The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1910-01-27
PIUTE
Press Rallies to Assistance of the
Coal Barons in Fight
Against.
Wage Increase for the Miners of
The Country-Commence Clam
oring Soon as Miners Convene.

Hardly had the convention of the Unit
ed Mine Workers convened in Indian.
apolis before the mine operators began
drumming up public sentiment against
the increase in wages which the miners
will demand.
According to capitalist custom, the
press has been swung into line, declaring
III stentorian chorus that business con.
ditions do not warrant any advance in
tho wage SCALE The howl is the usual
one OF the lack of dividends on the water
ed stock, forgetting that hardly toiler
in the land but is compelled to scrimp
and save in order to have sufficient from
his wages to buy coal to meet tho blasts
OF winter.
The coal business for the last two
years has not been bringing the returns
1t should have brought says the INDIAN
apolis Star, quoting an invisible mine
operator, who is said to be = intimate
with mining conditions in Indiana -
This cannot be attributed to the
miners, - admits the Star, quoting from
the same source, :. but it is the 1ault of
overproduction and cutting i'll prices.
what it should have been, and L believe
operators over the country will not be
willing to grant an increase without oppo-
sition.''
In the face of this bugaboo of in
sufficient dividends the miners have the
exact figures of the startling increase in
the cost of living, boosted even further
out of sight by the iniquities of the
: company store'' and the excessive rents
paid on company houses In the
latter category was the death row. at
Cherry, Ill, the homes of the miners who
went down to their death in the St, Paul
mine, leaviEg hardly enough food in. their
homes, famiharly known as .. shacks,' to
feed their sorrowing families for the
ensuing twenty-four or forty four hours.
The United Mine Workers, like the
railroad men and every other class Of
toilers, are planning to demand sub
stantial increase in wages 1t is prob
able that general increase ow 10 per
cent will be asked.
''The miners are urging the higher
cost of living as reason for an in
crease. 1t is true that the cost of living
ID SEctIcI, DuI ludl Is SOmCLulnR we Ill
have to bear,' continues the Indianapolis
Star, still quoting from the anonymous
operator.
In taking up the question of "Why
We Organize,'' President II. l.. Lewis
spoke about wages and other demands as
follows:
''We, as mine workers, are organized
for specific purpose. Among the OBJ
jccts for which we are organized is to
secure fair wages, better conditions of
employment, shorter hours of labor, pro.
per ventilation in the mines and an op.
portunity to educate ourselves and those
upon us.
''All of these demands will become a
part, in some shape or form, of the \
agreement to be made. But as the wage
increase hits him hardest, according to
his own ideas, the mine operator has
begun his attack on that in an effort to
pehsuide the public that he is very
much abused individual. If he manages
to defeat a wage increase now he can
take up other matters in the state legis-
latures and in the nation s Congress later
on, if not in the courts.''