COAL - Clpdigital.org

40 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
are called for in moderate tonnages, but the inquiry
for chestnut is very strong. In the rural
regions the more alert and larger dealers have
their yards comfortably filled with anthracite and
it is noteworthy that they are not now loading
from these accumulations but are ordering in
fresh cars and doing business directly from car
to user.
Hull, Blyth & Co., of London and Cardiff, report
a firm tone pervading all classes of steam coal,
and a steady inquiry both for prompt and future
shipment. Best Welsh steam coal, $3.30; seconds,
$3.18; thirds, $3.06; dry coals, $2.94; best Monmouthshire,
$3.12; seconds, $3.00; best small steam
coal, $2.16; seconds, $2.10; other sorts. $2.04.
The new child labor law which will force 12,000
boys out of employment at the anthracite mines,
went into effect October 17. It provides that no
boys under 14 years shall be employed in the
breakers or outside the mines and none under 16
in the mines. It is estimated that about 12,000
of the 24,000 breaker boys employed are between
the ages of 10 and 14, and will be affected by the
new law. These boys will be forced into the
schools by the compulsory education law. In the
mines there are some 3,500 door boys and helpers,
many of whom are under 16, but those who are
displaced there may obtain work in the breakers.
The breaker boys work nine hours a day and earn
an average of 10 cents an hour. The dust in the
breaker, their confinement to a bench where, bent
over, they pick the slate from the coal as it slides
down the chutes, stunts the boys, makes them liable
to various diseases and generally impairs their
health. It is the intention of the officers of the
Mine Workers' union to see that the law is enforced.
It provides a fine of $10 a day for each
boy under age employed by a coal company and
makes the companies responsible.
* * *
In his annual report, just issued. Chief Roderick,
of the department of mines, calls attention to
what he terms the farcical impositions placed upon
the mine inspectors by the law governing their
duties, and says, furthermore, that it is impossible
for the inspectors, with the territory and number
of mines that they are now compelled to cover,
to make the legal number of inspections. He
says that if portions of the present law are not
repealed or revised he will cause the arrest of
some of the inspectors for failing to perform their
duty, and by making them show cause why they
are not living up to the law will expose its absurdities.
If the law is not changed it will re­
quire at least 30 inspectors in the anthracite region
alone to carry out its provisions in full, according
to Mr. Roderick.
* * *
At a mass meeting the striking miners of G. B.
Markle & Co.. anthracite operators, on the 22d
ult., voted to return to work. Meanwhile the
Kardisho boy. over whose discharge the strike
was ordered, will not be reinstated until the conciliation
board passes upon the case. The loss
to the men for the two weeks' idleness is estimated
at $25,000. The driver boy quit because
he claimed that he was not being paid the standard
rate. When refused reinstatement the other
drivers struck and the miners followed suit. Had
the employes been wisely led they would have at
once put the grievance up to the board, where it
belonged, as they now have resolved to do.
* * *
By a decision of Judge Wheaton at Wilkes-Barre
which declares a part of the new child labor law,
effective at the anthracite mines recently, unconstitutional,
some 10,000 workers between the ages
of 16 ana 21 are able to retain their places, and
the coal operators are relieved of a problem which
entailed the possible closing of many mines. The
new law requires that none of the estimated 24,000
breaker boys and other workers outside the mine
sliall be under 14 years of age; that none of the
estimated 3,500 door boys and helpers in the mines
shall be under 16, and that all workers between
the ages of 16 and 21, estimated at 15,000. shall
have employment certificates.
* * *
Alabama union miners are still working at 55c
per ton for coal mining, 2.5c below the maximum.
This price is based on the average selling price of
pig iron and indicates that No. 2 foundry last
month did not sell as high as $12.55 per ton. The
non-union miners are receiving about the same
wage as the union men. The union miners are
still on strike at the furnace companies' mines.
* * *
It is likely that William H. Harkins, president
of the Ohio miners' organization, will retire after
his present term.
Another record was established at Ellsworth, Pa.,
recently, when shaft No. 1, of which H. J. Miller is
the superintendent, hoisted 1,330 wagons of coal
and 89 cars of slate, making 3,060 tons of coal in
eight hours. The coal was hoisted from a depth
of 260 feet at the rate of three cars per minute,
and a record unequaled for the production of coal
from a shaft of that depth. The product filled
62 big railroad hoppers, requiring two doubleheader
trains to transport it.