worked only a small
fraction of the year"
Mr.. Darrow then analyzed the state
ments of the other companies. and