The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-10
Anthracite Operator Would Stand
 on Commissions Award
WRITES 10 MIR MITCHELL
Explains Why an Advance In Wages at This Time Is Not Justified By onditions-Average
 Day 6Ia Hours.

New York, February 9.-Presldent David
 Wilcox of the Delaware and Hudson
 company today made public the text of
 the letter which he wrote to John
 Mitchell, president of the United Mlns l Workers of America. concerning con | ference between the mine workers and | the operators 10 discuss the wage ques-
 ton Accompanying the letter MT. Will
 cox issued a formal statment in which
 he declared that erroneous statements
 regarding the letter have been published, based on miseonception both of it's
 character and it's contents
 The text of MT. Wicoxs letter, which
 is dated Feberuary 3, follows
 Further referring to your letter to my
 self, dated December 20, 19o5. which has
 been heretofore acknowledged. under
 stand that the 10th inst has been sug- { gested as the date of the conference pro- posed therein. l accordingly write to say
 that tnls will be agreeable to me It
 seems appropriate also to call attention
 to the situation in the anthracite terri
 tory arising from the fact that praetl-
 cally all matters involved have already
 been the subject of arbitration
 Should Decide All Questions. At the termination of the strike in 1903
 in the anthracite regions by the submis-
 sion to arbitration in which all parties joined it was provided that all qnes- tions at issue between the respective eonl-
 panles and their own employees. should | he decided by the anthracite strike com
 mission Accordingly you appeared be- fore the committee in behalf of the em-
 ployes and presented to 1t all such ques-
 tions.
 "The commission found that the aver
 age hours actually worked per day did
 not exceed six for the miners and eight i for the other employees, and the present
 conditions are substantially the same. In
 the case of the Delaware and Hudson
 company during 1905, the average number
 of hours worked per day by the emplos es. | other than the miners, was 72i6 hours. or
 an average of about seven and one-quar 1 ter hours per day; the average number Of
 hours worked per day by the miners was |
 six and one-half hours per day. Any
 suggestion of an eight-hour day for the
 employees by the day, does not therefore l look to diminution of actual hours Of | labor-as they do not now average eight | hours per day merely to q change of
 wages by increasing the present hours
 SO as to advance the wages 12.5 above | the standard fixed by the strike commit-
 tee. This advance would amount approx
 inIately to cents per ton of coal, or on | the entire product about A,S00Oo0 per an- num-
 Advance Price to Consumers. l Such an increase would tend to ad- | vance the price of coal to consumers.
 1t would also naturally lead ultimately
 to the miners working eight hours per
 day instead of much less than seven as
 at present. as to make uniform work
 day for all and thus promote efficiency | fin production On the other hand If the
 working hours of the breakers were in | fact actually all reduced the effect would 1 be to diminish the earnings of the miners because the breakers could not receive and handle as much coal as at present. ',rhe commission awarded an advance in wages of 10 per cent for miners anu II l-9 per cent for the other employees effective November l. 1902. This advance was absolute and was based on the find ing of 450 per ton of the prepared sizes
 as the minimum tdewater price prevail ing In addition the commission a"ard- ed that the wages should be stil tur- ther advanced ] per cent with each rise of cents in the price of the prepared sizes of coal The minimum price or coal
 on which the wages are based is higher than that prevailing before the award
 was made and as that price advances the wages increase at the rate fixed by the commission. The schedule hereto attach ed shows that the rates of wages thus fixed by the commission exceed very greatly those now prevailing In the bituminous industry of Pennsylvania. The commission also disposed by its award of all matters brought before 1t and among other things, decided With great vigor that the industry must remain open to all seeking employment regardless of their affiliation or otherwise with labor organizations. claim was asserted by yourself before the commission that a contract should be made by each of the employers with the United Mine Work CTS of America covering wages. condition of employment and methods for the ad- justment of grievances but the comnlis- sion overruled this claim and decided that such a contract was neither necessary nor desirable At the same time it sug- | gested certain changers in the organiza- tion and procedure of the United Mine 1 Workers which seemed to be indispens- able to the usefulness of the organiza- | ton These suggested changes have never | been made.
 Disposed of All Questions. The concillatory board has disposed ] of all questions which have been sub I mitted to 1t save d very few recent mat ] ters which are in process of adjudlca- ton The practical result to the employees i of existing conditions Tar this com l mission is concerned may be Illustrated 1 by the facts during the year 1905 on . | production of 5.5ss 52S tons. In December last the increase In wages by reason Of the award of the commission was 165o per cent for the miners and IFS per cent for the employees by the day. For the year the increase in labor cost was s073 cents per ton, or an aggregate of s1126. 297 9l. IL may be added that the total in- crease in cost for 1895 over 1901 before the strike. 561 cents per ton or
 g 059. .093.57 of which, as just said. lakor received s.732979l while the total tn-