The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1919-11-21
:MAND Of MINERS
roo HUTCHINSON
Cretary Wilson Seeks a COM
promise in Coal Strike.
9TH SIDES ARE ACCUSED
US 3o-Hour Week and so Per Cent
Raise ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Are
Told They Must Desert Their
Standpat Position.

Standpat Position.
Washington, Nov. 15.-Demands OF
Non miners for 30-hour week and
60 per cent Increase in wages "are
possibilities and ought to be elm
ated at the very beginning" Secre-
ry Wilson declared In opening the
Inference between union officials and
0eratOrs called by him to settle the
fferenceS existing in the coal indus
y.
'The standpat position taken by the
bility," said the secretary, rapping
lie table to emphasize his utterances.
dmitting that the Washington wage
greement was still in force, the sec
etary declared the people were not
Shylocks" and did not want to exact
the technical provisions Of bond
hen the conditions under which the
ond was made have changed"
Great World War "a Reason.
Mr. Wilson said he had called the
difference, mot simply because there
5 labor dispute in the mining fields,
ut because the world is still passing
through great crisis"
Reviewing previous negotiations at
Buffalo, Philadelphia and Washington,
the secretary said the failure to reach
an agreement had resulted in strikes
mot only in the central field, but also
in other fields where no demands had
been made upon the operators" Min
ers in the outlying fields, he added,
were not at fault because of their
failure to present demands, because 1t
was well known that the miners had
been willing that all districts be rep
resented in negotiating wage scale
and that "all objections had come from
the operators"
above ALL" said the secretary, "we
are confronted with the fact that the
great mass of people dependent on coal
in their everyday life are interested In
reaching a settlement not only in the
central coal fields but in all coal fields.
1t is for that reason have asked your
meeting here.
Prompt Action Is Urged.
81 desire to recommend that wage
scale committees representative of all
the fields proceed to negotiate an adj
5ustment I want to point out to you
that prompt action is necessary. AS
long as your troubles were local in
character, only affecting small part
of communities, there was no disposi-
ton to hurry you, but when your dis
putes take on a magnitude that affects
the entire country, then the people at
large as matter of self-preservation
are insistent that you come to set
Element.
"The miners conference demanded
a 30-hour week, go per cent increase In
wages and some other things. 1t is
fair to say to you now that a 3O-hour
week in the present industrial condi-
ton of the world is impossible in coal
mining. l realize the fact that miners
seldom have an opportunity to work
a 30-hOur week now when the maxi
mum is 4S hours. If you make maxi
Iuu1O OIL on HUuES uuucI TIC COAuAIAOAS
surrounding the mining industry 1t
means an effective working week Of
very much fewer hours than that"
The reason for this, the secretary ex-
planned, was the seasonal demand for
coal in many districts and mine acct
dents and breakdowns and the impos-
sibility of furnishing transportation
equipment to keep all of the miners
working regularly.
Calls so Per Cent Raise impossible.
"No one knows" continued the Sec
rotary, ito what extent production
would be reduced by the Introduction
OF a six-hour working day, and in
these times when we have not yet re-
covered from the effects Of the war we
cannot afford to undertake the expert
ment of reducing working hours to six
per day. and five days per week"
Referring to demands of the miners
for a so per cent increase in wages,
the secretary said such an increase
is an impossibility, as it would give
the miners wages out Of proportion to
those in other industries.