The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-02-06

100. 900 men are employed in the an
thracite fields. They produced in 1921
1917, 900 gross tons. slightly more than
was produced in 1919. but slightly less
than they produced In 1920. when the
total was S0,032.175 tons. The labor
cost of producing this coal was $751;
ITO, 900.
The existing agreements between the
miners union and the operators, in re-
spect to both the anthracite and the
bituminous fields. expire on April J..
These agreements embrace the wage
scale and II is therefore necessary that
9. new scale and a new agreement be
arranged before April 1.
The proposal of the miners. which is
sometimes referred to as a demand, is
for a 20 per cent. increase. In wages on
the ton basis. or where the miner is paid
in accordance with the amount IT coal
he handles, and a fiat increase Of one
dollar a day for men paid on the daily
basis.
Consumer Pays increase.
1t is the contention of the representa-
tive of the anthracite operators tina.
the proposal of the miners would mean
an increase cost to the consumer Of an
thracite coal of $3.50 ton. This, of
course. contemplates the passing on of
the proposed increased labor cost. in
toto, to the consumer The proposed
wage increase would mean roughly a
$50. 900. 900 addition to the labor bill.
but the operators point out that this
would have to be carried by the larger
sizes OF coal--those chiefly put to do
nestle use.
Tho price of anthracite in January,
n trtA Ia Ia1x
81 1t fell in April to a little more than
49, and except for the usual seasonal
drop there was no marked change until
the latter part of 1916, when company"
coal-coal produced by the larger COM
panies formerly owned. in great part,
by the railroads-went to about $3.50.
Since that time by gradual increases
the price a gross ton at the mine has
gone up to IS. In the same period there
has been some "skyrocketing" of prices
by the independents, the price of some
independent coal in 1920 going over
s14 at the mine for stove size. Com
pany" coal has not averaged above vs.
In the entire period.
When one turns to the bituminous
fields one finds that In some respects
the situation is exactly the reverse OF
what it Is in the anthracite field.
While the existing agreement between
the operators and the men expires April
l, no demand has been advanced on be-
falf of the miners of hituminous coal,
lit. on the contrary, the operators or
certain of them, have announced In ad-
vance a sharp cut In wages and have
actually posted the new scale with no.
tice that 1t will be effective after the old
agreement expires.
1t Is pretty generally known that very
much more bituminous coal Is produced
than anthracite in this country. Rail-
roads. steel plants, public utilities. In
dustrial concerns of all sorts, use the
soft coal and there is much of 1t used
for bunkering ships. About 100000. 900
tons were produced last year. and this
was about ~ per cent below the pro-
duction of the year before. To mine
this coal ordinarily. requires the work
of about 100000 men.
And here enters one of the factors
that have much to do with the situation
that Is soon to confront coal users and
marks sharply the difference between
the anthracite and the bituminous coal
business. Fully one-third OF the min
ers of soft coal are non-union men, and
some Of the largest and most productive
fields are non-union fields.
The Importance of this fact is that 1t
divides the bituminous coal mining into
two parts and places one part in direct
competition with the other. 1t Is a
fact that many soft coal mines are
closed and that the operators Of other
mines say they cannot continue in busi-
ness and compete with mines paying
less than the union scale of wages. Ut
must also be borne In mind that because
Of the slowing UP of industry the soft
coal consumption has dropped markedly
In the last year. There has been de-
crease, too. in the consumption of an
thracite, but IL was not nearly so
marked
The operators in the Ohio and Penn
sylvania fields. in posting their pro-
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