Mohave County miner., 1916-12-23
WELSH GOAL MINERS AND OPERATORS ARE
 AGAIN IN DISPUTE
(From Tuesday,s Daily Miner.l

capital are again at loggerheads in the
 South Wales coal fields. For nearly a
 generation the coIliery owners and the miners have maintained an attitude of mutual ill-temper and suspicion, and
 war has not been allowed to displace
 their traditional quarrel. A year ago
 a five-day stoppage of the mines, on which the British navy largely de- bends for fuel, actually took place, and a prolonged deadlock was only avert ed by the intervention of Lloyd George, who summarily granted most of the miners demands over the pro- tests of the owners.
 The demands now made by the miners may be summarized as follows:
 Immediate concession of a 15 per cent advance in wages to cover the increased cost of living.
 An independent audit of the coal owners books to show exactly what are the profits on all classes of coal over long period of years.
 That the financial relation of wages to profits be ultimately arranged so that the percentage shall be the same as before the war.
 i Payment to be made for "small coal" henceforth on tonnage rate to be established by later negotiations.
 That the selling price of coal be hencefOrth established by a competent independent authority on a basis of the standard wage paid.
 It is evident from this complicated and elaborate series or demands, that settlement must necessarily involve Iprotracted negotiations. The miners contend that the 15 per cent wage in- crease is urgent and should be granted at once; the other demands may be taken up more leisurely before any suitable tribunal.
 One of the most puzzling of the de- mands is that which seeks payment for the so-called "small coal" This is Ia new demand, and meets with deter mined opposition from the owners. Hitherto the worlmen who received payment on a tonnage basis-so much for every ton of coal mined-have been paid only for the large or first quality coal. Every ton of coal which a miner sent to the surface was first passed over the screens, and only the residue after the small coal had been screened out was weighed and paid for. Ordinarily, miner who sent 20 1 tons of coal to the surface would re- ceive payment for mining only about l 17 tons three tons having passed | through the screens and been discard | ed as "small coal" The men now point to the large increase in price which the owners are obtaining for this small coal today as compared with the price before the war. This price shows an increase from about g shil- lings (S2.25) to nearly IS shillings ($4.5O) per ton.
 In reply to the mems demand for an immediate increase of 15 per cent in wages, the owners have made a de- mand for 10 per cent decrease. The last dispute was patched up by Lloyd George a year ago with an award of a crown (67 cents) per ton to their wholesale price. The miners now de- clare that the owners are making a handsome additional profit out of this half crown, and also out of the sale of the "small coal," and they claim their share, on the ground that the basis of their wages has always been the sell. ing price of coal. To this the owners reply that all the expenses of mining, other than wages, have gone up, and that some of their mines no longer pay to work. The balance sheets of the largest coal companies in the district, which show great increase of profit during the war, figure prominently in the evidence submitted by the miners.
 While feeling in the coal region is at high pitch the attitude of the coun- try at large is one of undisguised i'm patience with any quarrel between capital and labor at time when the energies of the country are so largely h on war. Wide publicity Ii has been given in the coal districts to an editorial in the London Times, which says:
 "The argument of the owners re- geals a total incapscity to see the sit nation as every one else sees it. They are quarreling with the men and hag- l
 M .