i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org

36 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
IMPERFECTIONS IN THE MINE.
but the highest price you will note is 30 cents a
ton. From the Blue Stone field you go to the
Pocahontas field. There you find a mine, this
one I turn to. has 500 tons capacity, 5-foot vein,
they work 10 hours, the capacity of this car is
2V4 tons level full, the approximate yield in tons
from the car is 2 :; ! tons, price paid for pick
mining for loading this car is 56 cents a car,
drivers $1.65, track layers $1.50, engineers $50
a month. Now, that is a few from the Norfolk
& Western railroad. Here is the B. & O, Meyersdale
region, Frostburg and others, 57 mines com­
prised in the list we have obtained, the prices
of wages paid and they are accurate statistics.
You take the first we come to in the Meyersdale
field, the capacity of the mine is 2,000 tons, the
thickness of the coal is 6 feet, the rate paid for
pick mining is 55 cents per gross ton, drivers
$2.20, tipple men $1.S0. We turn over to another
in the Meyersdale field, the same price is paid
for pick mining, and 22 cents an hour, 10 hours
work for drivers. From there we go to the
Fairmont field, this mine has 1,500 tons daily
capacity, the vein averages 7 feet thick, hours
worked 10 hours per clay, the capacity of the
car is 1 ton, 15 cwt.. and the mining rate
paid is 45 cents per per car, 1 ton, 15 cwt..
the price paid for machine cutters 4% cents, drivers
get $1.85 there, track layers $2.20. They say
here, according to their statistics, about the
average wages a miner earns is only $2.25 at this
mine. The vein is very thick, if you notice.
Now, you come here to the Thomas field, here
the mine is of 1,000 tons capacity, the coal 6
feet thick, 10 hours work, capacity of car 2 tons,
the approximate yield including topping is 2\2
tons, the price paid there is $1.10 per car. That
is less than 40 cents a ton; drivers $1.80 and so on.
"We have all the wages of all the people
that are employed in connection with these
mines, Barnham, West Virginia, mine 450
tons, 4 feet thick, 10 hours work, capacity of the
car 1 ton, S cwt.. the price paid for mining
60 cents per car. Next we have the Pennsylvania
railroad, the Greensburg and the Latrobe
districts. Now, the miners of this district
LOST A LARGE AMOUNT OF TONNAGE
last year to this Western field. You stand out
here at the Logan house any day and you will
see trains go by of cars that are operated in that
Western field and they are paying a very much
lower scale of wages than we are and took away
a great deal of our business last year. Here is
one mine, 800 tons capacity, thickness of vein 7
feet, rate paid for pick mining 38 cents net ton.
Track layers $2.50, firemen $2, drivers $2.20.
Here is a mine at Latrobe, in the Latrobe dis­
trict, 2,000 tons daily capacity, mining rate based
on net ton 38 cents, the same as the other. The
price for drivers $2.25. Here is another large
mine, what is known as the Depp district, 1,000
tons daily capacity, average thickness of the vein
6 feet, work 10 hours a day; all these mines do.
The price paid for pick mining at this mine is 70
cents over a % screen. Of course, this coal
does not come in competition with us. We are
not using it, it is gas eoal. The same can be
said of the C. & O. district, Chesapeake & Ohio,
the New River district and Kanawha report from
115 different mines. The first one I see here is
1,950 tons in the New River; vein 4 feet thick;
capacity of the car \y2 tons. The rate paid for
mining there is 50 cents a car; another one the
same. New River district 500 tons capacity;
thickness of vein 5 1 - feet; working 10 hours a
day;
RATE PAID FOI: PICK MINING
is 40 cents a car and capacity of car 2 tons. Here
is one of 1,300 tons in the New River, the rate
paid for pick mining is 40 cents. Kanawha field
mine, 4 feet to 5 feet in thickness, hours worked
'.) and rate paid for pick mining is 42Vi; ceits per
ton gross."
By Mr. Wilson: "Might I ask if I understood
you correctly when you saiu the rate per car of
2 tons was 40 cents at that operation?"
By Mr. Kerr: "I said per car. Well, it is a
ton. It is bad enough. Kanawha field, an­
other mine. This mine has 400 tons, 5-foot vein.
rate paid for pick mining 49 cents a gross ton.
That is paid by the ton. Wages paid for drivers
$1.80, track layers $2.50, 10 hours a day. Here
is another one in the Kanawha field which don't
seem to vary any; vein 5 feet 6. rate paid for
mining 42% cents per gross ton. Take the Norfolk
& Western region. The cost of a ton of
coal there to put it on the cars is 60 cents a ton,
or even less. We think the average will run
nearer 50 than 60, according to our calculations
from the mines we have been able to tabulate,
while in the C. & O. district the cost is about
70 cents. We have those conditions to meet to
some degree—not all. I don't mean to say we
want you to come down to those wages because
all our coal is
NOT SOLD IN COMPETITION
with this. The fact remains, however, that they
took away from us last year from the New Eng­
land field alone—the Chesapeake & Ohio and Norfolk
& Western railroads—834.894 tons, and we
lost to the West Virginia district, 98,181 tons.
There was lost to this same field for line trade
along the Reading, Jersey Central and Pennsyl­
vania railroads, East, 191,500 tons, making a
total of 1,150,565 tons that we lost of tonnage
we had in 1903 to these districts. Those are
conditions that we have to confront. Now, what