New-York tribune., 1919-11-15
U. S. Rejects
3O-HOur Week
I'm Coal Mines
Continued from page 1

where that is in Il position to bring
to the liberation of the subject
matter Of mining a more comprehen-
s.vc technical knowledge thnn the
operators and miners themselves"
MIR. Wilson recited some Of the
negotiations between the operators
nd minors preceding the strike. say
ng if the demands Of the United Mine
Workers for greater wages and short
cr hours had been accepted in the
central competitive coal fields and n
mutual agreement reached for those
fields, the probabilities are no strike
would have taken place. either in those
fields or in the so-called outlying
fields,
"'The wage agreement arrived at in
the central competitive Goa fields, y
he continued, would undoubtedly
have been taken as the basis for ne
gotiating agreements in other fields
during the continuance of work
Strikes Precede Demands
Unfortunately basis of agree
mcnt was not arrived at between the
miners and operators Of the central
connective fields. AS Il result Of the
failure, strikes occurred not only in
the central competitive fields. but in
the other fields where no demands had
been made upon the operators and
whore no rejection of demands had
taken place. do not want to imp y
by that the miners were at fault in
not having presented demands to the
operators of the outlying fe DIS at the
same time that they were presenting
demands to the operators in the cen
tral competitive fields. because it is
we'll known to both operators and
miners Il at from the very beginning
OF the joint conference movement the
miners have been willing to have nj
districts represented in making a
basic scale and whatever objection has
occurred has come from the operators.
Neverthe ess operators in the out
lying districts were confronted with a
stoppage Of work in their D ants with
out amy demands having been made on
them, or Without having rejected such
demands. We, therefore, find ourselves
~ situation where the operators and
the miners Of all those fields are each
intercseed IN the settlement that is
ehectcd and. above all. we are CON
fronted with the fact the great mass of
tic people dependent in every way on
the continuance of the supply OF fuel
are interested rot only in settle
ment in the central competitive fields
but IN settlement in all Goa fields
that have been affected by the strike.
Plans for Adjustment Suggested
at is for that reason that all OF you
have been asked to meet me in on
ference here There are but three ways
by which q mutual arrangement can
be arrived at: First is to se.ect a wage
sea e committee OF operators and men
r. presenting each of the fields. who
would proceed to agree upon basic
rates for their respective ii districts. al
lowing the matter OF details to be
worked out by the districts themselves.
"Ihc second method would he for
each district to 90 into concurrent con-
terence with equal powers to arrive
at justice, and the third wou d be to
oil ow the old practice of the central
competitive coal feds working out its
adjustment. and taking that as basis
on wh.ch the other tie.ds could proceed.
TO have concurrent system of
adjustment would mean that in each of
the conferences the operators and min
ers would not know what the other lis
trlcts were going to do. and would have
iiihculty in arriving at a conclusion.
BY the other method the adjustment in
the central competitive ie d would not.
under the existing circumstances carry
with it an adjustment in the outlying
NeldS, and the same spirit OF unrcs !
would continue in those fields after the
central competitive fields had adjusted
their differences and until they had
arrived at understandings.
Includes All Fields, He Advises
THE conclusion that I desire to
recommend to this conference is that
the wage scale committee, represent
tive of all fields, proceed 70 negotiate
an adjus tment, and in doing that |
want TO make some further remarks.
The situation seems to me to de-
mand prompt action from the present
conference. Prompt action is neces-
sary. want to impress that upon
you. AS long as your troubls are local
in character, as long as ohey affect on Y
a small part of the country, there
would be no general disposition to
hurry you into cons sideration of this
question: But when the disposition
takes on the great magnitude that it
affects the very social and industrial
life Of the entire country, then the
people at large, as matter of justice
and f-protection and self-preserva-
ton, demand speedy termination of
the difficulties you have had.
"Thc conference or convention of
the miners made demand for thir-