The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-03-26
WHY ANTHRACITE
 MUST BE RAISED Operators Explain How lt Will
 be Inevitable DOMESTIC USERS SUFFER By Granting the Demands Made by the Miners the Price of Coal Will Be Increased $12o
 Per Ton.
DOMESTIC USERS SUFFER

New York, March 25.-The anthracite coal operators gave out statement to- day in which they say;
 Much Inquiry has been made as to the precise calculation by which the an- thracite coal operators establish the fact that in order to grant the demands made by the coal miners 1t will be necessary by $20 a ton. The demands of the miners provide for three-fold increase of wages;
 "One-An increase of 10 per cent. to all miners engaged in cutting coal or other men engaged on contract work.
 "2-The establishment of minimum day wage scale for each class of labor. This minimum day wage, in many in- stances is 100 per cent. greater than the rates now being paid.
 "3-The establishment of eight-hour day instead of a nine-hour day without any reduction in a days pay.
 By careful calculation from the pay rolls of the operating companies the eff feet of these three increases is to add an average OI Ai.Dt per Ntll. Ab AiA0 oSNNieei labor cost per ton of coal This is equal at the present labor cost of $1.55 to an increase of 3S.6s cents per ton on all sizes of coal which are mined.
 Domestic Consumer Must Suffer.
 Tt must be understood however. that the so-ealled steam sizes of anthracite which are a bi-product of the industry come into direct competition with bitu- mnous coal and must therefore be sold for a price regulated by soft coal The result is that all the added labor cost of the entire industry must be borne by the Domestic sizes. which comprises @ per cent. of the entire output.
 "'This is exactly the same principle that holds good in other manufacturing indus tries as. for instance, in the grain or milling business. Wheat present costs about sS cents per bushel. After this wheat is milled 3l per cent. of the product sells for a price Al per cent less than the actual cost of the wheat before mill ing and the cost of the flour, or main product, has to be increased accordingly to make up for this loss. It is the same with anthracite coal
 This placing the burden on the domes- tic sizes-a fact against which there can he no appeal-brngs about that labor cost of each ton of coal sold the domestic consumer would be raised under the new demands by 51S cents ton.
 Affected by Sliding Scale.
 "The general public asks: Why would not the addition of 51.S cents to the mar ket price regain the entire extra outlay of the operator?' This query ignores one of the important awards of the Roosevelt arbitration board, viz: The sliding scale According to the sliding scale, the pres ent flat rate of wages must be paid for every ton of coal sold at tide-water for s45O. Every five cents increase on this market price of coal under the sliding scale adds one per cent. to the wages of every class of. labor. The significance of this is that out of every five cents of ad- ditonal price the miners employed by the Lehigh Valley Coal Company for in- stance, must receive 20 cents and the operator 21 cents.
 Ut is thus apparent that if the market price of coal should be increased 90 cents, the operator would receive only 21 cents to reeoup him for the 51.S cents added labor cost per ton before the increase began
 "It becomes necessary therefore to push up the price of coal until the net share of the operator is sufficient to pay the 51S cents. It will be understood that the miners wages increase with every ad- vance in the market price. But the oper- ator must secure a sufficient net increase to equalize the net increase paid to the miner. This equalization is reached ac- cordng to the figures of the Lehigh Val ley Coal Company, at about $1,20. Some of the companies estimate the raise at a little less some at a little more, but the principle is always the same.