HD M3 \ Anthracite loal Strike Commission ARGUMENT OF H. T. NEWCOMB of Counsel for the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company Philadelphia, Pa., February 12, 1903 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2008 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/antliracitecoalstOOnewcricli Anthracite Coal Strike Commission ARGUMENT OF H. T. NEWCOMB of Counsel for the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company Piiii.ADELi'iiiA, Pa., February 12, 1903 53^-' "^ Anthracite Coal Strike Commission ARGUMENT of H. T. NEWCOMB on behalf of Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company To the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission: The importance of a correct determination of the ques- tions submitted to this Commission is not to be meas- ured even by that attaching to the wages or annual earn- ings of an industrial army nearly 150,000 strong, or to the prosperity of the business which supplies the eco- nomic basis of a community of eight hundred thousand human beings and covering a region of almost eighteen hundred square miles, or to the price of the principal do- mestic fuel consumed in the eastern half of the United States. All of these things are directly connected with the is- sues between the anthracite mine workers and the operators by whom they are employed that have been submitted to this Commission and each of them must be affected in a greater or less degree by its award. But there are other matters of wider and far more permanent importance that are just as certainly involved. Wages, whether abnormally high or unnaturally low, must sooner or later, without extraneous interference or in spite of it, adjust themselves to the gen- eral level which is fixed by the prevailing standard of life and the condition of production and trade; no industry can long suffer beyond its fellows or enjoy advantages which they do not share; an excessive price for anthracite might 3:11 805 for a time oppress the poor of the eastern states or an unduly low one might squander the limited and irreplac- able supply of that fuel, but, in the first case, the corrective power of natural forces would eventually remove the op- pression, and, in the second, the evil would be no more than the anticipation by a few years or by a few decades of that exhaustion of the anthracite deposits which is already •clearly in sight. Labor is, however, a permanent condition of existence and in spite of the anticipations of socialists and the fore- bodings of pessimistic individualists, the institutions of private property and the wages system seem likely long to remain, as they unquestionably are to-day, indispensable to the successful direction of industry and the profitable expenditure of energy in productive toil. Of all rights of property the title of a man to himself is the most impor- tant. Liberty of action so far as it can be exercised with- out impairing the equal liberty of others is an essential of moral as well as of social and economic development. The decision of this Commission will authoritatively answer some questions of fundamental importance in regard to personal freedom that, once regarded as beyond dispute, have lately been raised by the acts and declarations of some of the parties to this controversy or of those who represent them. In fixing for a considerable time the relations that shall exist between those who perform manual labor in connection with the production of anthracite and the owners of anthracite property the Commission must pro- foundly influence the relations between employees and em- ployers everywhere in the Unitd States and for a long time to come. It is many decades since labor organizations began to constitute an important factor in the industrial systems of the English-speaking nations. These organiza- tions vary greatly in character, in methods and in purposes and, some of them having adhered to wrong principles and adopted fatuous or vicious methods, the movement has had many serious setbacks, but in spite of these errors and their consequences, the industrial position of organized labor is now one of great and probably increasing strength. To the inquiry which demands light upon the future influence upon American prosperity of this great industrial factor the award of this Commission must yield a response full of meaning. Shall organized labor treat protestants against its principles and methods as outcasts ; shall its leaders, by teaching that they have no moral right to protest or to give practical expression to their beliefs, make certain that many of them shall be stoned and beaten and others de- prived of property or life by its less cautious and con- trollable members; shall it forbid their families the neces- sities of life and the ministrations of priests and physi- cians ; shall it deprive their children of employment ? Shall labor unions decree a general level of efficiency which must be attainable by the least competent and beyond which no man may rise, shall they limit individual earning capacity by iron rules regulating the hours of labor and compelling energy to assume the mantle of sloth, shall they restrict output and thus prevent the creation of values certain to be transmuted into wages? Every one of these questions will be more or less directly answered by the conclusions reached by this Commission. This high court of extraor- dinary jurisdiction; constituted by the voluntary agree- ment of the parties before it ; whose decree, enforceable by no other process, will be promptly executed to the last- letter by the unbreakable word of those concerned; and from whose decision there can be no appeal is not only to write the contracts that are to control the relations between the employees of the several collieries of the anthracite region and tlio operators l)y whom tlicy are employed, but it is to formulate for free American labor a new bill of rights and to give to the industries of the United States a new de- claration of the mutual rights and responsibilities of the employed and the employers. SOCIOLOGICAL CONDITION" OF THE ANTHRA- CITE REGION. The anthracite deposits of Pennsylvania are principally within the counties of Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland and Schuylkill* and th'ey may be taken as constituting the anthracite region, although the veins extend somewhat into Susquehanna and Dauphin counties and Sullivan county contains a coal sometimes classed as anthracite. The mining operations of the Phila- delphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company are, with the exception of one colliery in Dauphin county and one in Columbia county, entirely located within the counties of Northumberland and Schuylkill. The population, in June, 1900, of the anthracite region as thus defined, classi- fied according to nativity and parentage, was as follows : *These six counties produced 97.44 per cent of the total output of the year 1901. pm !^ P5 o aj 1— 1 43 < O vA U f^ Ph Ph O Vh Pm 1 s"* c? o ■* 00 eo t^ 00 o Ol C CO eo CO !M ^- (M a d s o ij o s t- o 05 CO CO CO 00 l-H O CO CD o 00 s 1— 1 CO 05 o a (M U3 t^ o o CO (M n 3 ^ I^ I-H o iM c^f c< (M »o t^ eo 00 '™' _^ 0*3 t^ U3 00 r- o CD OS m « o * CO CD C^J CD 00 O fl ^z lO oJ ^ 00 00 d eo' i fS° (M -* CO CO CO a. a bi g »< (M CI lO Q f-^ o t^ t4 O (M 00 o cr. t^ t^ ai d (M t^ t^ •^ C5 eo •^ g r^ CO o 00 CD CO rt! ;z; ^ 00 05 T-H lO (fj .a a C^ CD •^ »o o -* % M CO C5 t^ eo r^ 1^ o ■* CD 00 uO CD 1— 1 s O Tfl CD T»l l-H CD O IZi CS eo O 00 CD 00 eo |J3 c CD 1—1 r^ CD < 05 CO (M 1—) r^i Ci \a 00 00 l-H O"- OS T— * O H t C5 eo t^ o M Oi ■^ CO 05 kO o t^ 05 c^ '"' 1 '73 J- c H Iz; 33 '^ o 2* 3 C C OS (D S 5 5 C3 u ]p o S3 0) o Q "o ■^ o hJ ►3 ^ t: H II If it may be assumed that the proportion of the 147,651 employees of the anthracite mines inhabiting these coun- tries is the same as that which expresses the relation of their production to the aggregate output, it would follow that 143,871 persons or 18.00 per cent of their aggregate population are direct recipients of wages from the anthra- cite mining corporations. It is clearly reasonable to as- sume as a basis of a minimum estimate of the number of persons in these counties who are directly dependent upon the wages paid to mine workers that no more than one- fourth of the total employees are boys and unmarried men and that the average family of the remainder consists of five persons, including the head. On this basis there must be 575,482 persons, or 72.01 per cent of the total popu- lation of these counties, who derive their support directly from the mining industry.* This proportion is so great that it leads directly to the conclusion that whatever degree of prosperity or depression may be found in this region as an whole is directly attributable to the wages, annual earn- ings, conditions of employment and social and economic opportunities of the workmen who are engaged in the pro- duction of anthracite. If these workmen were not actually prosperous it would be impossible that prosperity and comfort should be shown for the anthracite region as an whole. Therefore, if comparisons with other regions and other communities make a favorable showing for the six chief anthracite counties, it must be that labor is fairly paid, that the conditions of employment are good, and that the opportunities for moral, social and economic develop- ment are not below the average. *The Twelfth Census enumerated 157,194 private families in these counties. This shows a ratio of ninety-two mine workers for every one hundred private families. The proportions of the different elements of population in these counties compare as follows with the state of Penn- sylvania as an whole, with the Xorth Atlantic group of states and with the United States : \^ O 1—1 p^ W o W o Ph CO w ^ OJ O ,a ta; =t-i 1—1 pi M << U P-( o a o ^ ^ S'=s Oi t^ lO TtH 1— ( o o 01 00 »o 05 o J_^ >o 00 ^ 00 ^ |i| ® c^ 05 VO OS o ja H B c^' o b^ (M '-', •^ 05 CD^ H 1-^ T-H Iffl o" -< T-H S5 £13 iM ^ t- eo o E o o 00 >* l-H ■—I 00 m co' T-I ci ^-I CO IBs*-. ■^ <£> »o '^ o t« C. •^ a> CO 05 t- o Ut t^ o CO 1— 1 > _§ cr.^ o CD ■* *J3 ce a 3 ^25 o CO OJ t- CO ^ ya t~ c^ I— 1 iC CO co_^ tr- CT>_ o^ CO* ee oT ■^ 1 CD Ol ta i-O t- «jj Oi rH 05 00 J^ • 05 o eo_ [DO Os" !rf (M cd" eo" o ^ Oi o O ■^ o t^ lO CO o^ CO dn o' CD 0^ co' [ 1- ] 7^ CO .2 o 0) c o Q 2 'o j:^.S CD « c _o o M oi » s K P4 ^ V ^3 E «— lOmCOCOrtOC C<5 lOOO i-hO •<3» S'Sb-So § gja o c.S £ fee 3 £5 ° o~^ o o 3 g fc ^ 3^ ■a gi^ S 3 I- a » 11 The foregoing table shows that these counties, which contain but 1.05 per cent of the total population of the United States, include within their borders 1.74 per cent of the foreign born inhabitants of this country, 5.41 per cent of those born in Austria, 9.13 per cent of those born in Hungary, 1.93 per cent of those born in Italy, 9.69 per cent of those born in Poland, 2.20 per cent of those born in Eussia, and 1.30 per cent of those born in Turi^ey. Representing the immigrants commonly regarded as more desirable there are in these anthracite counties 2.37 per cent of all of the persons born in England who now reside in the United States, 0.82 per cent of those born in Ger- many, 1.82 per cent, of those born in Ireland, 1.37 per cent of those born in Scotland and 20.82 per cent of those born in Wales. Some light is thrown upon the difficulty attending the problem of assimilating this intlux of the foreign born by the statistics of literacy and citizenship at the date of the last Census. These data wdth comparisons appear in the following table : 13 O m < O I P^ H O t> pq O P^ o p^ p^ o W \^ H SI o < o h- ( * < Ph W 5 t^ CD >o 00 oi M 05 -<1< 1 d r^ t^ CO lO TjH CO r- g b t- (M (M ■*_ 00 eo oi o ."tj 05" t-" TjT oT ■>*< ^ IM i-l a; ^ 00 ■* ^ 1— 1 o •X. a> t^ IM CO r- 05 "-I 05 C CO CO CO 00 eo i^ uO (M 0; 'S' ■* CO lO CJ r- Tj< 00 ^ ^ CO 05 o .■*^ c" 0' oT oT co" cc i-~ •-' CO ^ § 2 10 -^ ?— < 55 1— 1 H 3 <5 © 05 lO (M i-H ,-!'*•* ,-1 ^ '* Ttl "S 00 t- ■•£> 00 00 -* •* CD r~ •C' t^ lO t- co_ ---_ T# CO --__ a> cT CO* c» co" I-T co' o' I-T cm' ; 12 (M 00 t- f-^ t^ ■>* © oa CO -* 00 CO CO C5 C5 CD -^ C^ "S iC 03 00 ^ t- JO ^ I^ CD -H U3 1^ iM eo fc. •2 OS <£> •»ti CO '"' m M es -< B4 O 1— 1 CO T-H >— 1 CO eo -* .-H UO •* in Is (M OJ CO ^ OC CO (M t~- CO 'C 01 t^ ^ t^ CO eo a s t-' oo' (m' cT (M" ^ £ ^ CD CO T-H (M W CO CO (M C: CO 'K CO CO Ol 05 Oi ed 05 5^ lO 05 05 00 t- M t^ o> S CD 00 TTi 00 10 ^ lO lO o Ed CS3 © 0" ■*' 00 t^ -N t^ (M CO 1-1 hH ^ •< ■* r^ >— 1 CD 00 f-H 00 i-H U3 CO © kO ^^ lO 00 I- 3 m "S .2 5 m a) c n 3 -I S ' c '5 ri S Q c :5 ■S-5 (h OJ Cj ^ :^ .2 c '3 c c c Total arbon Lackawai Luzerne Northum Schuylkil « 0) .- c;c E- H p-l H H 13 It appears from au analysis of the foregoing that the six principal anthracite counties contain 4.89 per cent of the illiterate males of foreign birth over twenty-one years of age in the United States, 2.82* per cent of the males of voting age who have not taken the initial step toward citi- zenship, and 5.61 per cent of those who have obtained their first papers only. As compared with the state of Penn- sylvania as an whole the foreign born males of voting age in these counties constitute 18.98 per cent of the total and include 36.93 per cent of the naturalized illiterates, 32.08 per cent of the illiterates who have obtained their first papers, and 27.79 per cent of those illiterates who remaia completely alien. They also include 19.57 per cent of ail persons of foreign birth not fully naturalized, 15.30 per cent of those who have taken first papers only and 18.72 per cent of those completely naturalized. The percentage of illiteracy among the native white males of voting age of Pennsylvania is 2.53 and that among the same element of population in the anthracite counties 3.63. The corre- sponding percentage for the United States is 4.88. There can be no better index to the sociological condition of any community than the extent in which the families of which it is composed occupy separate homes and own, with or without encumbrance, the homes which they occupy. The following table shows these facts for the anthracite region, together with suitable comparisons : *Those reported in the "unknown" class have been disregarded in the analysis of citizenship. 14 ^ K « r/5 fe M H H a? Iz; ^ H o 3 w a^ c o o Iz; o -<" r-T oT of cm' cd' 3 >o iC OO CO o® 12; CO CO IM im" CO o t^ lO CM 05 Tf< i-H t^ O ^ >i fee ■ 05 -* lO f— 1 CO CM »0 O CO LO — o 05 t- r^ (M iC r- CO 00 CO CM -<1< a 00 c^ a> 99 ^ C lO ^ O s rX 05 f— < ■^ CO CD Ol 1-H i-( Oi 00 n s Oi r~ 00 o CM t^ lO CO CO lO o CO -* r~ CO ■* CO •>* i-H CO h3 o o> o 05 ^ o" co' CMBKR FARM [OMKS ^ CD CD •^ CM -^ Tt( lO Ol 1-H 05 ■«»< l'- lO Ttl 1-H 1-H lO U? 00 1-H 00 CO tr~ o o UJ O t^ OO CM CO OJ o~ kO" iO~ o' ■*' 1-h' cm' •-!' co' cm' cm' o t^ r„ CO CO t^ CO o o t-- lO -^ ec 00 H fe £ ■* c^ 1— ' aa o o f" ■^ lO CO Ttt 1— CO o CD~ o ■* co__ ^- g 1-H i« t.*®— ^ 00 00 CM l^ 1-1 O CO CM t^ CO &< c o •«tl 00 CO CO C5 CM 00 CM Tji CM CM CD ifi l>i CD l>^ J--^ t^ ^1 o Oi Ci c; 05 Oi (^ Oi O^ Oi Oi Oi : j J H o (M CO CO C5 — t^ >^ CO 05 o 05 CM r^ t^ 1-H CO r^ ->! Tti ^^ tH ■* lO o o CO o »c -^ ■* 1— 1 c3 ►3 (N o CD 1— « •^ ■>■ 05 CD O 00 CO &4 O CD 00 00 1-H lr~ Tjl CO 00 'O 00 CD o H »o o CO t- 1-H CM F-H p^ eo' o co" o" t^ (M is t~ Ifl lO Oi CD O CO 1-H i-H i-H l^ o 00 Oi f— 1 05 1-1 C3 CO CM 1-H CM ^ H CO CD rH o r-H lO 00 00 rH o; Oi s 1 CO CO T^ (M Oi I* 05 CO t:^ O CM o ri o '^ o o o ■<»( CO 05 KO as t~ p-l ^ CO o^ CO uO t- 1-H CM rH o ^ 1-H co' lo" a< l^ c^ ; ■ .2 '. 2 • o c . C3 ; c3 rt OT ^ !?5 o 3 "5 > - o 1) C3 o * c3 • 1h 1^ 5 c^ 6 ooj^;^c» o a> ^ g 05 ■5 2 1 HH p^ H H 16 Xo one will deny that the foregoing makes an extremely favorable showing for the antliracite region especially when it is remembered that an uncommonly large proportion of the population of this district consists of immigrants of relatively recent arrival who have as yet enjoyed for but a brief period the opportunities which the dominant indus- try of those counties affords. Every one of the counties shows a proportion both of owned homes and of homes owned free of encumbrance that notably exceeds the aver- age for the' Xorth Atlantic states and in both respects the averages compare favorably with those for the state as an whole and for the non-anthracite counties. The evidence of the prosperity of the anthracite region afforded by this table is supplemented by the following statement which relates to the towns in that district : 16 w. O O 1—1 M 1^ o Q (M (M O eo lO O^' CM ■* Oi o CO a> O 02 o t^ X CO t^ I-H CO o CQ ^ IM t^ on o ^-< ■^ O r~ -<*< CM CO CO a o r^ O t^ >o lO •* r^ lO o CD o fXi u SE » o z -i ' o l3 lO (N r^ _ lO 00 cq 1^ 1^ CO lO 00 ■^ CO C3 1— ( CM r-H CO CO Ol lO CD o "-I ^2, CO ,_^ C7J (T; o =o o o r- CD lO CM ■*' P4 lO »o (N (M CO CO •* CM co CO CM CM CO o e z P= O b J3 a ^-v (M CO O t~ cc Tt< eo CO CO CM CO CM ■«< r<) CO CM CO -^ 05 W) CO C3S o 1— t »o CM a) r^ t~ 00 t£) CM -*l GH) 00 "^ 1—1 fc. o 03 H "= cc t^ ns cr> 1^ r- CC o on lO o f.H o o GO tr: o .-1 05 t^ o o CO CM ■* z o n GC ■^ CO uO ■^ w Tl< CO T)1 CM lO CD 1— 1 (M (M (M CM CM CM (M CM oo o CO CO o CM - o ! ' H ^ • 1 p?- o ! H 03 >» O "3 s • o • a. o £ g >i ^ -s c 3 '> o c o s s 5 CO s 17 While statistics of deposits in banks and saving institu- tions do not ordinarily establish any facts in regard to the prosperity of particular individuals or portions of a com- munity, it is submitted that when one industry so far dominates a district as that of anthracite mining does the six counties under discussion such statistics do express the general condition of the people. These institutions exist for no purpose except to handle the business of the community and the funds which they hold are in a large degree both the basis and the measure of commercial activity, which commonly coincides with general welfare. The following statement shows data upon this subject : 18 m n3 QJ A P o ^ >> rO tS o m p. !zi 3 o t^ h- 1 O H c3 ti « H > 1— 1 H c ">-> .'/; § 2 1— 1 r4 Z'^ !z; 0? ^*-i \-\ O t. > to " < •5 e m s e< o a M O o <1 c r/) eS W P5 ^ .a < %-> pq o r^ o 00 o CO «: •* 00 T-^ r— t t:~ C5 |H| o 05 o O CO (M e8 cc uO t^ co' O o H ■* o t^ (M CO lO t^ o^ 00 (M (M I— 1 (n' t>r o' oT CO ^ r« *.S.2 (M U5 o 00 CO 05 ©:3 2 O '^ C5 CO T-H t- 00 3 a'o '^ 05 o CO o 00^ '*— o ^ ^ OS m' ^ !>-' lO" eo -<*< lO t^ CD t^ Tf 05 l^ s^ CO CO t^ o £ g ^ c^' '"' cm' J3 O m ■g o -2-s'S -<»' o Oi o CO o CO »o r- CD n c$ Oi t^ ■>*l ^- CO O^ ■^ s a o\ o zc t^ co" -2-^ o CSl a> >o CO o ^ lO •^ H JZi p o t: o c a e 5 £ a C 5 'S c 1 '^ -- ^ > ■a _^ 5 "c 2 "* 1— H CO o _ o CD CO ^_( Ol fM m (M 1—1 c; t^ ■<*< 00 o CO lO CO o 00 .S " * 05 Ol t^ t^ kO o lO rt< IM o CO r^ 00 ^■ o (X IC lO o •^ o o (M CO trq v~ CP ■^ c;. o 1— 1 o *■ '^ o lO ■^ r^ CD o CO lr~ Ci; o ■V o o 00 CO (M ■f o o S (M O Oi o -t- 1—1 CO CO ,—1 uO Ttl <1 ■* ^ M CO CO o\ CO CM (N CO CO ^ Tt< VO O 03 n o CO O CO CM o ^ o CM . '-'? o CM o 2 ■* n CO '^ CM Ci CM CM o CM CM : ci • CM o CM o CO O O O t~ o o ^ CM T-H o o o o o o o o o o o o cS o' o" o" O O CO CM o cc 1— I >o i_0 O O CM CM 1— I t- CO CO I— I t^ t^ CO ■*«OOOJi-HCMC-li— iCOOOCOt^ ■^__ co^ o_ CO i^ •>* CM r^ c: CO uo Tti ■* ■^ "^ '"^ "^ Tfi Tp T^ ^ -^ "^ co" cc^ i>r o q ':-) ^ ■5 ^ ^ OS .^ ^ O oQWSliiziSSfSmmm^ 23 The reports from which the foregoing was compiled show that in the entire United States there are 26,099,788 persons of school age and that the value of the school prop- erty and the annual expenditures amounts to $333,777,996 and $99,457,234 respectively, showing an average value per capita of possible pupils of $12.75 and an average annual rate of expenditure of $3.81 per caj)ita. The number of persons of school age in Pennsylvania is 2,031,171, and is to be compared with public school property valued in the aggregate at $33,136,226 and an annual expenditure of $9,964,421. The averages per capita of possible pupils are therefore $16.31 and $4.91 respectively. 24 O • o o l| "* CD t~ p-« oa ^ Ol i-O CO ■^ 2 o r-H CD •* U5 04_^ "*, Ol CO eo__ St3 <1 c^" c o o o kO o 'i^ o 05 CO o CO o o o '^ S. 05 o CO lO CO^ 05 o as -^ CD Ol Eh oo" c£' ^ ■*' co' co" of ■^'" O ^ 05 o lO t^ '>! CO •<* CO CO (N oq O) 05 ■* "* "* ct-t o ^ •M lO "* (M t^ 00 Oi ^ Ol Ol I— ' kO o CO t-- lO t^ 05 o CO Tf t- ^ § o CO lO iO t^ U3 lO t^ t^ lO o -2 o H b o ^_l >o o o o "* o CO CO •^ I M 1 -^ CD CT) "O lO Oi CD o CO CO o o I a t~ lO (M CO cc I— < '^ t^ ■J 1 O o: f-* «, !5 © o^ t^ Iffl 9 o o ■* o CO CO tH CO W ^ So o 02 lO o» -— o CO CO LO lO o i-O CO Ol CO 05 o o o^ i>r (M' (N' of of of of co" co" -o n I- =«■?* J-2S^ ^ o o o o o ^ o o o ago^ o o o o lO lO *o o LO •r? t— 1 ■* Ol Ol Oi (^ t— LO CO ■^ t?'^ =« s <<&»'" -h" _c H • o <1 t-3 >1 PM -^ C O o s o o <3> o o o s 'o s o p s s OJ s 25 The statistics of school attendance collected by the Cen- sus are given only by states and territories and for cities of twenty-five thousand inhabitants. There are but two cities of more than twenty-five thousand in the anthracite region, Scranton with 102,026 inhabitants and Wilkesbarre with 51,721. The two eastern cities nearest to Scranton in population are Fall River, Mass., and Paterson, IST. J., and those nearest to Wilkesbarre are Elizabeth, N". J., and Erie, Pa. The following table shows comparisons of school at- tendance for these cities : 26 o Q < O O W o Ph 1 '^ t-< o ea u P a C5 (M CI I-H C. 1— I t^ 00 c^ Tfl CO lO (M CO r-l c^_^ 0^ s !5 (M' -' --■" ct-( cc 00 t~ uO t^ CD o "^-s CO 1^ 1—1 t- r- j2 feCI 06 ■^ CD ci d K ea ■^ tH ■<»1 -* ■«! o CL| o-^ S >.(D a t" -* Sas t^ p o .a S CO O) t^ (M CO 03 (N ■■* ^ •0 >S o CO 1-- c^ S 125 r- 00 r- T^ Tji '^ g "s •^ U3 10 CD' o? p © Or3 (M T— 1 lO CO Q "5 c t4 C3 06 J—^ OJ ci 06 CD J a)t„-2 CO ■* -* CO CO CO O c Is e^o-S o n Im 03 >H o CD '^ ^-H ,-H ,—1 t3 a C^ 00 1-H a CO 05 CD (M t) 5 5 00 CO CO (M H §2^ ,—1 ,—1 -tl ■^ lO CI 1^ 00 lr~ ■^ CO Z o CO ^~g 1>^ ci t-^ oi CO en Ot^-^ '^ ^ uO •"Jl Tf •* c c^°-S Pi « Ph S a CO 1— 1 t^ OJ ■* t^ ~* OS 1^ 05 ^ t^ (M c^ 00 3 !2; r-T 00' oo" ■^ ■*' co" ^ _ coo ©MO „H 05 CO _ O Oj3 o (N l^ 00 CO l-H CO -Com ^ *- tn ri 00 t--^ cs d CO 06 ^^ ©t„ •^ -^ 10 lO ■^ -2 A, 0=3 o t^ © t^ 00 10 00 a CO 00 I^ i s Ph 2 ;^ ^ 1 ' 27 The figures representing tlie lengtli of attendance during the Census year make an equally favorable showing for the anthracite reaiou. A table follows : 28 O p o o W o O 5 1 a O lO -^^ 00 c^ o o a O O — CO CD O O l-^ CO CO o Ci O O^ 05 05 OS 5 « B a lO 05 CO US -<^ cq J3 t~ O O 00 OS t^ _M a 00 CO 00 o CO t^ s 3 lo' cd" ccT oo" 00 t-' »-H 1— t r— 1 Ss 2 ^ O O lO r-< -. 1 o a O CO -- H r^ ■^ IM S D a :^ M rA Q Ph > o o »-• ►-t -tJ o a u ^ rt r^ t^ — 'N O a 3 s CO CO t^ c; <5 izi d> d d a o S o -D t- o ■* o f_ ^H c g I> -* Ir- ?g CC CO o 3 »— ' ;5 >^ H l-H o H; e3 pi ;- " ^ ;5 c ^'^ c aJ oj Pi c _ a ^ c .sf p s ;£ II 39 In addition to those in the public schools of Scranton and Wilkesbarre there were, during the year 1899-1900, according to the Commissioner of Education, seventy-six hundred persons in the private and parochial schools of those cities. These facts clearly show how baseless is the charge that the children of the anthracite region are kept away from school by the necessity of laboring to aid in the maintenance of the families to which they belong or that they are prematurely taken out of school for any reason or purpose. The public school facilities of the region are not only excellent in quality and extent, but they are utilized by those for whom they have been established more gener- ally than those of many other regions. The anthracite region is also liberally supplied with churches, libraries, reading rooms and all of the means by which modern society provides opportunities for the moral and intellectual advancement of its members. To these institutions the operating corporations contribute both directly and indirectly, and this is especially true of those maintained by taxation, for the mining companies every- where pay the largest share of the taxes, while in many portions of the region they are substantially the only tax- payers. For the past two or three years, however, there has been another influence that must have affected in a marked degree the training of those immigrants who form such a large share of the population of this region. The advent of the United Mine Workers in 1899 or 1900 has unques- tionably been followed by a rapid growth in membership and that organization has lately had such strength as almost to control the public sentiment of many of the min- ing communities of the anthracite district. There can be no doubt Hunt the doctrines iiiid policic^s advocated by the men from the l)iiiiiiiiiuiiis coiil (Iclds who dominate this 30 organization liave gained ascendency in the minds of thou- sands of those who have with such apparent readiness accepted their leadership. The views of these leaders are therefore of national consequence. If they claim for the majority of workers at a particular colliery or of the entire region the right to declare that the minority shall not work, or assert that such a majority may fix the prices for which their fellow workmen shall be permitted to dispose of their labor or the hours that they may work or the conditions under which their services may be rendered, it is perfectly natural that their followers should come to believe that the privileges of American citizenship do not include liberty of action in these matters when it would contravene the wishes of a greater number. If these leaders teach that the man who, in order to provide bread for his children or to preserve from destruction property on which the liveli- hood of entire communities depends, continues to perform his duties when others have chosen to abandon their em- ployment is a traitor to his fellows and as such properly to be treated as an outcast, that his family must be shunned and may even be denied access to the necessaries of life, many of their fellows are certain to regard the secondary as well as the primary boycott as an approved American institution. However frequently these leaders may advise in general terms against enforcing by physical means the new moral law which they declare requires the immediate and practical acquiescence of every individual in the plans of the majority, if they fail to search out those guilty of specific acts of violence and to visit upon them prompt and equally specific condemnation, if they fail to write into the polity of their organization provisions for the dis- cipline of those who disregard their advice or misconstrue their more general declarations concerning unlawful acts they cannot escape responsibility for the consequences of 31 their neglect. If they oppose the introduction of machin- ery, or, while denying that they wish to restrict the effec- tiveness of labor to a level fixed by the less energetic and capable, defend with skillful casuistry every device by which the performance of the more efficient is limited there need be no surprise over the fact that the local unions in innumerable instances adopt resolutions fixing precise limits upon the labor of their members and enforce them by stopping all production when they are disobeyed. If they accuse the judges who differ with them as to the proper use of the time-honored processes of American and English jurisprudence of partiality to the employers and with heated rhetoric impugn their motives, it is not strange that many of the new-fledged and embryo citizens whom they lead fail to comprehend that the American judiciary is second only to the integrity of American citizenship as a bulwark of American liberty and that general respect for the Courts and the laws is an absolute essential to the pre- servation of the institutions of the country. If they rail at the militia and falsely accuse the lawfully constituted coal and iron police of provoking disorder the dissatisfac- tion with these guardians of peace which they foment among their followers is sure to find expression in a general antipathy to the agencies of the law. The doctrines of the United Mine Workers of America, as presented to tlie workmen of the anthracite region by leaders who have little acquaintance with its peculiar problems and no direct responsibility or interest in the suc- cess of the industry, and the practices of its local assem- blies, which these leaders have not effectively opposed, have already produced results the consequences of which will be felt for years to come and in every respect unfortunate. If tbc final sum of sucli tcacliing is not to be expressed in national disaster it is ncccssarv tliat the doctrines should 32 be promptly and radically modified and the practices speedily corrected. This Commission cannot withhold from them its severe and specific condemnation without, by its silence or its omissions, seeming to accord to them the indorsement of its high authority and the sanction of its almost measureless moral influence. DESTROYING INDUSTRIAL PEACE. The history of the anthracite industry from 1899 to 1903 has so often been sketched that few are unacquainted with its more important events. The beginning of that period saw a region throughout which the utmost good feeling characterized the relations between the employed and the employers. Between the mine workers and the officers of the mining corporations there was complete confidence and mutual respect. The door of every employer was open to the workman or to the group of workmen who wished to present a grievance or to suggest an improvement in the relations existing. Grievances were carefully considered and whenever corrections were needed they were promptly, fairly and intelligently applied. This condition was not satisfactory to the leaders of the organization of bitumin- ous miners of which Mr. John Mitchell is the head. Under his ambitious leadership they had planned a monopoly of the labor of all American coal fields. They sent their salaried emissaries into the anthracite region and employed others on a commission basis* of payment and by preaching discontent succeeded in bringing about the strike of 1900. To make this strike effective Mr. Mitchell personally ad- vised the employees of G. B. ]\Iarkle & Co. to violate an agreement of long standing which provided for the arbi- tration of all disputesf while other Avell-known agents of *Testiinony p. 342. fMr. Mitchell. Testimony p. 546. 33 his organization planned marches and resorted to the cus- tomar}' methods of intimidating men who would like to work.* The settlement of this strike gave to all of the workers of the anthracite mines an advance in wages of at least ten per cent and to those of the Philadelphia and Eeading Coal and Iron Company an increase of sixteen per cent, which was in part offset, however, by the aboli- tion, at the demand of the organization and on the per- sonal advice of Mr. Mitchell, of the sliding scale. Enter- ing this strike with a membership of but a few thou- sand the unrest which it occasioned supplemented by refusals to work with non-union menf has enabled the organization to increase its strength until, without by any means equaling the exaggerated number sometimes suggested, its membership does include a considerable percentage of the employees in and about the mines. The entire period of the existence of the United Mine Workers in the anthracite region has been characterized by unrest and disorder of a serious description. The discipline which is obviously essential to the safety of the men employed in the mines has been seriously im- paired by the insubordination of those who have not been taught to see in organization anything more than a device to get the better of their employers and to protect them- selves against the legitimate consequences of their own wilful misconduct. On his direct examination Father Cur- ran, a witness certainly friendly to the strikers and called in their behalf, declared that the organization had ". . . . brouf^ht about certain abuses whicli of course are not to be tolerated anywhere; such, for instance, as bringing about petty strii8.30 22,(;o0.15 41,879..80 .52,7S2.53 79 596..82 132,734.96 61,115 74 61,1S7.02 90,021.76 179,401.61 13'2,713.'26 ]98,4(3S.'.;9 99,709..59 73,001.93 124,(!40.64 10.3,125.47 72,:i55.S6 24,S'27.05 60,:i93.o4 107,810.02 39.429.20 101,812.54 00.373 SI 138,.5S7.02 12n,SS|.0l 51,H52.44 1, '!;!,. 590. 03 61,740.86 163 222.23 00 i 00 Actual number of shifts paid for 65,969 43,210 74,788.5 13,829 7,057 16,222 17,789 62,702 53,302.75 9,277 14,004 17,619 27,647 55,435 27,819.25 24,330.25 .35,966 73,952 .51,1,55 96,718.25 38,427 26,582 49,552.5 38,298 24.001 6,697 24,447 44,631 13,461.5 44,140.25 23,500.25 55,662 .53,021 20.581 51,017 26,265 60,463 lO t oo 'A 30 CO Average number employed o«gt-ma;otoQOcnoioooe^csorco>n'.oiMcomc'05eO>Ot-,— O.-HCi^Ct-OCuC-rOOO^CKMCitr-O'.OOCOC-jOOClO,— C^l,— KM Oq,-H ,— .CCr-l ,— 1 C<1 r-, re I— . ,— 1 ^^ r-i t— t .— i Cqi— . T— 1 Cq 1 CO CO to O Alaska Boar Valley . . Burnside .... Bast Bear Ridge . . . Boston Run . . Draper .... Kaglo Jlill . . . (rirard Mammoth (lilberton .... ()lond()W()r . . . (Jood Spring . . Henry Clay . . . Indian Ridge . . Kohiiioor .... Knickerbocker . Locust (iiap . . . Lincoln Maple Hill . . . Mahanoy City . North Fra,nklin North Mahnnoy Olto I'otts Preston No. .'! . . Phu'ni.x Park . . Rolianco .... Richardson . . . Shenandoah City St. Nicholas . . Suffolk Silver Creek . . Turkey Run . . Tunnel Ridge . Wadosville . . . West Brooksido . p 45 In connection with the foregoing statement it should be observed that a part of the necessary allowance for un- avoidable absence from work that must be made in all industries is to be found in the column showing days on which the breaker would have started had an adequate number of men reported for duty. It is also to be noted that the general averages of $652.82 and $691.93 are lower than they w^ould be if the Henry Clay colliery, which did not work at all during the months of April, May and June, 1902, had been excluded. The very direct and simple method of calculation ex- plained in connection with the foregoing has been sub- jected to a great deal of unjustifiable criticism, probably because it has been recognized from the beginning that unless the statement could be weakened the contention that the miners are underpaid would fall to the ground. There could be no more accurate method of ascertaining the pre- cise facts of the situation than that adopted for this state- ment and no more enlightening tabulation has been pre- sented to the Commission. The method is the same in principle, although more accurate in its detailed execution, as that followed by every official statistical bureau which attempts to show the earnings of the employees of manu- facturing establishments. Moreover it is sustained by the tabulations of the exact payments to the contract miners of nine of the Heading's collieries, which were presented on the schedules prepared by the Commission. Thus the foregoing table shows average earning for the 260 days on which the Preston No. 3 breaker worked of $963.82, while the statement compiled on the forms sub- mitted by the Commission shows that the average of all men who worked 2r)0 days or more was $996.86. For the Turkey Enn colliery the statement just given shows $644.86 for 256 breaker days, while iho tabulation of the specific 46 amounts paid to particular men shows that the men who worked 225 days or more averaged $677.23. Similar com- parisons could be made for each colliery and would show that the figures given underrate rather than otherwise the earning power of men who work steadily. It has been conceded throughout this inquiry that it is the business of every industry to pay fair wages, that what constitutes fairness is not to be determined by the profits of the business and that no employer has any right to plead the lack of financial success of his undertakings as an ex- cuse for failure adequately to compensate those whom he employs. This leaves no method of determining what con- stitutes fair wages for any service or at any time except by comparisons with other industries and other periods of time. The question is reduced to a determination of the normal market rate for the grades of labor employed sup- plemented by suitable allowances for any especial advan- tages or disadvantages that may accompany the employ- ment. The advantages of employment as a contract miner include the excellent opportunities for advancement which have been shown by the testimony of many witnesses now occupying positions of great responsibility who have told the Commission that they started in the breakers or in the mines, the opportunity to increase earnings by the exercise of greater diligence and the acquisition of superior skill, the even and moderate temperature of the mines which is the cause of the exceptional healthfulness of the occupa- tion, the short hours of labor necessary to earn good wages and the large degree of individual freedom that may prop- erly be permitted in the industry. Its only serious dis- advantage is its hazardous character which is particularly expressed by the extreme penalties with which it punishes the too numerous instances of negligence on the part of men to whom danger has become familiar. The unques- 47 tionably dangerous character of the occupation does not justify an effort to exaggerate this element and it certainly renders highly improper any apparent justification of the gross disregard of ordinary prudence which has produced so many deplorable accidents. Concerning the general health- fulness of the occupation of mining the Commission has before it the statistics of the registration states compiled by the Census Office, which, however, do not cover the -Htate of Pennsylvania, and therefore permit very general conclusions only. These data show a much lower death rate among "miners and quarrymen" than in any other occupation. The average, however, is more or less affected by the relative ages of those engaging in the different occupations, but so far as this might tend to reduce the death rate of miners by reason of the elimination of the very old, it is probably offset by the inclusion of deaths from accidents as well as those from disease. The death rates for the different age classes compare as follows with those in the different classes of occupations. 48 P xn W * o Eh 'C I— I *^ p^ -a P H 5 o o o > o C/3 en <3 Eh < P P K ) o r-l as t^ O 05 CO 05 o a' C5J ,-H T-H (M ^ ,-( 00 O >-< t^ o X t-^ --' cr- .-h' 00 CO 00 CO IM >0 vo 3 .5 g c 5:^ &I = O -r- r-. T: = £ S J -^ O f^ Ah c r^^ a. 5 s- s ^ ^ tc = 1-^ f^ <1 . x ■rti 1 <« a 1 1 o o ^ 0? O O O u3 O 00 O <33 so C: — 00 t^ -^ r: iM lO C-l Ci CO 'M iooo5t^c3 : ; -c^oo C*^ o . . ^ r- : : : ^ . ^ „ ^ : : : „ §a a < <3 a S O O : ;eoco« ;«0 • :Tt( -O •cOt-i-t■'> .'^ § c g Q Q« O H S < ^ <^ ' 'r 'vj -^- '* — ^ 55 ^ ;-< £ 1 1 J ?r 5-.^" :s 2 ^' 5 s -? . i 1 §2^1 J'--- H ^ ^ ii -^ ^ 1 i £ 1 1 ^ - O) X <^^ ^ ^ H ^ p-! a ^ p S ^ J3 Eh o a; H 1^ > ^3 M 1 52 No effort has been made to make the foregoing an ex- haustive list of those who were so questioned so as to bring out the necessary facts and the great majority of the wit- nesses called were not asked concerning their ages or length of service. The list is decidedly suggestive as it stands and certainly throws light upon some of the important con- ditions of this industry. There can be no doubt that the conclusion reached by Mr. John Veith, as the result of spending more than half a century as an anthracite miner in Penrisylvania and in the direct supervision of mining operations in the Schuylkill region, that the "business of mining coal, working in the mines as they are now man- aged, is a healthy occupation, outside of accidents, as com- pared with other employments,"* is an accurate one. This is also sustained by the testimony of Dr. William B. Keller, who furnished statistics based upon 3,973 examinations for life insurance which he had made, showing that the per- centage of rejections among miners was but 4.66 per cent and that for all persons examined 5.76 per cent.! Dr. Gibbons, one of the witnesses on behalf of the complain- ants, declared in his examination-in-chief: "I do not mean to say that the miners are an unhealthy class. They are, I think, the hardiest and best fellows for anything on the face of the earth, but certain conditions will bring them down, as it will any other individual, perhaps not so quickly, but suffi- ciently often to make them a subject of disease more easily than one would suspect.''^ The general conclusions of the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association as expressed in the arti- cle from which quotations have already been made are as follows : "Taking it altogether, the facts collected from all available sources seem to indicate, what we have already expected, that the ^Testimony p. 78G3. f Testimony pp. 5195 et seq. ^Testimony p. 969. 53 occupation of coal mining is not either relatively or absolutely unhealthful as compared with the majority of other means of gaining a livelihood. It has its inconveniences and hardships and is exposed to special dangers from accidents, but these can be minimized by proper care, appliances and legal regulations. In Great Britain the mortality from coal mining from this cause is given by Nevvsholme as less than twice that in the general popula- tion. The special diseases to which miners are liable seem also to be largely preventable, thus greater care in changing the equa- ble atmosphere of the mine to the extremes of heat and cold out- side would probably reduce the proportion of respiratory affec- tions, such as asthma, etc., that are now claimed to be incident to the occupation. These are the natural deductions from the data furnished by the authorities above quoted and which cannot well be discredited." That coal mining is a dangerous occupation in respect to its liability to accidents has not been denied by any of the parties before the Commission. The accidents to mine employees are numerous, far more numerous than they would be if there were less recklessness on the part of those upon whom the penalties directly fall. While the respondents have not attempted to deny the facts they have heard them grossly exaggerated by the other side. It has been asserted that mining is more dangerous than any other important occupation; thus placing it ahead, in point of danger, not only of railway employment, but beyond those vocations which require men to "go down to the sea in ships" or to labor in constant proximity to enormous quantities of high explosives or subject them to the great dangers which surround many other forms of necessary labor. • A comparison between the death rates from acci- dents of those who follow the most dangerous callings in the anthracite mines and in the American railway service follows : 54 FATAL ACCIDENTS TO MINEES AND TRAIN- MEN.* Number of Number of fatal Industry AND OCCUPATION. Number of fatal accidents accidi-nts |ier employees. in year. l.UUO employees. Mining — All inside employees 98,464 441 4.47 Contract miners 37,804 224 5.92 Miners' laborers 26,265 122 4.64 Railway transportation — Trainmen 209,043 1,537 7.35 The foregoing comparison between the death rates from accidents in the most dangerous branches of two dangerous occupations shows that 209,043 railway trainmen accept a risk that is 24.16 per cent greater than that for the contract miners in the anthracite region, 58.41 per cent greater than for the miners' laborers, and 64.43 per cent greater than for all inside employees. Unfortunately there are no statistics accessible from which it would be possible to obtain the ratios of non-fatal accidents among different classes of mining employees. The following statement shows the rates of accidents to all classes of anthracite mining and railway employees: *Data from the Report of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mines for 1901 and the Report of the Statistician to the Interstate Com- merce Commission for the year ended June 30, 1901. 55 — O — I ,-1 — as fM oo >o >o "^ o '-' to ii S ^ 05 g to O S3 0-1 lO CO CO (M CO Ol CO CO 1—1 CI CO o ■* c: CO 00 05 «5 O CD CD o CI o O CO 5S CO 00 p. s -1 a mon, Flagmen and Watch- nipn c 0. C 0) -^ H cc H '^, W H O 56 The foregoing needs little comment. The items relating to all employees in the railway industry include general officers and general office clerks and many other persons whose work is in no way comparable with mining employees of any grade. The net result of these comparisons is that for no less than seven hundred thousand railway men, including all except stationmen, shopmen and telegraph employees, the average annual loss of life per thousand is greater than for the employees working in and about the anthracite mines. It is especially gratifying to this respondent that the statistics compiled by the state Bureau of Mines establish the fact that in spite of the geological disadvantages under which its work is conducted the ratios of fatal and non- fatal accidents to the number of employees are lower in the three inspection districts in which it operates, as an whole, than in the other five taken together. In 1901 one em- ployee in each 310 was killed and one in each 149 was in- jured in districts 6, 7 and 8, while in districts 1 to 5, inclu- sive, the corresponding numbers were 277 and 107 respec- tively. Granting that the work of a contract miner is dangerous it remains to be decided how much in the way of a differen- tial allowance for the risk incurred may properly be added to the normal wages for equally skillful and laborious ser- vice. It is not possible to measure in dollars and cents the loss of a human life and any effort to discuss this feature of the case is complicated by the flood of sympathy that is aroused even by the cold statistics by which the degree of danger is measured. But there are dangers to be avoided that are quite as real although less visible or readily meas- ured. To pay an excessive differential means to lure into a region already overcrowded a further influx of laborers and to raise the price of coal to millions of consumers 57 The death rate from inability to purchase an adequate supply of fuel is no more ascertainable than the extent in which strength of body and mind would be undermined among the children of adults who might survive the blight- ing consequences of insufficient warmth. It is narrow and destructive sympathy which closes its eyes to the suffering that would be widespread and chronic in order to confine its vision to the obvious and acute. The best way to determine whether a reasonable allowance is made in the wages of the contract miner and his laborer for the dan- gers which they incur is by comparing them with the rates in the more dangerous callings of the railway service. The average payment to the contract miners of the Philadelphia and Eeading Coal and Iron Company during 1901 was $2,507 per day of about seven hours average duration. The statistician to the Interstate Commerce Commission has given the average daily earnings during the fiscal year 1901 of locomotive engineers as $3.65, of train conductors as $3.00, of firemen as $3.08 and of other trainmen as $1.93 per day.* Only the two latter classes are comparable in skill and responsibility with the average contract miner. The miners' laborers of the Eeading receive $2,058 per day. The following statement shows the daily earnings of various classes of railway employees in the region covered by the foregoing averages during each year from 1892 to 1901 inclusive: *These averages apply to Group II, which consists of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia, except those portions of these states which are south of the Poto- mac river or west of a line roughly drawn from Buffalo, N. Y., through Pittsburg to Piirlvcrsburg, W. Va. 5S w w H o O} ^ f^ ^ ^ H Cr t^ O !7, H 1— 1 Ph CO o tn < < o ^ p^ ^ > P4 < o ^ Q S <1 ^ O ^<^ !» h:] ea ^P D:? ^ c ^ 1— 1 p^ e nfl ^ fe Ph *> «2 ^ w ^ ^ m f-H -^ ^ »— 1 © ^ ^ ^ rri O <1 Ph o lO >o VO lO lO •o •o ^ » ^j mployee account floating quipmen lO OJ c^ C5 (M o OI CD ,J 05 o o o ;:^- o o oi o oi Oi o oi oi ^ H o ■="' » °-J? m " <8 S-.S S 1—1 t^ t^ CO o »•< t-- ,—1 t-H Telegr opera and ( patch 05 CO 00 Ci CO Oi Ci Oi o o ^' 1-H ^ 1— 1 ^ ^ OI OI ^ tch- flag- , and imen •-H Oi ■>* ■* •* CO lO CD Oi CO lO lO »o us lO lO O lO \o & g §2 ,-^ ,_! ,_( I— 1 1— 1 ,_( ^ ,—1 ^ ^ '"gSg m- 00 o CD t~ CO r^ t^ cr, Oi o "-I C^) ■— ' '-' — ' "-I ^ OJ S- '"' '"' '"' ""* '^ '"' '~' '"' '"' n .2ia CO CO CO ^ ,^ Oi Oi 00 CD Oi CO t- t^ t^ t^ CO CO CD CO CD 8.2 9 ¥i- ^ '-' ^ ^ '"' ~ '"' '^ '"' -do© r- lO t~ t^ Oi 00 t^ Oi _^ o lO CO lO lO lO o vO o CD t^ o « " ^ t^ CD ,_, CO o Oi ,_, CO CO ■^ 00 t-S O o 05 o Oi o o o o o 6% S (?« '-' (N '- - CO ^J o OI lO ■<*i la ■* lO U3 lO CD CD CD CD c a CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO ¥^ »■ S « 00 t- 0^ •^ ^ ■* UTI lO •^ CO CD CO CD CO CD CO to CD CO CO ;=; =« a 1—1 '"' '^ *"* ^^ *"* ^~~* " ^^ ~ B M O •«*< ^ 05 CO CO Oi Oi 00 OI .2 a t^ t^ t^ CD CO CD CD CD CD t^ 1^ ^ " '~' '~~* *""* """^ " I— 1 """ '"' ^^ d ®^ CO o o ->* (M t^ on o o OI a> 2 ^ -^ •* CO CO CO (N OI CO CO CO cE o (N M r» ci (M CS OI oi o^ oi O ¥^ Year ended June 30th ■Nl CO ■ H ^ =4-1 01 M a 1— 1 S ^ W ro «*-! r^ w fl Eh i-i 05 m En 1^ ^ d:5 <1 f4 ss 01 M <1 ^ t> ^ H «t-l <1 l-( pq t::^ s ^ p^ -^ S ^ CO O I— I lO ■* rt< CO CO t^ ^ Oi UO CO 05 : CO •N CO eo -<* T— t *CO^'^'^'OTtl'>*'^iOT}(-^ ■-< UO 00 --D l-O CO C iTl ^1 ^^ ^i ^H O O •* r- CD ■T< >— I lO 00 O M< CO lO -^ Ttl -* CO o o CO CD CO ■* O LO -^ eo 00 CD ■^ C^ O O CO O O O 00 r— CO 00 CO CI:^ P< ^ ;s *^ .5 § ^ "S 'B § 3 OJ (5? T. O i § tTj d e^ i: § £ 5 «S C3 O 3 ^ O O P^ fH M 0) " C 3 &. c C 3 iD a c3 c -^ be T r; 3 5 3 be oj a> c 3 a, '^ '^ ^^ C ^ 3 i S 2 H^ ^ ^ fL, Ph fL, Ph 61 It will be seen that the average in none of the indus- tries and cities even approximated the $652.82 earned by the miners who do contract work in the Heading's collieries. The Bureau of Industrial Statistics of Pennsylvania col- lects reports of wages and earnings from the manufactur- ing establishments of the state and publishes them in two series of averages from which the following relating to the year 1901 have been selected as representing industries in which the large proportion of highly skilled male labor required renders the data of value in determining whether the contract miners are fairly paid, in spite of the fact that they represent all grades of labor. 62 AVEEAGES FROM 1892 Average daily IRSDSTBT. earnings. Pig iron $1.71 Rolling Mills, general product 2.19 Iron and steel sheets and plates .... 2.08 Plate and bar 2.20 Steel 1.88 Architectural cast and wrought iron work 1.77 Iron forgings 2.51 Nails and spikes 1.67 Nuts and bolts 1.42 Pipes and tubes 1.72 Iron foundries and machine work.. 1.87 Stoves, ranges and heaters 2.14 Hardware 1.36 Malleable iron 1.83 Saws, edged tools, etc 1.75 Metal and metallic goods 1.56 Locomotives and engines 2.06 Engines and boilers 1.76 Boilers 1.57 Bridges 1.79 Car springs 2.72 Car couplers 1.60 Cars and car wheels 1.85 Ship building 1.60 Window glass, bottles and table goods 1.96 Pianos and organs 1.46 Carbons 1.74 SEEIES.* Number of days worked. EarniDgB of employees who worked full time. 337 $576.72 316 692.10 278 577.28 291 641.12 296 555.94 306 541.36 295 740.47 266 443.11 286 406.38 303 521.14 303 567.43 234 501.31 293 398.70 302 553.05 301 527.39 326 508.46 304 625.99 301 530.96 308 484.35 309 553.43 303 822.76 303 485.19 305 564.10 313 500.56 235 460.45 299 437.73 294 510.37 *This series shows a general average for all industries in the state of $1.84 per day and $544.80 for a year's labor comprising 296 days. The 1896 series shows an average of $1.53 per day or $449.95 for a year in which there were 293 days worked. 63 AVERAGES FROM 1896 SERIES. Earnings of Average Number emi>Ioyees daily of days who worked Industrt. • earnings. worked. full time. Steel castings $1.65 302 $497.01 Steel billets, slabs, blooms, etc 2.05 290 7G8.14 Tool steel, etc 2.68 295 789.40 Iron and steel forgings 1.90 278 529.41 Iron specialties 1.59 301 478.72 Malleable iron 1.72 286 493.18 Bolts, nuts, etc 1.19 306 363.63 Wire nails, rivets, etc 1.50 301 451.64 Tacks and small nails 1.25 280 350.11 Wire 1.37 302 415.00 Wire rope 1.40 308 431.76 Wire goods 1.02 294 300.70 Wagon and carriage axles and springs 1.79 277 496.42 Scales, etc 2.09 293 61 1.75 Stoves, ranges, heaters, etc 2.22 249 552.39 Bath boilers, tanks, etc 1.50 304 455.23 Hardware specialties 1.46 296 430.87 Edge tools 1.52 297 450.39 Wrenches, picks, etc 1.83 281 513.27 Locomotives and cars bnilt and re- paired 2.02 304 612.57 Wrought iron pipe and tubes 1.77 284 502.18 Cast iron pipe 1.52 315 478.64 Brass, copper and bronze goods.... 1.58 305 480.62 Iron and steel bridges 1.83 309 566.83 Locomotives, stationary engines, etc. 2.06 303 625.27 Engines, boilers, etc 1.86 303 562.88 Cars, springs, axles and railway sup- plies 1.77 308 538.68 Iron vessels and engines 1.73 330 572.32 Boilers, tanks, stacks, etc 1.66 298 496.49 Machinery 1.80 307 551.42 Foundries and machine shops 1.80 303 545.33 Files, etc 1.29 288 372.45 Saws 2.03 288 583.70 Plumbers' supplies 1.46 332 486.09 Electrical supplies 1.90 300 570.78 Shovels, spades, scoops, etc 1.73 283 488.42 Safes and vault doors 1.50 303 545.60 Metal and metallic goods 1.58 294 464.93 Building and structural iron work. . 1.72 306 524.78 Iron chairs 1.71 290 495.81 Iron fences and railings 1.54 306 470.09 Agricultural implements 1.70 302 512.69 Steam pumps 2.30 302 693.70 Bicycles 2.08 274 569.78 Pianos and organs 1.4S 296 436.40 Tinware 1 .3C) 272 368.95 Cordage, ropes, twine, etc 1.1 I ."{OO 342.54 Pottcrv 1.60 304 4S6.17 Paving brick 1.60 234 374.08 Building brick 1.63 230 375.55 Fire brick 1.44 298 428.42 Window glass, bottles and table goods 1 .76 256 450.28 04 In considering the foregoing it is necessary to remember that a very large proportion of the manufacturing estab- lishments are located in the great centers of population where rents and numerous other items among those that make up the annual cost of living are more costly than in the anthracite region. Bearing this in mind it is impor- tant to observe that among the seventy-nine averages rep- resenting daily earnings from the two series which are shown there are but four which exceed $2,507, the average daily earnings of contract miners in the Reading's col- lieries. Of the averages representing annual earnings there are only six which exceed $652.82, the average amount earned for full time by the same class of workmen in the Reading's mines, and the shortest time represented by these higher averages is 290 days. Nine of the seventy- nine averages of annual earnings are below $400, twenty- nine between $400 and $499, thirty between $500 and $599 and five between $600 and $652. The conclusion very for- cibly suggested by these comparisons is that contract miners are now paid more than any labor of the same quality under similar conditions anywhere in the state of Pennsylvania. The Commission cannot possibly be under the impres- sion that the work of the contract miner requires an high degree of skill. There is no doubt that it affords oppor- tunity for the acquisition and exercise of skill far beyond that necessary to make a start in it. For those who have the industry and intelligence demanded in order to reach an high plane of efficiency and who work diligently it not only affords superior opportunities for promotion to posi- tions in the direction of the industry, but while remaining as contract miners they receive a large differential addition to their annual earnings. In this wide difference between the earnings of the least capable and those who are most 65 efficient lies an incentive to development that is superior to that in any other industry of similar character. This incentive has the greatest sociological as well as economic value, and it must not be eliminated at the demand of per- sons actuated by principles which would confine the highest efficiency and the highest capacity for individual develop- ment within limits set by average or less than average diligence and capacity. There is better evidence that the contract miners, and indeed all of the employees of the anthracite mines, are well paid than could be derived from comparative statistics of wages or earnings. This evidence exists in the fact, fre- quently admitted by all parties to the submission, that the region is over-stocked with labor. Surplus labor does not accumulate where the inducements are not genuine and substantial. No proof that the wages and conditions are good could be more absolute than the common admission that men have come there and remained there until the supply of labor is greater than the market for anthracite will justify. No part of the broad area of this busy and prosperous country is closed to the immigrants who flock to the anthracite region or to the children of those who worked in the mines in former decades or to those born to the present generation of mine workers. Yet to this region immigrants still come in large numbers and in it remain, with but rare exceptions, all who ever become a part of its chief industry, with their children and their children's children. If during the rare occasions when the normal progress of industry is interrupted by struggles similar to that of 1902 any of them are forced temporarily to seek a living elsewhere, the fact that they almost in- variably take the first opportunity to return is one of com- mon knowledge. During the months from May to October of last year thousands of miners souglit and obtained em- 66 ployment elsewhere, but when work was resumed there was scarcely a working place, except those which in the wanton- ness of intoxication with newly-acquired power the union leaders had caused to be rendered inaccessible by the rising waters, which was not immediately sought and occupied by its former tenant. For years the great and growing indus- tries of the United States have bid against one another for labor. Since the close of the last period of depression there has been no time when the man of vigorous impulse and strong and willing muscles could not choose his location and the manner in which he would labor. If the anthracite mine workers are underpaid, if the conditions under which they labor are not desirable conditions, if their employers are cruel and grasping, why have none of the numerous avcDues of escape from all these evils been utilized? Why did not the complainants substitute for one among their horde of witnesses to inconsequential facts a single indi- vidual who had left the anthracite region to mine bitumi- nous coal or to labor in some of the many fields of industry which have lately sought vainly for additional workmen? Why is it that all the information before the Commission in regard to men who left the anthracite field for other work is that whether they went to the soft coal fields or elsewhere they hurried back to their old employment at the first word of the termination of the strike? These are in- quiries to which the theories of the complainants afford no response. That the answers, now thoroughly understood, are inconsistent with those theories and leave them utterly discredited is apparent to any practical man. HOURS OF LABOE. The demand for a reduction of the length of the work- ing day to eight hours applies to "all employees paid by the hour, day or week," and so far as the Philadelphia and 67 Eeading Coal and Iron Company is concerned this includes all employees except contract miners and the relatively few laborers employed by the latter. Much that has been suggested in this argument in relation to the compensation of those who work under contract is equally applicable to this demand and will not be repeated. It is necessary to recognize at the outset that the demand for an eight hour day in the anthracite industry has no genuine relation to a similar demand in occupations in which the possibility of regularity in production, is greater or in which it is practicable to work substantially the full number of hours adopted as the standard on every day on which a start is made. The usual interpretation of the demand for an eight hour standard in industries in which some irregularity is essential is that it means that the num- ber of hours worked per week shall bo but forty-eight. Now forty-eight hours per week for fifty-two weeks amounts to 2,496 hours, a number equaled during the year covered by the statistics asked for by the Commission in but one of the Heading's collieries. This colliery, the West Brookside, worked on 280 days and made a total of 2,504 hours. Two collieries made 2,425 and 2,402 hours respec- tively in 274 and 269 days. Of the others seventeen made more than 2,300 but less than 2,400 hours, nine made be- tween 2,200 and 2,299, and eight made less than 2,200, half of them less than 2,000. The average of the thirty- seven collieries was 2,250 hours or 9.86 per cent less than the equivalent of forty-eight hours per week for fifty-two weeks. The following statement shows for each colliery the number of days on which starts were made, tlie total number of hours worked and the average nuinlxT of hours per start during the year from November 1, 1900, to Octo- ber 31, 1901, inclusive: 68 w. o W P^ M Ph a) o S git, ft- t,_o CO ca > a 3 m ■< == 2 a> o S a =* 125 js 3111 Hi-i a h o^ fc. *■« l^"S §C-£^ t^r r~O5«5COa5t^00OJI>-0Ot-00O5O5C3C5rHOi CO 00 00 od CO CO* 00 CO CO 00 co' ao oo' oo' co' t-^ t-^ oo' CD05 C". t~-^5DCO^HiOCOOC001>-t^pq 9 ^ 'H'?. ao^ -ai^t« a>Ttiiiinn lluil -.xt times \\!h'ii the market has become so demoralized and so cliaidie that il has been necessary to engage in a general sii>])eiisi()ii of work in order to restore prices in the market, to make it possible for employers to pay living wages, in that case arbitration, I understand, has not 76 been offered by the miners, for the reason that it could not have any good result. Prices have been so demoralized at certain sea- sons, and run along for a year at a time, that it would be impos- sible for employers to pay higher rates of wages unless a suspen- sion took effect, to take out of the market the coal that was stocked there, as was the case in 1897."* Before the same Commission Mr. Mitchell also sup- ported the principle of sympathetic strikes in terms clearly pointing to the same general intention absolutely to con- trol the labor market and through this to make every phase of the industry subservient to the power of his association. His expressions on this branch of the subject were as follows : "Sympathetic strikes are, in our judgment, not only justifiable, but many times absolutely necessary, by reason of the fact that the capacity of the coal mines is so much greater than the possi- ble consumption of coal that when one district is compelled to engage in a strike, either in opposition to a reduction of wages or for an increase in wages, the markets can be supplied by mines in other districts, and this has often been done without loss or profit to the employers that engage in the contest "Another reason which makes sympathetic strikes justifiable is the fact that coal is sold on such close margins that where the operators of one district secure, by strike or otherwise, a mining rate that is less than that paid in competing districts, it is only a question of time until the miners in other districts must accept either a less rate of wages or the business will be diverted from the districts to which it properly belongs and will be secured by the operators paying the lower rate of wages."f All of the foregoing extracts from his testimony before the Industrial Commission were approved by Mr. Mitchell during his cross-examination. | The purpose to monopolize the fuel supply has not been a merely barren doctrine. The faith of the leaders in the vastness of the pbwer to be gained by such a concentration of industrial control has been proved by rugged efforts to *Report of the United States Industrial Commission, vol. xii, p. 36. fReport of the United States Industrial Commission, vol. xii, p. 37. ^Testimony pp. 98, 99, 101, 102. 77 overcome the obstacles in their path. One of these ob- stacles was the peace and content that existed in the anthra- cite region prior to 1900 and another the arbitration agree- ment between the employees of G. B. Markle & Co. and that company. Both were overcome. Another obstacle which existed in the anthracite region was a labor organization, composed of steammen, that did not recognize the author- ity of the United Mine Workers. The device adopted to destroy this union and to compel its members to become subservient to the monopoly still amazes by its audacity those who listen to the frequent assertions of leaders like Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Gompers that the man who takes the place of a workman who has struck for higher wages or what he regards as improved conditions of employment is a social outcast, one to be ostracized and "boycotted" to the extreme limit of the law. It will have to be told in the language used, under oath, by Mr. Thomas Duffy, one of the district presidents of the anthracite field and a prom- inent participant in the matters which he relates. Before this Commission he testified : "I want to say that in 1901, i believe it was 1901, the firemen struck; they struck in the upper region, Luzerne, Lackawanna and down in the Schuylkill region They came in the Hazleton region and I, as the president of the district, went to the firemen that had served notice on the companies, the Lehigh Valley, — they wanted eight hours' worK there and gave only ten liours' notice, — and I went in behind the stockade without per- mission and served notice on the firemen if they quit work that our union would put men in their places "* Thus, officially, in the person of one of its liighest offi- cers, to destroy an obstacle to the monopoly toward which its ambitions lead, this organization violated the now moral law advocated by its president, and other labor leaders, which makes every workman the puppet of a majority of his fellows. That tucii wci'c supplied io take the places 'Testimony p. 9082. of striking firemen* is clear from tlie testimony. A few extracts from Mr. Mitchell's own testimony will indicate how utterly this action violated a fundamental article of his creed. The following should be sufficient : "We regard the man who works during a strike, who takes an- othier man's place — "Q. ( Interruptmg. ) No, no — the man who keeps his o^vn place. "A. Who does what? "Q. Who keeps his own place. "A. In either event we regard him as an unfair worker. We think the man is blind to his own interests. We think he is join- ing forces with the employer to defeat the fair ends of those who go on strike. In other words, he is usually termed by the working people and others a 'scab.' "f "Q. Why should you call a man a 'scab' who differs from his fellow workmen as to the wisdom of continuing to earn a living for himself under such conditions as he thinks are reasonable, even though he may be mistaken in that opinion, if you choose ? "A. It is simply a general appellation for every man who works when another one is on strike. He is looked upon, and I think justly, in the same light that Benedict Arnold was looked upon, or any traitor. He is a man who fails to stand for the movement that the people stand for, and, after all, the majority of the workers in any one particular community reflect the public senti- ment of that community. It is the movement of the people of that community, and if a man wants to desert his fellow workers and wants to try to prevent them from accomplishing good ends, then he is justly looked upon with disfavor by those who are right, because his working does not aftect himself alone. If it only af- fected himself, it would be a diflferent proposition, but the fact that he works helps to defeat the objects of the men who go on strike."t "Q. Ah ! that is it. But I do not think you would fling a term of opprobrium at a fellow workman because he thinks differently from those who belong to your union. "A. I would regard them as 'scabs;' yes, sir. That is my per- sonal opinion. "§ "Q. Ought their lives and the lives of their wives and children to be made unendurable ? *Mr. Mitchell. Testimony pp. 2617-8. fTestimony p. 373. ^Testimony p. 374. §Testiinony p. 379. 79 "A. I think those wives and children had better ask their fathers. "Q. That is your answer — "A. I think it is they who have made their lives unendurable."* Mr. JMitcheirs testimony is full of declarations of this characterf and his opinion was expressly approved by the president of the American Federation of Labor who was called to testify as an expert in labor organization doc- trines and methods on behalf of the striking mine workers.^ Of course it will not surprise any one that an organiza- tion whose officers would detail men to perform acts which they regard as worthy of such opproln'ium would resort to extreme tactics to prevent the development of a rival or- ganization in the region conquered by such measures. Dr. Eoberts, a very friendly observer of union practices, is authority for the statement that dissensions between the laborers or the helpers in the mines and the miners them- selves have affected the action of the organization; the laborers complaining that the miners work too little time and leave at an unseasonable hour imposing upon them the Avhole of the lal)or.§ The result of these dissensions Dr. Eoberts expressed as follows: "Hence the question arises, is the laborer always to carry the heavy end of the burden and only get one-third of the face value of the due bill? Against this there is a revolt. The laborers demand half, and there is a possibility of their forming an inde- pendent organization upon this issue. This would seriously im- pair the influence and power of the union, if not utterly destroy its usefulness."|| The absolutely certain way to prevent this threatened rebellion on lue part of the miners' laborers is to secure ♦Testimony p. 392. fTestimony pp. 384, 470 and 480. ^Testimony pp. 3158 and 3159. See also testimony of Father Curran, a strong union sympathizer, p. 1592. §Testimony pp. 822-3. I [Testimony p. 829. 80 contracts with the operators under which it would be pos- sible to enforce the despotic authority sought. Under such contracts it would be impossible for a new organization to be formed and substantially impossible for any workmen to remain outside of the ranlcs of the monopoly. This would be especially true if by persistent pressure the union should be able to force the anthracite operators, as it has some of those in the soft coal fields, to collect the dues and assessments of the organization. After these examples no one will be astonished to learn that the United Mine "Workers lately, at a convention in Colorado, sought the adhesion of coal miners who were members of the Western Federation of Miners, an effort which if successful would have destroyed another labor organization.* Another way to promote the desired monopoly is to force individuals into the ranks of the organization. Mr. Mit- chell has assisted in showing how this is accomplished. The following was originally in his testimony before the Indus- trial Commission, but it was acquiesced in when read to him on cross-examination: "We believe in a conciliatory policy and make every effort to induce non-union miners to affiliate themselves with our organiza- tion. If they will not accept our proffers of friendship and refuse to become members of our organization, we sometimes op- pose them. By this I mean we do not make the same efforts to secure for them higher rates of wages or better conditions of em- ployment. In some cases miners have declined to work in the same mines."f A notice, dated April 5, 1901, by Archibald Local No. 1649 of the United Mine Workers was posted at the head *Mr. Mitchell. Testimony pp. 542-3. •(■Testimony p. 93. Report of the United States Industrial Com- mission, vol. xii, p. 32. 81 of a shaft that every workman who had chosen independ- ence could see what was in store for him/'' "Archibald Local No. 1G49, U. M. VV. of A. "SCRANTON, Pa., April 5, 1901. "Notice. "There will be a special meeting of the above-named local at Janes Hall, Archibald mines, Saturday morning at 11 o'clock, and all men employed in and around the mines not members of the above-named local are requested to be present and join; if not, they will be stopped from work Monday, April the 8th, 1901. "By order of "M. H. Healy, President. "A. J. Bayliss; iiecrctary." Clearly there need be no misunderstanding of the pur- poses of this organization. The declaration of its leaders and its constitution have been practically applied by its local unions and its national officers. It aims to control the output of coal, and by exercising this control to keep prices at a high level in order that the excess over the normal prices may be added to the earnings of its members. If such a monopoly of the fuel supply of the homes and fac- tories of the country is desirable, it may be that the organi- zation is performing a useful work, but if otherwise, the United Mine Workers should receive no sympathy from those who would necessarily be the victims of its success. EESTRICTING EFFICIENCY. The history of tlie United Mine Workers in the anthra- cite region contains a succession of instances illustrating every device by which the exceptional workman is com- pelled to limit his efficiency to a standard attainable by the less capal)]e and employers are compelled to pursue anti- quated methods. Mr. Mitchell has admitted that his or- *Testimony p. (J.'jo:?. Vov other notices or resolutions of a similar character, some of thein equally imperative in time, see p]). 139, 102, 16G, 6304, G306 and 8331. Among many exainples of specific efforts in tlie same direction are those n'hited on pp. 2395, 52G6, 5844. CO.")."), (ills. (191.") and 7t'.()-i. 82 ganization is opposed to the introduction of mining ma- chinery* and Dr. Eoberts, the witness for the complain- ants who followed him. declared that "iliners often have two and three laborers to work for them, but when a miner takes a contract which enables him to hire miners and laborers he is disqualified as a member of the union, although he pays the standard wage in the colliery to the men he hires. "f The testimony taken by the Commission establishes be- yond the possibility of contradiction that the union has forbidden the ambitious and capable miner from con- tracting for work in which lie would have to employ more than two laborers! and that it opposes his having more than one.§ The number of ears which the miner may send out has been restricted by many of the locals, || in collieries where payment is by weight money penalites have been established to prevent increasing the earnings by putting on a large amount of topping,j[ and men have been fined for working when the breaker was idle.** Under the influ- ence of this organization the miners often refuse to assist their laborers, they decline to cut coal and rock on the same day, they refuse to work when the breaker does not run, and they go home if their laborers do not report for duty. By these devices they restrict their own earning capacity, and it has been shown that many of them have little desire to earn more than wliat they call "miners' wages," while others are evidently restrained from the efforts necessary *Testimony p. 120. Another extract from his testimony before the L'. S. Industrial Commission. See report of the latter, vol. xii, p. 55. tTestimony p. 849. |Mr. Mitchell. Testimony pp. 1G7, 5638 and 5644. Mr. W. H. Dettery. Testimony p. 1177. §Mr. Mitchell. Testimony pp. 209 and 5638. ||Testimony pp. 4920, 5444, 6799 and in many other instances. IJTestimony pp. 5269-70. **Testimony pp. 5438 and 5448. 83 to do so by fear of incurring the ill-will of their fellows and becoming the victims of the displeasure of the organi- zation. The net result of these efforts to reduce the output of the more capaljle workmen is shown by the following table : DECREASE IX EFFICIEXCY OF LABOR.* 1001. LSI 10. Total shipments, long tons 53,568,001 47,605,204 Shipments of washery coal, long tons. . . 2,507,335 1,368,275 Difference, product of miners and in- side employees, long tons 51.001,206 46,296.929 Number of miners 37,804 30.421 Number of inside employees 98,464 92,223 Average number of days worked by breakers 195 179 Total nvimber of days worked by all miners 7,371,780 0,519,359 Total number of days worked by all in- side employees 19,200,480 10,507,917 Average product in long tons per miner per daj' 0.92 7.10 Average product in long tons per in- side employee jjer day 2.00 2.80 EXFORCIXG THE NEW MORAL LAW. Little need be said concerning the details of the reign of terror that held the anthracite region in its grasp throughout a large portion of the recent period of idleness. Some estimable gentlemen who have chosen the position of advocates of the organization have testified to the remark- aljlc peace and quiet which they assert prevailed through- out the entire period of the strike. The most satisfactory explanation of their testimony is that they rarely if ever visited the regions inhabited by the men who preferred to work or the roads traversed by them when they ventured *Tho first three items are shown by tables put in evidence before the Commission by Mr. \\'. M. Ruley ; the next tliroo arc from the report of the Pennsylvanin l'>ureau of Mines for 1901, and tiic rest have been calculated finiii llic otiiers. 84 to go to and from the collieries and that in the seclusion of their studies they imagined that there was no reign of terror because they did not witness many of its atrocities. One of the historians of the French Kevolution has shown that many of the Parisians of that time were able to re- main equally unconscious of the scenes by which they were surrounded. A brief extract will perhaps prove suggestive : "It is most essential to grasp the fact that there was no par- ticular difference, for the vast majority of the population, in living in Paris during the Reign of Terror and at other times. The imagination of posterity, steeped in tales of the tumbrils bearing their burden to the guillotine, and of similar stories of horror, has conceived a ghastly picture of life at that extraordi- nary period, and it is only after living for months amongst the journals, memoirs and letters of the time that one can realize the fact that to the average Parisian the necessity of getting his dinner or his evening's amusement remained the paramount thought of his daily life The Reign of Terror seems to us an age of imique experiences, a time unparalleled in the history of the world ; yet to the great majority of contemporaries it did not appear so; they lived their ordinary lives, and it was only in exceptional cases that the serenity of their days was inter- rupted, or that their minds were exercised by anything more than the necessity of earning their daily bread."* But France had its reign of terror and not much more than a century later, on a different scale but with identical effects upon the minds and acts of men, the anthracite re- gion of Pennsylvania was the scene of another. Dr. Roberts saw it, and in his manly fashion refused to blink the truth. He testified as follows : "For three months no outrages were perpetrated until on July 31, in Shenandoah, and the troops were called out on August 1. Since then the reign of terror has come, and, as Mr. MacVeagh has said, increasing in intensity and ferocity as we come down to the fifth month. "f ■•'H. M. Stephens, "History of tlie French Revolution." Vol- ume II, Chapter 10. ■j-Testimony p. 802. 85 The conference of clergymen which met at Hazleton on JSTovember 12, 1903, and adopted the following resolutions did not consist of men who had been blind to the events of the preceding months : "Resolved, That we should at this time, as law-abiding citizens, enter our earnest protest against the boycott, intimidation and threats and violence that have existed to a greater or less extent during the past five months and, notwithstanding the strike has been declared off, still exist. We deplore the effort of any per- son or persons to create the impression that the men have not been molested in the exercise of their rights as citizens of this commonwealth. "Resolved, further. That it is for the interest of the entire com- munity that the deplorable occurrences of the past few months should never be repeated, and we call upon all law-abiding citizens to take a firm stand in the determination that all attempts to abridge the liberty of the individual in the anthracite coal field shall cease at once and forever."* What picture of an armed camp in alert expectation of a command to attack is more graphic than the description by "Squire" McKelvey, a witness called in rebuttal by the strikers, of what he saw from one o'clock in the morning until daybreak in the vicinity of a Lehigh Valley colliery. In his own words it is as follows: "Well, one night I was coming home ; I think it was on the last of July or August; I don't remember which now. It was about twelve or one o'clock in the morning — twelve o'clock Saturday night or one o'clock Sunday morning. I noticed men scattered here and there along East Diamond avenue in llazol town- ship. So 1 went to my home and got my overcoat. It was a little cold, a little chilly, that night, and I started down East ]3iamond avenue as far as the dirt banks at No. 2 slope. I saw two men here, and two there, and maybe one here. Well, I ad- vised them all along the line, whatever they did, not to harm any- one and to keep off the company property or to stay away from company property altogether. I came back then. I went up as far as Laurel Hill, which is about three miles from No. 2 banks. I went up to the hospital, and then I went down on the other side. 1 walked down there about a mile out of Hazleton. •TestiiiHiiiy pj). 1598-9. 86 "Q. That is practically all around the Lehigh Valley Coal Com- pany's property? "A. No. 40 ? "Q. Yes. "A. Yes, sir. 1 saw men scattered there; some out smoking pipes, some sitting do^^■n at little fires playing cards, and other^s lying alongside of them asleep. So I advised them over again, whatever they did, not to molest anyone."* The following is a part of the cross-examination of the same witness : "Q. They were doing what is called picket duty there, were they not? "A. Yes, sir. '•Q. That is what they were doing, was it not? "A. Yes, sir; and good pickets they were."f Subsequently under questioning by the Chairman of the Commission Mr. McKelvey admitted that the occasion of this incident was a rumor that work was about to be com- menced at this colliery.^ Just what it means to say that the picketing was well done is indicated by an extract from a letter written on September 23, 1902, to Governor Stone and General Gobin by Sheriff Beddall of Schuylkill county. He said in part : "Men, acting lor the strikers, post themselves at various points as pickets, ostensibly to persuade men by argument from going to work, but in numerous instances the workmen are threatened, assailed, beaten and driven back, and in an inconsiderable time mobs are assembled."§ General Gobin's testimony to the skill with which this work was planned and the effectiveness of its execution must also be repeated : "I want to say, to the credit of the gentlemen who were running the other side of the campaign, that they did the best picketing that I ever saw in my life. 1 could not move a column of my troops in any direction, or at any time of the day or night, without ^Testimony p. 8434. fTestimony p. 8450. ^Testimony pp. 8465-6. §Testimony p. 4616. 87 finding some people on duty. Even the lieadquartei's in my stable were well picketed, and 1 appreciated the manner in which they did it. They did it well, but a little inconvenient."* Happily it is uot necessary here to repeat the appalling record of this period of terror. During its progress many houses occupied by the defenceless wives and children of men who were at work were wrecked by dynamite, women and children were beaten because their husbands and fathers were earning their daily bread in the mines, and homes were destroyed by fire. Some men who worked were murdered, and others were stoned, stabbed or beaten. Col- lieries were attacked and men driven from work by stones or shots from fire-arms. And with this long record of atrocities, with many of which members and officers of the union have been connected by direct evidence, there is noi a line of testimony to show that a single member of the organization was ever disciplined for complicity in a viola- tion of the peace of the community. Members of the locals have been fined and expelled for being too efficient or ambitious as workmen, but none has been similarly pun- ished for a violation of law or of public decency in the effort to ])revent men from working during the strike. f But it has been claimed that the organization is not responsible for the lawnessness and violence that occurred. The posi- tion of tliose who use this argument is that what took place was nothing more than the natural accompaniment of a period of stress and idleness. Even if it could be admitted that this is true the fact would remain that it was the union wliicli l)r()iighl :\\u)ui tbc idleness and contention. 'I'liat the lawlessness wliicb s[)rang up, in a luanncr Hint *Testimony pp. 4.'3!)3-4. fMr. Mitchell. Testimony i)p. :iSl, r.\-2-:i. 2(122, 4387, 4.3<)1. Terronce Ciiiilcy. ]>p. 4.'}(i8, 4.37(> d .sny. Tliomas Walkiiis, ]>]). 335G et scq. 88 certainly suggests some prearrangement, all over the an- thracite region at about the time of the Shenandoah riot and continued until suppressed by the militia or made objectless by the termination of the strike is a necessary accompaniment of the idleness of the mines is an unde- served aspersion upon thousands of workmen which is ab- solutely refuted by the fact that for the first two months and a half there was relatively little disorder.* Moreover when violence came it was adapted to the enforcement of the purposes of the organization with a precision which cannot be overlooked. If most of the attacks upon indi- viduals, on homes, and on collieries had been planned in the secret councils of the leaders it would have been im- possible that they should have been more effective in mak- ing work unattractive both to the miners and to the opera- tors. The outbreaks were not purposeless exhibitions of restlessness, but they were especially directed at the men who tried to work or the collieries at which efforts were made to mine coal or those mines whose preservation their owners persisted in attempting in order that they might be made to supply coal in the future. There is no doubt that 'Mt. James Gallagher understands union methods, as he does most things that have fallen within his sphere of observation. His explanation of the reason that there was no rioting at Jeddo is therefore worthy of quotation. At Scranton he testified as follows : "There was neither deputies nor coal and iron policemen, nor soldiers, until about three or four weeks before the (end of the?) strike, nor no call for them, because there was nobody working there. As soon as ever the strike commenced, the men pulled the fire from under the boilers and stopped the pumps and there was nothing doing except two or three bosses that was running around, and we didn't pay no attention to them."t *See testimony of Dr. Roberts, quoted on p. 84. jTestimony p. 1650. 89 And when recalled at Philadelphia he used the following words : "I never seen thorn commit any criminal acts of violence. We had no right to do that in Jeddo, because there was nobody work- ing there, no non-union men, and therefore we had nothing to con- tend with or to quarrel or fight about."* Father Curran's observation also supports the idea that the lawlessness was systematically directed and in aid of the efforts to prevent the mining, preparation and mar- keting of coal. A part of his testimony, given under cross- examination, follows : "Q. Is it not a fact that the violence which characterized this whole region has been caused by his attempt to work? "A. The 'scabs'? "Q. Yes, or the mine operators attempting to operate their mines? "A. Yes, sir; a great deal of it. "Q. Is it not a fact. Father, that at every mine — and I speak now particularly of the individual operators where no attempt was maae to work — that it was not necessary even to hire a guard; is that not a fact? Do you understand my question? "A. Ihat it was not necessary to hire a guard where there was no work ? "Q. And they were actually not hired; is not that a tact? "A. ies ; that is generally true. "Q. Violence followed an attempt on the part of the operator to work his property or an attempt on the part of a nonunion em- ployee to go to work, did it not? "A. I admit that." Such is the conclusion to v^'liicli an avowed friend of the organization was forced by facts which do not admit of dispute. Whether planned in detail by officers of the union or merely the result of their general doctrines and tlicir violent denunciations ol" all who disagreed with them they were equally adapted to the realization of the ])ur- poses which every leader had in \\v\v. There is no doubt that the voices of tlic nini'c proininciit officers were very softlv modulated when tlicv discussed in public thf nictbod.s ^Testimony p. 9012. 90 of preventing the resumption of mining operations. There is no doubt that the union had peace committees in some places, although they do not appear to have been very active, or that in one instance at least officers of the organi- zation issued a proclamation advising the observance of the law. So far as their public expressions go there is little to indicate that the leaders incited violence. They were profuse in offers and promises of assistance, but General Gobin testified* that "they never did anything" in the execution of these promises, and the exceptions to this rule must have been very rare and do not" include a single instance of effective opposition to lawlessness. Thus the sheriff of Lakawanna county had conferences with Mr. Mitchell in which the latter agreed to use all his per- suasiveness to subdue the growing violence, but it con- tinued to grow.f Mr. Thomas Duffy, then a district presi- dent of the Mine Workers, led the crowd which succeeded in sending back to Philadelphia the steammen who had been hired by Messrs. J. S. Wentz & Co. These men were told that ; — " . . . . Avhatever boiler house they would go to to keep up steam would be blown up with dynamite."J but Mr. Duffy disputes the charge that he used violent and profane language or did anything more than sweetly to persuade the men to let the mines be flooded. § Mr. John Fallon, who promised Mrs. Ehoda Snyder that he would "go right up and attend to if when she went to him at headquarters to say that her property was threatened by strikers, and did nothing of an effective character to pre- vent its destruction, is a member of the Xational Executive *Testimony p. 4704. fSheriff Charles H. Schadt. Testimony pp. 394G-7. :|:Mr. John Weber, superintendent for J. S. Wentz & Co. Testi- mony p. 7 009. §Testimony pp. 9069-70. 91 Board of the organization. The house was rifled that nighl and burned to the ground.* This officer, although present at most of the sessions, had to be called as a witness by the non-union men in order that the Commission might have the benefit of any part of his knowledge of the anthracite situation, and then testified that he attended a great many hearings of persons arrested for breaches of the peace and made efforts to get bail for the defendants. His explana- tion of this activity was : "I just merely went being as I was an ofRcer."t Another incident of Mr. Fallon's relations to the strike was testified to as follows : "A man who had a revolver had pointed it at myself and the deputy sheriff, and told us he was going to shoot us, and our men jumped on him and overpowered him and we took the revolver away from him When i took this man up that had threatened to shoot us this morning, 1 took him up there with three others who were arrested the same morning, and the crowd pushed in and ilr. Fallon was very evident. He pushed around and went up to the man — I do not remember his name, but he was a Freeland man — and shook hands with him and patted him on the back and saiu, 'Brave boy! I will look out for you,' and a lot of that kind of talk. This man was arrested because he almost precipitated a riot, and I must say that it was a very narrow es- cape. Jf the man had fired the consequences might liave been serious.''^ The statement of the president of one of the local unions lo an inside foreman that lie wouldn't have men at work very long as it would "Ijc made good and hot for them" was followed at four o'clock the next morning by the gathering at tlie colliery of a crowd of between five and seven liundi-cd men armed with l)asol)all I)ats and shot guns.§ Another |)i-esideiit of a local plead guilty to con- *TestiTnony j)]). .'i474 ct seq. fTestimony pp. 3474 ct seq. JMr. Willard ^'llUllg. Testimony pp. 7537-9. §]\rr. Willard A. Wallaco. Testimony pp. 420!) ct seq. 92 spiracy* and still another witnessed, without attempting to prevent, the clubbing of Mr. David Harris who was also shot at, is sixty-four years of age, and was merely acting in his regular capacity as a fire-boss. f These instances should be sufficient to establish a presumption that there was some participation of officers in other acts of violence. If there was not any such control over violence it would be well to explain why Mr. Martin Bubble, secretary of Local No. 484, could protect his brother, who remained at work, by issuing under the seal of the union the following : "United Mine Workers of America, Local 484. Martin Bubble, secretary. Wilkesbarre, August 25, 1902. To whom it may con- cern: Do not interfere with Louis Bubble to and from work. (Signed) Martin Bubble, Sec. James Gallagher.''^ The authority claimed and exercised by the leaders of the Mine Workers over the industry of the anthracite region did not stop with the prevention of coal mining. It was Mr. Mitchell, to whom the president of the local tele- phoned for instructions, who forbade the liverymen of Kingston to haul coal from the mines to Wyoming Semi- nary, but generously permitted them to haul it from the station. § It was District President Fahy who, when an attempt was made to build a boiler-house for the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, wrote to Mr. Mandeville saying that he could not grant ''permission" under the circumstances then existing. 1 1 It was Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Fahy who refused permission to Mr. Christ to rebuild the breakers at the Keeley Eun and Crystal Run collieries, the latter saying : *Testimony pp. 4988 and 5002. fMr. David Harris. Testimony p. 4081. |Testimony pp. 4176 et seq. §Rev. Levi L. Sprague. Testimony pp. 387.') ct scq. llMr. R. S. Mercur. Testimony p. 6336. 93 "It is this way, Christ: If we grant yovi permission to buikl a breaker, someone else mc.y come and ask permission to pump water, another may ask permission to mine coal. We don't Icnow where this might stop."* Mr. Christ also testified that the men whom he attempted to employ were deterred by fear and that those whom he succeeded in getting were molested.f These instances of direct connection on the part of officers with violence and directions which if disobeyed must lead to violence seems to explain why the information possessed by District Presi- dents Nichols and Fahy was not offered to the Commis- sion and former District President Duffy was not called as a witness until the last days of the hearing and then only to deny a single accusation. Over and over again while on the stand Mr. Mitchell referred to these officers, and particularly to Mr. Mchols, as possessing detailed in- formation Avhich he did not have and promised that they would be called to testify.^ Yet the Commission is still without the light which they would be peculiarly able to supply. There is, however, a broader responsibility than that established by the incidents that have been recited from which no leader of the United Mine Workers who w^as active in the recent strike can escape. The doctrine so industriously inculcated that no man has the moral right to work when others are on a strike leads inevitably to violence. Leaders of men cannot teach tliat some men are acting in violation of the laws of morality without inciting some of those who believe themselves to be damaged to resort to force to bring about general conformity to the moral code which they accept. All the atrocities of intoler- ''Mr. 11. K. Ohrist. Testimony i)p. 7467-8. •j-Testimony pp. 7481-2. ^Testimony pp. 197. 2.32, HI 7, 543, 557, 582, ()57, 2559, 2573, 2579 and 2580. 94 auce that blacken the pages of history have been justified in the minds of those who committed them by the plea, that their victims were acting immorally. Few men who think themselves directly injured by acts which they be- lieve contravene the standards of morality will patiently await the vengeance of the Almighty upon those who com- mit them. Little could it be expected that such patience would generally be exercised in the anthracite region when this new law of morals was being urged with such vigor by those responsible for its discovery. When they, on every possible occasion, likened the men who remained at work at the pumps or in the mines or washeries to the loyalists of the American Eevolution, it is not strange that some of those at whom their denunciations were hurled were treated worse than were those who in the Southern states during the Civil War remained true to the American Union. BOYCOTTING. The use of boycotting during the strike is but another expression of the same sentiment. It was directed against the men who Avorked, against their families and relatives and against those who supplied any of them with the neces- saries of life. It is the precise equivalent of the blacklist, a thing that does not exist in the anthracite region, but is an instrument for the preservation of which those who decry the latter are most solicitous. Dr. Eoberts declares that— "It is the fashion of the day to be one of the union, and if you are not, the boycott falls on you."* And Mr. Mitchell, referring to an expression of Arch- bishop Ireland, said : "It depends on what the Archbishop means by it. If he means that men have not a rislit to boycott, then I disagree with him."t *Testimony p. 850. fTestimony p. 482. 95 While in another phice lie gave tacit approval of the secondar}' hoycott as follows: "Q. Suppose a grocery store was incorporated, as it might be, or suppose tlie grocery storekeeper has a license to conduct a grocery store. Do you say he has any right, legal or moral, to decline to sell to me because I am pursuing a lawful occupation against which you protest? ''A. Well, I do not know what the law is in its application to storekeepers; I do not know whether they have the right to sell to whom they please. "Q. Do you think you have a moral right to tell liim not to sell to my wife because I am pursuing a lawful occupation in a lawful manner? "A. No; but 1 have a right to tell him that 1 do not propose to deal with him any more."" FLOODING THE MIJ^ES. Earely in the history of the world has arbitrary author- ity been exercised in a more iniquitous manner than in the order requiring the men whose duties were to protect the mines from flooding to leave their posts. The pretense that this was an independent strike of the steam-men and not a mere device to compel compliance with the general demands of the j\Iine Workers is unworthy of consideration. These employees were "directed" by the organization to make certain demands, and in at least one instance in which all that they asked was granted they were not "permitted" to remain at work.f Some of the steam-men of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western were utterly opposed to a strike, and held a meeting, at which they passed resolutions con- denming it and asking Mr. Mitchell to rescind the order.| Two-thirds of those who attended this meeting were mem- bers of the Mine Workcrs.§ and they sent a committee to request of ^h". ^litclicll permission to save the mines from •Testimony p. 384. fMr. Mitchell. Testimony ]>]>. (ill and l^.").'}. ^Testimony pp. 0238-0. §Tcstimony pp. G2.'5.') ct scq. 96 flooding. He declined to relieve them from the obnoxious order, and Mr. Nichols threatened that if they refused to obey it they "would be scoffed at and would be ostracized" and their "children would suffer insult."* If the Union had been successful in its efforts to prevent pumping, as it was at several collieries which have not yet begun to con- tribute their quota to the supply of anthracite so sorely needed by the public or been able to give employment to their usual complement of workmen, the tragedy of a coal famine would have been enacted to the end throughout every eastern state. The opinion of Dr. Eoberts, as ex- pressed in the Yale Eeview of November, 1902, is that of a fair-minded and sympathetic student who had excep- tional opportunities to learn the truth. He writes as fol- lows : "When the miners were called out, the firemen, pump-runners and engineers continued to work, and thus kept the mines from being flooded. On May 21 John Mitchell ordered these men out, unless the companies granted them eight hours as a day's work and no reduction in wages. This the operators, with rare excep- tions, refused to do, and on June 2 about eighty per cent of the above employees quit work. The majority of the collieries were in danger of being flooded and much property destroyed. Meas- ures were immediately taken to preserve the properties. Superin- tendents, foremen, assistant foremen, clerks and an army of im- ported men took charge of the pumps and stationary engines, and by j^ersistent and strenuous efforts most of the collieries were kept from being flooded. All sections of the coal field were not equally successful in doing this. There were half a dozen shafts in the southern coal field, which gave employment to nearly 2,500 hands, at the mercy of the rising waters, and four or five months from the resumption of Avork, October 24, will expire before these mines will be in working order. On June 16 John Mitchell ordered out all fire bosses, loader bosses, barn bosses, etc. These classes of mine emi^loyees were not members of the Miners' Union, and the order seemed presumptuous, to say the least. It can only be justified on the assumption that the organization was anxious to cripple the operators in every conceivable manner and carry the conflict to the furthest possible extent. About thirty per cent of these "'Testimony pp. 6246 et seq. See also Mr. Mitchell, p. 056. 97 eiiiijloyees quit work, niosl of tlieni from motives of fear, for it was not safe for them to work Those still remaining at the collieries performed any and all labor which was necessary for the preservation of property. For this they were denounced as 'scabs' and closely watched in going to and coming from work. Every colliery where water was pumped became a beleaguered camp. Around most properties stockades or barb-wire fences were erected. Armed deputies guarded the companies' shafts and breakers both night and day. Such were the conditions luider which the water was kept out of the mines during the strike. . . . . Lawlessness and disorder were rife in the anthracite coal fields." ATTITUDE TUWAKD THE AGENCIES OF GOVERNMENT. The attitude of the Union toward the judiciary, the offi- cers of the law and the militia is also unsatisfactory. Mr. Mitchell is authority for the statement that there is a "growing feeling of disrespect" among the members of his oi'gaiiization toward the judiciary* and those who have ob- served the temi)er of many of its officers M^ll have no diffi- culty in assigning a reason. "Sqnire" McKelvey, a justice of the peace at Hazleton, who, on account of his ability to persuade men not to work and his expressed belief that it is "everybody's business" to do likewise,t is probably not included in this feeling, in an official letter, characterized as "armed thugs" the officers of the law and charged them with an evident purpose "to incite peaceful, law-abiding miners to break the peace" so as to be able to shoot theni.:{: The joint convention at Hazleton adopted a resolution for- bidding members of the Mine Workers from acting as deputy sheriffs or coal and iron policemen. § General Gobin testified that the soldiers under his command;— " . . . . were constantly insulted; there was no vile name that was not emploj^ed toward them, and I was compelled to keep •Testimony p. 487. fTestimony pp. 8455-6. :j;Tcstimony p. 844.3. §Tostimony p. 9115. 98 them out of the town. 1 do not think there was an officer or man that could pass through certain portions of the town without being subject to insult of some kind or other. If a man could not talk any English at all he could talk one vile epithet that he could apply to a soldier."* That this sentiment was not wholly an outgrowth of the strike is shown by the testimony of Dr. Eoberts, who de- clared that there was opposition on the part of the Mine Workers to persons who were members of the militia and that when a soldier belonging to the Thirteenth Eegiment secured employment at a colliery a committee of the local union asked the foreman to dismiss him.j The foregoing incidents appear sufficient to demonstrate that when the United Mine Workers of America is judged by "the life it has lived" in the anthracite region it is definitely placed in the category of organizations, if there are any such, with which it is undesirable that there should be any alliance or contractual relations. It shows that this conclusion, on the part of the operators, does not imply any opposition to organized labor or any reluctance to deal with organized groups of workmen, or with committees or attor- neys-in-fact duly authorized by them. The opposition to the United Mine Workers is to its purposes, which are in- consistent with public policy and to its methods which are un-American and despotic to the last degree. CONCLUSION. The anthracite mining industry now constitutes the best single market for unskilled or but slightly skilled labor in the United States and it is one of the greatest and steadiest. The thirty-eight thousand miners who hold certificates from the state may properly be regarded as skilled, al- though it is a part of the evidence in this case that many of them have but a small degree of skill and that certifi- *Testimony p. 9. fTcstimony pp. 848 and 1037. 99 cates have been improperly issued by the miners who have been appointed to the examining boards.* Especially skilled also are the men who run the engines and small groups of men in other classes of employment. But for a very large proportion of the work little or no skill or experience is required. For the men who do such work this market for their labor offers numerous advantages. Pri- marily, compared with nearly all other markets for such labor, it supplies exceptionally steady employment. For men who would otherwise be employed wherever there is a ditch to be dug, or a railway embankment to be throv/n up. who would necessarily go from place to place on the com- pletion of each piece of work, the advantage of permanent employment is great. It enables them to acquire homes and helps to make them good citizens. They also have unusual opportunity to rise to the grade of skilled work- men. Two years is an exceptionally short period for learn- ing any trade and there is neither a maximum age limit restricting admission to the ranks of the learners, nor a limit upon their number. During the period before a certificate can legally be obtained good wages are paid. When the workman has become a miner there is still before him a large field for development, and every increase in efficiency brings its direct pecuniary reward. It has been shown that the wages compare most favorably 'with those in other industries, and the facts of the labor situation, including the acknowledged excessive supply, afford a certain foundation for the conclusion that the same grades of labor are not better paid anywhere else. Wages are not anywhere arbitrarily adjusted. At whatever level they may be found, it is certain that it has been reached through an economic process, the effects of which cannot *Mr. James Callagher. Testimony pp. 1714, 1715 and 17201. Mr. Thomas Whilden, p. 7747. 100 be snbjected to interference without more or less serious reactions. The attraction by which the anthracite region has drawn labor beyond its needs will certainly be at once augmented by increased rates of wages or by shortening the working day. Whether this would be a permanent result is another question. The effect on the cost of pro- duction and through this upon prices and effective demand might react upon the industry so as to impair the comfort of the workmen and to make the region seem so much less desirable than it does at present that some who are now there would go elsewhere and the inflow would be stopped. It is well to remember President Hadley's warning, as ex- pressed in tbc following extract, from his "Economies'": "If the men who demand a 'living wage' are prepared to increase tlieir working efficiency as a means of making good their claim, their demand is effective in securing its object and salutary in its iiiHuence upon industrial life. But to believe that the wages can be paid without tlie work, or even that the increased efficiency of work necessarily results from improvement in wages, seems a dangerous fallacy The majority of trades-union leaders appear to underrate tne closeness of the competition of capital and the narrowness of the margin of profit. They do not realize how closely actual piece wages have been forced up to tiie limit which prices will allow." ]Sio one should fail to sympathize with the desire of any group of wage-earners to increase their earnings, and when Iheir efforts in that direction are consistent with the gen- eral welfare they should have the support of every good* citizen. But sympathy should be held in check by reason, and when it is proposed to take from one set of wage- earners for the sake of another, the intelligently sympa- thetic man will look to the interests of both. That great evil may come from misdirected efforts to do good is a truism es])ecially applicable to the present situation. Es- pecially is this true in the light of the fact that the country is obviously at the eulminationof a period of industrial pros- 101 . perity that must within a few years give place to one of relatively less activity. To fasten unalterably npon the anthracite industry an increased cost of production that would necessarily raise the prices of domestic fuel to the highest level obtainable even under present conditions might result in discomfort that would perhaps be but little greater among tlie working population of the Atlantic seaboard cities than among the employees of the anthracite mines and their families. II. T. XEWCOMB. Fel)ruary \2, VJOo. 102 APPENDIX. The demands of the striking mine workers do not include an increase of wages for employees working by the day, week or mouth, but merely ask that the amount of work re- quired of these employees be reduced. It has been shown that the effect of the reduction in the length of the working day which has been asked would be to require more em- ployees in order to produce the same amount of coal, and that it would be impossible that it should give those now employed a larger number of working days. The reason- ableness of the earnings of these employees was not, there- fore, in issue before the Commission, and it was not neces- sary to present their earnings as a part of the foregoing argument. 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CMOiiOOOCD^H,— I,— iQOCOCDt^iOr-H CO l-H CO -^ cr. o ■M i~ 03 a to " C C = t^ >-* a* (i> 03 I" O C P C w, S« |f^-^ S S S S s^ Q. &. p:;p5MCHaiQX'Cf-5PH!^Qi-4 q Q RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS • 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 • 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF • Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date. DUE AS STAMPED BELOW SENYONfLL NOV 7 2002 U. C. BERKELEY 12,000(11/95) LD 21-100nt-8,'34 Newcomb, H. commission, 53180^ Qoal o trik o MAR i MR Z : 1(135 I9-I5 ~ X v/) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY