The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-26
MINERS FINAL EFFORT TODAY Conference Will Be Re-
 sumed. NO CHANGE IS INDICATED Question as to Breaking Districts
 Important. Western Pennsylvania Operators Are Ready to Meet Scale Demand,
 But ohio, Indiana and
 Illinois Hold Out.


 minous coal operators and miners Of the central competitive and southwest ern districts will make a final effort tomorrow to come to a decision as to whether a wage scale to go into effect April can be agreed upon. The joint scale committees of the joint confer ences of the two districts will resume their sessions tomorrow morning after a deadlock lasting five days. during which there has been no indication Of a weakening of either side.
 The miners demand an advance in wages of 5.55 per cent, which Is the restoration of the wage scale of 1903, Mir. F. I. Robbins, speaking for the op- orators of Western Pennsylvania, has offered to pay this advance and has threatened the operators of Ohio. In- diana and Illinois, who are standing firmly against the payment of any ad- vance that unless they recede from the position he will break away from their interstate agreement and run his mines on the advanced scale. Whether the miners will agree to sign by districts and allow the mines of Western Penn sylvania to run while those oftIllinois, Indiana and Ohio stand Idle is ia ques- ton that has not haen openly settled.
 President Mitchell and other leaders of the miners refuse to make any statement on this subject or even to indicate what their position will be should the situation demand a specific declaration.
 It is undecided whether the miners in convention would ratify any such agreement even if made by the National officers.
 The situation here has not changed since the joint scale committee ad- journed over Sunday.
 The miners who are waiting to meet l.. G0~ t4e and in national convention to ratify the action of the joint conference, or in case of a strike to take any neces- sary action toward providing ways and means toward maintaining 1t spent the day quitely no meetings were held.
 Indications point to disagreement of the two joint committees tomorrow and the probable calling together of the joint conference tomorrow after noon when the fight over the wage scale will be continued publicly and not behind closed doors as the sessions of the joint committees have been held.
 Statement of Anthracite Operators.
 New York. March. 25.-The anthra- city coal operators gave out a state ment today in which they say:
 Much inquiry has been made as to the precise calculation by which the anthracite coal operators establish the fact that in order to grant the de- mands made by the coal miners it will be necessary to raise the price charged the consumer by $1.20 ton. The de- mands 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 a mini- mum day wage for each class of labor This minimum day wage. in many in- stances is 100 per cent greater than the rates now being paid.
 "a The establishment of an eight hour day instead of a nine hour day without any reduction in days pay
 By careful calculation from the pay rolls of the operating companies the effect Of these three increases is to add an average of 2l.64 per cent to tho actual labor cost per ton of coal. This Is equal at the present labor cost of $1.55 to an increase of 33.6S cents per ton on all sizes of coal which are min ed.
 Tt must be understood, however, that the so-called steam sizes of an-, thracite-which are a by-product of the industry-come into direct compe- tition with bituminous coal and must therefore be sold for price regulated by soft coal. The result is that all the added labor cost of the entire in- dustry must be borne by the domestic sizes. which comprises 65 per cent of the entire output.
 This ia exactly the same principle that holds good in other manufactur- ing industries as, for instance, in the grain or milling business. Wheat at present costs about eighty eight cents per bushel After this wheat is milled 31 per cent of the product sells for a price Al per cent less than the actual cost of the wheat before milling, 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 do- mestic slzes--a fact against which there can be no appeal-brings 1t about that the labor cost of each ton of coal sold to the domestic consumer would be raised under the new demands by 51.S cents a ton.
 The general public asks: Why should not the addition of 51S cents to the market 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 Ac- cording to the sliding scale. the pres ent flat rate of wages must be paid for every ton of coal sold at Tide water for $4:5O Every five cents in- crease on this market price Of coal un- der 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 additional price the miners employed by the Le- high Valley Coal Company for in- stance. must receive 2.9 cents and the operators 2.1 cents
 .It is thus apparent that If the mar ket price of coal should be increased fifty cents, the operator would receive only twenty-one cents to recoup him for the SIS cents added labor cost per ion before the increase began.
 Tt becomes necessary, therefore. to push up the price of coal until the net share of the operator is sufficient to pay the 51:S cents. It will be un- derstood that the miners wages in- crease with every advance in the mar ket price. But the operator must se- cure a sufficient net Increase to equal ize the net increase paid to the miner. This equalization is reached. accord ing to the figures of the Lehigh Valley