The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-10
PAY OF THE MINERS
DAvID wILLCox WRITES TO JOHN
 ~ MTTCHELL.
shows How Anthracite Workers hAVe
 Profited Ny the AwaIa ,osse Sa strike CommiasfOn of lsV@.

Naw York. Feb. s.--President DaVio wiucox. of the Delaware and H""soi' comnanv today made public the text of the letter which he wrote eo S
 Mitchell. president of the uniteo "'AS vorkers of America, concerning eon ference between the mine workers aae s.s the operators to discuss tn ,e.ssr Question. Accompanying the lettsl' Ssr vviItcox issued a formal statement ir 1vhich he declared that erroneous statements regarding the letter nave Saar n,,hlished based on miscohcep- t,on hoth of it's character ana 's
 Tha text of MT. wiileoxs which IS dated February 3. follows; .. "a
 "Further referring to your .s1s s,eb myself, dated December ~, Asvss sa T hss heen heretofore acknowIedseo, ,,.aarstana that the 18th inst. has peeh s,l~rested as the date of the conieren,es rronoaed therein. accordingly wIi.e tn sav that this will be agreeaoie Lo ,' ,os if seems appropriate also 70 san attantion to the situation Tn the an
 thraeite territory arising rom she .~S naos that practically all matters ntVo,ySU r,s,- have already been the sun1ect oi
 tration. s .ha striIxe in .ono Tn the anthracite regions ny tns ~, a,.hr,ission to arbitration Tn when s,, ,, nartIes- joined, 1t was provided .nal M asi pp..asttons at Issue between the re
 1,aective companies and their own eM- o,oves should be decided by the a al- tbr.cite strike comntssion' cs.,.
 inglv you appeared before tne. a eos',,,. ,sre. ice in behalf of the enaploSss anu P's
 srnted to 1t all such questions. o,.- s1sna conmission found that the aV-
 .oera hours actually worked per uay' S,d not exceed six for the miners; anu uia 0i,,. t sos line other employees. and the Y.resent conditions are supstahtlaiIs the saTSe. In the case of the peiaWale \. 2 and Hudson Company, dprihg i9oS' a,. .nr averaxe number of hours wotheo pea day by the employees othets.'ian a.a ss.s s.s. n,jners. was 7,246 hours, or an aVsraee ' ahout seven and one quarter hours per dsv. inc average number or houIs ,s orked per day by the miners. was e es6 hours. or an average or slisnuS over six and one half hours per oay. Anv Suggestion of an eight-hour aay, for the employees by the day. does no. therefore look to elimination or a'noS. nar. honrs of Iabor--aS they do not now a,,era~e eight hours per day-put yrereiv to a change of wages py tn- creasinC the present hours so as to aa- vance wages 12.5 per cent above tnis standard fixed by the strike commit tee This advance would amount ap' nroximateIy to cents per ton or Cosi' or on the entire product about $4'SVV'- GOO per annum. cu1
 ,..such an increase would tend to ad- vance the price of coal to consumers If would also naturally lead ultimate lv to the miners working elgnt houIs ner day instead of less than seven, as at present, so as to make uniform work day for all and thus promote efficiency in production. on the otne' hand if the working hours of the preak- CTS were in fact actually all reouoSu' " earnings of the miners because the breakers could not receive and hahale as much coal as at present.
 sSrhe commission awarded an adVahce In wages of 10 per cent. for miners ana n a per cent. for the other employees effective November 1, 1902. Thls ad- vance was absolute and was based on the finding of s4 50 per ton or the pre- nared sizes as the minimum tidewater nrices Drevailing. In addition the com- mission awarded that the wages should be stiu further advanced per cent. with each rise of cents in the price of the prepared sizes of coal. The min- imnm price of coal on which the wages are based is higher than that prevail ing before the award was made ana as that price advances the wages increases at the rate fixed by the commission.
 The schedule hereto attached shows that the rates of wages thus fixed by inc commission exceed very greatly those now prevailing in the bituminous industry of Pennsylvania, The com mission also disposed of by its award all matters brought before it. and, among other things. decided with great viRor that the industry must remain open to all seeking employment re-