The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1912-02-27
Miners Want United Mine Workers
Of America Recognized by the
Owners III
NEW YORK CONFERENCE TODAY
Adverse Action May Result in Strike
Of 10000 Men on or About
April /, 1912.
Demands of. the Miners.

t. :, "A Demands. Of. the Miners ri
Recognition OF the United Mine
| Workers of America.
! That the new agreement shall be
for a period of one year instead OF
three. 49,, Il ..>-. l.,
That eight hours shall constitute a
| working day, with no wage reduc-
| ton. GE&1,@ Il. ~ :#5E|s. +
| That coal shall be mined and paid
for at the rate of 2,24O pounds to the
! ton 80, @&2@ = FsS Il p = u
A better method of settling griev-
ances than the Cancellation board
| procedure. 80 - . - -,
A minimum wage rate of $3.50 a
day for miners on considerations work
and $3.50 a day for laborers.
| New York, Feb. 27.- Whether the
10000 mine workers employed in
the hard coal region will lay down
their picks and walk out on strike on
the last day Of next month and by
their action inaugurating one of the
greatest industrial struggles the I'm
tied States has ever known, depends
in great measure upon the results
Of. the conference between the min
ers and operators begun today at the
offices of the New Jersey Central
railroad in this city. George F.
Baer, president of the Philadelphia
and Reading Coal company, appeared
at the conference as the chief repre-
sentative of the operators. The COM
mittee to present the demands of the
miners consisted of John D. White,
president of the United Mine Work.
ers, and several of the other national
officers and district presidents - =
There has been peace in the an
thracite coal fields for nine years.
The present agreement, which has
been in force since the Strike Com
mission, appointed by President
Roosevelt in 1902; made it's report,
will expire at midnight Oh March 81
next. The miners have formulated
demands and declare they will strike
unless the demands are granted. AS
the operators say with equal positive
ness they will grant the miners no
concessions, the outlook certainly
points to general strike on April 1.
There are unique temptations to
trouble at the present time. In the
first place, an unusual situation pre-
walls in that the wage agreement in
both the soft and hard coal fields ex-
pire at the same time--then, too, it
is presidential year. This gives
the mine workers organization
strong weapon, because by simultan-
eous action in several mining regions
the leaders could create a condition:
approaching a fuel famine ; FL !
The anthracite miners demand a
wage increase averaging twenty per
cent, an eight-hour day, recognition
of the union and incidentally collec-
ton! by sthe coal companies of the
union dues from the mine workers,
abolition of the Cancellation board,
payment for mined coal by weight in
stead of by the carload, a one-year
agreement and minor concessions.
The operators have not given any
official notice of their intentions, but
it is we'll know that they have no In
tention of granting these demands.
While the mine workers argue that
the increased cost of living has made
necessary wage increase, the opera
tors hold that the sliding scale"
created by the Strike Commission in
1902 has given the miners advantage
of every advance in the price of coal,
and that no fat advance in wages is
possible under present conditions.
The operators admit that there has
been an increase in the cost of living,
but point out that the mine workers
are making much better wages now
because work is moressteady. They
declare that since The present agree;
ment was first made nine years ago
there has been no change in mining.
conditions; that the demands, with
the exception of the one for an in
crease in wages, are the same as
those which the Strike Commission
considered and settled, and that it is
useless to go over them again.
The connection between the presi-.
Dental campaign and the threatened
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