The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-03-30

The anthracite miners began To- pre-
pare for the present trouble last fall.
when they held convention at Potts
vile. Pa, and formulated these de-
mands:
IA one-year agreement.
Eight hours day for all classes
of men.
3.-Recoanition of the union in me-
sotlating wage agreements and the
right TO provide method Of collect
ing revenue for the organization.
"A more convenient and uniform
system Of adjusting grievances within
reasonable time limit,
"a 20 per cent increase in wages
Ga minimum of $3.5O day 70.
all miners and $40 for laborers foi
consideration work.
THAT the system whereby con
tract miner has more than one workin
place i'm the mine or employs more
than two laborers shall he abolish
ed
S.-That the right OF check weigh
men and check docking bosses shall be
recognized and that they shall not bt
interfered with in the performance oil
their work.
9.-That all coal DE mined and paio
for by the ton OF 2,2i0 pounds wherever
practicable.
During the winter efforts were made
to strengthen the union. which mel
with considerable success. and ther
came the negotiations. The operators
committe. whose personnel remained
about the same as in all the former
negotiations, found another new mar
leading the miners. John L. White.
Three meetings between the opera
tors and a committee of the unior
miners were held in New York. At th'
first the miners presented their de-
nands: at the second conference thu
demands were refused and at the thirc
session the miners made reply re-
GREETING the action of the coal com
panies. The operators in refusing the
wage increase declared that the profits
would not admit an advance without
an increase i'm the price Of coal The!
proposed another renewal Of the Strik'
\ Commission award for three years, de
claring that it had worked salts
factorily and had brought peace anC
prosperity TO the region.
one feature about a suspension this
year is that Il would come for the see
lond time in year when presidential
| ~. Il H.
some influence in settlement If tn
tie-up should continue Tor any lenstl
OF time.
The anthracite mine workers in theii
strikes have been aided by a law oil
the statute books of Pennsylvania pro
viding that mine workers before the!
can become miners that is, men VIII
actually cut or blast coal, must have
miners certificates. In order To on
tain these they must have, under tn
Law at least two years experience II
an anthracite mine. The law wa
enacted primarily to safeguard Ike AM
property and In times of strikes II op
crates against the importation Of min
ers from other fields who have no
worked in the hard coal fields
with the exception OF a small quaint
Nv I'm Colorado and New Mexico, whic
Yields less than 100000 tons yeaI
the only deposit Of true anthracite cos
in the United States IL not the wori'
Is i'm the northeastern part OF Pennsyl
yania. II is found in only ten countie
and Is confined within an area OF "a
square miles. IL the event OF all IN
anthracite miners, going ON strike
would be difficult In the face OF IN
miners certificate law, to find sum
! Gent number of men outside the an
,hracite regions to break the strike.
indianapolis. March SO.-Sixty-n>
rer cent of all the coal-anthracite an
buuminous-mined in the unite
states comes from PENNSYLVANIA. ON
n Indiana and Illinois. the four Sta''
embraced within the so-called Centr'
r Competitive Fields involved IN the NJ
gotiations between the miners an
I'd operators at Cleveland. The report
Ithe statstician OF the United MI