Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-26
SUGGESTIVE ACTIONS
BIG STRIKE INDICATED BY
PLANS En- COAL REGION.

A dispatch from Mahanoy City. Pa. last
night says: Mine foremen in the Schuylkill
region have received orders to hurry up
the measurements in all inside work, SO as
to have them completed by next Saturday.
This is taken as an indication that the an
thracite companies expect a general cessa-
ton of operations after March 81. 1t is
said the bosses have instructions to be pre-
pared to hoist the mules from the mines in
the event of settlement not being reached
by that date.
AT scranton Pa, rumor spread about
the city, apparently on the word of mine
superintendent, that unless an agreement is
reached with the miners before April i Che
mines will be shut down on April . Sew
eral of the superintendent of the coal
companies, who were asked concerning the
truth of the rumor, declared that they knew
nothing about it.
At Indianapolis the bituminous coal opera
tors and, miners of the central competitive
and the southern districts will make a
fnal effort today to come to decision as
to whether wage scale, to go into effect
on April. ], can be agreed The joint
scale committees of the joint conferences
of the two districts will resume their Ses-
sions tomorrow morning after a deadlock
lasting FIVE days, during which there has
been no indication of weakening of
either side. Indications point to disagree
iiicHt VI tie Two JOINT committees. ana JnS
probable calling together of the joint con-
ference this afternoon, when the fight over
the wage scale will be continued publicly.
Demands Mean Increase of Prices.
The anthracite coal operators in state
ment given out in New York yesterday, esti-
mate that in order to grant the pending
demands of the miners it will be necessary
to raise the price of coal to domestic con-
sumers by $1.20 a ton. The operators reach
this conclusion by the following reasoning:
The effect of the increases In wages
asked is to add an average of 21.64 per
cent to the actual labor cost per ton of
coal This is equal, at the present labor
cost of $1.55, to an increase of 81. IS cents
per ton on all sizes of coal which are mined.
The sO-called steam sizes of anthracite
come into direct competition with bitumi-
nous 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 do
nestle sizes, which cimprise IS per cent of
the entire output. This placing the burden
on the domestic sizes 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 would
not the addition of SIS 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 arbi-
tration board. viz, the sliding scale Ac-
cording to the sliding scale, the present
fiat rate OF wages must be paid for every
ton of coal sold at tide water for $3.50
Every cents increase on this market
price of coal, under the sliding scale adds
l per cent to the wages of every class of
labor. The significance of this is that out
of every cents of additional price the
miners employed by the I.ehigh Valley Coal
Company, for instance, must receive 20
cents and the operator 81 cents. 1t becomes
necessary, therefore, to push up the price
of coal until the net share of the operator
is sufficient to pay the SIS cents This
equalization is reached at about 81 20 Some
of the companies estimate the raise at lit
tie less, some at little more"