The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1922-06-03
FEDERAL ACTION | Mccall STRIKE
recommends after SURVEY
Commission, With Power to Bring Operators Books and Rec
ords Before Il, Proposed to Congress- :,.

]. A. H. Hopkins, chairman of
the COMMITTEE of 49, has just
completed a survey of the bitumin-
Gus coal fields during which he in
vestigated working conditions, wages
and other phases of the situation
that have resulted in the present
strike, which directly affects 7OO,-
600 employees of the mining indus
try and effects, in larger or lesser
degree. the entire population Of the
United States, besides having rami-
fications that reach around the
world. AS a result Of this survey
MIR. Hopkins makes a lengthy re-
port and offers what he considers
corrective agencies.
The "Committee of 4S" was Or
ganized toward the close Of the year
1919. through the efforts of group
Of so-called advanced thinkers, and
adopted a platform largely in OPP
position to the then existing state of
national affairs. The name Of the
committee is derived from the fact
that 1t is composed Of members
resident in each of the AZ states. The
platform favors a most compre-
hensive program of public owner
ship, race and sex equality and
strongly Endorses the union labor
movement. Mr.. Hopkins. report
reads, in part, as follows:
The attitude of the operators is
affected by their ownership of
mines lob, IN
taken cheaply, and they are seek
ing through artificial means to
grade down the wages Of labor and
to scale up their prices to the con-
sumner, so that the unprodu ctive
mines will be artificially placed on
a par with those from which the
coal can be extracted at a normal
cost.
Could Regulate Prices.
with this object in view The OPP
orators have refused to agree to a
national wage scale basis applicable
to the entire industry, and are de-
manding that they make their wage
agreements locally with each mine
Or community. If they succeed in
this they will be able to arbitrarily
fix the wages of labor in each To-
cality and will break up the organ
lied resistance Of the labor unions.
The public will then be compelled to
purchase coal at prices which the
arbitrarily dictate.
1.-THE miners live in so-called
houses provided by the operators,
containing from two to five rooms
each. These houses are mere shacks
built of thin c'apboards plastered
inside, but with no lights except
kerosene lamps, no running water,
and no heat except open CRATES.
They are built upon uneven ground,
without cellars. many of them on
piles, which makes it impossible
to heat them properly even though
the miners burn as much as four
tons of coal every six weeks.
THE shacks are from 100 feet to
one-quarter of a mile distant from
open tanks erected in the middle OF
the mining towns, from which all
The water must be carried in pals.
1.-The day men in the non-union
mines in 1916 received slightly less
than the union men. but by 1919 the
increase in the cost of living and the
demand for coal had resulted in re-
versing these figures so that the
non-union miners then receiver $3.50
per day against the union scale Of
$3.50. Since then the non-union
mines have repeatedly cut wages,
so that when the strike was called
on April 1, the non-union men were
only receiving $5.05, whereas the
union men were still receiving $3.50.
Too Few Working Days.
"But it Is misleading to deal with
this question simply on the basis OF
a daily wage. The miner has to live
365 days a year. The minimum cost
of living for the average family with
even comparatively decent surround
ings is between $500 and $4,000. II
the miner worked every day in the