Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-23


will seek legislation to carry thtse
suggestions into effect. They are thrte
, in number.
Senator Frelinghuysen's Program.
! The first is to bring about s>sliding
| scale of freight rates. BS>%ould have
the rates fixed low dyfng the season
when the demand f% coal is usually
slack. in the spring and summer. He
would have the RITES increase as the
season for the greatest demand ap-
proaches. In this way the consumers
of coal may be induced to buy the coal
more freely in thJ spring and summer.
when they can Eet it more cheaply.
This will bringabout more continuous
operation Of the mines.
His second suggestion is to compel
the RAILROADS, which use about 80 per
cene-ef all the bituminous coal pro-
duced in this country. to take the coal
so much a month and store it if need
be. At present the roads contract for
the coal and take it when they wish.
If the roads could be forced to take
! their coal regularly it would not only
! tend to more uniform operation of the
| mines, but would make it easier to get
! coal cars for shipment of coal during
the periods of greatest demand for in
/ dustries and for heating purposes.
| The third suggestion of Senator Free
linghuysen is to authorize and direct
; the geological survey to make sur
vey of CONSUMPTION and the coal re-
quirements in the various regions of
i the country, just as it now keeps tab
on the production of coal. The collec-
| tion and dissemination of this in
| formation, he holds. would be Of
! great value and assistance to indus
( try as well as to the railroads and
consumers.
! Doesn't Meet Situation.
The remedy for the lack of contin-
/ uous employment suggested by the
miners-that they work less hours a
week the year round and with more
pay-does not seem to meet the sit
uation. 1t is contended by many per-
sons who have looked into the coal
situation that the men are not paid
! enough in view of the present high
j cost of living and the wage increases
in other industries. They work
eight, nine or ten hours a day, &C
cording to the rules of the mines in
which they are employed. AS mat
ter of fact, in 1917 the men worked
eight hours a day in 1852 mines,
nine hours in 697 mines and ten hours
| in 4S3, according to figures of the geo.
logical survey, with a scattering of
other mines not included.
| The reason that the miners plan
| would not meet the situation is that
in all likelihood it would be impos-
sible to meet the demand for coal at
! the periods of greatest need-the old
seasonal trouble arises.
! On the other hand. if the sugges-
tions of Senator Frelinghuysen can be
carried out, it appears that much
might be done to remedy the situa-
ton. and it is possible that the min
ers might be able to work shorter
hours. too, and have continuous en-
ployment.
| Under the war stimulus and the
demand for more COAL many mines
were opened and more miners en-
ployed during 1918. If some plan can
be devised to bring about continuous
operation of the mines some of them
will have to go by the board. Com
petition will settle that question.
! however.
Strikes Cause of Idleness.
! Over a long period labor troubles
have been the cause of many days of
non- operation of the btuminous mines
| In 1917 the number of men on strike was
900, with the total number of work
| ing days lost 2,1s7,244, an average of
seventeen days per man of those on
strike; in 1916 the number of men on
strike was 91,152, with 2.3S9,51s working
days lost, or an average of twenty-sX
! days per man. And so on back through
| the years. This labor trouble has I'M
| doubtedly been one of the important
| factors in non-continuous operation
| of the mines.
| In figuring the number of working
, days in a year, it must be remember
ed there are fifty-two Sundays to be
| taken OUT and at least seven national
holidays. This would leave a total of
sos working days. If the mines aver
aged only 249 days, then the men must
have lost fifty-three days.
Complaints have been made by OPP
orators that there is much absentee
ism in the mines; that the men do not
turn up to work when they are need
ed, and that contributes very largely
to the non-continuous employment.
They say that this absenteeism is
especially noticeable after pay days.
when the men lay off because they
don't want to work. Then. men are
kept out of work often by sickness
of themselves or in their families.
Their work is hard underground.
But even though the complaint OF
absenteeism may be justified in many
instances, 1t does appear that If a man
is to give his life to working as a
miner he should be assured of more
regular employment. 1t has been sug-
gested, and it is fact, that some OF
the miners. on the days that the mines
are not in operation, find other work
to occupy them. Some of them have
small plots of ground to work. But
this is only true where there is agri-
cultural land in the neighborhood of
the mines.
The charge has been made in some
quarters that the coal operators are re-
sponsible for curtailing the operation of
the mines and that they shut down the
mines SO as not to flood the market with