i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org

30 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
there until all the guests had arrived. Then he
went over to this room where his wife was, and
the maid left the room and the gentleman took off
his pantaloons, and his wife began to repair them.
Presently the maid came back to the door and
said to the wife, 'There are two ladies coming up
the stairs,' and there was a great scurry to know
just what to do. There was no way for him to
get out of the room and his wife, in her despair
and haste, pulled open the closet door, as she supposed,
and pushed him into it suddenly and put
her back to the door, and as the ladies came in
there was a terrible pounding on the door. 'Let
me out; let me out quick!' And a whisper came
back, 'The ladies are here.' He says, 'Oh, d—n
it! I am in the ballroom; let me out!'
"You have put us in the same kind of predicament
with your demand here at this time, and we
want you to consider that in the discussion of it
and in the final agreement, if we can make one.
We are here seriously minded to do what is right
with you, as it must be apparent, or we would
not be here. We are here expecting of you to do
what is right with us. We feel and we know that
under the present wage scale this district
CANNOT HAVE CONTINUOUS LABOR.
We will ask you to bear with us until evening,
and we will prepare such a wage scale as we feel
we can consistently pay and ask for its adoption."
At the conclusion of Mr. Kerr's address the
customary joint scale committee was appointed,
after which a short recess was taken. The operators'
committee was composed of James Kerr,
president Beech Creek Coal & Coke Co.; R. A.
Shillingford, superintendent Bituminous Coal Corporation;
W. A. Lathrop, president Pennsylvania
Coal & Coke Co.; J. B. Coryell, president Cambria
Coal Mining Co.; L. W. Robinson, Rochester &
Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Co.. J. B. Irish, of Irish
Bros., Philadelphia; Rembrandt Peale, president
Peale, Peacock & Kerr; F. G. Betts, general manager
of Madeira Hill & Co.; F. H. Wigton, general
manager Morrisdale Coal Co.; R. H. Kay, general
manager Broad Top field; and George E. Scott,
treasurer and manager Puritan Coal Mining Co.
The committee of the miners was made up as follows:
Sub-district No. 1. George Sinclair; Subdistrict
No. 2, William Slee; Sub-district No. 3,
William dime; Sub-district No. 4. George Mc­
Mullen; Sub-district No. 5. John Sullivan; Subdistrict
No. 6, William Davidson; Sub-district No.
7, J. B. Bateman; Sub-district No. 8, William
Paterson; Sub-district No. 9, Martin Gannon.
When the conference reconvened tne
PROPOSITION OF THE OPERATORS
was presented by President W. A. Lathrop, of the
Pennsylvania Coal & Coke Co. It was embraced
in the following brief resolution:
Whereas, owing to the lower rates paid for mining
in the Southern and other regions, the Central
Pennsylvania region is unable to successfully compete
with them in the Eastern markets, as is evidenced
by the fact that the Southern regions show
an increase in their tide-water tonnage for 1904
amounting to 1,428,000 tons, while the Central
Pennsylvania region shows a decrease of 1,150,000
tons, it becomes imperative for the Central Pennsylvania
operators to insist upon such reduction in
mining rates as will enable them to meet this situation.
Now, therefore, be it resolved, that we
demand a reduction in pick mining to 55 cents
per gross ton,
WITH A CORRESPONDING REDUCTION
and an equalization to such basis for all other
labor paid in connection with coal mining.
Secertary W. B. Wilson, of the miners, then took
the floor and made the following address:
Mr. Chairman: I think that it is better that
we should discuss the propositions that are presented
to us purely upon their merits, without
any sentiment and without any reflections upon
anyone. We have a proposition before us that
means about 12 to 15 per cent, reduction—I have
not stopped to figure it out—seven cents per ton—
seven on sixty-two. I had hoped that the opera
tors would not present a proposition of that kind
to this convention. In looking over the coal
trade, the past year, fairness compels us to admit
that during all of last summer and well into the
fall the coal trade of Central Pennsylvania was
IN A MOST DEMORALIZED CONDITION.
There were many operators who produced coal
without having previously sold it, that in order
to avoid the demurrage charges on their cars
were compelled to sell their coal at a sacrifice.
It can do us no good as coal miners to deny the
facts as they existed. What we want and what
we ought to have is justice based upon the facts.
The intimation conveyed in the resolution now
before us is that if the mining rate had been 12
or 15 per cent, less than it was during last summer,
that a larger amount of coal, a much larger
amount of coal, would have been sold than was
sold.
It is a fact that in some portions of the Southern
field the mining rate is low. The operators of
this field regret it and I know that the miners
of this field regret it. But it is also a fact that
if the mining rate during last year in this field
had been a 55-cent rate instead of a 62-cent rate,
that the mining rates in the Southern fields would
have been just that much lower. There was no
means of preventing it from being lowered, and
being just that much lower, the competition would
have been just as keen. What is true of last summer
is true of the coming year. A reduction of