Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1904-03-08
MINERS ARE
UNDECIDED
SITUATION IN IOWA COAL INDUS.
TRY AFTER APRIL I. is
UNKNOWN.
AWAIT WORD FROM EAST
Division Appears Among Iowa Miners
as to Demands to Be Presented at
Meeting of Joint Scale Committee
Operators Are No More Certain.

Des Moines, March .-(Special.)-
Conditions at the Indianapolis con
vention indicate a strike among the
miners of the east in the opinion of
the Iowa operators. This, it seems
probable, will occur even if the con-
vention after a long delay reaches an
agreement and the miners accent the
reduction. This delay will necessarily
come In order to permit the delegates
to the convention to return to their To-
cal unions and receive instructions as
TO what action to take on the propo-
sition. II such a settlement is made
it probably cannot come until after
April l..
In case such asettlement is reach
ed the Iowa operators may ask the
Iowa miners to continue work after
April l at the present scale pending
the result of the eastern negotiations.
In case the miners will not accept
this proposition the Iowa convention
will probably adjourn until.,a decision
is reached at indianapolis.
VI u VI Y N w. H. Powell.
Des Moines, March 7.-(Special.) -
Never since the era of joint agree
ments commenced has there been so
much indecision as to what will be
the situation in the coal industry in
Iowa after April /. The miners and
operators are gathering in Des Moines
for the Joint meeting that will begin
tomorrow and are awaiting anxiously
the developments of that meeting.
Should the Indianapolis convention
end peacefully and the miners of the
east return to work for the next year
there is no doubt but that the Iowa
miners and operators would effect a
settlement on the same basis But in
case the eastern miners strike the sit.
uation In Iowa would be a asdelicate one,
Difference in Opinions. 4,
Until the session of the miners con-
vention this morning it appeared that
the miners of Iowa were united in the
demand for maintaining the present
wage scale practically unchanged.
Should the conservative members of
the miners organization control the
action of that body and ask the re-
newal of the present scale it is possible
that the operators would meet them
half way. On the other hand if the
radical ones should control the de-
mands made in the joint scale COM
mittee, it is possible that the gap would
be widened In short the chance for
and against a strike in Iowa seems to
be about equal.
Differences Discussed.
At the morning session of the min
ers' convention several points of diff
ference appeared, which may be the
cause of trouble in reaching an agree
ment. One was the establishment of
a uniform day wage scale throughout
the state A number of the miners
adjusted so that the miners pay would
be equal in all parts of the state. The
operators contend that the ability Of
the day workmen is not equal in the
various fields of the state. This is a
question that has been threshed over
many times in the joint conventions
and inasmuch as some of the miners
delegates have come to Des Moines
instructed to insist on an equal scale
it will receive attention in the coming
meeting.
Putnam County Complaint.
The miners of Putnam county, Mis-
souri,, complain that under the agree
ment made last spring by the special
subcommittee arranged for by the
convention to settle the affairs of that
district that they have been making 2
cents less per ton than the miners of
Iowa on the north and the miners in
Missouri south of them.
Another resolution which received
attention at the meeting this morning
was one which proposed once day
firing in all of the mines.
In Executive Session.
This morning the miners went into
executive session to consider the
scale which they wish to present at
the meeting of the joint committee to-
morrow.
The miners are awaiting with anxi-
ETY. word from the Indianapolis con-
vention. This morning a telegram was
received stating that all the Iowa del
egates. with the exception of L. p.
Joyce of Des Moines and Harry Baker
of Centerville, had started for home
and when they reach Des Moines the
Iowa miners will be able to act with
judgment.
Operators Meet.
This afternoon at the Kirkwood ho-
tel, the Iowa operators are holding a
yprrYn xETINA rNIInn II