Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-04-09
HOPE TO GET
SETTLEMENT
BOTH OPERATORS AND MINERS
THINK SCALE WILL BE
SIGNED.
LOSSES FROM lDLENESS
Both the Owners of the Mines and the
Men Waiting for Settlement Are
Losing During the Idle Period-Min.
ers Leaving Iowa for illinois Field.

"Unless the miners have given some
assurance to President Morris that
they will recede from the stand taken
not believe there is any use of going
back to Des Moines next Monday.
am sure the operators do not contem-
plate making any concessions addition
al to those already proposed and turn
ed down by the miners, and feel sure
that some offer to yield a point has
been made by the miners or President
Norris would not consent to call the
joint convention together again"
This is the statement made this
morning by prominent coal operat-
or located at Ottumwa, in answer to
a query os to his opinion of the pros
pect for peaceable settlement OF the.
present mining conditions.
Officials of the district miners union
will not admit that they have agreed
to make any concessions, although it
is known that President White made
the first advances toward again call
ing the joint convention together
when he went to Des NIoines to con-
suit with President Morris of the OPP
Whether he agreed to make any con-.
cessions then is only matter of con-
lecture and there are obvious reasons
why he should refuse to make his Of
fers public had he made any.
Both Sides Want Peace.
There is no doubt that both sides
want to see settlement soon. The
operators are anxious about the condi-
ton of their mines If they are left idle.
Water, cave-ins, and other damage, re-
sulting from idleness will cause more
loss in mine than even continual
ton of the present scale OF wages,
should the suspension of work last
long.
In the meantime the expenses of
keeping men at the mines in order to
keep them in as good repair as posi-
BILE is all dead expense without any
return The longer the suspension
the more this expense will be.
At the same time a great many min
ers do not think long idle period will
do any good. Already several compe-
tent workers have left the Iowa field
for Illinois, where work is going on.
This weakens the Iowa districts mem
hership and is not desirable. All
these, facts taken into consideration
tend to support the hope, expressed by
members of both the miners and oper-
ators' organizations, that the session
of the Joint conference which will be-
gin next week will be short and end
in the signing of an agreement.
The Official Call.
The following official notice of the
joint conference to be held between
the miners and operators in Des
Moines on Monday, has been received
by the local miners:
To all local unions under the jurisdic-
ton of District No. 10, U. M. of A.,
Greeting:
The joint conference of operators
and miners of Iowa and Putnam coun-
ty Missouri, will re-convene in Odd
Fellows hall, in the city of Des Moines,
Iowa, at 2 o'clock p. M, Monday. April
II, 1904.
We earnestly request that all local
unions will elect the same delegates
that were inattendance at the adjourn.
ed session, March 81, 1904, to represent
their respective local unions at the
coming joint conference, inasmuch as
they are fully conversant with the sit
uation confronting us at this time, and
consequently are in position to act
intelligently on the questions that will
come before them.
A full representation is desired. The
officers of the operators will notify
their constituents Of said conference
meeting at the same time as this cir
cular Is issued Attest:
John P. White, President.
Edwin Perry, Secretary Treasurer.