i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org

mWhe
GOAL TRADE BULLETIN.
Vol. XII. PITTSBURGH, PA., FEBRUARY 1, 1905. No. 5.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN:
PUBLISHED TWICE A MONTH.
Copyrighted by THE COAL TEADE COMPANY, 1004
A. R. HAMILTON, Proprietor and Publisher,
H. J. STKAUB, Managing Editor.
SUBSCRIPTION, - - - - $2.00 A YEAR
Correspondence and communications upon all matters
relating to coal or coal production are invited.
All communications and remittances to
THK COAL TRADK COMPANY.
926-930 PARK BUILDING, PITTSBURGH, PA.
Long Distance Telephone 200 Grant.
[Entered at the Post Office at Pittsburgh, Pa., as
Second Class Mail Matter.]
MINERS FOLLOW PRESIDENT MITCHELL'S
RECOMMENDATION TO PROVIDE A GI­
GANTIC FUND FOR USE, IF NEEDED, AT
THE EXPIRATION OF EXISTING SCALE
AGREEMENTS—MITCHELL TO GIVE
PERSONAL ATTENTION TO STRENGTH­
ENING THE ANTHRACITE DISTRICTS-
ESTABLISHMENT OF CO-OPERATIVE
STORES URGED.
The dominating note of the sixteenth annual
convention of the United Mine Workers of America,
and which met with the unanimous concurrence
and approval of the delegates, is embodied
in President Mitchell's reminder that April 1,
1906, would mark the expiration of all important
coal mining scales and agreements in the United
States; that as a result of considerable losses in
membership and income, and exceptionally heavy
expenditures during the last year, the organization
unless vastly strengthened would neither be
in a position to hold its own nor obtain additional
concessions, and his recommendation that the convention
take the steps necessary to equip the
body to meet the crisis that is ahead of it. On
President Mitchell's initiative the convention without
dissent raised the per capita tax and in other
ways prepared for creating an emergency fund
which may aggregate $3,000,000; concurred in
President Mitchell's expressed intention of devoting
a considerable part of his time to building up
the anthracite district bodies of the organization
and resolved to extend its jurisdiction, demand
additional concessions, and in no case to yield on
any of the basic points governing present scales
and agreements.
An increase in the per capita tax, from 10 cents
to 25 cents, was the only direct step taken toward
providing the "crisis" fund. On the December
basis of paying membership this would yield $750,ooo.
Extraordinary efforts are to lie made, however,
to bring the paying membership up to at
least 300,000, which would so far increase the
year's revenue that with the balance of over $600,-
000 in the treasury the year's working fund would
approximate $1,500,000. Should the expenses of
the year equal those of 1904. the balance that
would remain even from this large amount, would
not be vast, but it is expected that the aggregate
of the disbursements for strike benefits will be
very largely reduced this year, over last, when the
Colorado strike alone consumed $437,000. It is
the calculation that the treasury balance will be
in the neighborhood of $1,000,000 at the end of
the year, and the organization solidified to meet
any emergency that may arise. Then, in the
event of a failure of the interstate conference to
reach an agreement, or of a complete rupture of
negotiations, which would be evident by February
1, there would still be two months in which, by
a "war" assessment of say $1 per week per capita,
a total of $3,000,000, or possibly a sum exceeding
that amount, could be made available by April
1, at which time the interstate agreement expires.
The convention instructed its officers to endeavor
to have the operators and miners of other aTstricts
hold their joint rate conferences in Indianapolis,
next year, especially those from Iowa and
West Virginia, with a view to centering all interests
in one interstate joint movement. Absolute
confidence in the national officers was manifested
by the unanimity of the convention in their
views, as well as their re-election and the expul-