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32 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
Finally, it is a party which goes beyond the working
class itself and represents the struggle of the
liberal-minded and progressive Germans in their
antagonism to the feudal government which still
holds sway."
GERMAN MINE STRIKE IS
NEARING A CONCLUSION.
The strike of the German coal miners is practically
at an end, the strikers having resolved to
return to work and to depend on the government
to redress their alleged grievances. The result
is a complete victory for the operators and the
most crushing blow ever delivered to German
union labor. The measure in behalf of the miners,
now being prepared by the government, limits
the working day to nine hours in galleries where
the temperatures are about 70 degrees Fahrenheit,
including the time going in and coming out of the
mines. In temperatures of 84 degrees and higher
only a six-hour day is permitted. Within two or
three years the nine-hour day is to be shortened
to eight and a half hours. About nine-tenths of
the miners of Germany come within these provisions.
To disallow entire cars of coal because
of the presence of foreign substances is to be forbidden.
Fines may be assessed, but these must
not exceed $1 to $1.50 a month. Overtime is to
be paid for at the highest rate. Workmen's committees
shall be recognized by mine owners as
representing the men. Making the present condition
of the miners worse in any particular than
it is now is forbidden.
The bill touches upon only four of the fourteen
demands of the miners and is said to be unsatisfactory
to the latter. The men began going back
to work on February 6 and within a week about
150,000 had reported for duty, leaving less than
100,000 out.
On the day on which the German miners decided
to abandon the strike, the Belgian miners'
congress voted for a general strike. On February
1 there were strikes in the Hainault Liege Basin
and Central Belgian collieries, involving about
15,000 men. Following the general strike order
work was suspended at eight of the Charleroi collieries
and there was a partial strike at thirteen
others. Work proceeded as usual at twelve collieries.
GROWTH OF ILLINOIS COAL OUTPUT.
In a paper read before the Western Society of
Engineers at its meeting of February 1, on "The
Necessity for a Geological Survey of Illinois,"
A. Bement calls attention to the inadequacy of
existing reports on the geology of the state and
to the desirability of more definite information,
especially as to the location and extent of coal
veins. The following table, showing the tons of
coal produced per annum, by decades, almost from
the infancy of coal mining in the state, is given
to illustrate the increasing value of the state's
mineral deposits:
1860 728,400 1890 12,638,364
1S70 2,624,163 1900 25,153,929
1880 6,000,000
The writer adds: "For the present year ending
June next the output will be approximately 38,-
800,000 tons, valued to the consumer at not less
than $78,000,000 and furnishing about 36,000,000
tons of freight per annum for railroads; or, assuming
an average haul of 100 miles, 3,600,000,000 tonmiles
of freight. In 50 years, at the same rate of
increase, Illinois coal production will be 240,000,-
000 tons per annum."
"LONG WALL" OPERATORS ORGANIZE.
The formal organization of the Long Wall Coal
Mine Operators' Association was effected at Kansas
City on February 1. Forty operators were in'
attendance, representing thirty companies, with
a production of 1,200,000 tons annually. These
officers were elected:
President, F. B. Duvall, Lexington, Mo.; vicepresident,
I. Pickering, Richmond, Mo.; secretary
and treasurer, George W. Kierstead, Leavenworth,
Kan.; executive committee, Captain M. L. Belt,
Higginsville; John Gibson, Richmond. Two
places on the executive committee were left vacant,
to be filled at a later meeting.
The organization is expected to take in all of
the "long wall" operators in Kansas and Missouri.
the only restriction being that they shall be members
of the Southwestern Interstate Coal Operators'
Association operating "long wall" mines. The
new organization binds itself to do nothing in contravention
to the constitution or contracts of the
Southwestern Association, and will accordingly
join in the meeting with the United Mine Workers
at Indianapolis next January which has been
agreed upon by that association.
The association is to a considerable extent a
Kansas City organization, as Kansas City is the
centre of the "long wall" district, and all of the
operators look to that city as their natural market.
It is expected that the organization of these interests
will also be of direct advantage to Kansas
City in case of a coal famine, such as has been
threatened for several days this week. All of the
mines represented are so close to Kansas city that
they can mine the coal one day and have it in
Kansas City the next and an appeal to the organization
would bring much quicker results in that
line than could be obtained from individual operators.