The Cordova daily times., 1922-04-01

| WASt1lNGlON, Aprll line trOu- ble between the operators and the miners of soft coal fields is of long standing.
 | Officials of the mining department of the American Federation of Labor, 1 in reviewing conditions and events which led up to the present difficult | ties go back to 1916, when wage agreement was secured by the miners at conference with the operators in Mobile, Ala. This agreement was signed at New York City on February a. 1916, and it provided for an ad- vance of three cents a ton at the bas- ing points and the adoption of the mine run system through the Central Competitive Field. About the time this agreement went into effect the war in Europe began to cast it's shadow in the United States. There were increases in the cost of living, which was said to have resulted partly from the purchase of large quantities of supplies in this country for the allied governments.
 DECIDED WAGES INADEQUATE
 The coal miners decided that their wages were inadequate, and many of the workers began to leave the mines for healthier and better paid jobs on the surface.
 Relations between the operators and their employees became badly strained, so an informal conference of the Gen. tral Competitive Field convened in In dianapolis in April, 1917. This meet ing resulted in an interstate confer ence of the same parties in New York City about the middle of the same month. An agreement was reached at the New York conference to run until March 31, 1918, providing for an in- crease of ten cents ton on pick and machine mining rates and an increase of sixty cents per day on day work, with no advance on yardage and dead work.
 As prices continued to go up, the Committee on Coal Production was organized as part of the Council of National Defense in an effort to bring about a more stable condition. The operators, the miners and the public were represented on this committee. The committee, which was later suc- ceeded by the United States Fuel Ad- ministration, called meeting of coal operators from all coal producing states and secured an agreement for the lowering of the prices Of bltu- minous coal as a temporary measure until comprehensive survey could be made and more equitable prices established.
 ADVANCE GIVEN IN 1917.
 Another joint conference of opera tors and miners was held in Washing ton in September, 1917, which led to an agreement providing for an ad- vence of $1.4O a day for day workers and 15 cent advance on yardage.
 After this conference and as con- ditions continued to grow worse the miners tried to get the Fuel Adminis- trator to call another meeting to dis cuss the situation, but were unsuc- cessful.
 When the national convention of the United Mine Workers of America was held in Cleveland, the miners formulated demands for 60 per cent increase in wages, a six-hour day and a five-day week. The demands were submitted to the operators at joint conference ill Buffalo, N. Y., on September 23, 1919, but were not ac- cepted The same thing happened at another joint conference in Philadel- phia in October.
 "The operators had evidently been advised" according to James Lord, president of the mining department of the American Federation of Labor, that the Lever law could and would be construed to deny the right of the miners to cease work in the event an agreement could not be reached. So they forwarded a policy which they knew could only result in the failure of negotiations, relying on this advice that the miners could easily | be stopped by the government from exercising their economic power.
 "STRikE NATURALLY ENSUED."
 "The strike naturally ensued. The