Evening star., 1925-07-31

The poor, innocent bystander"-
the man who heats home, or the
corporation which runs a factory, or
the owner who buys coal for his great
apartment house or hotel! How such
a party must be pitied when the coal
miners abuse" the operators by
striking for higher wages and shorter
hours and for the "check-off" and all
things else with which TO add to their
comforts and to the discomforts of
the operators who own the mines.
This appears to be the version of the
operators.
Likewise, how the home heater and
the manufacturer and the apartment
house owner must receive sympathy
when the "grasping" operators grind
the faces" of the poor" miners
until a governor of a State steps in
and demands a compromise between
the two contenders for justice!
Gov. Pinchot of Pennsylvania ruled
that the miners should have their con-
tention for a 10 per cent increase of
wages and the "check-off" should be
sacred, whereby the operators who
from their wages the amount of union
dues and pay the same to the union,
with which the union may fight both
the operators and the non-union rival
workmen The governor aforesaid
also recommended that the operators
should absorb" the 10 per cent in
crease and not pass it along to the
innocent bystander" of the home, the
factory and the apartment house.
IL Il - Do hot
"gubernatorial absorption? By ad-
justing retail prices so that the 10 per
cent is multiplied and the result is
charged against the innocent by
stander' with interest The "by-
stander is unorganized and has no
champion except the Government of
the United States of America.
X X X
There may be a great coal strike
beginning September l, unless an
agreement be Reached between opera
tors and miners at the Atlantic City
conference now in session. Hence it is
timely to study the history of previous
strikes such as is now imminent.
Take the wages of contract miners
in 1902 as the basis of comparison
the 100 index number" BY 1911 the
wage index had risen to 1850. Then
there was a new agreement with the
result of a 10 per cent increase, max
ing the index 121. In 1916, there was
another agreement and wages rose
Z per cent, and the index became
1895. Then came the war, and a
month later wages rose 10 per cent
and the index was 1925; but that in
crease was not satisfactory, so a Sec
ond boost followed November /, 1917,
when mining wages were enhanced
25 per cent more. One year later
there was another increase of 40 per
cent. SO the index became 1913 That
lasted until April, 1920. when the
miners achieved another boost of 65
per cent and the index stood at 213.6.
So the miners lived on until two
years later came the strike of 1922,
which Gov Pinchot compromised
by awarding the increase demanded,
10 per cent, and the index stood at
235-two and a third times the pre-
war rate Also in that compromise
the 'check off" was intrenched as a
vested right of the miners union,
compelling all union miners to pay
full union dues, by requiring the en-
ployers to deduct the dues from wages
and remit the amount to the union.
The governor advised the operators
to ''absorb" the increase and not to pass
it on to the consumer. Did they do
IT.?
X X X X
This is the story of the "non-ab-
sorbent" operators: The average price
of gross ton of stove anthracite at
the mines in 1918 was $685. CThe
retail selling price was $7.46) When
the war came, the miners index, show
ing their wage increase in 1917, as
compared with 1913, stood at 142.5.
The non-absorbing operators had an
index at thA same tune ps 124s By