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36 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
THE GERMAN COAL STRIKE.
Close to 300.000 men are involved in the German
coal strike which began on January 12. In their
main contentions the German miners seek to
better their conditions as to wages and hours,
and in so far they have the entire sympathy and
support of the public. In addition to their demands
for an eight-hour day, six-hour shifts in
times of oppressive heat, the regulation of weighing
the miners' output, a minimum wage of $1.25
for cutters and 87Vi cents for helpers and extra
pay for overtime labor, the miners have grievances
arising out of the policy of the syndicate controlling
all the mines in the strike district except
those owned by the government, in arbitrarily
closing down certain workings in order to limit
tlie production.
The facts that the miners entered upon a general
strike, in spite of extraordinary efforts of the
German emperor to prevent such a step, and that
they have the powerful support of the Socialists,
indicated a long and bitter contest. The mine
owners, however, determined on January 26 to inform
the government they would accept any judgment
a parliamentary commission might render
after an inquiry into the grievances of the miners
and would immediately remove the grievances.
The resolution, which binds all the members of
the coal syndicate, suggested that the interior
department's commission already at work be authorized
by the Prussian diet to act for the diet.
Although the Prussian minister of commerce and
industry, announced in the reichstag recently that
the government was not willing to undertake a
revision of the general mining laws during the
strike, a conference with Chancellor von Buelow
apparently led to a different decision. A semiofficial
publication states the Prussian ministry
will at an early day lay before the diet a bill for
revising the law in such a way as to be equivalent
to granting all the essential demands of the
strikers.
The scene of the strike lies in Westphalia and
Rhenish Prussia. There was some rioting at the
outset but troops were promptly sent to the affected
districts since which time order has been
maintained. The last important strike in the
German mines took place in 18S9. Then about
100.000 men went out in Westphalia and the
Rhine provinces, and, although the strike was
settled in less than two weeks, there were fatal
collisions between troops and the populace, fires
were extinguished in many forges and factories,
and uie whole empire felt the disruption of normal
conditions very severely. Intervention by the
emperor brought about concessions to the miners
and industrial peace. There have been many industrial
strikes in Germany within the last year.
A recent consular report states that during the
months of July, August and September, 1904, 678
strikes were commenced or were in progress in the
empire. During the same period 579 strikes were
brought to a close. Of this number 165 were
successful, 203 were unsuccessful, and 211 were
partially successful. A large majority of these
strikes took place in the mining and building
industries.
The remarkable industrial development of the
German empire has been based largely upon the
strenuous and notably successful efforts to make
the most of rather meager and inaccessible coal
measures. By great energy in overcoming broken
formations, thin beds of coal, deep shafts and
inferior quality in many deposits, the product of
the German empire has been pushed up within fair
distance of the yield of Great Britain. It is generally
conceded, however, that not even German
scientific methods, thoroughness and low wages
can make coal really cheap in Germany. The
measures lie too deep and the deposits are not
rich enough. As German industries depend upon
coal for much of their scope and vitality, and
scarcity of fuel cannot be overcome by science,
patient labor or anything else, it is obvious that
a coal strike which covers the principal fields in
the German empire must be an event of international
importance.
CONTRACTS WERE NOT RENEWED.
Contracts of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. with M. A.
Hanna & Co. and Pickands, Mather & Co., both of
Cleveland, made at the time of the formation of
the Pittsburgh company, expired by limitation on
January 1. Under these contracts the Pittsburgh
Coal Co. furnished these parties with coal with
which they supplied their customers on the Great
Lakes on a commission basis, which arrangement
proved to have been more remunerative to the
two firms than to the coal producer. Now that
the contracts have expired, these parties will purchase
their coal supply elsewhere and the Pittsburgh
company will not be restricted in marketing
its coal on the lakes as it was during the life
of these contracts.
Miners Asked To Pay For Strike.
The Silverbrook Coal Co. of Wilkesbarre has filed
claim with the conciliation board that the mine
workers at their colliery, who twice recently went
on short strikes, should pay the company $2,000.
The conipany officials maintain that the strikes
were a violation of the strike commission's findings
and were unauthorized, and that as the company
was put to considerable expense in maintaining
the colliery without workers the mine
workers who struck should pay for the loss. The
demand will shortly be considered by the conciliation
board.