New Ulm review., 1922-05-10

kins.
An interesting battle is being waged
between the bituminous coal opera
tors "a small group of men closely IN
terwoven with the banking and rail-
road clique) and the miners; number
ing in all say 100000 men, for the
possession of our fuel supplies, which
of course belong to the country at
large. The consuming public, with
surprising equanimity, is placidly
watching the gambling away OF its
patrimony without even realizing
that it is entitled to a voice in the pro-
ceedings. If, however, the people
knew the objective points which both
the operators and the operatives are
seeking to reach, their complacency
would be rudely interrupted. 1t is
my purpose therefore in several ar
ticles, of which this is the first, to
throw little light upon the situation
as it actually exists.
Unproductive Mines.
The operators own a great many
mines which, from natural causes,
cannot produce coal at minimum or
reasonable cost. They also own
many mines from which coal can be
mined very cheaply, but instead of
full capacity and closing down the
over supply of unproductive mines
they are seeking, through artificial
means, to grade down the wages of
labor and to scale up their prices to
the consumer, so that the unproduc-
tive mines will be artifcially placed
on par with those from which the
coal can be extracted at a normal cost.
With this object in view the opera
tors have refused to agree to a nation
al wage scale basis applicable to the
entire industry, and are demanding
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 la
Dor in each locality and they will
break up the organized resistance of
the labor unions. The public will
then be compelled to purchase coal at
prices which the operators will be in a
position to arbitrarily dictate, which,
taken in conjunction with their local
wage agreements, will be sufficient to
equalize the shortcomings of their
poor mines.
Unions Maneuver For Position.
The operatives, on the other hand,
smarting under the injustice of the
deplorable and unnecessary condition
of living to which they are subjected,
and confronted with the necessity of
stabilizing their wages and periods of
employment so as to afford them an
income that will supply the necessi-
ties of life, are hoping to bring about
through the bituminous strike uni
fed control Of the bituminous industry
similar to that which already exists
in the anthracite fields as result of
the anthracite strike of 1902. Their
theory is based upon the knowledge
that if the operators are able to gather
in the loose threads of the bituminous
industry and consolidate the control
in the hands of small group of fnan-
cial prestidigitators, as they have done
in the anthracite industry, and if at
the same time the power Of the union
remains unimpaired, they can between
them adjust prices and wages to their
mutual satisfaction. The operators
can then pad their profits by doubl-
ing the price Of bituminous coal and
make the consumer pay the bill, just
as the householder realizes they have
already done with anthracite coal.
It will be observed that in striving
to achieve these objective points both
the operators and the operatives are
acting from purely selfish motives.
Perhaps this is only natural. Greed
on the one hand, and privation on the
other, have forced them into struggle
in which the consuming public has so
far taken no part, and in which it can
therefore hardly expect that it's inter-
ests will be seriously considered.
The Consumers Rights.
But nevertheless the consumers
have right to demand that their
coal shall be mined and delivered at
their doors with maximum of efficien-
cy and at the lowest price consistent