The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-15
DEALERS GUARD COAL SUPPLY
PRICES ARE STEADY, BUT DE-
LIVERIES ARE CUT DOWN.

Customers Are Unable to Get All They
Order-Mitchen caves for Indian
apolIs to Meet Executive Committee
Soft Coal Men Angry At Miners.
President Mitchell Of the United Min
Workers left for indianapolis early yester-
day evening to attend the convention OF
the national executive committee OF the
mine workers, which begins at Indianapolis
on Tuesday. There he will be Joined by
the presidents and secretaries OF the'three
| anthracite districts and the ation officers
Of the union.
Mitchell would not cay when he expected
to be back. He was asked II the national
executive committee or the three district
presidents with himself could order an
anthracite strike without referring the
question to a referendum. He thought
for a minute, and then declined to answer
the question. The present suspension OF
work was ordered by Mitchell and the three
district presidents, and, according 10
Mitcbell's statement then, a strike in the
ordinary sense of the word would require
a referendum vote or would have to be
ordered at a convention Of the miners.
One important question to come before
the committee at indianapolis on Tuesday
will be the arbitration proposition In the
soft coal fields submitted by President
Winder OF the Indiana, Illinois md ONO
Soft Coal Operators Association.
The coal dealers began yesterday to
prepare for a strike and are curtailing their
! deliveries to their customers as much as
possible. They said there was no present
! intention Of raising the prices OF domestlc
| anthra cite. but they wanted to be carelui
in distributing the available coal unit
| the operators had arranged a system Oh
releasing their reserve OF anthraGee' ooo-
A member OF the Goal Merchants hSeo-
citation said last evening:
sThe consensus of opinion among the
coal dealers is that a strike is practlcaly,
certain. We are outstanding any ooal
we can get, as much as possible selling only
n " Ton az a time and sometimes only half a
| ton, according to the needs OF our custom,
era, We are getting practically no coal
from the companies and have TO De guioeo
according to circumstances. -,
The anthracite operators comnhttee OF
seven made public a letter received by a
friend of Herman Justi, commissloner OF
the Illinois Coal Operators Association,
giving the soft coal operators view OF the
situation. The writer says that even now
the operators seem to be on the eve OF q
serious conflict with the bituminous miners
and adds.
Ii seems to me that the anthracite opera
tors could nave no better argument for re-
fusing to deal with the United Mine Workers
of America than ia found in the treatment
which the bituminous operators have re-
ceived at their hands. The miners admit
that the conditions Of trade in the coal In
dustry Of the West are fr~ightfully demorallzed.
and even with all the mines in the centreI
field Idle there Is hardly any life in the market
at this time. In the face of this state oil ar
fairs. and In view Of the fact that the opera
tors have granted advances nearly every
time they have met the miners in joint con-
yention. with the one exception OF the re-
duction of 5.55 per cenS n 1904, they are not
satisfied. II is fair to say. however, that this
last demand is less the result of any dtssatis-
faction upon the part of the rank and file
than it is the result OF rivalry In the ranks oil
the miners officials.
The letter goes on to say the coal com
panies offered to submit their books for
examination and determine wages accord
ingly, but the union turned the letter down
The proposition to ask the President oil the
United States to appoint a commission. 10
investigate the conditions in the coal mining
industry of the central field, MIR. Justl
saws, was scarcely treated decently at the
miners national convention. The men best
known in the miners movement, he Gays
had no hesitation in saying at the convention
that they vera opposed to arbitration unless
they were certain that their demands would
be granted.