Norwich bulletin., 1920-03-12

Washington. March 11.-The com mission appointed by President Wil- son to settle the coal strike has spit definitely on the questions or wage increases and hours of work.
 The majority-Henry M. Roolnson, chairman, representing the public, and Rembrandt Peale, representing the operators, in a report submitted to President Wilson today, is under stood to have recommended a gene ral wage advance of approximately 25 per cent. and that hours and con- ditions of labor remain unchanged. This increase includes the fourteen per cent. granted after the miners re- turned to work. Holm P. White, representing the miners, refuses to concur in this set tlement. He is preparing minority report in which, it is said, he VIII recommend a seven-hour day and a wage increase of approximately 50 per cent.
 In advance of the publication of the | two reports. officials of the United Mine Workers of America would not | discuss the probable course or the miners. Since their representative on 1 the commission had refused to accept 1 the majority decision, however, 1t was l not accept the settlement it proposes ! William Green, secretary of the miners union, after a conference With l Secretary Tumulty at the White House late today, said there was no ] radical difference etween the majority | and Mir White and expressed the hope that the differences would be ironed out at joint meetings between the operators and the miners.
 | inviting the members of the commission to under | take settlement, said it was inn portant that their cinclusions be i reached by unanimous action. Since l the commissions decision is not | unanimous there is much speculation as to the presidents next step.
 The operators would not discuss this matter in advance of a decision by the president, but it was plain that the miners and some administra- ton officials expected MT. Wilson to invite the two sides to get together
 on the basis of the majority and mi nority reports. and seek an amieable l settlement.
 The majority report is being with 1 held from publication until Mir. l Whites report has been submitted to the president Members of the com mission refused to discuss it and there | seemed LO Ue SOIIl6 QOuDlf W ncL1AGl ~ recommended an advance in the price
 of bituminous coal to absorb the pro- posed wage increases.
 In appointing the commission the
 president said that If a readjustment
 of the prices of coal shall be found
 necessary, I shall be pleaed to trans fer to the commission the powers
 heretofore vested in the fuel adminis-
 trator- for that purpose
 f-e-s.,
 stood not to have asked for these pow
 CTS, it was suggested in some appar-
 ently well informed quarters that the individual commissioners would pro-
 pose that some price advance be made
 on the basis of the facts adduced at
 the long hearings held by the commits sion since it's appointment last De- l cember.
 The majority report was said to
 cover something like thirty thousand words. Included among its recom-
 mendations, it was understood, were reetntion of the check of system by which the operators collect the dues for the unions and reference of the question of differentials in wages to a special commission to be appointed by , 1 the next joint wage conference to re- port within two years.
 t In an effort to reach a unanimous 5 cOncluSlOD, luS GOkilUlASSiOn was oAl-
 derstood to have held many long ses-
 sions this week, meeting both day ana
 night. Mir White held out against tht 2 majority recommendations, however = and when an agreement appeared o hopeless the majority proceeded t' ' complete their report at midnight las -' night, sending it to the White Hous' Q early today.
 The commission began it's hearings Il ,5a--es fr,ev b.,. :, tween the government and the miners that its report would be made within e sixty days, which period expires to- : morrow.
 :. The commission would have no au 2 thority to enforce it's findings had it f report been unanimous. However i when it began hearings the miner }; agreed unreservedly to abide by it decision and the operators accepted it
 jurisdiction with the reservation tha l they could not be bound by any pric
 | advance for a period subsequent t
 the life of the Lever food control law s as this might subject them to prose
 cution under the anti-t trust laws. t Throughout the hearings the oper . ators insisted that many mines coull g not operate if wages were advanced IT crease in coal prices. The miners con Il tended against this position an . charged that the operators had mad = large profits during the war
 The miners originally demanded l. so per cent. increase and thirty hour a of work per week the year round. | l. the conferences with the operator = called by Secretary Wilson after tn
 government had obtained an injunc
 tion to end the coal strike. their rep
 resentatives receded from this an o agreed to accept Mir. Wilson's proposs for 31.6 CT cent. increase in wage l.. and a seven hour day.
 . The approximate increase of s5 De a cent. which it was reported Mir. Whit , would recommend in his report to th V president tomorrow was said to hay
 been worked out on the same basis a h was that of Secretary Wilson and ths II the increases in the cost of living sine | | November had been added.
 = Wage increases were said to hay e been calculated by the majority of th # commission on the basis of tonnas
 for pick and machine mining, a per
 centage increase for gardage and dea
 work, and a fiat advance in the pay C
 day laborers. The increase is not uni N form for all mines. varying in accord
 ance with costs of production. Ac l. cording to some calculations. the gen l. | eral advance probably would amour l. to 27 per cent. or more.
 Is President John l.. Lewis of tn = United Mine Workers of America. wh .e has been in New York attending th -- negotiations between the anthracii
 miners and operators for a new wag