Evening star., 1919-11-10
Proceedings in Ohio.
CUMBERLAND MEN
NOT UNIT ON COAL
STRIKE QUESTION

Continued from First Page.
from the miners pay for the services
of the company physicians.
Blacksmithing charges also are de-
Quoted from the pay checks. these
charges covering the work done on
tools.
Might Remove Antagonism.
II the companies would also agree
to deduct the union dues of each
miner. turning the money over to
the secretaries of the loca.s, such
open recognition of the union would
remove at once most of the an
tagonism between the men and the
operators
Dead time Is the time lost by miners
because of lack of cars at the mine
within the power of the men to rem
edy. Under present conditions
miners wife packs his lunch bucket
in the morning. the miner walks to
his work: and when he gets there
he may be told: NO work today;
no cars"
BY providing system whereby
miners might know the night before
whether or not there would be work
the next day. this lost motion would
be eliminated and the miner, knowing
no cars were available. would be
saved the walk to the mine and the
return trip home.
Crowded Rooms Dissatisfy.
Practice of operators of working
five, six or eight men in room in the
mines, it also was learned from these
conversations with the miners them
selves, is another prolific source Of
dissatisfaction. With only two men
working in a room. the miners say.
the work can be done more easily, the
mining is cleaner and safer, and actu-
ally more coal comes out.
With these conditions changed.
scores of the miners say. sources of
dissatisfaction in this field would be
removed.
$l.O4 a Ton Paid
Pay of the miners in this field is
above the bituminous coal mining
scale already, so there is little com
plaint on that score. While the scale
for the central competitive field is S4
cents a ton. miners in the Georges
Creek and Upper Potomac fields are
paid 81 04 a ton.
The men-scores of them-declare
there are too many miners. Operat-
ors say these fields are dying.
What is known as big vein" working
are being exhausted, and the men are
now working on the small vein coal.
The Consolidation Coal Company.
which operates the biggest mines in
this section, has opened no new work
ings in the last three or four years.
Company officials say this is because
there are no more big vein" deposits
to be opened, and the miners say this
probably is true.
Men Leaving for Other Fields.
The surplus of miners Is being rem
edied by noticeable exodus of young
f.- II
Toledo. Chicago and other middle
western cities to take jobs in automo-
bile factories, machine shops and on
the railroads. Older men say this exo-
dus has been more pronounced in the
last month or SO. though it has been
going on for the last few years. To
some extent Italians are replacing the
native Americans of Scotch. Welsh,
English and Irish stock who are GO
ing away.
Around Frostburg may still be
found many Austrians and their fami-
lies. though number of these de-
parted imm mediately prior to or during
the war and have not returned. Old
miners. as well as merchants and 9TH
ers throughout the entire section, are
practically unanimous in saying that
within a few years this section will
be filled up with 'hunkies" 'wops'
and other foreign miners. The princi-
pal causes expected to bring about
this change. the older miners say, are
that the young men don't want to
work underground, and that they do
not want to work on small vein coal.
Regardless of the outcome of the
present strike. changes are coming in
this field, the best organized, best
paid bituminous coal producing re-
gion in the east. The class and char
acter of the miners are changing,
mining conditions already have
changed and the very character of
the field is changing, due to progress
sive diminution Of the big vein' coal
measures. Results of these changes
strike develops. F. G. H.