New-York tribune., 1906-04-09
MINERS DISCUSS PLANS
THEY NAY CONCEDE MORE
Indications That They WiU Con;
slider Need of arbitration.

The anthracite miners committee Of seven.
which win meet with the operators committee
Of seven to-day IN the Jersey Central Building.
No. 143 Liberty street. met yesterday In the Ash
| land House and conferred for some time as to
what attitude they would adopt toward the
operators. The general belief. as indicated by
what they said. was that they would try to get
Mitchelrs arbitration proposition accepted. fail
| Ing in which they would be willing to arbitrate
the question to whether or not some new fact
has arisen leading to questions not covered by
the award Of the Anthracite Strike Commission
President Mitchell Of the mine workers would
not speak in advance Of the meeting He would
not even indicate what his attitude would be-
William H. Dettrey, of NIitchelTs committee, who
was also one Of the three miners on the board Of
conciliation, said:
During the last three years conditions in many
cases nave changed materially In the mining
districts. There a great many miners at
work, and in three years II is impossible to have
things continue on the same basis in all the dis
ulcts There are many cases Of inequality In
wages and conditions For instance, one outside
man find to be working at 81 II a day. under
the same conditions those in which an
other man half mile away, was getting 81 so
day could give a number Of instances Of this
Sl klnd to show that there are questions which in
FAIRNESS to the miners ought to be arbitFated
On behalf of the Anthracite Operators Com
mittee of Seven. a statement was authorized
the Anthracite Strike Commission was Of ben
eft to both sides. Many experiments had been
made in arbitration and failed. but they had
reached real arbitration under the award OF the
Anthracite Strike Commission. The statement
says that the first conspicuous attempt at ar
bitration ever attempted in this country was ia
1871. after a series Of strikes covering seven
years. 1t goes on:
Wages were arranged on sliding scale Of
per cent for each cents rise or fall in the price
of coal, 81 I5 being taken as basis price, with
the provision that miners pay was not 70 be
reduced should coal fall below 81 70 ton at
Unfortunately coal fell below 50 IS. and more
unfortunately still many miners demanded
that no corresponding reduction in wages be
made The hopes born Of years Of dispute and
suffering were swept away in an instant. Tne
arbitration plan was a failure because the min"
erS would not abide by its provisions.
Looking back over the years OF struggle botn
miners and operators seem agreed that one OF
1902 was the establishment Of the Bo@rd OF Con-
ciliation, arbitration body whose decisions
have been received with satisfaction by both en-
ployer and employed. In fact1 only one dLSu"
ment has been made against its continuance.
and that is by the miners. who are demanding
it's reconstruction because OF the alleged delays
in the adjustment Of grievances In response
to this ii has been shown that over three-fo -fourths
of all the cases submitted have been disposed
of within two months. and many In much
shorter period.
At yesterdays meeting Of the Central FEEDER
ated Union Delegate Fitzgerald, Of the Letter
Carriers Union. brought up the coal situation.
He denounced the coal operators as a trust and
charged them with Indifference to the interests
Of the people. Then he moved that the Speaker
of the House of Representatives be requested to
propose an investigation Of the conditions OF coal
mining in the interests Of the public by COM
mttee Of the House. The Speaker OF the House. |
he said, should be asked to direct this investi-
70 VaYr
over the collieries of such OF the operators as |
were selfish enough to ignore the interests OF
the public The miners, he said were entitled |
to all that they asked.
A debate followed and some OF the delegates |
thought Fitzgeralds proposal too radical One |
delegate proposed that it should be referred to /
Mitchell; others Joined with Fitzgerald in de- /
the operators. Finally Delegate De- |
laney of the Granite Cutters Union. got up.
Il do not think it wise to consider the propo-
sition of Delegate Fitzgerald" he said, 'In view
of the negotiations of an amicahle settlement |
that are going on between Mr. Mitchell and the |
operators. 1t would not be good time to pass |
such a resolution"
He then suggested that Fitzgerald withdraw
the motion. This Fitzgerald agreed to do. hut |
he again denounced the operators The dealers |
then came in for a share of denunciation- Fftz- |
gerald said that While the coal operators were /
trust the dealers were profting by the stua- /
tion and had ADVANCED the price Of coal before /
there a strike.
Delegate Rooney Of the Bluestone Cutters said /
he understood that the coal dealers had an or /
ganization for the purpose of regulating prices
He believed that it should be investigated
i was talking to one dealer" he said, who Il
told me that coal was scarce and yet he admit Il
ted that the operators were charging no moro
for it. I make motion that committee be an
pointed to investigate the dealers Organization"
Some discussion followed. and James Hatch oP h
the UphOlsteTers' Union, opposed the resolution
He said it was not wise one. they could ac- |
complish nothing. Finally, it was decided to re-
fer to the executive committee the question
whether or not the Coal Merchants Association
should be investigated by a COMMITTEES oS the /
Central Federated Union.