The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-03-29
Is the View of the Situation in
Anthracite District
OPERATORS ARE WAITING
They Have Repeated Assertion They Are
Willing to Grant Immediate Hearing
When Mine Owners Desire-Pres-
ident Taft Is Watching.

New York. March 2o.--Another con-
ference between miners and operators
looking to settlement of the wage
scale and other questions, may result
from the reiterated statement of the
operators in the anthracite district, that
they are willing to grant an immediate
hearing when the mine owners desire.
Suspension Of work on April ] is re-
garded to-day az practically certain, but
coal dealers do not anticipate a long
suspension in either the anthracite or
bitilninous districts; and it is added
that the effect will not be felt in the
main centers OF populs tion for months.
President Taft is ,eeping in close
touch with the situa zion through Com
missioner Of Labor 'Jeill, who is confer
ring with the oper tors and miners.
Cleveland, MarcF 29-Little prospect
OF settling the bituminous coal miners
wage dispute IN time to prevent strike
next Monday and the shutting down
OF practically all mines operated by IN
ion men was seen by the operators and
union officials yesterday after they had
conferred for hours and had failed to
agree.
The lack Of any steps toward an i'm
1DpHldLG selIicUltHl anu INV ldtt LLtoL
only three more days intervenes before
both the anthracite and bituminous
wage scales expire were said to make
it almost certain that widespread stop
page Of coal production will begin next
week for an uncertain period and
strike, involving about 500 1000 men, may
ensue. The situation is;
The miners in the anthracite fields of
a. l,,- 80 4
night because their agreements with
the operators expire at that time. No
new agreement even if it We're eonsid-
cred, could be put into effect in time
to prevent the SUSPENSION. The union
officials declare the suspension will be
virtually a strike.
The contracts of the miners in the
bituminous regions also expire Sunday
at midnight and they probably will sus-
pend because they have no new agree
lnent upon which to continue.
Officials of the union assert ii a strike
In both classes of mines is called, it
will entail a loss in pay to the men
of approximately 81 100000 day.
A conference held in the hope that
strike or even suspension in the
hituminous mines might still be avert
ed, was without result up to last night,
The operators and miners of western
Pennsylvania, Ohio. Indiana and Illinois,
who are trying to fix a wage and work
ing scale not only for their own dis
tricts, but also as the basis for all
other unionized bituminous districts,
then adjourned until o o'clock this morn
ing.
To bring the situation TO crisis,
John Walker, president of the Illinois
miners. proposed that the miners drop
all their demands and make new de-
mand for an increase of five cents a
ton for all coal mined. He explained his |
proposal did not come jointly from the
miners but he made it on his own re-
sponsbility "to avoid a prolonged in
dustrial struggle"
The operators part of the conference
then called for an adjournment, which |
gave rise to reports among the miners I
that the operators were going to pro-
pose a compromise on the basis of five |
cents a ton increase over the present |
wage scale
The operators, after meeting alone, /
stated that they had decided to offer no
such compromise, but rather to stand in |
their original position to continue the
present scale for two years and nothing
more.
President John p. White OF the United
Mime Workers of America, said he had
no comment to make on yesterdays de-
velopments other than that if strike
We're called among the bituminous as
well as among the anthracite it would
not be because the union had failed to
exert every effort to avoid it. He add
ed, so far as the anthracite miners were
concerned, the strike already had been
called to take effect Sunday at mid
night.