The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-08-14

ferson counties. All our labor Is union
labor. We employ at Brookwood 220, at
Searles 216, at Mary Lee 122-tota1 SOS; at
the other two mines about 100 others.
(These two are the Milldale and Hewett)
The total daily production in all these
mines Is about 1900 tons.
Colonel Bush read a long statement, in
which he set forth why he thought min
ers' demands should not be granted and
why operators contentious should be al
lowed.
He spoke first of the number of days
on which the miners should work, during
each month. For an example re used ten
white men at Brookwood from July H.
1902. to June go 1908. They worked total
of 2240 days making an average of 24
days per man. Leaving out four holidays
| there were 293 days on which the men
might have worked. The ten men earned
s6O96.27. or about $609.63 each. an average
of $2.72 per day per man. Powder, OIL
tool sharpening, etc, came TO $40 per
man for the period.
Ten colored spiners at the same mine
| and under the same conditions worked
/ an average of PIG days taking out 1919
tons of coal and receiving s5466oi or an
average of $4,000 each. They worked an
| average of eighteen days each and earned
an average wage of $2.5f.
Colonel Bush gave long list of figures
bearing on the earnings of the men and
| the average of days worked at the va
| riouS mines.
Take Recess.
At 1890 a recess was taken for lunch
| con. At 40 the commission reeonvened
and Colonel Bush resumed his testimony
| The average of the gross earnings OF
| all the men at the mine Is $3.50 per day.
! These men earned 100000 but they might
have earned 1888. 600 IL they had worked all
| the 20S days the mine was open. The
| stoppages were 401s days on account of
| the men. The company's time loss was
| 21s days. The men mined on the day be-
| fore pay day 500 tons. On pay day moth
! ing; on the day after pay day 421 tons;
! an average loss of about IS per cent.
| 1t is harder for a man to work the same
number of days in small seams as In large
seams. I don't think miners could work
six days a week in narrow seams l would
be satisfied with twenty-one days In mar
row seams. In a 3O-inch seam the height
of the room is "a to SO inches. Men in wide
seams should work twenty-four days
| In rooms with 2S-inch seam, the S8-inch
| height of the room is only at the road
way. These rooms are about 30 feet wide
and extend back from entry all the way
| from from 100 to $50 feet. The small tom
mage in our mines is due to poor miners.
Farley and Flynn.
II they were all as good as Mr.. Farley
and Mr.. Flynn the tonnage would be 20
! per cent greater. The practical men are
! in a great minority.
In the Pratt mines conditions are Diff
ferent. There, there IL a surplussage Of
labor, and many good men. These are
| favorite mines. They are near the city.
| At Brookwood mines, so per cent Of the
men are colored. Most Of the other men
are natives of the district and green men.
We charge the men 81 to $1.@ month
per room for their houses; so cents
month for water; 1t Is carried into the
houses. We have good schools. good hos
pitfalls with all modern appliances, and
four churches. We look after any de-
felt in the school and church salaries.
Colonel Bush went at considerable
| length into statistics concerning the va
rious mines of his company, but the
Broolwood mine will serve as a good ex-
ample Of all as the conditions and fig
ures were practically the same.
Facts Have Bearing.
These facts have bearing on the
question as to whether the men are re-
ceiving fair wages and whether they
are taking advantage of their oppor-
tunities. What is a fair wage In this
state should be predicated on prevailing
conditions. For the year 1899, taking Pratt
as q DuSlS, where the men TecelNcu oo
cents The men at Brookwood received
571R cents, and at Lewisburg 47A cents.
In 1900 they got 80 cents at Lewisburg
and In 1901, SPY cents. In 1902 they re-
ceived So cents. take 1t that Mr.. Flynn's
list is introduced with his statement to
| show that there have been advances In
| other parts of the country-Kentucky and
| Tennessee are left out. Those states are
our competitors and should be shown.
/
on the Pratt seam basis. In all the high
| priced states the average Is only GO
cents. II you take every Alabama mine
| the average is 50 cents. Taking the Pratt
| seam at So cents as a basis, the Jellico
and Coal Creek mines have advanced 10
per cent. The Kentucky mines advanced
10 per cent also.
Jellico seam is four to five feet thick.
| The Coal Creek seam is three and one
| half to four feet thick. The Jellico
scale Is fifty-five cents fiat. The Coal
Creek scale is fifty cents fiat The Ken
| lucky scale is flfty-one cents.
| In the Illinois districts over five feet
| the scale is fifty-hve cents. under fye
| feet II is sixty cents. Districts one and
| eight of Illinois are very thin and have
| little to do with other districts, so | have
disregarded them. They are not perth
| nent as conditions are not similar. In
| making a comparison ] want to call at
| tention to the fact that for a long time
| these kentucky and Tennessee mines
were getting ten to twelve per cent less
than at present, but at the same time the
Alabama miners were getting hfty-two
and one-half. BY the sliding scale the
miners wages have gone up easily and
smoothly. Miners wages were for sew
eral years at a minimum because the
price of iron was at bottom figures.
Comparative Tables.
Col Bush here offers his comparative
tables, and offers another table showing
fluctuations i'm miners scale which
shows that In four years there have been
paid in this district to the miners over
| and above the thirty-seven and one-half
| cents minimum between eight and nine
million Of dollars The total tonnage
during these years was about 35O0OO00.
This includes Walker. Winston and Mar
ion counties. and the coal mined by con-
| victs.
| The question as TO an increase Of maxi
mum and minimum In wage-scale or de-
crease of minimum has been raised. 1t
| has been explained that forty to fifty
per cent of the coal mined in this dis
trict goes into coke. The remainder Is
for steam and domestic uses. The rail-
roads pay arbitrary prices for their coal
The railroads can dictate prices. II you