The Washington times., 1923-08-21
WAGE DEMANDS
DEADLOCK
/" "N
FARLEY
Hard> Says Coal Commission
Should Help Immediately
With Problem.
CONTINUED from First Page.)

|
riner are engaged in task which
may look easy from the stand
point Of why Don't They Agree?"
but which at once becomes cx
tremely difficult when looked. al
from the standpoint OF agree On
| What?"
The ultimate Margin or Profit,
of the capital engaged in the
operating Of anthracite mines icon
sidering the industry as whole
Is SLOT a ton, as the United States
Coal Commission has discovered
and announced.
This margin was earned in the
first quarter of this year. It is the
largest such margin on record. In
the corresponding quarter of last
year the margin Of profit was
only IS cents a ton.
Out of these margins" must
come certain charges, such as In.
terest on borrowed money and such
as selling expenses and such &C
Federal taxes. The residue is really
profit.
That is one picture. Over against
it Lewis hangs another picture. He
paints 1t largely with colors which
A0 AAAAOb A&AAOy 10 uAS purposes III
the report Of the United States Coal
Commission.
Out Of that report he shows some
$1,000 anthracite mine workers
whose wages are from 81 to II
centa an. hour. d
Lewis dwells on the Scent man.
For purposes Of argument. he could
dwell also, let us say. on the so.
cent man.
Adequate Wage Undetermined.
That man in one day earns $3.50.
The mines in the last year Of record
worked 271 days. That man, there
fore, In that year could have earned
The United States Coal Commits.
sion has reported that the prices
Of the necessar1es Of life are higher
In the anthracite region than in
Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. It has
never fatty answered the basic
moral question:
Is $1,000 e. year in the anthracite
region an adequate wage based on
American gtandardS' for q man,
his wife, and his children?
+ Lewis wishes to raise the pay Of
CONTRACT miners by 20 per cent,
and the pay Of day men'-who are
worse paId-by o sum amounting
to more than 20 per cent.
The present labor cost Of mining
q ton Of anthracite coal, az quoted
here necessarily from the United
States Coal Commission report, is
$4.12.
II the figures 80 far given in this
dispatch are put together the re-.
suit will be to show that the negotin-
tons here In progress are hardly
to blame for displaying more dead.
lock than progress.
Wage Cost Of Coal Stated.
Lewis 20 per cent Of raise or
present wages would take tho pres
ent labor cost If a ton Of coal aud
raise It from $4.12 to a sum 50 cents
higher. It would in principle or
theory add 81, cents to the total
mine cost Of coal.
But, as shown above, the total
margin Of profit" for the capital
in the industry was only $1.O7 in
the first three months Of this year
and only As cents in the first three
months OF last year.
= In the whole Of the last ten years
1t has not averaged anywhere near
81 cents.
Therefore, as Warmer sees it,
the capital in the coal industry
could not pay much Of Lewis 81
cents Of advanced labor cost and
the public would have to pay it;
and Warmer is afraid to ask the
public to pay It.
Lewis, however, has himself en-
dured the hardships and dangers
of the mine and he thinks Of the
man who is enduring those hard
ships and dangers now. He. 10 not
willing, as he sees It, to make that
man the scapegoat Of other peo-
pies profits or economies.
Wants Compensation for Hazard.
With a sincere and solemn Inn
pressiveness he says:
And the mine worker who, in
thousands Of cases, is earning his
$408 q day cannot really be sure OF
being able to earn It on each OF
those 271 working days Of a full
time year.
lone anthracite miner out Of
every six Is in each year certain,
according to the statistics of the
State of Pennsylvania, to be the
him away from his work either
temporarily or permanently.
"Or. to put 1t in another way,
every man now working In an
anthracite mine can be certain that
in the course Of his work at some
time during the next six years he
will be either seriously injured or
killed.
I'VE, in this case, have the right
to speak not only Of a compensation
for toll but of a compensation for
hazard"
If the United States Coal Com
mission knows how much that
compensation should be, and who
should pay it. there are numerous
neutral newspaper observers here
who would give a gooA deal to get
scoop on the secret
Meanwhile the country can rest
assured that Lewis and Warmer
are not engaged simply in being
stubborn, They are wrestling with
problem which the greatest
statesmen and diplomats in the
world would find battling.
Copyright. 1928. Washington Press
SerVice.)
lE0CENAEM DnEnAnINH