The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-04-21
CONFERENCE OVER
NEW Mine SCALE
ENDED TUESDAY
In crease in Northern west
Virginia Will Run ).
High.

Fairmont operators returned to-
day from Baltimore, where thew at
tended the wage conference between
the coal operators and miners of
Northern West Virginia at the soutb-
ern hotel, The sessions closed late
yesterday afternoon after reacbine' ',.s ~
agreement on all points concerned a
me scale Affects approximately 81
goo miners in the northern mart \ *
the state. The conferaac wa 8 "a (, s,
harmonious and because AZ II, !, ~. "
INNING rate in the Fairmont AsjA y, =
increases will run higher in nsFcen 1sc NJ =
age than almost any othef se6sis ms ms
aucing region in the eountrv, 4 = =.
me Increases are an sim AZ II 40
award ot the United States q ttin'ins
GUS Coal commission to which, fha
opsrators mad agreed to abid They
are as follows: Increase on 54of,iS,s
on the ton, "a cents; day laborers 81
a day; dead work, 30 per cent ~
crease. The increases are rs IA -. -
the agreement between the oSsrsts,.s Il.
and the United Mine Worjers ~
America, which was made On Ssantay,.
oer 10, 1918, and incidentaiIy there
mas an equalization incident to day
labor rate in the region.
one OF the points that required
mucn time in the conference was the
question OF dead work and especially
the uniformity of the scale. It was
agreea by the conference to appoiit5 a
commission to gather data and frlfor-
nation In regard to dead work which
would be presented to the next scale
conference two years hence. The
application of the increase between
the loader and the. machine cutter
also evoked much discussion, but was
settled very satisfactorily. All%bo-
nusesiwer cut off in accordance with
the ruling of the Bituminous Coal
commission on this phase of the oues-
ton. These bonuses include free
mouse rent, free powder and other
Items, most of which never held sway
IN the Fairmont region. In keeping
with the commissions report the in
creases are effective April /, ,a
Realizing the Importance of organ
1zauon, five representatives. of the
Preston County Coal Operators asso.
tclatlon were present and turned in
twenty coal companies for member
ship in the Northern West Virginia
Coal Operators association.
While there were temporary, dead
locks" the conference progressed
very nicely. Neither side perhaps se2
cured all it wanted to, but, both ap-
pear to be satisfied with the outcome
of the conference. S p,. if,tES
Assigned Cars.
Although there are but 81 cars on
the Monongah division Of the Balti-
more and Ohio railroad today, most
of them are for B. GO. fuel, opera
tors say. Inquiry at Grafton, opera
tors say, in regard to the ear supply
is met with the comebaclI, Gears only
enough for fuel" The question Is,
being raised here, is the b. ~ o. rail-
road entitled to all OF the cars when
the supply is so low The early
morning placement oday was 285.
The mines. ordered j ~ 81 cars, of
which number "a were coke cars To-
days cars are classified as follows:
Open, 294; coke, IA u. q. q. X, 81;
N. v. T., fouzS Cars left over from
the previous day. were SO. As q re-
suit of the car shortage today there
are 1S1 mines idle. x y. I
Today there Is one lone car placed
In the West Virginia district along
the Monogahela railroad. while there
are 10l cars placed In the Pennsyl-
vania district. There are no cars In
sight for Thursday. At Brownsville
yesterday there were 465 car loads OF
toontinued on Page Four
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