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GOAL "TRADE BULLETIN.
Vol. XIII. PITTSBURGH, PA., SEPTEMBER 15, 1905. JN o. 8
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN:
PUBLISHED TWICE A MONTH.
Copyrighted by THE COAL TIIADE COMPANY, 1905.
A. It. HAMILTON, Proprietor and Publisher,
SUBSCRIPTION, - - - - $2.00 A YEAR
H. J. STRAUB, Managing Editor.
Correspondence and communications upon all matters
relating to coal or eoal production are invited.
All communications and remittances to
THK COAL TKADE COMPANY.
926-930 PARK BUILDING, PITTSBURGH, PA.
Long Distance Telephone 250 Grant.
[Entered at the Post Office at Pittsburgh, Pa., as
Second Class Mail Matter.]
A CONVENTION OF ANTHRACITE MINE WORKERS at
Shamokin in December will draft demands to be
made for new terms with the mine owners on the
expiration, April 1 next, of the agreement based
upon the award of the commission of 1902. While
that agreement, on the recommendation of the
commission, was for three years, it was hoped, if
not expected, that the setlement was a permanent
one. It has always been regarded as favorable
to the miners, practically no complaint has been
made of the terms, and it has seemed to work
satisfactorily for all concerned. Mr. John Mit­
chell has admitted that it was followed by "pros­
perity" in the anthracite industry, but he says
that the miners have not had their full share of it.
He has been working to reorganize and strengthen
the unions with a view to making new demands,
including recognition of the union, the eight-hour
day, and better and more uniform wages.
It is very natural that a little anxiety should
now prevail as to how the award agreement should
be renewed and under what conditions. The men
are desirous of changes and it may be the opera­
tors want some, too. The men are a little more
outspoken and they are making known through
their leader what changes they desire, while the
operators keep their counsel more closely and we
fear the public will not know until the time is
about up what they intend doing. The discussion
is causing considerable unrest—foolishly so in
our opinion—and unless checked may militate
against the trade of the district. We regret that
the discussion has cropped up thus early, but it
has begun and the best plan is to end it as soon
as practicable.
Mr. Mitchell has said that he does not want
another strike, but his propositions for changes
are sweeping and while President Baer of the
Reading is quoted for the declaration that there
will be no strike, the operators will of course not
accept Mr. Mitchell's terms, which will probably
be made more exacting by the Shamokin conven­
tion. Life to the hope that bridges be not burned
behind!
Much stress is put on the storing of coal by the
daily papers which go into extravagant figures.
Some coal is stored, as it should be, and this may
be the factor of avoiding the conflict which the
outsider believes it indicates.
* * *
LABOR LEADERS OF AMERICA should take note of
the diminution of disputes in Great Britain, where
some years ago many an industrial town was prac­
tically deserted through some unreasonable wage
demand. It is gratifying to see that the leaders
of Britain seem to be learning their lesson. The
labor captains of the United States should profit
by it. If John D. Rockefeller may be held as
capable of determining when an industrial wave
of prosperity may be expected to ebb—and it
would seem that he should be—heed might be
taken of his reported declaration that a period of