Evening star., 1922-03-30
Miners Prepare to Lay Down
Tools Tomorrow at Mid
night and Sit Back.
PREDICT LONG STRUGGLE
AT CONFERENCE TABLE
Little Hope Held of Agreement Be.
fore Nation Begins to Feel
Pinch of Shortage.
By I. e Associated Press.

NEW YORK. March 3O.-The hush
OF idleness seemed today to be al
ready descending upon the unionized
coal industry of the nation, and the
anthracite miners and operators SUBJ
committee on wage contract negotia-
tions abandoned all hope of halting
the strike set for April ]. and in
trenched themselves for long strug-
gle over the conference table.
Strike notices have been posted in
both the bituminous and anthracite
fields. Phillip Murray. vice president
Of the United Mine Workers OF
America. announced. Union miners.
$4,000 strong. will lay down their
tools at midnight tomorrow. when
their present working contract with
the operators will expire. he said.
While expressing a hope for speedy
negotiation Of new contract for The
anthracite workers. neither miners
nor operators would predict today
that such an agreement would be
reached before the nation began to
feel the pinch of Goa! shortage.
I'VE have been asked to substan-
tiate our demands for higher wages.
6uQ we must nave time 10 90 50, SdiO
labor members of the committee of
eight.
VIII Wait for Miners.
I'VE are content to wait until the
miners have fully presented their
case. Then it will be our turn to come
to bat" said the operators.
With these comments. they resumed
- - Iaf
costs of living, wage increases. haz-
duction and market profits. on which
the union men base their nineteen
demands. Among them they are
stressing the demand for 6 20 per
cent increase to contract laborers; a
minimum of $500 a day for unskilled
day laborers: the check -of system.
by which the mine operators collect
the workmen's union dues. and a uni
form wage scale for machine oper-
ators
To these demands the operators
have thus far made but one answer:
wages in the. anthracite industry
must come down"
What percentage Of reduction they
will demand, the operators have not
yet revealed.
Other Wages Decreased.
Wages in other industries have
decreased" said S. D. Warmer,
speaker for the operators. "A corre-
spending reduction must take place
in the mines. Lower costs Of living
warrant 1t: the inability of the pub
lie to buy coal at. present prices de-
mands that it be sold more cheapiy.
We must cut the cost of production.
increase the market for coal. provide
more steady work for the miner, at
a reduced scale. and thereby help re-
lieve the prevailing industrial de-
preston"
To this Phillip Murray, vice president
of the United Mine Workers of America.
has replied that the stagnation in the
coal industry is due TO wasteful methods
OF production, excessive prodts, viola
tion of the laws Of supply and demand
in control of markets and prices. and
that costs Of living in the mine areas
have advanced. while wages remained
stationary.
With a preliminary declaration that
residents of the anthracite mine region
are the most prosperous in tae United
States" operators launched before the
subcommittee on wage contract nego-
tiations their fight against the nineteen
demands of the miners as basis for
settlement Of the strike set for April l.
Savings Increase s7s.OOO.0Oo.
Speaking for the operators, S. D. War
riner, president Of the Lehigh Coal and
Navigation Company, produced figures
setting forth that bank deposits in the
anthracite district had increased $751;
100000 in the last two years. This, he
said, clearly indicates that the miners
already are receiving the Saving
wage" upon which they base their
demand for a 20 per cent increase for
contract work and 81 per shift for day
labor.
Phillip Murray. vice president OF
the United Mine Workers of Amer
lea, countered with a denial that the
national Industrial conference board.
were based on facts. The industrial
board, h said, is "a clear-cut, open
saop, anti-union organization. whose
i-gures are not authentic, but are
eolored and thoroughly unreliable"
the pay schedule should be cut in
order to make possible a reduction
in the cost of coal to the consumer
the operators contended that. while
miners demand 90 per cent raise
in wages living costs have dropped
20 per cent since July, 1s20A
The battle of statistics today
opened with the release by the ma
tional industrial conference board
of what 1t termed the most compre-
hensive survey OF the cost of living
ever made in the anthracite coal
fields"
Supplementing this survey pre-
pared for the operators, Mr.. War
riner said:
.The miners wages have been ad-
vanced 55 per cent since 1916. their
latest II per cent increase having
been granted since the peak OF war
time costs was passed. 1t Is un-
reasonable that they now should de-
mand another 20 per cent"