The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-07
GRINDING MORE
PROFITS OUT OF
COAL DIGGERS
New Way of Speeding
Up Production
BY J. A. HAMILTON.
Especial to The Daily Worker

Under the new three-year agreement,
the coal industry is supposed to be
Stabilized" What "stabilization"
means to the miner is indicated by
the experience of the men at the
Bsrrackville mine near here, owned
by the Bethlehem Steel Company,
and operated under union contract.
Before the expiration of the last
agreement, the Company began to
Stabilize" the labor force by taking
the men in as partners" in the bust
ness, thru selling them z per cent
preferred stock at $94 per share.
Altho the preferred stockholders have
no voice in the management of the
company, yet they share in the
profits of the business at the rate Of
$40 per year per share, which is a
good percentage on an investment of
$4,000. So far, so good, provided
out Of your part time work you can
get hold Of the $4,000.
Doping The Workers.
But the company having obligated
itself to pay out this $500 per year,
next proceeds to stabilize" lis in
come in order that this and other OBJ
legations might be certainly met. 1t
has just posted notices to the effect
that house rent is raised $1.0O per
month, house coal is at higher price,
and that hand drilling will be intro
duced in place Of the customary ma
chine drilling.
Unless miner owns two shares or
more of the stock, he will therefore
pay in increased rent more than he
gets back from the company in in
| terest, and the company has his $94
besides; in addition, in order not to
imperil his. investment, the miner
must abstain from strikes or any
other action detrimental to the
profits Of the company.
Human Power VS.. Mechanical Power.
To get the coal blasted down, six
foot holes are drilled into the solid
rock, so that the explosive can be
inserted far back. This has been
done at Barrackville by compressed
air machines operated by special
drilling crews. 1t must now be done
by the coal loader with hand drill.
The drills and accessory tools and the
| continual sharpening of the drill
points, put additional expense on the
miner, and the drilling work is said
to be especially hard in the Barrack-
vile mine. For the hand drilling the
miner gets an extra two cents per
ton which the men claim will far
from compensate them for the extra
labor and expense.
It is estimated that it costs the
company several times the two cents
to drill the holes by machine, so that
by substituting human power for
mechanical power, Charley Schwab
will save quite tidy sum during the
ensuing three years, to pay pre-
ferred dividends to his various part
ners."
1t is true that hand drilling is most
generally in vogue in the Northern
West Virginia mines, but this is all
the more reason why the union in
stead of allowing labor-saving ma
chinery to be abandoned where it has
once been introduced, should require
its extension into other mines, es-
pecially when the miner is the vic
tim of the abandonment of the ma
I
chine.
Employers SHINING Employees.
Of the many varieties of bowls
emitted by the union-busters, one of
the favorites is, "Unionism opposes
the introduction of machinery" But
when this metal machinery is found
to be more costly than human flesh
and blood, then the howl is of an
other kind; If the Union then de-
mands the retention Of the machine
it is "a cultivator Of incidence" and
lif it demands that the human ma
chine receive at least the same
amount demanded blythe metal ma
chine or if the union stands for
maintenance or increase of income
of skilled workers whose skill is re-
placed by machine, then the union
is an "enemy of business enterprise
and of efficiency"
If three days can produce so much
"stablization" at one mine, what a
great amount of "stablization," in
the form of profits for the coal COM
panies and other exploiters, can be
looked for in three years. Truly the
three-year agreement is great
achievement-for the capitalist class.
Farmers To Join Labor Legal Aid.