Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-01
AND IOWA MINES CLOSE
Over Seventy-Five Thousand Men Quit
in These Districts.
DEALERS ARE WELL FORTIFIED
Factories and Railroads Have Enough
Fuel for Two Months and within
that Time Trouble wiI bs
settled.
E4s9
BULLETIN.

uI0A lupuSdlu oIBaHlacu miners or the
bituminous coal fields Of Pennsylvania,
Ohio. Indiana. Illinois. Iowa, Missouri
Kansas Oklahoma and Arkansas quit
work last midnight pending settlement
OF a new wage scale.
Officers Of the United Mine Workers
of Northe America declared that the
walkout was not a strike but merely a
suspension OF work because no wage
scale had been made TO replace the old
scale which expired with the month of
March.
The miners demand an increase of pay
in some instances of cents a ton and
IN other instances OF more, with GER
tain change in working conditions.
ST LOUIS, March N-Nine hundred coal
mines in Illinois closed down this afternoon
and tonight and 1900 mlnuers stopped
work. Tae mines will be closed until
new wage scale Is signed the old agree
ment expiring at o'clock today.
When the whistles blew at the end of the
day shift the miners walked out with their
implements and the workings were turned
over to the pumpmen and engineers, who
viii be the only men at work tomorrow
morning
The mines will be closed for probably
sixty days and possibly for four months,
according to statements of members of the
operators executive committee.
o. l.. Garrison president Of the Big
Muddy Coal and Iron company and a MEM
ber of the committee, says the operators
are willing to grant an increase in wages
but will not pay the shot firors' expenses
and it is upon this latter Point that the
negotiations may fail, prolopging the cessa-
ton of work in the mines indefinitely.
committee of the Illinois miners and the
operators is called for Monday in Chicago,
members of the operators committee are
not hopeful OF an immediate settlement
and an adjournment is thought probable By
them. The miners officials will meet Tues
day in Springfield TO consider the situation.
'shot Firing" Bone of Contention.
The miners, under the contract which ex-
pired tonight, earned $3.50 to "a In day of
eight hours They demand an increase OF
10 cents a ton. They also ask the operators
to pay the expense of shot firing. The
operators say il they grant the demands it
will mean an increase In expenses Of
$14,OOO 900 annually, which the public event
ually must pay.
No famine in coal is predicted for the
immediate future. The railroads and big
users of coal in this section have supplies
to last them two months.
President Alfred j. Moorehead of the
Illinois Coal Operators association has been
in Chicago two days arranging for the
joint scale meeting. He has predicted the
mines will be closed for at least thirty
days The period of idleness, however,
is indefinite, he says.
Adolph f. Germer, secretary and treas
urer of the miners sixth subdstrct of
Illinois, this afternoon said several oper-
ators have signifed their willingness to
sign a new scale giving the miners their
demands. He would not name the oper-
ators.
Iron Mines All Closed.
| DES MONIES, Ia, March 3i,-(Speclal
Telegram)-The convention of miners and
mine operators of district No 13 undertook
to provide for temporary working of the
coal mines of the district but late today
arrived at a deadlock or failure.
The operators asked the miners to agree
upon a temporary scale pending the adj
iustment of all differences, but they re-
fused. They then asked the miners to con-
tinue working on the old scale for the next
month and when the new scale is adopted
1t would be dated back to April / and the
difference paid the men. The latter re-
jected this plan.
This means that all miners will remain
out of Iowa mines tomorrow and until the
new scale is adopted, only such men re-
naming at work as may be necessary to
/ protect the mines, The miners claim that
the rules Of the national organization for
bid any temporary arrangements
Order Obeyed ia the East.
! INDIANAPOLIS, March S1.-The 100000
/ organized miners Of the bituminous coal
fields Of the United States will strike at
u o'clock tonight and will stay away from
the mines until the operators consent to
pay an advance in wages OF cents a
ton, according to the announcement today
from the headquarters OF the United Mine
! Workers Of American in this city.
Il have received no information that the
miners and operators OF any district will
get together today" said Thomas l.. Lewis
president Of the organization. 1T Is barely
possible there will be Joint conferences in
the Indiana block coal district and in the
Hooking district before night We were So
delayed In the tri-state conference at Gin
cinnai that there is hardly time for dis
trict agreements 10 be made before the ex-
piration fthe present working contract
at midnight tonight
| II 10 hliNftuhhte' BUT ulStrict agree
ments will be made speedily and 1 am con
fident that the suspension Of work VIII con-
tinue only few days"
The executive board OF the miners union
is in session today. transacting routine bus
iness. The members viii leave the city
tonight and win go at once 10 their re-
spective districts to represent the national
administration In the directing Of the local
strikes President Lewis viii visit the Illi-
nois field tomorrow and does not expect 10
return TO his office here until Saturday
| night.
Pittsburg Expects Settlement.
PITTsBURG, March a.--At midnight 10.