The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-03-27
Cancellation Board
Has Brought Peace
AND on PLAN oEcoh
TlaoUsA RsfTR8 oNEsTks LIsHEp ~ RoosENEA
coM6aSs 85

Unique an,ohg the aystltdsI. 1T 81 \ tn 9!
4ooseselt Anthracite coal Commits lI-
sioniof 500 was the estab lIshmenltt ~
Board 81 copcllta alton Court
81 Appeals for the entit mining dis.
t3trict this board consisting Of three
men representing operators and three
Tor the miners has for three years
lsbeen settling questions Of great IN
ItIieacy and importance: The Board
has been unusually uccessful but
1.-THE miners now demand that It's con.
stItatlon be changed.
Controversies Of deep human inter.
est haye come before this Board. Take
1.-The case Of Thomas r. Kennedy, en-.
gineeg Of Carbonate, When the big
strike Of 1902 was ordered, he stuck
10 his post Besides beiAg a miner,
he was a member Of the Mozart Band
and Orchestra Of CarbOndale, and for
fifteen years had increased his earn;
ings some $50 a month by his musical
ability Though a member in good
standing Of the Musicians Union, he
was expelled and boyyotted and this
revenue taken from him, at the insti.
cation he says, Of the Mine Workers
and because he had failed TO go out
on strike
II was small matter, the little ex'
ira income Tom Kennedy, of Carbon,
dale, might make in footing a horn
with the Mozart Band, yet he had no
,hesitancy in presenting his case to
the commission. 1t received due and
proper consideration, Just as Il the
points at issue had meant thousands
OF dollars to petitioner or respondent.
So the Board has gone through the
entire gamut Of forces at play in the
mining regions. The discharge Of
an employee. failure Of another 70 SO.
cure reinstatement a company asking
more for coal than employees ccnsld;
er fair to pay, tho method Of paying
check weighmen. discrimination in
prices paid contract miners, suspen'
sion Of contract miners for dirty
.coal,s overtime for drivers, making
the pay day a half holiday. strikes for
one cause or another; these and
scores of other matters, great and
small, come before the Board for ad.
justment.
A case, typical Of many. was inyolv-
ed in a complaint By the Local Union
Of Dunmore to the effect that while
Tor years it had been the custom at
two collieries of the Pennsylvania
Coal Company to lay the road in the
center Of the chamber, the plan had
been changed. so that the road was
constructed along one side Of the
chamber, necessitating, as the miners
said, extra handling Of coal to an ex.
tent that would require q third more
labor in getting out ton Of coal.
The company, on the other hand,
set UP the fact that, owing to the mar.
rowing Of the chambers. the average
cast q the coal by the miner was only
a foot more than before. while this
disadvantage was more than made up
in other ways. Here was a condition
arising out Of a joint desire to increase
Sthe working value Of the plant. The
miners complained, properly enough
from their standpoint, perhaps having
considered the case from one angle
only. The aims and limitations Of the
Anthracite Coal Strike Commission and
the Board Of Cancellation were en-
phaslsed in the opinion Of the umpire,
Hon. Carroll D. Wright.
mo body OF men" said he, could
take up and justly pass upon the ya,
ried aid interminIable physlcial dlf'
ferences in the anthracite coal re.
gions whereby a greater or q less
amount OF bodily fatigue, or q more
or les intense muscular exerdon was
required to produce certain given re-
suits, New conditions are constantly
arising in the coal mining industry,
TO undertake to adjust mpensation
relative to these conditions would be
an impossibility. 1t would involve the
Temperament, phylcIal capacity, am,