The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1912-04-04
MINERS TO STRIKE
WILL AFFECT 10000 MEN AND
SILENCE THE MINES OF
PENNSYLVANIA.
soFTCOAL TROUBLE OVER
Suspension Comes From the Opera
tors Refusal to increase Wage
Scale.-Miners Will Lose
$4,000 a Day.

Cleveland, Ohio. - The first step
toward a stoppage in coal production
in the United States as a result of the
miners wage disputes was taken
when the union ordered 10, 600 min
.ers in the anthracite regions of Penn
~sylvania to quit work Sunday mid
night.
Of the operators refusal to grant the
union demands for increased pay. The
shutting down of the mines, the union
officials say, will cause a loss in the
coal production of the country of
7,0S3. 900 tons of anthracite a month
and will entail a loss in pay to the
miners of not less than S350,000 for
every day they remain out.
Settlement of the bituminous coal
miners wage dispute on a basis salts
factory to both sides was announced
as having been practically arranged.
Terms Announced.
The terms, as given out, provide for
lows:
Five cents a ton for mining lump
coal.
Three cents a ton for mining all
other coal.
An increase of 5.26 per ZEN for
men paid by the day.
E. A. Cole, representing the Ohio
operators, and H. NJ. Taylor, repre-
s~enting the Illinois operators, said that
all the operators of western Pennsyl-
vania. Ohio, Indiana and Illinois had
agreed to grant the increases. They
said the agreement would be the basis
for making new wage scales of btu
minous miners in other states.
The order for the anthracite miners
10 quite work was as follows:
Suspension Order-To All Anthracite
Mine Workers:
Your committee to whom was dele
gated authority by the Pottsville con
vention to negotiate a wage contract
on the basis of the demands of said
convention have. up to this time, been
unable to do so, and inasmuch as the
present wage agreement expires
March 81, after which no contract is
provided for governing wages and cor.
ditions Of employment, therefore all
mine workers except engineers, pump
men, firemen, slabmen, watchmen, and
such other men as are absolutely nee
essary for the proper protection of
property, are hereby instructed to sus.
pend work beginning April l and re-
main idle until further notice.
The suspension order was signed by
the presidents Of the three anthracite
districts and the executive board Of
the United Mine Workers of Ameri-
ca after they had decided the lack of a
wage agreement within two days of
the expiration of the present one made
it imperative the men should be off,
cially informed whether they we're to
continue work.
AS sustaining their demands for in
creased pay the union gave out this
statement:
Our desire for a 10 per cent in
crease in pay will not seem unreason-
able when it is learned that most of
the 10000 anthracite miners work
only two-thirds of the time. The aver
age working time for each man last
year was 240 days and the average
salary earned by each man for the
year was about $500, or less than $40
a week. Our men take greater risks
than they do in other countries. The
total number of men killed in mines
for the last ten years was 24,037. The
yearly records of deaths in mines is
now about $500. In the United States
the death rate for 1000 men is 3.91
as compared with 1.43 in Great Brit
! ain. and it is more than double that
of any other coal-producing country
in Europe"