The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1919-12-12
OWNERS VIOLATED
COAL AGREEMENT
Coal Price Increased Three
Times as Much as Wages
of the Miners.

Proof that the coal operators wert
profiteering as never before i'm the
history of this country that the pric
of the coal at the mine had increased
three times as much as the raise ir
wages to the coal miners. and that n.
coal strike was caused by the opera
tors breaking an agreement 10 raise
wages in proportion to the price they
go, for coal. is furnished by Edga,
Wallace. spokesman for the miners i,
The east.
lin the 1916 contract" said Mr.
Wallace. 1.-THE miners were given C.
cents for pick mining, 81 cents 70,
machine mining and S2..9S per day 70,
day labor. The average selling price
of coal was l225 per ton.
Slight Raise in 1912
by natural agreement IA raise wa.
had i'm August. 1917. ON Oct 6. 1917
the so-c:,llcd Washington agreement
WAS effected Including the voluntary
increase of August. this agreement
brought the 64-cenl rate up To 81 cents
the .o-cent rate up tn a. cents and the
S-..'N fl'r WIp 10 81.
"'Tha pick men represent y" per cen
of all men engaged i'm mime work
Their wage increase was ~ per cent
Machine men comprise 40 per cent OF
The total force and their wage increase
was ;3S per cent Day labor constitute.
~ per cent of the total number of mel
and their wage raise WAS iS per cent
forty-four per cent WAS the average
increase.
'''The same agreement fined the aver
age selling price of coal al $50 ~
the mines, nm increase of almost l0'
per cent. In February, 1919. the fue
administration lifted the price rcstrir
lions and since then lhe price has gon,
lo 81, per tom. making the increase ir
price for the operators i'm HE neigh
borhood of 100 per cent over the 1910
price They have absorbed the differ
ence bciwcc The ~ per cent enhanced
labor cost and the i3O per cont en-
HANGED selling pric" of coal.
Yearly Earnings Low
THE only official figures for 1870
are those complied by the Iowa state
officials" Mr. Wallace continued
"'rhesc figures show that from Sept
30, 1918. to Sept. so, 1919. the averag,
earnings of the Iowa miners Mere SS'1C
Per year The period ON which This
calculation is made contains one month
and eleven days of war production. in
which the rate of production ran high.
or than 1T now runs
Top wages for miners during the
peak production year of war time were
$1,000 per year. This is the average
wage of the Illinois miners during the
time when production was stimulated
by war demands. 1t is true that some
men earned much more than this aver
age but that only emphasizes the fact
that some earned much less In Iowa
the average yearly earning during the
wartime peak was S1.2S0.
Operators Cause Strike
In past negotiations the operators
have always insisted that the price of
ton of coal ON the general market
must be the basis on which to nego-
tate wages. To this we have always
agreed and whenever the operators
nave Dccn aDle 10 prove mat pro-
posed wage raise would not enable
Them to operate and reap n fair profit
we have considered that as conclusive
and withdrawn the demands. On that
basis the miners are willing to nego-
tate today without reservations They
are willing to withdraw all their de-
mands and negotiate on the basis Of
present conditions i'm the coal mines
both as to prices and hours.
1.-The miners cannot overlook the
cost of living. because it is pressing
upon them every day. Even on the
basis of the lowest figure yet made
to cover HE increase i'm living costs.
which is I6 per cent. and which we
do not accept as accurate. il will he
seen that the miners are working at
Il reduction i'm wages. while the op-
orators are reapng the benefit OF n
clear $50 per cent gain i'm the income
from our output"