Evening star., 1927-03-03
MEN AND MONEY
By NJ. S. Rukeyser.
Copyright. 1879

hellicosity in the field of industrial re
lations clearly belongs to the coal
trade.
Americas next regular battle be-
tween capital and labor In the coal
fields is scheduled for April l next
this time in the bituminous coal mines,
particularly in western Pennsylvania
and Ohio. The lest domestic coal
struRSle-staged in the Autumn Of
1sa5@was i'm the anthracite. or hard
coal. fields. In 1925 the periodic coal
hattie was staged in England and was
the"immediate cause of the costly gen.
eral strike.
with the approach OF Spring the
harassed consumer Is little alarmed
about the threat OF a coal strike. Soft
coal. however. is the chief fuel of In
d,sstry. and an interference with the
surpl,. might have a paralyZing enect
on Industry. However. industry is
lacking forward to the battle with
eoua ninnity for a variety of reasons.
In the first place, the bulk OF SOFT coal
has come to he mined by non-unlon
compan nies, which will not be affected
nv the threatened strike. Whereas g
shortly after the armistice the non
union mines produced only about 80
per cent of the soft coal mined In this
country, they now turn out close to
70 per cent of the aggregate, accord
Ing to trade estimates.
Jacksonville Agreement.
The Jacksonville wage agreement.
whose expiration on March 81 next.
ia the immediate cause of the present
labor crisis, had the effect of requlr-
ing operators Of union mines to pay
higher wages than non-union mines
Some who had signed the onerous
agreement found legal loopholes ano
WEIGHED on it, and others, who at
tempted to live up to the agreement
either lost part OF their business ol
were compelled to close down en-
tirelv. The Jacksonville agreement
provides for wages of $3.50, which at
times during the last three years,
during which It has been In erect,
was substantially above the market
The recent Miami conference was
certain to fail. because the employ
ers insisted on continuously com
petitive wage SCALE" whereas the
nnion followed the slogan of It's lead
er, John l.. Lewis, Of the United
Mine Workers, mo backward step"
Mr.. Lewis said candidly that he
was not certain that the union OPP
orators could reorganize on a more
ancient basis and put their house in
order, but added, III you cannot.
don't think the mine workers can
lightly accept a wage reduction end
q lowering OF the standard Of living
merely because Of your own short
comings."
Coal operators seemingly have
caught nothing OF the modern busl-
ness policy of adjusting production to
demand. The large producers are
harassed by many freelances. whose
i. surfaces mines become active as soon
as prices turn up.
Coal Demand Fails to Grow.
Moreover. the demand for coal has
not grown proportionately to the ex.
pansion of American industry. The
reason for this 10 that there has been
aimee the war O revolution in the man.
r1er and eficiency with which coal IL
consumed. The power plants and the
railroads have taken the leadership in
getting more energy out of pound OF
coal. For example. according to the
United States Geological Survey, elec-
tricfty has been the means of saving
$4,000, 900 tons of coal in the United
States in the last six years. While the
consumption of fuel has increased Is
per cent. the energy generation has
risen by almost so per cent. The saw
ing is ascribed to more efficient use of
coal, to the elimination of inadequate
equipment and the development of In.
terconnections.
The real strategic weakness in the
position of the United Mine Workers
has been their inability to unionize the
workers in the West Virginia and Ken
lucky mines, where lower than union
wage scales have prevailed. The union
now opposes the suggestion that the
non-union wage scales should set the
standard for the remainder of the in
dustry.
1t seems likely that some OF the
western Pennsylvania and Ohio oper.
atcrs will take advantage of the exist
ing deadlock to try to introduce the
open-shop principle in their territory.
Operators in Indiana and Illinois,
however. are more disposed to desire
to find some common ground for con-
tinuing their relations with the union.
Storing Large Reserves.
Meantime the large consumers Of
soft coal, especially the railroads and
the public utilities, have been storing
up reserves for many months and
ara likely to be found ready for
eSentualities.
The soft coal industry itself, how
ever, is wretchedly organized, and a
way out Of the present difficulties
has not vet suggested itself. The
union may resort to the 1922 policy
of making separate agreements with
individual companies.
Temperamental differences in vari.
Gus sections OF the country help to
explain the failure Of the union COM
pletely to organize the soft coal work
ers as they have the anthracite
miners. The individualism OF the
mountaineers Of Kentucky and West
Virginia, hacked by the guns Of un-
compromising operators. has blocked
the efforts at unionization.
AS a result, the bulk Of the business
in recent years has drifted from union
operators with higher labor standards
to non-union operators with lower
wage scales.
The soft coal industry IS sick. suf-
fering from had management and
poor organization. IL any trade needs
@ Judge Landis or a VIII Hayes it