South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-03-30
BY WHITING WILLIAMS.


"Goo-odi Tank Gawd Tomor-
row gives Work."
That's what I heard men and wo-
men saying in our mine towns every
afternoon at o'clock when the tip
pIe's big whistle announced the
good news The trouble was that
on so many days the news was bad.
Then you would see big. husky men
run their hands through their hair.
MY GaWd Ny Gawd How
can liver What can do2 No work.
tomorrow"
II We don't know about that daily
whistle with its good news OF bad,
the coal strike looks just like an
ordinary capital and labor dispute
about wages and hours. According
TO one side. the operators and own
ers are rObbing the country for
their swollen profits According to
the other. something like 100000
strong men are using their jobs In
a basic and indispensable industry
70 demand a full weeks wages for
Only 80 hours work
Whistle the Boss"
II n the whistle that tells US that
neither mine owner nor mine work.
er f. ss bad as he appears. The
whistle knows that both OF them
are pretty much his slaves.
The soft coal mines OF America
worked in 1921 an average OF only
ITO days and IN 1920 an average
Of only 224. The hard coal miners
generally worked a larger number.
That is the way an unprejudiced
witness known as the director Of the
T. s. Geological Survey tells the
story OF the whistle
The story means that between
100. 600 and $50. zoe more miners are
kept in the coal towns than can by
any possibility he given a full years
work At even $1,000 each, their
wages alone add 800. 900. 900 20 the
cost of our daily coal. If the min
ers went inside" every working
day. they would give us 40 percent
more coal than we could possibly
dispose OF. And Il those who were
lucky enough to have more than 80
hours OF work cut themselves down
and gave their extra hours TO those
Who average less than 80, then
those FIVE working days OF six hours
each would produce more coal than
is ordinarily obtained. Thus, the
3O-hour demand is not for less
work but for a more even division
Of what work there IS.
As Il stands. tonnage rates and
hourly rates endeavor 20 give the
worker something like a living wage
even though ne can't do anything
like a years work.
Overhead Costly.
Besides the wages of voorhees,
men. other hundreds OF millions are
added to our coal bill by the use
less and unproductive overhead"
OF all those worthless days. That's
not only interest on the money tied
I'D IN idle machinery. cars, etc. Tt
"a also the cost OF pumping water
out Of. and pumping air into. the
dark passages below ground Even
the air OF one days pumping-in
weighs more than the coal OF one
days taking-outt Both air and wa
ter must be moved whether any coal
moves or not without such atten-
ton for even a few weeks the ordi-
-
What IL the why" OF all this
huge expense or idle money. idle
machinery and idle men? Whose
fault IS #?
Well. for one thing we haven't
enough railway cars TO supply all
the mines when their peak demand
arrives That's why the mine own
ers want the men 10 be In the mine
towns even though they can't be
kept busy For the more men
mine has on its payroll. the higher
It's maximum daily theoretical pro-
duction and therefore, the higher
- rating so the higher
share Il gets of the cars which do
happen TO be available for the dis
trict
or course. we could require the
railroads 20 build enough cars 20
supply 100 percent of that peak de-
mand OF oar coolest days. The
trouble is that the overhead cost
~ this would raise our freight rates
on everything because those cars
would stand idle most Of the year.
70. a better way 10 give King
Coal and AN his subjects I'm our
mine towns a happier disposition
would he for Us consumers to rec
ognize our own misdoincs As long
as we insist upon ordering our coal
when we want it and not a day be
fore. the coal miners and the coat
operators viii he hard 20 get along
with They viii all be suffering
from that distcmper which causes
more unhappiness i'm American in
dustry than any other. To is called
the Peak and Trough Disease" OF
that disease the tipples whistle is
only a symptom our punching OF
our orders into our cold weather is
the cause For coal cannot be
mined or stored az the mine ia ad-
vance without increased cost.
Lower freight rates in the sum-
mer and greater favor shown by the
bankers TO the coal users who
stock up" I'm the warm months
these are two proposals made for
cutting Off the peaks OF our demand
and so filing up the troughs OF the
miners unhappy and demoralizing
.dlencss They require action by
our interstate comma cree commission
and our Federal Reserve bank.
Tho necessary government per-
mission was proposed 10y a commits
SION called in after the last coal
strike These proposals viii doubt
less be made again by the govern
ment commission likely 90 be APP
pointed for settling the present dis
Dute. For the furnace downstairs