H D ^63 RE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE ^^^^ COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER- OD ru ru UJ a The Relationship Between Rates of Pay and Earnings and the Cost ^B g of Living in thr .\nthracite ^H^ Industry of Penrsvlvania Presented by W. JETT LAUCK (?ji; behalf of John L. Lewis, President Ph p Murray, Vice President F. P. Hanawa}'. Interp'tional Representative Percv Tetlow, Stati'Mciars Joh:i Demp.ey j Committee Reor-- -Mng 1 1 >n-a^ Kennedy / r\ ^ • ^ i 7 j o f^x ■ I r. 1 1 I LMstricts I , / and V Chns. J. vjolden ) Of the United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 15 BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER — =1 The Relationship Between Rates of Pay and Earnings and the Cost of Living in the Anthracite Industry of Pennsylvania. :• . •. • * ' .•lrW»^r 'I'FVeseVltd by^' W. JETT LAUCK On behalf of United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 15 \ ^r) fe-3 iiT ^^ . ^-// THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RATES OF PAY AND EARNINGS AND THE COST OF LIVING IN THE ANTHRACITE INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA By far the largest single group of employees in the anthracite mines is that of contract miners, constituting as they do about 30 per cent, of the entire number of employees. The rates of these men vary from colliery to colliery, and even from vein to vein. No attempt has ever been made to classify or standardize their rates, and all wage adjustments made since the great strike of 1902 have accepted the old rates as they stood and added thereto a specified percentage increase. Thus rates exist today the basis of which probably were first established twenty years ago or more. The table below gives the relative rates since 1902, that is the rates based on the pre-strike rate of 100. 1902 pre-strike 100.0 1903 114.40 1904 114.95 1905 114.31 1906 114.58 1907 114.22 1908 114.40 1909 114.49 1910 114.40 1911 114.95 1912 after April 121.00 1913 121.00 1914 121.00 1915 121.00 1916 after April 129.5 1917 after April 142.50 1917 after November 161.90 1918 after November 181.30 1919 181.30 1920 to April 181.30 The award of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission gave these employees a 10 per cent, increase in rates. It also provided that for each 5-cent advance in the wholesale price of coal at 4C9048 ' ''New YOfk City the miners should have a 1 per cent, increase in rate over the new base established by the Commission. This agreement remained in effect nine years. During- that time the sliding scale was responsible for increases in rate above the 1902 rate varying from 4.22 per cent, in 1907 to 4.95 per cent, in 1904 and 1911. The average increase for the nine years was 4.2 per cent. A new agreement was entered into on May 20, 1912. Under this agreement the sliding scale was abolished and in its place was granted an increase of 10 per cent, over the rate of 1911. This increased the basic relative from 110, which it had been from 1903 to 1911, to 121. The basic rate for 1911 plus the additional wage received under the sliding scale made the index number for that year 114.95. Therefore, the actual increase brought about by the agreement of 1912 was 6.05 points. The wage of 1912, therefore, shows an increase of 5.2 per cent, over that of 1911, and a total increase of 21 per cent, over the pre-strike rate of 1902. On May 5, 1916, a new agree- ment was entered into under which tonnage rates were raised 7 per cent, above the rates in 1915. This made a total increase of 29.5 per cent, over the rate of 1902. Since 1916 three new voluntary agreements have been entered into, each of which pro- vided an increase in rates. These increases, however, were given not in the form of rate increases, but in the form of additions to gross earnings. Thus the agreement of April 26, 1917, pro- vided for the addition of 10 per cent, to the gross earnings of each miner as determined by the agreement of May 5, 1916. On November 17, 1917, this was superseded by an agreement giving a 25 per cent, increase on gross earnings, based on the agreement of 1916. Finally, on November 15, 1918, the percentage bonus was raised to 40 per cent. Under these last three agreements it will be seen that the net increase in miners' rates above the 1902 base has been 42.5, 61.9 and 81.3 per cent. The agreement of November 15, 1918, according to its terms, was to remain in effect until the declaration of peace, or until March 31, 1920, if peace was not declared before that day. By a subsequent agreement entered into September 29, 1919, the con- ditional clause was eliminated and the duration of the agreement until March 31, 1920, made unconditional. No satisfactory figures exist for changes in the cost of living prior to the studies made by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. As explained elsewhere, these figures do not go back of the war period, so in order to compare them with the wage rates of contract miners it is necessary to take the rates that existed in 1914 as a base (that is as equal to 100.0) and compute from that the relatives since. These rates are as follows : Rates of Contract Miners 1914 as base = 100.0 1914 100.0 1915 100.0 1916 after April 107.0 1917 after April 117.7 after November 133.75 1918 after November 149.8 1919 149.8 1920 to April 149.8 As the cost of living from 1914 up to May, 1920, has risen 104 per cent., while the contract rates have risen only 49.8 per cent., it is evident that the contract miners are not today as well off as they were at the beginning of the war in 1914. This is shown graphically on the following chart: 15 B <■■ ANTHRACITE COAL MINING Rates of Contract Miners Compared with Increase in Cost of Living rT^ !'^"^^p^ ^' ' ^ ' ^i'"~'ri^["Lj' J " ' — '— ~'"'- ^^^^ ' ^^^ ' '^;^?^i ^r^" ^Ci !§: DATA FOR CHART ON RATES OF CONTRACT MINERS AND ON COST OF LIVING Wage Rates of Cost of Contract Living Miners Per Cent Per Cent. 1914 100.0 July, 1914 100 1915 100.0 Dec, 1914 102 1916 (After April) 107.0 June, 1915 102 1917 (After April) 117.7 Dec, 1915 103 1917 (After Nov.) 133.75 June, 1916 109 1918 (After Nov.) 149.8 Dec, 1916 117 1919 149.8 June, 1917 129 1920 (To April) 149.8 Dec, 1917 June, 1918 Dec, 1918 June, 1919 Dec, 1919 May, 1920 141 156 172 175 195 204 In order to restore the rates of the contract miner to the same relationship to thei cost of living that was established by the wage adjustment in 1912, it would be necessary to increase the present rates by 36.2 per cent. A very common rate for coal (gangway and airway) in 1914, established in 1912, was close to $1.00 per car. This rate, with the subsequent increases, has now become $1,498, but in order to raise it up to the point where the day's earnings will buy the same necessities of life that they would buy in 1914, it would have to be increased now to $2.04 per car, an increase amounting, as explained above, to 36.2 per cent. But simply increasing the rate up to the cost of living at infrequent intervals does not result in even approximate justice to the worker on account of the amount of purchasing power that he has lost in the past through the fact that his earnings have lagged behind the cost of living. As an illustration, assume that the wage is so adjusted at the start of a period that one day's earnings will be sufficient to purchase, say, 100 pounds of flour. During the period, and before the next adjustment, if flour rises in price 50 per cent., the worker will find that he can purchase with one day's earnings only 66.67 pounds of flour, and that he is obliged to work a day and a half in order to obtain the needed 100 pounds. The result must be that he and his family go with- out something they formerly enjoyed, or else he runs into debt. When the next wage adjustment comes, even if his rate is in- creased 50 per cent, so that he can once more purchase his 100 pounds of flour with one day's earnings, he is not recompensed for his forced self-denial during the period, nor is he able to pay the debts he has contracted. Another way of expressing this is as follows: At any wage fixation, both parties to the fixation have their attentions focused, consciously or unconsciously, upon the purchasing power of the wage as fixed. The number of dollars is important only as com- pared with the amount of comTnodities that may be purchased. At the wage fixation of 1916 (which forms the basis of all sub- sequent increases) a certain definite purchasing power was given to the mine workers. It was, of course, the intention that the mine workers should continue to receive this purchasing power. It was decided that they needed at least this purchasing power in order to pay their bills. But, owing to the great increase in prices, the mine workers have not received what the wage fixa- tion decreed they should receive. No one of the subsequent increases has been suflScient even to bring their wage back to the purchasing power fixed in 1916. The result is, then, that the mine workers have actually lost. The shaded area on the chart shows the amount that has been lost by the contract miner through this failure of his rate to keep pace with the cost of living. A glance at the chart shows that in April, 1916, the rate was raised just up to the cost of living line, but not above it, so although he could then purchase all that he could in 1914, he was not repaid for his losses already incurred. Since April, 1916, none of the increases has brought the rate up to a reasonable distance of the cost of living, and the increase of November, 1918, was notably inadequate. If we disregard all losses incurred by the miner prior to the increase of November, 1917, we can compute his loss per car by taking any of the rates and subtracting it from what it should have been in each of the succeeding months. Thus if we takej the rate that was $1.00 per car in 1914 and is $1,498 per car now, his losses per car have been for each month as follows : 1 Amount lost by Contract miner per car through failure of wage rate to keep pace with the cost of living, November, 1917 $0.05 December 07 January, 1918 09 February 12 March 14 April .17 May 19 June 22 July 24 August ; 27 September 30 October 32 November 19 December 22 January, 1919 22' February 23 March 23 April 24 May 24 June 25 July 28 August 31 September 35 October 38 November 41 December 45 January, 1920 47 February 49 March 50 April 52 May , 54 Total $8.70 Average — 31 months 0.281 One twenty-fourth of total 0.362 If it were intended to repay the miner for these accumulated losses within c/iie month, it would be necessary to add the above total to his rate per car during that month. This, however, mani- festly is far too much to ask. If, on the other hand, a wage agreement is signed up for the twenty-four months commencing April 1, 1920, there should be added to his rate one-twenty-fourth of the above total, or $0,362 per car. This amount added to the rate as brought up to the cost of living ($2.04) gives the rate of $2,402 per car as a fair and equitable rate superseding the rate that was $1.00 in 1912 and is $1,498 now. This is an increase amounting to 60.3 per cent, of the present rates. 8 In precisely a similar way, the losses incurred by any contract miner, working at any rate, may be computed, and if these losses are pro-rated through a period of twenty-four months from April, 1920, an increase amounting to 60.3 per cent, must be made to each and every contract rate. In this connection, also, it will be well to remember that no losses incurred before November, 1917, are taken into account in the above calculation, and also that it is assumed that the rise in the cost of living that may take place in the future will be compensated for at some future adjustment. Elsewhere is shown, in the exhibit on the irre^larity of employ- ment, the average days worked during the past year by the anthracite mines. As explained there, no one definitely knows w^hat the average for the year 1919 was, but the indications are that it was not far from 252. Using this figure, the oppor- tunity to work during the past few years has been as follows : Average Year Number of days worked 1913 257 1914 245 1915 230 1916 253 1917 285 1918 293 1919 252 With the exception of the abnormal years of 1917 and 1918, the year 1919 does not appear to have been out of the ordinary except, perhaps, to the extent of a few per cent. It is shown else- where that the present outlook for work in the future seems to indicate that about 245 to 255 will be the average number of days worked per year during the future, and therefore it is fair to expect that the rates of wage, both contract and day, should be increased from time to time at least enough to balance the effect of rising prices and to compensate for losses already suffered. The fact must not be lost sight of that in 1916 there was a reduction in hours from nine to eight per working day. This was a reduction of time amounting to 11 per cent., but it is not claimed that the rates should be increased by that amount in comparing the wage rate with the cost of living because the reduction of hours brought about such an increase in productive efficiency that the actual daily output per man day was greater under the eight-hour day than under the nine-hour day. (See Monthly Review, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August, 1917.) Wage Rates of Employees Other Than Contract Miners The Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs reported the following distribution of employees at the anthracite mines from 1908 to 1912 (no report of distribution made since) : AVERAGE NUMBER OF WAGE EARNERS 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 Miners 42,201 44,290 42,897 43,343 43,482 Miners— laborers 33,292 32,691 32,536 32,778 38,896 Other insid^men 48,024 46,784 44.750 46,034 45,485 Other inside — boys 7 201 5 315 160 Outside— men 29,554 28.082 28,092 27,2l7 27,323 Outside— bovs 135 1,310 1,044 2,794 3,432 Breaker employees 16,238 16,271 16,310 16,855 17,600 Total 170,451 169,629 165,634 169,336 176,377 From this table it appears that about half the total employees of the industry are contract miners and their laborers, and about half are engaged in miscellaneous occupations in and outside the mines. These other occupations are many, and no one is com- parable in regard to numbers of men employed to that of contract miners. Most of them are paid by the day. The wage rates of these occupations are extremely numerous, each company, and even each colliery, having its own set of rates which differs from all other sets of rates in effect elsewhere. To show the variation in rates among men engaged in pratically identical work the following table is prepared, giving the rates in effect after the application of the November, 1918, increase, for the principal occupations in the larger collieries of District 1. 10 DAY RATES FOR PRINCIPAL OCCUPATIONS IN THE LARGER COLLIERIES OF DISTRICT I In Effect in November, 1918 Com- Com- Labor- Labor- Car- pany pany ers ers penters Ash Miner Miner's laborers Inside Out- side 1st class men Old Forge Colliery- —Penn. Coal Co S4.40 $4.09 4.40 4.11 S3. 84 3.61 3.61 $4,855 4.53 4.685 $3,635 Nat. Col. — D. L. & W 3.61 Van Storch Colliery . 4^47 3.61 Boston Colliery — D. ■&■ H. Coal Co 4.47 4.11 4.11 3.61 3.61 So. Wilkesbarre Colliery — L. & W. B 4.80 4.34 3.67 4.62 3.67 Pine Brook Colliery — Scran- ton Coal Co 5.48 4.85 3.49 4.64 3.61 Westmoreland Colliery — L. V. Coal Co 4.74 4.47 4.47 3.35 4.48 3.47 No. 5 Colliery— Susquehanna Coal Co.. ." 4.78 4.12 3 . 355 4.62 3.67 Average $4.73 $4.38 $4,236 $3,507 $4,633 $3,011 Slate pickers Black- Black- Car- 1st Brat- smiths smiths penter Track- Track- class tice Ist help- help- men men men men class ers ers (inside) helpers Old Forge Collier}', Penn. Coal Co. . . 13.43 S4.09 $4,855 $3 . 635 $3.84 $4,855 $4.09 National Col. — D. L. & W 2.42 2.45 4.77 4.11 4.685 4.685 3,61 3.78 3.79 3.78 4.775 4.685 4 40 Van Storch Col. . . . 4.11 Boston Col.— D. & H. Coal Co 4.47 4.685 3.61 4.73 4.11 So. Wilkesbarre Co. L. & W. B 2.45 4.49 4.67 3.67 3.67 4.80 4.34 Pine Brook Colliery f — Scranton C. C. 2.45 4.39 4.69 3.93 3.79 4.78 4.02 /Westmoreland Col., ^ L. V. Coal Co. . . . 2.44 4.79 3.67 3.62 4.51 4.10 No. 5 Col. — Susque- hanna C. C 3.355 4.49 4.80 3.60 3.60 4.78 4.17 Average S2.713 ,401 $4,732 $3,688 .727 $4,737 $4,167 This table illustrates at once the ^eat need of some standard- ization of rates within the industry, and also the practicability of such standardization. The ashmen, to take a single instance, have an average rate of $3.61 per day, and this is also the rate at four out of the eight collieries. Manifestly, inasmuch as all are performing the same work, all should be brought to one rate. While there may be considerable difference between the work of a miner in the anthracite field and the work of a miner in the bituminous field, there is no great difference between the two u industries in the work of the miscellaneous men — that is, of the day men employed at such occupations as blacksmith, brattice- men, trackmen, engineers, firemen, carpenters, laborers, and the like. The bituminous industry has for some years standardized within broad areas its employees, fixing rates effective respec- tively for all blacksmiths, for all engineers, for all trackmen, and so forth. It is evident that if this was possible in the bituminous industry, it is trebly possible in the anthracite industry, because here (1) the geographical area covered is smaller, insuring greater uniformity of living conditions, competing wage rates of other industries, and prices of commodities; (2) the control of the anthracite industry is much more highly concentrated than the control of the bituminous industry; (3) the working condi- tions of the different collieries are more nearly similar each to each than is the case in the bituminous industry. The increase that these miscellaneous occupations have re- ceived since 1912 has been greater than the increase that took place in the cost of living; though even so their present rates are below what they should be for the maintenance of a proper standard. Of course this is because the rates they received before 1912 were so fearfully inadequate, that even with the comparatively large increases they are not receiving a living wage. The following table gives the daily wage for inside and outside day labor for District No. 7, in effect in April, 1912, and in November, 1918: DISTRICT No. 7 Daily Wage Increase Relative Wage Increase in in 1913 1920 Dollars 1913 1920 Per Cent. INSIDE: Day Wage Miners 2.54 4.60 2.06 100.0 181.1 81.1 Day Wage Laborers.... 2.20 4.25 2.05 100.0 193.2 93.2 Skilled Labor 2.45 4.50 2.05 100.0 183.7 83.7 Semi-skilled labor 2.30 4.35 2.05 100.0 189.1 89.1 OUTSIDE: Common labor 1.54 3.31 1.77 100.0 214.9 114.9 Semi-skilled 1.54 4.25 2.71 100.0 275.9 175.9 Skilled 2.20 4.25 2.05 100.0 193.2 93.2 The increase in per cent, since the 1912 rate has been 81.1 for the day wage miner and 175.9 per cent, for the semi-skilled out- side labor. The inside workers have not in general received quite the increase in the cost of living (which has been about 100 per cent, or a little more), but they have very nearly done 12 so. The outside workers, on the other hand, have received con- siderably in excess of this cost of living increase. In more detail, the following table shows the increases received in the more important occupations of the collieries of Districts No. 1 and No. 9. (Note: — In spite of different conditions, the average wage of the day wage men in Districts Nos. 1 and 9 are nearly the same. This is shown by the following tabulation of the day wages in the two districts after April, 1912. District No. 1 District No. 9 Company Miner $2,654 $2,499 Co. Miner Lab 2.374 2.129 Inside Laborer 2.101 2.064 Outside Laborer 1.745 1.812 Carpenters 1 C 2.575 2.562 Blacksmiths 1 C 2.653 2.636 Ashmen 1.760 1.638 Slaters, men 1.289 1.287 Bratticemen 2,33fi 2.448 Thus the average of either district may be taken with accuracy as hold- ing substantially true for both.) AVERAGE RATES IN THE LARGER COLLERIES OF DISTRICTS NOS. 1 AND 9 Increase in Dollars 1912 (After April) Company miner $2 . 654 Company miner, laborer 2 . 374 Inside laborer 2 . 101 Outside laborer 1 . 745 Carpenter — 1st class 2 . 575 Carpenter — helper 1 . 891 Blacksmith — 1st class 2 . 653 Blacksmith — helper 1 .811 Ashmen 1 . 760 Slate pickers — 1st class men 1.289 Bratticemen 2 . 332 Trackmen (inside) 2.661 Trackmen — helpers 2 . 115 1918 (After Nov.) $4.73 4.38 4.236 3.567 4.633 3.727 4.732 3.68S 3.611 2.713 4.401 4.737 4.167 2.08 2.01 2.13 1.82 2.06 1.83 2.08 1.87 1.85 1.52 2.07 2.07 2.05 Increase in Per Cent 80.1 84.5 101.6 104.4 79.9 97.1 78.3 103.6 105.2 110.5 88.7 78.0 96.7 It will be noticed that in the above table, and in the table for District No. 7, the inside workers and the higher paid outside workers received an increase averaging a little over $2.00 per day, while the lower paid outside workers received an increase averaging only about $1.85 per day. In spite of this difference in the amounts of the increase, the lower paid workers figure out a larger per cent, increase because the $1.85 forms a larger proportion of their former wage than the $2.00 of the higher paid men forms of theirs. 13 It might well be urged that clothing, food and other necessi- ties have advanced as much more for the lower paid men as for the higher, and that therefore all should receive the same flat increase, but in addition to that something is due the lower paid men as recompense for losses during the past few years, and this is true in spite of the fact that their percentage increases have been greater than the percentage increases in the cost of living. The operators frequently claim that the rate for common labor outside the mines is the "yard-stick" by which all other rates have been measured and fixed. This, of course, is by no means the case, any more than the rate of building laborers determines the rate paid to brick masons and carpenters. There is no objec- tion, however, to this method of determinations provided the rate for common labor is set with due regard to the necessary standard of living, and that the differentials to be paid for added experi- ence and skill are sufficiently high. The present rate for common labor is on the average about 41 cents to 44 cents per hour for an eight-hour day. This rate was set by the adjustment made in November, 1918, and, of course, is far too low under present conditions of prices. The minimum wage rate established by the National War Labor Board in June, 1918, was for localities similar to Pennsylvania either 42 cents or 421/2 cents per hour assuming an average ten-hour day. The ruling in the street railway cases, for instance, was that "The intent of the award is to give every adult male employee affected engaged in an occupation essential to the operation of the com- pany and whose rate is not specifically fixed by the award a daily ivage of at least $4.25 for ten hours' work." With an increased cost of living of about 32 per cent, since June, 1918, this daily wage should be increased as of today to $5.61. This minimum rate fixed by the War Labor Board was not intended to give common labor an unusual rate, but was granted in accordance with the ruling of the Board that, "The period of the war is not a normal period of industrial expansion from which the employer should expect unusual profits or the em- ployees abnormal wages; that it is an interregnum in which industry is pursued only for common cause and common ends." 14 Earnings The most recent investigation into the earnings of anthracite mine workers was made in January, 1919, by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. A half month payroll period, ending January 31, 1919, was selected. In its report, the Bureau says, "The ideal method of arranging the field work of a survey of this kind would be to have all the schedules cover the same pay- roll period. It was possible to carry this out in the anthracite field. All schedules in that branch of the industry are for the payroll period ending January 31, 1919." * * * "In January mines were still running full time, though with diminished in- tensity. Thus all the mines included in the anthracite field were running full time on the date of the survey." * * * "No mines working less than full time were included in the survey" (in the anthracite field). The half month period of the survey included 14 working days. Therefore, in order to compute the average earnings of the year, all that is necessary is to divide the total average earnings of the half month period by 14, in order to obtain the average daily wage, and then multiply the resulting figure by 252, which was the average number of days worked during the year 1919. In the following table is shown for each of the occupations the full time daily earnings (Column A). This is the average wage that would be earned per day while the mine was open if the employee worked. Column C gives the average actual daily wage, that is the average wage earned per week day. It is found, as explained above, by dividing the total average earnings for the 14-day period by 14. Where the figures in Column C are low^er than Column A it means that the workers in that occupa- tion did not work the full time for every day. Where C is higher than A it means that overtime was worked. Column B is the estimated full time earnings for the year 1919. It is found by multiplying the full time daily earnings by 252, which was the estimated average number of days worked in the year. Column D is the estimated actual yearly earnings for the year 1919. It is found by multiplying the actual daily earnings by 252. 15 AVERAGE FULL-TIME AND ACTUAL YEARLY EARNINGS BASED ON ONE-HALF MONTH PERIOD IN JANTJARY, 1919 Occupation Number of Employes Inside: Blacksmiths 30 Bratticemen 116 Cagers 234 Car runners 342 Company miners 656 Co. miners, laborers. . . . 632 Consideration miners . . . 4©8 Contract miners 4,887 Cont. miners, laborers . • 1,855 Door tenders (boj's) .... 247 Drivers 479 Engineers 121 Laborers 1,200 Machinists 67 Masons 41 Motormen ~ 247 Motor brakemen 1.90 Pumpmen 104 Timbermen 170 Trackmen 163 Full-time Daily Earnings A $4,733 4.488 4.160 4.061 4.651 4.208 5.085 6.735 5.112 .509 .990 .518 .200 .985 .614 4.462 4.014 5.221 5.562 4.564 Estimated Full-time Yearly Earnings 252 Days B $1193. 1131. 1048. 1023. 1172. 1060. 1281. 1697. 1288. 632 . 1008. 1138. 1058. 1256. 1162. 1124. 1012. 1315. 1402. 1150. Actual Daily Earnings $5,254 4.486 4.699 3.973 3.914 3.876 4.586 5.683 3.571 2.404 3.761 5.024 3.939 4.592 4.611 5.199 4.274 5.030 4.250 4.674 Estimated Actual Yearly Earnings D $1324. 1130. 1184. 1001. 987. 977. 1156. 1432. 900. 606. 948. 1266. 993. 1157. 1162. 1310. 1077. 1267 . 1071. 1177. Total inside occupations . . 12,279 $5 . 407 $1363. $4,655 $1173. Outside : Ashmen . . . .* 72 Blacksmiths 60 Cagers 119 Carpenters . .- 250 Car runners 83 Dumpers 88 Engineers 248 Firemen 314 Laborers 1,211 Loaders 199 Machinists 112 Oilers 77 Repairmen 113 Timber cutters 115 Trackmen 28 Outside — Breaker : Jig runners 81 Platemen 180 Slaters (boys) 580 Total outside occupations. 3,930 Grand Total — Inside and Outside Occupations. . . . 16,209 $3,886 $979. $4,059 $1023 4.573 1152. 5.140 1295 3.701 932. 4.332 1092 4.516 1138. 5 . 306 1337 3.629 915. 3.552 895 3.591 905. 3.559 897 4.500 1134. 5.271 1328 4.570 1151. 4.616 1163 3.549 894. 3.710 935 3.581 902. 3.923 989 4.132 1041. 5.200 1310 3.470 874. 4.041 1018 3.879 977. 4.279 1079 3.619 912. 4.208 1060 3.814 961. 3.947 995 3.281 827. 3.837 966 3.441 867. 3.652 920 2.386 601. 2.139 539 $3 . 629 $914. $4,976 $1254. $4,467 $1126. 16 While it is probable that 252 working days a year is rather more than can reasonably be expected for an average of the future, it is a less number than was worked during 1918 and 1917. This matter is fully discussed in the exhibit on the irregularities of employment. The above table shows average yearly earnings for anthracite mine workers as follows : 1919 1919 Full Time Actual Earnings Earnings 252 Days 252 Days Inside occupations $1,363 $1,173 Outside occupations 914 979 All occupations 1,254 1,126 Note that the average actual earnings for outside occupations is larger than the full time earnings. This is because of the large amount of overtime put in by the outside men. The chief differ- ence between full time and actual earnings comes in the case of contract miners and their laborers, that is to say these two occu- pations apparently worked a smaller proportion of the full time than any other occupations. These figures are really meaning- less, however, as these two occupations depend not on hours, but on tonnage. If the contract miners had worked the full time, the number of days worked by the mines would have been cut down, and the outside occupations would also have been forced to put in more overtime during the days worked than was actually the case. While we have included earnings for overtime in the above table, we have done so simply because we had no data whereby we could segregate these earnings and show what the daily and yearly earnings would be without overtime. It seems but fair, and in accordance with the best thought of economists and with recent decisions of arbitration boards and commissions, to base wage rates upon possible earnings during a reasonable number of hours per day and a reasonable number of days per year. "The amount of money to he earned by anticipated overtime should not be inchuled in the amount to be established as a fair return to the worker-" The Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Commission in a report compiled jointly by the Insurance Department of Pennsyl- vania and the Statistical Department of the Pennsylvania Com- pensation Rating and Inspection Bureau give the average weekly earnings of all employees in the anthracite industry as follows : 17 Year Average Weekly Earnings 1916 $13.98 1917 15.02 1918 17.69 These earnings, however, are full-time earnings, assuming the mines to be open. They are computed by taking the six-months' actual earnings and dividing by the days worked during the period. On this basis, taking the days worked from the reports of the United States Geological Survey, the actual average yearly earnings would be : Year Average Yearly Earnings 1916 $590.00 1917 713.00 1918 863.00 The distribution of the weekly earnings is shown by the table below. This table shows the number of employees receiving weekly wages below $10, and in groups of $2 increments, for 1916, 1917 and 1918. The chart follov/ing the table shows the same figures graphically. ANTHRACITE EARNINGS REPORTED BY PENNSYLVANIA WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION COMMISSION 1916 1917 1918 Employees Recciviiig Num- Under $10 289 $10. and under $12 277 $12. and under $14 387 $14. and under $16 348 $16. and under $18 172 $18. and under $20 63 $20. and under $22 53 $22. and under $24 33 $24. and under $26 21 $26. and under $28 11 $28. and under $30 9 $30. and under $32 5 $32. and under $34 $34. and under $40 4 $40. and over 4 Per Num- Per Num- Per Cent. ber Cent ber Cent 17.2 279 14.3 133 8.5 16.5 311 15.9 172 11.1 23.1 372 19.1 111 7.1 20.8 297 15.2 260 16.7 10.3 263 13.5 203 13.1 3.8 144 7.4 246 15.8 3.2 102 5.2 144 9.3 2.0 84 4.3 79 5.1 1.2 44 2.3 64 4.1 0.7 25 1.3 41 2.6 0.5 7 0.3 38 2.4 0.3 9 0.4 19 1.2 3 0.1 18 1.2 0.2 9 0.5 21 1.3 0.2 4 0.2 6 0.4 Total 1,696 100.0 1,953 100.0 1,555 100.0 18 19 The Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs reported average yearly earnings for anthracite workers for the years from 1903 to 1912, inclusive. A table of these earnings follows. The figures, however, are not as reliable as the figures computed from the survey of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics nor are they as reliable as the figures reported by the Workmen's Compensation Commission. AVERAGE YEARLY EARNINGS PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRACITE MINES 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 Miners 729 744 711 651 673 717 641 690 685 701 496 Miners' laborers 496 510 468 441 387 489 421 458 462 447 .... Other inside men 541 558 526 489 505 574 463 530 781 \ .f., oro Boys, inside 286 272 182 220 229 267 241 242 241 / ^"^^ '^^'^ Outside workmen 527 535 541 482 500 558 494 543 542 480 306 Breaker employees. .. 358 374 329 323 329 422 1 ori 907 077 00 ^ Boys, outside 242 232 209 192 206 278 / "^^^ ^*' ^^^ ^»4 . . . . Average 560 573 544 498 496 574 494 521 574 491 .... BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER— Comparison of Earnings and Wage Rates in the Anthracite and Bituminous Mines of Pennsylvania Presented by W. JETT LAUCK On behalf of John L. Lewis, President Philip Murray, Vice-President F. P. Hanaway, International Representative Percy Tetlow, Statistician John Dernpsey I Committee Representing 1 homas Kennedy > ^^ .. • . i -; j n ai n ^J I Uistricts I, / and V ns. J. Vjolden ) Of the United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 This exhfbii was prepared under tire Supervision of W. JETT LAUCK by Arthur Sturgis BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER- Comparison of Earnings and Wage Rates in the Anthracite and Bituminous Mines of Pennsylvania Presented by W. JETT LAUCFC On behalf of United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 5A COMPARISON OF EARNINGS AND WAGE RATES IN THE ANTHRACITE AND BITUMINOUS MINES OF PENNSYLVANIA The present yearly earnings in the anthracite mines are consider- ubly lower than they are in the bituminous mines of Pennsylvania, although in former years there was very little difference between the two industries. This is shown in the table below. COMPARATIVE YEARLY EARNINGS— ALL EMPLOYEES PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRACITE ANT) PENNSYLVANIA BITUMINOUS MINES. Average earnings Average earnings Pennsylvania Pennsylvania anthracite. bituminous. 1903 491 541 1904 574 452 1905 521 503 1906 494 545 1907 574 604 1908 496 458 1 1909 498 524 1910 544 574 1911 673 584 1912 560 663 1913 ■ 1914 \ No data No data 1915 J 1916 690 689 1917 713 863 877 1918 1216 1919 1126 1337 The sources from which this table is compiled are as follows: The figures for the years 1903 to 1912, inclusive, are taken from the reports of the Pennsylvania State Department of Internal Affairs, and are computed by the Statistical Bureau of that Department by dividing the total yearly payroll by the average number of total employees. The basic figures upon which this Statistical Bureau made its re- port were furnished by the operators of the coal mines, and it is to 5B 4 be presumed, therefore, that the figures are accurate. Of course, the resulting earnings in the table cannot be compared from year to year — that is, the year 1903 cannot be compared with the year 1916, nor the year 1916 with the year 1919, because, as shown below, the soui'ce is different and the method of computing the figures is dif- ferent. But each year presents comparable figures as between the anthiacite and the Pennsylvania bituminous fields, because in each year the figures for the two fields are derived from the same source and the Si^me method of computation is used. It is doubtless true, moreover, that the figures from the Department of Internal Affairs i-etiect accurately the relative conditions as to earnings between the two fields, though the absolute earnings cannot be so confidently relied upon. The figures for 1916 to 1918, inclusive, are derived from a report of the Pennsylvania State ^Yorkmen's Compensation Commission, compiled jointly by the Insurance Department of Pennsylvania and the Statistical Department of the Pennsylvania Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau. These figures are published as average full- time weekly earnings, from which the yearly earnings are derived by first finding the daily earnings and tlien multiplying by the num- ber of days worked in the respective fields in Pennsylvania as re- ported by the United States Geological Survey. Here, again, the same method of computation is followed for both anthracite and bituminous earnings, so a comparison between the two fields for any one year presents the relative difference during that year. The figures for 1919 are based upon a survey made by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. The survey of the anthracite mines was made at a time when all the mines covered by the survey were working full time, and the yearly earnings given in the table are the average daily earnings found by the survey multiplied by the average number of days worked (252) in the anthracite field during 1919. These figures include a large amount of overtime earnings that should preferably be omitted. The survey of the bituminous mines was made at a time when the mines were operating from one- half to full time, the actual proportion of full time that the mines were in operation being 73..3 per cent. The figures in the table are twenty-four times the weighted average of the actual earnings for Pennsylvania found for a half month payroll period by the survey, and correspond to an average of 246 days worked during the year. During the year 1919 there was a strike in the bituminous field of Pennsylvania that disorganized the industry for about two months. lu making the comparison of yearly earnings between an- thracite and bituminous workers it is thought preferable to elimi- nate this strike from the computations. Before the President's Bituminous Coal Commission, the soft coal operators produced fig- ures of days worked in, the Pittsburgh thick-vein district and the Pittsburgh thin-vein district for the first ten months of 1919, as follows : Days worked first 10 months of 1919. Pittsburgh thick vein district 217 Pittsburgh thin vein district 197 At this rate, the days worked during a year of twelve months would be for 1919 from 261 to 236, the simple average of which is 248, or substantially the same as the 246 figure in which our compu- tation results. The above table of bituminous earnings includes also a small num- ber of coke workers in the years 1904 to 1912, inclusive, an occupation that has no parallel in the anthracite industry. The effect of this in- clusion is minute, however, as the coke workers form less than 7 per cent, of the total number of bituminous workers, and, as their average wage is not far from the average wage of all the employees, the maximum variation being from 7.16 per cent higher to 7.99 per cent lower than the average waga The effect of the inclusion of the coke workers is, therefore, less than one-half of 1 per cent. Attention is called to the fact that the anthracite average earn- ings include those of boys to a greater extent than do the bituminous earnings. This fact makes the table a conservative one, because the fact that is brought out below is that in the early years the anthra- cite earnings were on an average about the same as the bituminous earnings, whereas in the recent years the bituminous earnings have become considerably greater than the anthracite earnings. The num- ber of boys employed during the early years was much greater than now, and their age (and proportionate earnings) were formerly lower than it now is. Thus if the boys had been omitted from the table, the relative change that has taken place between the anthracite and the bituminous earnings would be shown to be greater than is shown in the table. In support of this statement, the following table gives the percentage of boys for the year 1902 (in the collieries of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, according to the report of the Anthracite Strike Commission) and for the year 1919 (from the report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of its survey in January, 1919) : Number of boys. | Per cent of total employees. 1902. Inside mines I 114 Outside mines I 761 Total 1 875 1919. 247 580 827 1902. 2.227 14.864 17.091 1919. 1.524 3.578 5.102 Thus during the years when the number of boys was relatively high the earnings of the two fields were about the same, while for the years when the number of boys was low the anthracite earnings (which include the earnings of these boys) was lower than the bituminous earnings, so if the boys were omitted from the total average, the relative change that has taken place would be, as stated above, greater than is shown in the table. The figures in the table are shown graphically in the follov>iiig chart : _^a -IIOQ J ! t .„L It is evident that from 1903 to 1911 the earnings in the anthracite mines Avere approximately the same as they were in the bituminous mines of Pennsylvania. Sometimes one is higher, and sometimes the other. In recent years, however, the bituminous earnings have been considerably higher than in the anthracite mines, the average exceeding the anthracite average by the following yearly amounts: Amounts and percentages by which yearly average earnings in the bituminous mines of Pennsylvania exceed the yearly average earnings in the anthracite mines. Thus in order to raise the earnings of the anthracite workers to The same level as that of the bituminous workers on the basis of the number of days worked in the respective fields during 1919, it would be necessary to increase the basic rates in the anthracite mines by 18.7 per cent. The recent increase awarded to the bituminous mine workers by the President's Bituminous Coal Commission was stated by that Commission to be an average of about 27 per cent (the award amounted to between 27 per cent and 34 per cent for the miners and to 20 per cent for the day men). In order, then, to bring the exist- ing anthracite rates up to the level of the bituminous rates as thus increased, it would be necessary to increase the present anthracite rates by 18.7 per cent, and then by 27 per cent on top of that, or a total increase of 50.74 per cent. Subdividing the mine workers into groups of occupations, the aver- age yearly earnings for each group from 1903 to 1912 is shown by the following two tables : AVERAGE YEARLY EARNINGS PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRACITE MINES. 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 Miners 729 496 541 286 527 358 242 744 510 558 272 535 374 232 711 468 526 182 541 329 209 651 441 489 220 482 323 192 673 Miners' laborers 387 Other inside men 505 Boys — inside 229 Outside workmen 500 Breaker employees 329 Boys — outside 206 Average 560 573 544 498 496 AVERAGE YEARLY EARNINGS PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRACITE MINES— (Continued). 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 Miners 717 489 574 267 558 422 ) 278 1 641 421 463 241 494 351 690 458 530 248 543 287 685 462 781 ) 241 j 542 277 701 447 461 480 284 496 Miners' laborers Other inside men Boys — inside 363 Outside workmen Breaker employees — Boys — outside 306 Average 574 494 521 574 491 AVERAGE YEARLY EARNINGS PENNSYLVANIA BITUMINOUS MINES. 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 Miners— pick 674 654 709 421 631 314 610 573 554 659 293 615 259 553 588 537 641 254 518 277 538 524 507 564 251 529 216 501 447 Miners — machine 447 Other inside men (over 16) Other inside boys (under 16) Outside men (over 16) 592 275 539 Outside boys (under 16) Coke workers 169 424 Average 663 584 574 524 458 AVERAGE YEARLY EARNINGS PENNSYLVANIA BITUMINOUS MINES— (Continued). 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 Miners — pick 602 540 721 256 650 425 586 519 496 666 223 624 212 570 491 ) 495 j 525 221 525 222 539 443 488 173 488 176 445 538 474 223 530 240 Miners — machine Other inside men Other inside boys Outside men 504 547 454 Outside boys Coke workers Average 604 545 503 452 541 The figures in the above two tables are from the reports of the Pennsylvania State Department of Internal Affairs. It should be noted that the earnings of the anthracite miners exceeded each year the earnings of the bituminous miner, both pick and machine, the percentage difference being as follows : 10 I Percentage by which yearly earnings of Year. I anthracite miner formely exceeded I yearly earnings of bituminous pick miner. 1903 I 30.3 1904 I 54.6 1905 I 40.5 1906 I 23.5 1907 ! 19-1 190S I 50.5 1909 I 24.2 1910 I 20.9 1911 I 29.8 1912 I 10.0 Simple average I 30.3 If the work done by the anthracite contract miner and the bitumi- nous pick miner is at all comparable, it seems as though the anthra- cite miner necessarily requires more experience and skill. Never- theless, the anthracite miner has lost the differential in earnings that he formerly possessed, as is shown by a study made by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics in June, July and August of 1918. At that time it was found that the average earnings per day that the mine is open (per ''start") of the anthracite contract miner was ii?r).62. The correctness of this figure was checked by inquiries, made of the principal anthracite companies of Pennsylvania, asking for a statement of the number of contract miners employed in all the collieries of each company and the average net earnings per "start" — that is, the earnings after deductions for mine supplies and black- smithing. Returns were received from 69 companies, representing 33,395 contract miners. The average earnings for all of these 69 companies was |5.59, against |5.62, as shown by the data collected by the Bureau's agents. In November, 1918, an increase was granted in the contract rates of the anthracite mines amounting to 12 per cent, and this 12 per cent raised the average earnings of $5.59 to §6.26, The study of the Bureau was also extended to the bituminous field of Pennsylvania, and it was found that the average earnings of the bituminous pick miner was |6.22, or substantially the same as the earnings of the anthracite contract miner after the increase of November, 1918, so the anthracite contract miner, instead of re- ceiving greater earnings than the bituminous miner, as he did through all the years from 1903 to 1912, was in 1919 on substantially the same basis per day, while, owing to the avrard of the President's 11 Coal Commission, he is now considerably behind the bituminous miner. The study of the Bureau in 1918 showed the following amounts by which the day men in the bituminous mines exceeded the day men in the anthracite mines. In considering the table it should be noted that there are more unskilled outside workers in proportion in the anthracite than in the bituminous industry, and that it is these men who are the most behind the bituminous scale, though formerly their yearly earnings were about on an equality. COMPARISON OF DAILY EARNINGS IN 1918 OF ANTHRACITE AND BITUMINOUS MINE WORKERS. Anthracite, average. Average bituminous exceeds average anthracite. Percentage, Outside: i Blacksmiths I Carpenters I Hoisting engineers Stationary engineers f Power engineers | Locomotive engineers | Firemen | Footmen and headmen [ Jig runners I Laborers ! Machine repairmen | Slaters (boys) [ Stablemen | Teamsters | Trackmen | Drivers [ I Inside: I Blacksmiths ( Brat t icemen & carpenters. .| Door boys [ Drivers | Engineers, locomotive | Slope engineers j Footmen and headmen | Laborers [ Machine repairmen | Company miners j Pipemen | Pumpmen j Car runner j Stablemen j Timbermen | Track layers 3.68 3.46 1.95 2.87 3.46 3.26 3.0.5 3.22 3.48 3.71 3.38 3.45 3.11 3.41 3.60 3.55 12 This table of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is not a weighted average, but is a mean between the high and the low rates. The cor- rectness of the Bureau's figures, however, is evidenced by the esti- mate it made of the 1918 earnings of the contract miner, which later investigation checked, as stated above, within three cents per day. The above differences between the daily earnings in the two industries fully explain the difference of 40.9 per cent that was shown above to exist in 1918 by the figures of the State Workmen's Compensation Commission. In this connection, it is well to remem- ber that the day men in the anthracite and in the bituminous indus- tries are fairly comparable in their work, though there is, of course, little comparison that can be made in the occupations of miner. Thus there is every reason why the anthracite day man should expect to receive as high a wage as the day man in the bituminous field, and at the same time it is entirely reasonable for the anthracite contract miner to feel that he is entitled to receive as much higher earnings than the bituminous pick miner as he was accustomed to get during the pre-war years from 190.3 to 1912, The wage adjustment that was made in November, 1918, added about a dollar a day to the earnings of the anthracite day men. This reduces, as of the year 1919, the amounts by which the bitumi- nous earnings exceed the anthracite earnings by an equal amount. This cuts down the per cent excess of the bituminous men and ac- counts for the reduction, found above, in the excess that bituminous yearly earnings exceeded anthracite yearly earnings (this reduction was from 40.9 per cent in 1918 to 18.7 per cent in 1919). Days Worked. Before the start of the war in 1914 the average days worked in the Pennsylvania bituminous mines exceeded the days worked in the anthracite mines. This is shown in the table below, and graphically in the following chart. The figures are taken from reports of the United States Geological Survey. 13 DAYS WORKED IN ANTHRACITE AND BITUMINOUS FIELDS. Pennsylvania anthracite Pennsylvania bituminous Per cent by which anthracite days worked is lower than bituminous 1890 200 203 198 200.3 197 190 196 174 150 181.4 152 173 166 196 116 160.6 206 200 215 195 220 207.2 200 229 246 231 257 232.6 245 230 253 285 293 261.2 252 232 223 223 226.0 190 165 206 206 205 194.2 229 245 242 230 248 238.8 235 196 231 231 255 229.6 201 238 233 252 267 238.2 214 226 259 261 269 245.8 * 1891 1892 Average for period 13% 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 Average for period 7% 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 Average for period 49% 1903 1904 1906 1907 Average for period 11% 1908 1910 ■^ 1912 1913 Average for period 3% 1914 1915 1917 1918 Average for period 1919 Estimated 14 With the exception of the five-year period from 1914 to 1918, in- clusive, the average of days worked during every five-year period back to 1890 in the bituminous field exceeds the average in the anthracite field. The 1919 figures of days worked in the Pennsylvania bitumi- nous field, ignoring the strike, was about 248, but the anthracite figure dropped from the 1918 high point of 293 to 252. 15 It is probable that with the coming of normal conditions the pre- war comparison between the two fields will once more be restored, though it is not to be expected that the ditference will be as great as existed prior to 1903 (that is, prior to the introduction of the sum- mer discount in the anthracite market). If this is the case, then, the average number of days worked in the anthracite field may be expected to be lower than in the bituminous field by from 3 per cent to 11 per cent. The day rates in the anthracite field, then, should be from 3 per cent to 11 per cent higher than in the bituminous field. Formerly they were higher, but now they are decidedly lower. Day Rates. The table below gives the average daily wages in the tw^o fields from 1903 to 1912, inclusive, as reported by the Pennsylvania State Department of Internal Affairs : .WERAGE DAILY WAGE— PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRACITE MINERS. Miners Miners' laborers . . Other inside men. . Boys — inside mine . Outside workmen . Breaker employees Boys — outside . .. Average 1912 3.54 2.40 2.63 1.39 2.56 1.74 1.17 2.72 1911 3.19 2.19 2.40 1.17 2.30 1.61 1.00 2.46 1910 3.15 2.07 2.33 .81 2.40 1.45 .93 2.41 1909 3.06 2.07 2.30 1.03 2.26 1.52 .90 2.34 1908 3.03 1.74 2.27 1.03 2.25 1.48 .93 2.23 AVERAGE DAILY WAGE— PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRACITE MINERS— (Continued). 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 Miners . 2.95 . 2.01 2.36 1.10 . 2.30 . 1.74 ) . 1.15 j 3.09 2.03 2.24 1.16 2.38 1.69 2.97 1.97 2.29 1.07 2.34 1.24 2.96 2.00 3.38) 1.05 f 1 2.34 1.20 2.96 1.89 1.94 2.03 1.20 2 8*? Miners' laborers .... Other inside men. . . . Boys — inside mine . . . Outside workmen .... Breaker employees . . . Boys — outside 2.10 1.73 Average . 2.36 2.39 2.24 2.48 1 1 2.07 .... 16 AVERAGE DAILY WAGE— PENNSYLVANIA BITUMINOUS MINERS. 1912 1911 2.52 2.31 2.44 2.24 2.65 2.66 1.57 1.18 2.35 2.48 1.17 1.04 2.07 2.23 1910 1909 1908 Miners — pick Miners — machine Other inside men (over 16) . . Other inside boys (under 16) , Outside men (over 16) , Outside boys (under 16) , Coke workers , Average . 2.48 2.35 2.26 2.04 2.24 .96 1.97 1.04 2.23 2.19 2.01 2.01 2.16 .96 2.07 .83 1.92 2.00 1.90 1.88 2.49 1.15 2.26 .71 1.78 1.93 AVERAGE DAILY WAGE— PENNSYLVANIA BITUMINOUS MINERS— (Contmued). 1907 1906 19Q5 1904 1903 1902 Miners — pick Miners — machine .... Other inside men Other inside boys Outside men Outside boys Coke workers 2.24 2.01 2.31 .95 2.42 1.58 2.19 2.53 2.41 3.25 1.09 3.04 1.03 2.04 2.18) 2.20 3 2.3.5 .93 2.33 .98 2.06 2.17 2.39 .85 2.39 .86 2.05 2.29 2.45 95 2.26 1.02 2.16 2.24 i'.si Average 2.25 2.66 2.21 2.26 2.31 As seen in this table, the daily wage of the anthracite miner was higher than that of the bituminous miner, while in the other occu- pations the anthracite wage is either higher or else fluctuates, being sometimes higher and sometimes lower. As contrasted with this, the average hourly earnings, as found in 1919 by the survey of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, are given below : 17 ANTHRACITE. Occupation Average earnings per hour Inside: Blacksmiths Brattice men Cagers Car runners Company miners Company miners' laborers Consideration miners Contract miners Contract miners' laborers , Door tenders (boys) Drivers Engineers Laborers Machinists Masons Motormen Motor brakemen Pumpmen Timbermen Trackmen Total inside occupations Outside: Ashmen Blacksmiths Cagers Carpenters Car runners Dumpers Engineers Firemen Laborers Loaders Machinists Oilers Repairmen Timber cutters Trackmen Outside Breaker: Jig runners Platemen Slaters (boys) Total outside occupations Grand total, inside and outside occupations. PENNSYLVANIA BITUMINOUS. Drivers Laborers, inside. . Laborers, outside Loaders Miners, hand Miners, machine . . . Trackman $0,592 .561 .517 .507 .581 .526 .636 .842 .639 .315 .499 .542 .518 .568 .577 .558 .502 .413 .695 .570 .673 .444 .572 .458 .560 .454 .449 .532 .503 .434 .448 .517 .434 .485 .452 .477 .410 .430 .298 .634 .599 .516 .835 .902 .913 .628 .442 .617 18 In every occupation given, the bituminous hourly earnings are considerably higher than the anthracite. The basic day rates from the agreements of the two industries are as follows: Occupation. Inside : Semi-skilled Skilled Company miners Company miners' laborers Outside: Common labor Semi-skilled Skilled Anthracite. $4.00 to $4.50 4.50 4.75 4.50 3.31 4.25 4.25 Bituminous. (1919 rates) $4.75 5.00 4.10 4.75 5.10 In more detail, these rates are: ANTHRACITE. Occupation. Districts 1 and 9: Company miner Company miner-laborer Inside laborer Outside laborer Carpenter, first class Carpenter helper Blacksmith, first class Blacksmith, helper Ashmen • Slate pickers, first class, men. Bratticemen . . Trackmen, inside Trackmen helpers District 7: Inside — Day wage miners . Day wage laborers Skilled labor Semi-skilled Outside- Common labor Semi-skilled . , Skilled Percentage. 4.73 4.38 4.236 3.567 4.633 3.727 4.732 3.688 3.611 2.713 4M01 4.737 4.167 4.60 4.25 4.50 4.35 3.31 4.25 4.25 I 19 BITUMINOUS (Pennsylvania, 1919 rates). Occupation. Percentage. Inside : Track layers Track layer helpers Trappers Drivers Timbermen Pipemen Wiremen Motormen Bottom cagers Trip riders Water and machine haulers All other inside Outside : Dumpers Trimmers Ram operators Pushers . . . Car cleaners 5.00 4.75 2.65 5.00 5.00 4.92 5.00 5.10 5.00 5.00 5.00 4.75 4.42 4.36 4.60 4.18 4.10 Summary. As it is probable, judging the future by the past, that the average days worked in the anthracite field will be from 3 per cent to 11 per cent lower than the average number of days worked in the Pennsyl- vania bituminous field, the anthracite worker, on this basis alone, should receive a wage rate from 3 per cent to 11 per cent higher than the bituminous wage rate for the corresponding occupation in order that his yearly earnings may equal the yearly earnings in the bituminous field. The occupations that are the more nearly comparable in the two fields are those of the day men, especially outside the mines. In the years from 1903 to 1912 the yearly earnings of these men in the two fields was substantially the same, sometimes the one field heing higher, sometimes the other. From 1916 on the yearly earn- ings of the day men in the bituminous field increased faster than did those in the anthracite field. In 1918 the bituminous rate was 40 per cent or more in excess of the anthracite rate. This difference in rates was somewhat bal- anced by the fact that in 1918 the anthracite men worked an abnor- mal number of days. The November, 1918, anthracite adjustment reduced the difference between the two fields to about 15 per cent 20 or 20 per cent, but this difference has been recently increased by the bituminous award of 20 per cent to the day men to a total difference between the two fields of about 40 per cent to 50 per cent. ■{ With the bituminous day rates for the day men between 40 per cent and 50 per cent higher than the anthracite day rates, and with the probability that the days worked per year will be slightly lower in the anthracite field than in the Pennsylvania bituminous field, it is evident that the present anthracite day rates should be in- creased a substantial amount if the old equality between the two fields is to be restored, and the anthracite day men be allowed yearly earnings somewhat similar in amount to the yearly earning of the bituminous day men. The anthracite miner during the years 1903 to 1912 receive yearly earnings considerably in excess of the yearly earnings of the bituminous miner, the average (unweighted) excess during the year in question being about 30 per cent. His daily earnings in 1918 amounted to about 12 per cent less than the daily earnings of the bituminous pick miner (which was, however, nearly balanced by the abnormal number of days during that year that the anthracite mines worked). The November, 1918, anthracite wage adjustment placed the daily earnings of the miners in the two fields about equal, but the bituminous award, which amounted to about 27 per cent to the Pennsylvania pick miner, has again placed the bituminous miner ahead by that much. Thus, even assuming that the same number of days may be ex- pected per year in the two fields, the anthracite miner should now receive a 27 per cent increase in his rates, just to place him even with the bituminous miner, and above that, if the former dififerential is to be restored, he should receive an additional increase of about 30 per cent, or a total increase of 65 per cent in all. This figure checks very closely with the 60 per cent increase found necessary in another exhibit to restore to the anthracite contract miner the pur- chasing power he formerly possessed. BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER- IRREGULARITY OF EMPLOY- MENT IN THE ANTHRACITE INDUSTRY Presented by W. JETT LAUCK On behalf of John L. Lewis, President Philip Murray. Vice-President F. P. Hanaway, International Representative Percy Tetlow, Statistician John Denripsey ) Committee Representing Thomas Kennedy > rv- i • » i 7 jo r'L ■ T /^ ij I Districts \, / and V Lhris. J. Cjolden j Of the United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 This exhibit was prepared under th^ supervision of W, J£TT LAUCK hf Leland Oldff BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER- IRREGULARITY OF EMPLOY- MENT IN THE ANTHRACITE INDUSTRY Pre$ented by W. JETT LAUCK On behalf of United Mine Workers of America ■ WASHINGTON 1920 I TABLE OF CONTENTS General Survey 5 I. Number of Days Worked in Coal Industry, 1881 to 1919 . . 7 II. Details of Days Worked for Period 1881 to 1919 12 III. Period of Over-Production, 1892 to 1901 15 IV. Period of Organization of the Market for Domestic Coal, 1903 to 1908 20 V. The Anthracite Industry During the Past Decade 24 I VI. Probable Irregularity in the Future 36 IRREGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE ANTHRACITE INDUSTRY GENERAL SURVEY. In the coal mining industry the degree of regularity of operation is today as important a factor in earnings as is the level of hourly rates. As the industry operates on part time basis, the health of the family depends upon annual earnings, which are the product of the hourly rate by the number of hours of actual employment. In deter- mining rates of pay, therefore, it is important to form an estimate as to the probable number of days during which the worker will have an opportunity to earn the rate set. Data are available as to the number of days worked in the anthra- cite industry covering the period since 1881. During this period the variation has been very great. This variation is shown graphically on the accompanying table. The gi-eatest number of days worked was 293 in the abnormal year 1918, while 1902, the year of the great anthracite strike, shows only 116 days of operation. For more nor- mal years the greatest number of days worked was 257, in 1913, while the lowest point came in 1897, with only 150 days of operation. A careful examination of the data presented in this report would seem to point to the following general conclusions in regard to the anthracite coal industry : (1) The anthracite mine workers have suffered more from irregu- larity of employment than have the bituminous mine workers. Not only is the average number of working days in anthracite lower than in bituminous mines, but the extremes are greater. During the period since 1881 the anthracite workers have had an opportunity to work on an average only 212 days out of each year. This means 92 days of idleness, 30 per cent of the working year, during which they have no opportunity to earn a living wage. In obtaining this average the abnormally low figure for 1902 due to the protracted strike has been left out, but the abnormally high figures for 1917 and 1918 have been included. Were the figure for 1902 included, the average for anthracite would be even lower. This average, 212 working days, compares with 229 days of opera- tion in the bituminous mines of Pennsylvania, and with 216 in those 4B of the entire coiiutr}'. The bituminous figures represent averages for the period since 1892. If figures for tlie same period for anthra- cite had been averaged, the days worked would be found to be 210. Comparison with Pennsylvania bituminous is fairer because all the anthracite fields of major importance are in that State. (2) Shortage of labor does not enter appreciably into this prob- lem of a part-time industry, the chief difiSculty having been over- supply of labor as well as of capital. The sufferings of the workers from unemployment may be directly traced to a bad policy of in- vestment during the days of unregulated competition. This has not only injured the worker, but has also rendered high prices unavoid- able. (3) The problem of car shortage as a cause of irregularity, so much in evidence in the bituminous industry, has played so small a role in the anthracite industry as to be almost negligible. (4) The fundamental cause of irregularity has been "no market." In other words, the equipment and labor force have been more than adequate to produce the supply which the market has been ready to absorb. The anthracite market has become primarily that of a domestic fuel. The determining factors in this market are, therefore, weather and growth of population. Other fuels are beginning to compete with anthracite in its own domestic sphere. In order to estimate the probable number of days which will be averaged in future years, it will be necessary to form a judgment as to the prob- able future of the market in relation to possible production. From this and from data for the last decade it would appear that the market for anthracite in the future will remain in a state of equi- librium at about the level for the years 1910 to 1916, inclusive. In other words, growth of population seems to be about balanced by the increasing competition of other fuels. (5) This will mean that the maximum average days per year which may fairly be expected will be about 242, leaving the worker to face unemployment for 20 per cent of the working year. From the consideration of other factors, discussed more at length in the following pages, this would appear to be a conservative estimate, the probability being that there will be more idle days rather than less. (6) It is probable that had there not been overinvestment in the anthracite industry, the problem could have been met by reducing the hours of labor without adding to the present price of anthracite coal. I. NUMBER OF DAYS WORKED IN COAL INDUSTRY, 1881 TO 1919. The following table afifords a comprehensive survey of the entire problem. It will serve as a guide to the subsequent tables which consider the problem in greater detail. The data for this table are taken from Bulletin 115 of the Depart- ment of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, Tables 124 and 126, supple- mented by material in the annual report on coal in the "Mineral Resources of the United States" and in recent reports of the United States Geological Survey. DAYS WORKED IN THE ANTHRACITE COAL INDUSTRY, TOGETHER WITH OTHER DATA FOR COMPARISON. 1 Anthracite. 1 I Jituminous. Year. 1 No. men r—Av. tonnage per man-^ 1 Days r- Days workec 1^1 employed. | day. j'ear. I worked. 1 Pe 1 nna. U. S . 1881 76,031 1 1.90 1 420 1 1 221 1882 82,200 1 1.96 1 427 t 218 1 1883 91,421 1 1.81 1 421 232 1 1 1884 101,073 1 1.92 1 368 192 1 1885 100,324 1.87 1 382 204 1886 103,044 1.93 1 379 196 1 1887 106,517 1 1.90 395 208 1 1 1888 122,218 1 1.75 381 218 1 1889 123,676 1 1.90 1 368 194 1 1890 126,000 i 1.85 1 369 200 1 232 1 226 1891 126,350 1.98 1 401 203 1 223 1 233 1892 129,050 2.06 1 407 198 1 223 1 219 1893 132,944 1 2.06 1 406 197 1 190 i 204 1894 131,603 1 2.08 1 395 190 1 165 1 171 1895 142,917 1 2.07 406 196 1 206 1 194 1896 148,991 2.10 365 174 1 206 ! 192 1897 149,884 2.34 351 150 1 205 1 196 1898 1 145,504 2.41 367 152 229 1 211 1899 138,608 2.50 433 173 245 1 234 1900 144,206 2.40 398 166 1 242 1 234 1901 1 145,309 1 2.37 464 196 1 230 1 22d 1902 1 148,141 2.41 279 1 1161 1 248 1 230 1903 1 150,483 2.41 496 206 1 235 ! 22b 1904 1 155,861 2.31 469 1 200 1 196 1 202 1905 1 163,406 2.19 470 1 215 i 231 1 2ii 1906 162,355 2.25 439 1 1951 1 231 1 213 1907 167,234 2.33 512 1 220 I 255 1 234 1908 1 174,174 2.39 478 1 200 1 2011 1 1 193 19093 1 .... 1 ... 1 1910 169,497 2.17 498 1 229 1 238 t 2ii 1911 173,940 2.11 520 1 246 1 233 1 211 1912 i 174,030 2.10 485 1 2311 1 252 1 233 1913 1 175,745 2.03 521 1 257 1 267 1 232 1914 1 179,679 2.06 505 1 245 1 2141 1 2 195 1915 1 176,552 2.19 504 ! 230 1 226 ! 203 1916 1 159,869 2.16 548 ! 253 1 259 1 230 1917 1 154,174 2.27 646 1 285 1 261 ! 243 1918 147,121 2.28 672 1 293 1 269 1 249 1919 1 252-2622 1 1 1 1 208 Average for e I Intire period i 1 212 1 1 ! 229 ! 1 216 1 Years when there were important stoppages of work pending adjustment of wages, etc. 2 Estimated. 3 No data for 1909. m 10 A cursory glance at this table might lead to the conclusion that irregularity has been largely eliminated. Beginning with the year 1900, a steady improvement is evident, which apparently culminates in the year 1918 with 293 days of employment. From this it might be concluded that with the growth of population the industry has achieved what is practically a full working year. Such a judgment would fail to take account of the actual interplay of forces deter- mining the number of days work. A more thorough study covering the 30-year period ending with the present year will show clearly that the climax of this tendency toward regularity was reached in the years 1910 to 1910, when the mines were operated only 80 per cent of the year, and that the years 1917 and 1918 were abnormal. Today a readjustment to the normal of the years 1910 to 1916 is in process. In general, a study of this 30-year period makes it possible to see the extent to which a thoroughly anti-social business policy has plunged the anthracite industry into a vicious circle, which will mean the perpetuation of a certain degree of irregularity in employ- ment. In this table, and throughout the exhibit, the comparison empha- sized is that between the number of days worked in anthracite and the number worked in the Pennsylvania bituminous mines. This is done because of the similarity in determining factors between these two fields. Figures are also shown for the bituminous industry for the country as a whole. But it should be pointed out that, what- ever comparison with the less comparable regions of the countr\* may show, this will not in any sense vitiate the conclusions drawn from the comparison which is stressed. Pennsylvania bituminous mines are more comparable with the anthracite industry than are the other bituminous regions of the country not only from the human standpoint, but also from the point of view of market conditions, which tend to determine relative regularity of conditions. - In both branches of the Pennsylvania mining industry the element of uncertainty characteristic of a com- petitive market has been largely eliminated. From the table above it appears that there are four periods which seem subject to slightly different influences so far as regularity of employment in anthracite is concerned. During the years 1881 to 1891, inclusive, the days worked averaged over 200. Then followed a decade in which the average fell off approximately 30 daj's, the low point being reached in 1897. During the years immediately follow- ing the great strike of 1902 the number of days worked approximate(? II llie average for the 80s, while the decade ending with the present shows a steady improvement. Except for the two abnormal yeare 1917 and 1918, the average for this decade would appear to be about 243 days of operation to the year, which may probably be taken as a fair index of the present problem in the anthracite indus- try. This means some 61 days of idleness, or 20 per cent of the working year, in which the anthracite worker, through no fault of liis own, is unable to earn a living. But the chief interest is in the future. Analysis of the past is (>nly to give some basis for estimating the future. In order to gauge whether this average is likely to persist, or whether the decline wliich followed the abnormal years of war demand is likely to go on until the industry has returned to earlier conditions of greater irregularity, it will be necessary to consider previous periods more closely. 12 II. DETAILS OF DAYS WORKED FOR PERIOD 1881 TO 1891. The following table is drawn to show the factors influencing day:? worked for the period 1881 to 1891. (Sources as mentioned above.) DETAILS OF DAYS WORKED FOR PERIOD 1881 TO 1891. Anthracite. Year. No. men r— Av. tonnage per man — \ Days Bituminous. employed. day. year. worked. 1881 76,031 1.90 420 221 1882 82,200 1.96 427 218 1883 91,421 1.81 421 232 1884 101,073 1.92 368 192 1885 100,324 1.87 382 204 1886 103,044 1.93 379 196 (No data prior 1887 106.517 1.90 395 208 to 1890) 1888 122,218 1.75 381 218 1889 123,676 1.90 368 194 1890 126,000 1.85 369 200 1891 126,350 1.98 401 203 Average 208 The outstanding feature of this table is the rapid increase in the number of men employed in the anthracite industry. In the course of 10 years approximately 66 per cent were added to the number employed in 1881. Between 1882 and 1883 the number increase<^l by nearly 10,000. A similar increase was registered in the following year, while between 1887 and 1888 over 15,000 men were added to the army of anthracite workers. Meanwhile, with slight variations, the production per man per day remains almost constant. On the other hand, the anthracite production of the country increased, but not as rapidly as the working force. The consequence was a steady decrease in the number of days worked. These facts indicate that the anthracite industry was passing through the speculative period. The rapid growth of population and the cheapening of transportation caused a rapid development of the trade. The development of the West accentuated this increase in demand. Anthracite was looked upon as a good thing in the way of investment. The consequence was rapid expansion, the construe- 13 tion of new collieries and the building of storage yards. This caused the increase in the number of anthracite workers. But, as is gener- ally the case, this period of competitive speculation caused produc- tion to increase beyond what the market could absorb. Conse- quently the steady increase in the number of days of non-operation, which was to reach a climax in the 90s, had begun. Attempts to control production in order to keep the price up proved futile. The industry was not yet ready for large combination. E. W. Parker, in "Mineral Resources of the United States," 1889-90, comments upon the situation as follows : "The average number of days worked during the year 1889 by the collieries was 194. The suspension of mining during perioas aggregating about one-third of the year was caused mainly by the inability of the market to absorb a larger product." (P. 243.) Thus, early in the history of the trade, "no market" was the chief cause of irregularity of employment. But it must be remembered that this was not due to irregularity in the market, but to over- investment in the industry. This fact of overinvestment has been a continuing influence since that time, and has been one of the prin- cipal causes of the low yearly earnings of the anthracite workers. During this period 1881-1891, anthracite had not been completely ruled out as industrial fuel. Consequently, investors counted upon the expansion of the market paralleling the expansion of industry. As a matter of fact, this has been the case with the bituminous market. Anthracite, on the other hand, soon became almost entirely a domestic fuel, its place in industry being taken by bituminous coal and coke. As a result, the expansion of the anthracite market has tended more and more to parallel the development of population. DIAGRAM SHOWING THE TENDENCY OF ANTHRACITE COAL PRODUCTION TO PARALLEL GROWTH OP POPULATION DURING YEARS 1856-1913, CON- TRASTED WITH INCREASE IN PRODUCTION OF BITUMINOUS COAL AS INDUSTRIAL FUEL. (From Mineral Resources of the U. S., 1913, Part II, p. 722.) YEAft 18M 1867 1868 15 III. PERIOD OF OVERPRODUCTION, 1892 to 1901. The full effects of the tendency mentioned in the preceding sec- tion were not apparent until the last decade of the nineteenth cen- tury. Then the results of unchecked competition for expected profits appeared in unemployment and high costs, which rendered the situ- ation even worse. The industry was operating in a vicious circle. Too much capital invested meant that the production had to carry so heavy an overhead that it could not compete for a market which bituminous was grabbing. Too many workers meant that the days of operation would have to be drastically curtailed. To meet this decrease in the opportunity to earn a living, the workers drove themselves to the limit to produce more per day, which only oper- ated further to decrease the number of days worked. It was a situa- tion which made the strike of 1902 inevitable. The development of the anthracite industry had been very badly managed. Not alone phjsical, but human resources were wasted. The following table tells the story, the sources being as mentioned above : Anthracite. Bituminous. Year. No. men I r-A.y. tonnage per man— n | Days /—Days wo^ked-^ employed. day. year. | worked. Penna. U. S. 1892 129,050 2.06 407 1 198 223 219 1893 132,944 2.06 406 1 197 190 204 1894 131,603 2.08 395 190 165 171 1895 142,917 2.07 406 196 206 194 1896 148,991 2.10 365 1 174 206 192 1897 149,884 2.34 1 351 150 205 196 1S9S 145,504 2.41 1 367 152 229 211 1899 138,608 2.50 1 433 173 245 234 1900 144,206 2.40 398 166 242 234 1901 145,309 2.37 464 196 230 225 Average 1 179 214 208 1 The outstanding fact in the above table is that the anthracite mine workers, through no fault of their owti, were forced to be idle an average of 125 working days per year during the whole decade. Second only in importance to this is the fact that, despite overpro- duction, the number of workers in the industry continued to in- 16 crease. Investment in the industry had been so unregulated that the working year amounted to a period of cut-throat competition for the "'peak load." To meet this and secure a share of the market which would carry the large investment, the companies kept an over- supply of labor, apportioning the work out among the workers. Overproduction meant competition and falling prices. To a large extent, the burden fell upon the worker. The market was demoral- ized. The situation is particularly evident in the figures for the years 1895-189S. An increase of over 10,000 in the number of work- ers in the industry, combined with the working of a few more days in the year, brought about such a state of oversupply that the market did not recover for a number of years. The number of days worked drops first to 174, then to 150 and 152. Xot until 1898 had the number of workers begun to decline. And by that time the operators were taking steps to effect a combination with a view to restraining production. Speaking of this period, in "Mineral Re- sources of the United States," 1897, E. W. Parker says : "In order to accomplish this result the mines were operated only three or four days in the week, but even with this restric- tion the supply of coal was lessened only about six per cent. It appears singular that with the working time cut down one- fourth or one-third the product is decreased only one-twelfth. The explanation is simple. During the busy season, when the mines are running full time, the miners rarely average as much as five days in the week, usually 'laying off' one or two week- days as well as Sunday. When the mines are running but half or two-thirds time every miner puts in all the time he can, and probably averages more tonnage per day than when he has all the work he wants." (Page 13.) Later, in the same report, we find the following comment upon the oversupply of labor: "It may be opportune to mention at this time the difficulty presented by the labor question in the anthracite regions, viz., the overplus of miners and laborers. Thus, in tables in the beginning of this report it will be noted that although the product fell off over 3,000,000 tons in 1896 as compared with 1895, the total number of employees increased 6,000. It will be seen at once that these men must have worked shorter time. This was the fact, and although wages, measured by day's work, were higher in 1896, it is questionable whether the miners indi- vidually benefited to any great extent. It is evident, of course, that there are too many men for the amount of work to be done, but a remedy for the difficult}' does not easily present itself. 17 While there is any likelihood of work the miners will not leave the vicinity of the mines, and tlie companies try so to apportion the work as to give all a chance, with the result that there is not enough work for any. "With a very much larger output this trouble would no doubt adjust itself; but that condition is not in sight in the near future. In the meantime it is a question whether it would not be better for the companies to give their old employees meas- urably steady employment and drop from the rolls all such as could not be thus provided for, allo\\dug them to seek work elsewhere. (Pages 249-50.) This solution would not have fitted in with the policy of com- panies which were, as pointed out, fighting for as large a share of the "peak load" as they could handle. For this it was necessary to have on hand an abundance of cheap labor. In terms of such a mar- ket situation, it was to the interest of the competing companies to encourage workers to stay on part-time work. From the above it appeal's that this policy was definitely pursued. Other factors were entering into the situation. It was during this period that anthracite became entirely a domestic coal, its market responsive chiefly to changes in the weather, and to growth of popu- lation. And it is at this point that one comes face to face with the effect of over-investment. To quote E. W. Parker in "Mineral Re- sources of the United States" for 1897. "Mr. Wm. B. Ruley, in his contribution on the production of Pennsylvania anthracite, cites two reasons which have been assigned for the decrease in anthracite consumption. The first of these is the increased use of bituminous coal in competition with the smaller sizes of anthracite for steam raising; the second is the increased consumption of gas for cooking and other domestic purposes. To this must be added another factor — the decreased production of anthracite pig iron. The output of anthracite pig iron in 1897 was more than 200,000 long tons less than in 1896, while the production of pig iron made from bituminous coal and coke increased nearly 1,300,000 long tons. * * ♦ "The three causes mentioned have undoubtedly had an ad- verse effect upon the anthracite interests. Nor is it practicable in the face of existing conditions to so reduce the selling price of anthracite coal that it may successfully meet the competition of bituminous coal, coke and gas. The success of these com- petitors of anthracite coal may be directly attributed to the unwisdom shown in over-developing the anthracite fields. Enormous outlays of capital in acquiring property and con- structing improvements in the boom days of anthracite de- velopment are reflected now in 'fixed charges' and other ex- 18 penses which make it impossible to materially decrease the cost of production. The facts brought out by the unfortunate af- fair at Hazleton during the summer of 1897 furnish reliable evidence that the miners are not overpaid. The rate per ton paid for mining is low enough now, and as the mines are fre- quently closed down one-third or one-half the time the em- ployees are necssarily unable to earn more than two-thirds of the wages possible if they Avere allowed to work full time. As will be seen further on, the miners endeavor to make up for this, in part, by mining more coal per day than they are ac- customed to when the mines are running regularly. But such efforts do not offset the losses they suffer through compulsory idleness." This last paragraph merely shows the vicious circle into which the eagerness for profits had plunged the anthracite industry. In the next paragraph Mr. Parker completes the picture : "It would seem that with a restricted production and prices well controlled the anthracite interests would be in excellent condition, so far as the operators are concerned ; but restricted production and higher prices have reflex actions upon industry which are not always considered. In the first place, when tonnage is reduced the mining cost of every ton of the product won, owing to the regularity and uniformity of the 'fixed charges,' etc., is proportionately increased, while every addi- tional advance in the price produces a diminution in the market demand, and offers an opportunity for the increased consumption of soft coal, coke or gas, as the case may be. Under the prevailing conditions there is reason to believe that the maximum of anthracite production has been, or soon will be, reached. It is certainly safe to predict that the demand will never exceed the present capacity of the anthracite mines." In other words, the problem of regularity, or irregularity, of em- ployment in the anthracite industry is primarily a question of a balance between the development of the field and the market. And already outside conditions were coming into being which fore- shadowed the day when the anthracite industry would have reached a state of equilibrium. If the market had ceased to advance with the workers in the hopeless state prevalent in the last years of the nineteenth century, the anthracite region would indeed have been a blot upon the industrial page of the nation. The situation, created by bad management, was the primary basis for the series of strikes which followed in 1900, 1902 and 1906. The fact has been pointed out that anthracite was becoming pri- marily a domestic coal. Already there was beginning to be compe- 19 tition in this field as well not only from gas as a cooking fuel, but also from the fact that the great office buildings and apartment- houses had begun to grow. In these bituminous steam coal was used for heating in place of anthracite. A glance at the reports of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mines shows the same feeling that the development of the anthracite mines had outdistanced the market. The report for 1898 reads as follows : ''The market for anthracite coal has apparently reached its limit. It is true there is an increase in 1898 of 197,821 tons over 1897; but that is in all probability due to the extraor- dinarily severe weather that prevailed. It appears from the number of days that the mines were in operation during the year that the mines now opened and number of men employed, are capable of producing very much more coal, which shows that there are more mines opened and more men employed than are necessary to supply the demand." * * * The feeling among experts at this time seems to have been that, with the limited district in which anthracite is found, the production per day would remain at slightly over 300,000 tons, and that the question of the number of days worked would be determined largely by the number of these 300,000-ton units required by the market. All along there is no doubt but that m^irJcet is the determinant. 20 IV. PERIOD OF ou(ja:->jzatiox of the market for DOMESTIC COAL, 1903 TO 1908. With the beginning of the twentieth century the period of irre- sponsible competition was over. Both labor and capital in the indus- try were organizing, which meant regulation in the future. The first important step was taken by the companies when they announced the summer discount policy. This tended to regularize the market- that is, to spread its demands evenly over the full year. Speaking of this summer discount policy, the Pennsylvania De- partment of Mines Report for 1904 saidr "The demand for domestic sizes continued remarkably even throughout the year owing to the operation of the discount plan. By this plan a discount of 50 cents a ton from the sched- ule price is offered on purchases made in April, with a gradual decrease of 10 cents a month in the discount during May, June, July and August. This method insures a more even distribu- tion of coal throughout the year. The retail dealers and house- holders have a special inducement to make early purchases, which are stored for \^^nter use, thus maintaining the tonnage during a period generally characterized by inactivity and reduc- in proportionately the danger of congestion in shipping later in the season." * ♦ ♦ Speaking of the contrast between the periods before and after this step was taken, E. W. Parker, in the 1913 "Mineral Resources of the United States," says: "It will be observed that in the anthracite mines during the last decade of the 19th century there was a notably decreasing tendency in the number of days the workers in the anthracite mines were able to work, until in 1897 and 1898 they barely averaged 50 per cent of the possible working days in the year, excluding Sundays and legal holidays. These figures substan- tiate the claim made about that time that the anthracite min- ers were unable to earn a total living wage. The consumption of the prepared sizes of anthracite being almost exclusively for domestic purposes, the production was at a 'peak load' during the fall and winter months, with long periods of idleness dur- ing the summer. In order to meet the demands of the 'peak loads' it was necessary to keep on the rolls a much larger num- ber of men than if steady employment could be given the year round. * * * Beginning with 1903, however, a marked im- provement is shown in the working time made by the anthracite 21 miners. From 1892 to 1902, iuclusive, the anthracite mine workers did not average as much as 200 days in any one year, and the general average for the i)eriod was 173 da^^s. Since 1903, on the otlier hand, the anthracite miners have averaged less than 200 days in only one year, 1906, when there was an extended suspension pending the renewal of the anthracite strike commission's awards, and the general average of the period has been 220 days, 47 days or 27 per cent more than tlie general average for the earlier period." » » » The following table gives the data for this period of readjustment : Anthracite. Bituminous. Year. No. men r-Av. tomiage per man— ^ Days /—Days worked-^ employed. day. year. worked. Penna. U. S. 1903 150,483 2.41 496 206 235 225 1904 155,861 2.35 469 200 196 202 1905 163,406 2.19 470 215 231 211 1906 162,355 2.25 439 195 231 213 1907 167,234 2.33 512 220 255 234 1908 174,174 2.39 478 200 201 193 Average . . . 206 225 213 During this period, although the average for such years as 1902, 1906 and 1909 is considerably influenced by the serious stoppages of work which occurred pending the adjustment of disputes between the mine workers and the operators, the general average for the period, 206 days, is primarily an index of market conditions. This is the result of the fact that adjustment every three years had be- come the regular thing, for which preparation was made in the pre- ceding year. The succeeding year was also, to a large degree, in- fluenced by compensatoiT production. Thus we notice in the table that the year of stoppage, 1900, is preceded and followed by years during which the number of days operated was relatively high. In this connection we find the following comment upon the year 1903 in the report of the Pennsylvania Department of Mines : "The long and disastrous strike of 1902 had depleted the supply of coal to such an extent that it required full and con- tinuous work at the mines for the first 10 months of 1903 to restore the normal conditions of the trade in this country and in Canada. During November and December, however, the pro- 22 duction was greatly curtailed, owing to a cessation, in the de- mand, and most of the operations closed down completely on the 24th of the latter month." * * * So again, in the publication of the United States Geological Sur- vey, "Mineral Resources of the United States," a hint is given to the same effect. Speaking of the high average days worked in 1905, Mr. Parker writes: ''This average for the anthracite mine workers was the high- est recorded in the 16 years that the statistics have been ob- tained, and was probably due to the efforts put forth by the operating companies to lay in a large supply of coal in anticipa- tion of a strike when the award of the anthracite coal commis- sion expired in the spring of 1906." As a matter of fact, the extraordinarily low averages of the '90s no longer prevailed. The relation between the market and the sup- ply existing in the '80s had to all intents and purposes been re- established. Experts considered that the market was about equal to the supply, and, as the increase in number of workers in the in- dustry tended to parallel the slow increase of the market, it would seem as though 206 odd days were considered as constituting a fair year's work in the anthracite fields. During this period experts remark increasingly on the probability that the anthracite industry has reached its high-water mark. This opinion is based chiefly upon the increasing cost of production, which tends to handicap anthracite in competition with other fuels. In any final judgment as to the probable employment in the industry in the future this factor must be considered. It is remarked that a portion of this increased cost is due to the fact that the workers themselves are producing a smaller quantity per day. But the men giving this opinion are not always careful enough to state that this decrease in the productivity may largely be accounted for by the increasing difficulty of mining as the seams are worked farther and farther, often becoming thinner as the mines go deeper. Days Worked in Pennsylvania Anthracite Mines Compared WITH Other Mining Countries. In the 1906 report of the Pennsylvania Department of Mines there is a small table showing for the period now being considered the comparative time worked in certain coal-producing countries as com- 23 pared with. Pennsjlvania anthracite. The table is here reproduced, in order to show to what extent the American anthracite miner is suffering from irregularity of emploj^ment more than his fellows in other countries. With the average days worked in the other coun- tries standing at 282, it must be obvious that the mines in those countries have not been subject to the unregulated exploitation from which the miners in the United States have been the chief sufferers. DA\S WORKED IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. Pennsylvania anthracite (1903) 211 Great Britain bituminous (1903) , Germany, bituminous (1903) France, bituminous (1900) Belgium, bituminous (1902) Austria, bituminous (1903) Average for foreign countries. 264 274 296 289 289 282 24 V. THE ANTHRACITE IInDUSTKY DUKJNG THE PAST DECADE. From the preceding pages it is evident that the problem of regu- larity in the anthracite industry is primarily a problem of the ability of the market to absorb the full production of the labor emjiloyed. It appears that this market is chiefly responsive to weather conditions and to the growth of population. From the time when the summer discount was introduced the steady growth of population has tended to improve the very bad conditions which re- sulted from the speculative overinvestment in the industiy. But other factors were coming into plaj' which tended more and more to render it doubtful whether the industry would ever reach full-time operation. \>ith these facts in mind, it would appear, from an examination of data for the decade ending with the present time, that the average for the years 1910 to 1916, inclusive, will be found to represent approximately the best average days worked that can be expected from the industry. In other words, it represents a real balance between the demands of the market and the possible pro- duction of the limited mining area, which will not be exceeded, and which may tend toward a slow decline, for reasons which will be noted. The average for these years is 242 days of operation, which corresponds almost exactly with the days worked in the Pennsyl- vania bituminous mines for the same years. The correspondence is even closer than the rough average shows, the exact figures being for the anthracite mines, 241.57, and for the bituminous mines, 241.29. In other words, taking the full number of days worked for the seven years, it will be found that the totals dififer by only two days, being 1691 and 1689, respectively. This would certainly seem to indicate relative stabilization of the situation in Pennsylvania at approximately 242 working days, which means a loss to the workers of some 63 possible working days each year, or something over 20 per cent of the year. The exact figures appear in the following table • 25 Anthracite. Bituminous. Year. No. men r-A\. tonnage per man— ^ Days employed. day. year. worked. r — Days worked— \ Penna. U. S. 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 Average 169,497 2.17 173,940 2.11 174,030 2.10 175,745 2.03 179,679 2.06 176,552 2.19 159,869 2.16 498 229 520 246 485 231 521 1 257 505 1 245 504 1 230 548 1 253 242 238 233 2.52 267 214 226 259 241 217 211 233 232 195 203 230 219 1 ^Vith the beginning of this period the production of anthracite had reached a level at which it appeared likely to remain. In other words, despite the growth of population, it appeared that other con- ditions, such as the movement to steam-heated apartment-houses, etc., were likely to prove a counter influence. In "Mineral Resources of the United States" for 1913, it is remarked : "The increase in 11ly of labor in the anthracite regions is improving.'* This is confirmed by the figures submitted by the operators which show that nearly 5,000 men have been added since the lowest point was reached in 191S. The fact of over-investment in the industry is therefore operating again to bring more labor into anthracite mining than the annual market would require if regular conditions of employ- ment were maintained. In other words, an analysis of the forces which determine con- ditions of employment in the anthracite industry will lead to the conviction that the forces in operation since the war have been steadily reducing the industry to approximately the condition which jrevailed during the years which averaged 242 days of operation. The market required no more prepared and pea coal in 1919 than it averaged for the years 1912-1916. The weekly bulletins issued by the Geological Survey show a steady decline in the requirements of The market following the armistice. The Year 1919 2s'ot Completely Normal. Even the year 1919 cannot be considered as a completely normal year. The market would have required less coal from the anthracite mines in 1919 had it not been for the aii:ificial situation created by the bituminous strike. This is clearly shov>-n in the reports of anthracite production compiled week by week at the U. S. Geo- logical Survey. To quote the comments of this weekly report: "Anxiety felt by consumers over the impending bituminous strike was reflected in the demand for anthracite, production of which reached a new high level for the vear." I Nov. 1, 1919.) "The anthracite industry responded to the stimulus of ac- tive demand caused by the soft coal strike with the largest production of the year." (Nov. 29, 1919.) '•The output oi anthracite during the Vvcek ended December 6 continued at the high rate maintained since the commence- ment of the bituminous strike." (Dec. 13. 1919.) 33 '•Eespondiug to the active demand caused by the growing shortage of bituminous coal the output of anthracite during the week ended December 13, rose to the highest level attained this year — indeed, the highest in any week since September, 1918." (Dec. 20, 1919.) In other words, had it not been for this abnormal demand during the last weeks of 1919, the production of that year would have been lower than the figure shown by several hundred thousand tons. The year 1919 also shows a continuation of the shortage of labor which existed during the war, although the industry had started to return to its pre-war quota. As this increase in the number of workers continues, it Vvill mean some increase in the production per day with a consequent reduction of the number of days neces- sary to produce for the market. Less Complicating Factors in Anthracite Than in Bituminous Mining. In general it might be remarked that there are less complicating factors in the anthracite branch of the coal industry than in bitu- minous. Whereas over 50 per cent of bituminous coal is produced by machinery, with the use of machinery increasing, it has not yet been found possible to use machines in anthracite except to a to a ver}' limited extent, approximately 2 per cent of the coal being so produced. This means that the problem of regularity will not be immediately affected by a rapid increase in the productive capac- ity of the individual worker. Again, it may be noted that the problem of ''car shortage" is not so serious in the anthracite industry as in bituminous. This is explained by the Federal Trade Commission Report as follows : "In the anthracite industry, where the initial anthracite railroads are identified or affiliated with the larger mining com- panies, the transportation difficulties are less serious than in the bituminous industry. With minor exceptions the car sup- ply for the production of coal at the anthracite mines seems adequate." The Commission obtained statistics relating to the railroad car supply at the operations of fifteen anthracite mining companies. Their consolidated tabulation is given below. 34 ESTIfilATED RAILROAD-CAR TONNAGE REQUIREMENTS OF 13 ANTHRA- CITE MINING COMPANIES, AND ESTIMATED COMMERCIAL TONNAGE LOST THROUGH AN INADEQUATE CAR SUPPLY BY MONTHS, 1915 AND 1916. (GROSS TONS). Month. Estimated commercial shipments if fully | Tonnage shipped. [Estim. produc. of comL tonnage lost thru an supplied with cars. 1 inadequate car supply. 1915 1916 1915 1916 1915 1916 January February March April 3,250,582 2,959,208 3,486,654 4,604,499 4,417,709 4,369,660 4,894,091 ^ !>7CJ 1 n."? 3,141,210 2,836,550 3,338,020 4,605,631 4,051,140 3,699,578 3,389,589 3,626,009 3,811,188 4,562,631 4,467,130 4,176,305 4,097,664 3,976,877 4,394,644 3,073,936 3,776,639 3,989,027 3,820,079 3,965,309 3,866,956 4,138,915 4,299,327 4,076,594 109,372 122,658 148,634 '379 85,592 335,045 80,034 35,900 '2,396 97,270 90,733 377,509 320,045 392,783 499,447 205,167 173 907 May 4,136,7321 3'9.f^n'54fi June 3,734,623 3,469,623 3,661,909 3,799,054 4,659,901 4,557,863 4,553,814 4,077,789 3,917,704 4,084,790 4,083,075 4,292,709 4,402,371 4,179,373 88 762 July 97 625 August September October November December 119,481 216,119 153,794 103,044 102,779 Total 14 Co.'s.. 1 Co. 12 mos... 46,874,462 4,642,807 49,948,920 5,137,916 45,704,981 4,562,925 47,475,967 4,413,507 1,185,522 79,882 2,472,953 724,409 Tl. 15 companies 51,517,269 55,086,836 50,267,906 51,889,474 1,265,404 3,197,362 The data in the preceding table represent returns from companies shipping 72.6 per cent of the commercial shipments of anthracite during 1915 and 76.2 per cent of the commercial shipments during 1916. The loss in potential production resulting from inadequate railroad car supply was for the above years, 1,265,404 gross tons and 3,197,362 gross tons, respectively. This meant a loss totaling only 2.517 per cent of their combined commercial shipments in 1915, and 6.161 per cent of these shipments in 1916. Thus it appears that although the figure rose somewhat in 1916, the problem of car shortage is not acute in the anthracite industry. There is one other factor which has been referred to from time to time which must be mentioned again, i. e. idleness due to strikes. From the previous discussion the impression may have been gained that the degree of idleness due to such strikes was very considerable. 'One company reported car tonnage furm'shed in excess of shipments, 1,511 tons in April, 1915, and 14,530 tons in September, 1915. 35 A diagram has been prepared recently by the U. S. Geological Sur- vey in order to gain some idea of the extent to which strikes are a factor in non-operation in the coal industry'. As shown in the diagram, idleness due to strikes has, during the period 1910-1918, amounted to but a little over one-tenth of the total days of non- operation. And here it should be pointed out again that, except for the strike of 1902, which has been left out in reckoning the gen- eral average, the strikes have not materially affected the average because they indirectly caused a compensatory greater number of days worked in the preceding and succeeding years. 36 VI. PROBABLE IRREGULARITY IN THE FUTURE. I II estimating the probable number of days which will be worked in r\- . ■ , t -! in ru ■ 1 n \j Districts \, 1 and 9 Chris. J. Ciolden J Of the United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER- FREIGHT RATES ON ANTHRACITE COAL 1914-1920 Presented by W. JETT LAUCK On behalf of United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 17 A I FREIGHT RATES ON ANTHRACITE COAL, 1914-1920 The following tables show the rates of freight iii effect at the present time and during 1914 on anthracite coal from the producing districts in Pennsylvania to the cities in which retail prices were obtained, except Scranton, Pa., which is in the heart of the anthra- cite region. Rates are also shown to tidewater points for shipment by water. These rates are taken from the published tariffs of the principal anthracite can-ying railroads on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission. As anthracite shipments to Philadelphia move solely in intrastate traffic, some rates were not on file with the Commission prior to 1917, when the United States Railroad Administration was created. It will be noted that the rates via different lines are very uni- form to New England points and to Baltimore and Washington. Owing to the close proximity of Philadelphia to the anthracite fields, there is a differential on coal shipments between near and distant mines. To some extent this is also true of New York, while the several delivery points in that city likewise carry different rates. It will also be noted that there was a general increase in rates between 1914 and 1920. OOOOlOlOlOOOOOOOUStOWSOOOlOio f^ ootcooooooosasotcetfoocoqoosoiooooo eO e^T-ir^e^ ■^ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo 2 M N N N e OS S-> ISl & _ cQmo. ^ ^ a. 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JO CO S 0) ;?; •4^ ^ cq t- 00 •fH in 00 <35 Ctj 12 REFERENCE NOTES 1. Pennsylvania R. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. AA-1133 (1920), AA-318 (1914). 2 Pennsylvania R. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. AA-1358 (1920), AA-312 (1914). 3. Delaware, L. & W. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. 15334 (1920), 8088 (1914). 4. Pennsylvania R. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. AA-1127 (1920), AA-337 (1914). 5. Philadelphia & Reading Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-888 (1920), A-366 (1914). 6 Philadelphia & Reading Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-800> (1920), A-689 (1917). 7. Philadelphia & Reading Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-763 (1920), A-493 (1914). 8. Delaware & Hudson Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. 12851 (1920), 11013 (1914). 9 Delaware & Hudson Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. 12851 (1920), 1105 (1914). 10. Central R. R. of N. J. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-5S1 (1920), A-211 (1914). 11. Central R. R. of N. J. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-376 (1920), A-249 (1914). 12. Central R. R. of N. J. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-583 (1920), A-137 (1914). 13. Central R. R. of N. J. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-490 (1920), A-474 (1914). 14. Philadelphia & Reading Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-759 (1920), A-408 (1914). 15. Lehigh Valley R. !R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. D-1098 (1920), D-605 (1914). 16. Lehigh Valley R. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. D-980 (1920), D-682 (1914). 17. Lehigh Valley R. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. D-1217 (1920), D-653 (1914). 18. Erie R. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. D-860 (1920), D-634 (1914). 19. Lehigh & New England R. R. Tariffs, L C. C. Nos. A-4832 (1920), A-3636 (1916). 20. Lehigh «5; New England R. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-4892 (1920), A-2442 (1914). 21. Lehigh & New England ^. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-4785 (1920), A-2481 (1914). 22. New York, Ontario & W. R. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. 7855 (1920), 5149 (1914). 23. Erie R. R. Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. D-890 (1920), D-662 (1914). 24. Philadelphia & Reading Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-721 (1920), A-504 (1914). 25. Philadelphia & Reading Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-728 (1920), A-502 (1914). 26. Philadelphia & Reading Tariffs, I. C. C. Nos. A-833 (1920), A-445 (1914). I BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER^ OCCUPATION HAZARD OF ANTHRACITE MINERS Presented by W. JETT LAUCK On behalf of John L. Lewis, President Philip Murray, Vice-President F, P. Hanaway, International Representative Percy Tetlow, Statistician John Dempsey ) Committee Representing 1 homas Kennedy > r^- . • . i -7 j n r'L • T r' ij I Districts I, / and V Chris, j, Liolden ) Of the United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 f Jiis exhibit was prepared uhder tb© supervision of W. JETT LAUCK by Henry J Harris BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER- OCCUPATION HAZARD OF ANTHRACITE MINERS Presented by W. JETT LAUCK On behalf of United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 3A TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary of Conclusions 5 General Character of Hazards 6 I. The Duration of the Life of the Anthracite Miner 7 II. The Accident Hazard of Coal Miners 12 III. Occupational Diseases of Coal Miners 22 IV. Premature Invalidity of Coal Miners 24 OCCUPATION HAZARD OF ANTHRACITE MINERS Summary of Conclusions. 1. A prominent authority states, "Probably no industry is so sub- ject to exceptional hazards as the coal industry." 2. The general mortality of the anthracite miner is distinctly above the average for all occupied males. 3. A large and representative life insurance company will accept coal miners only if they pay rates for 16 years above the actual age, and even then will permit them to have no cheaper form of policy than a 20-year endowment; only one other occupation is subjected to more drastic conditions. 4. The Director of the United States Bureau of Mines stated: "The hazard of (coal) mining is undeniably on the increase." 5. The latest anthracite report of the Pennsylvania Department of Mines states that, in spite of increased inspections, there has been no decrease in the fatalities in or about the mines. C. A Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics states: ''Throughout every year of the working period of life the mortality of coal miners includes a relatively much higher proportion of deaths from accidents than is found to prevail among all occupied males." The State Insurance Department of Pennsylvania found that anthracite mining had the highest accident severity rating of all industries under the compensation act, with but one exception, viz., iron construction. 7. The personal accident insurance companies impose strict limi- tations on the occupation of coal miner, and will grant only a minimum amount of insurance; printers and machinists are given five and six times more insurance protection than the coal miner. 8. The leading causes of death are respiratory diseases and indus- trial accident. 9. The non-fatal accidents in the Pennsylvania anthracite field in 1916 disabled about one-sixth of the entire working force for a greater or less period. The Report of the Pennsylvania State Health Insurance Commission states that "the total sickness rate among 3B 6 miners was 8 per cent higher than the general rate for white adult males." 10. Where the injury did not cause death, it most frequently caused disabilit}' in the arms and legs, with resulting inability to resume mine work on recovery, 11. The Report of the renusylvania State Commission on Old Age Pensions states, ''Miners age prematurely." General Character of Hazards. Anthracite mining is quite generally recognized as a hazardous occupation, but the full extent of this hazard is not generally appre- ciated. In the following statement a summary is given of authorita- tive information on this subject. The sources of these data are the findings of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States Bureau of Mines, the Pennsylvania State Department of Mines, State commissions, the experience of leading life and accident insurance companies, etc. The importance of combating this great occupational hazard is so clearly recognized that the Federal Government has created a special national ofilice — the United States Bureau of Mines — to aid the in- dustry in this movement of reducing the danger to life and limb. No other industry has received this rather doubtful honor, with the exception of railroading, which is peculiarly an interstate industry. Not only is the hazard of mining exceptional, but there is no indi- cation that it is diminishing — in fact, the Director of the United States Bureau of Mines states: "The hazard of (coal) mining is undeniably on the increase." The Pennsylvania Department of Mines states that, in spite of a great increase in the number of inspectors, there has been no reduction in the number of fatalities to anthracite miners. In the analysis of this exceptionally great occupation hazard, the facts may be summarized under the following headings : 1. The duration of life of the miner. 2. The accident hazard : a. Fatal accidents. b. Non-fatal accidents. 3. The occupational diseases of miners. 4. Premature invalidity. I. THE DURATION OF LIFE OF THE ANTHRACITE MINER. The mortality experience of American life insurance companies has been compiled in the Medico-actuarial investigations of these companies. The general result of these studies is, to use the words of Dr. Hoffman, "The mortality of coal minere in the United States is distinctly above the average." It must be remembered, however, that miners who are accepted for life insurance are subjected to extreme care in medical examination. The following statement in Bulletin 231 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics sum- marizes a lengthy study of the mortality of miners : ''The only additional statistical information available regard- ing the mortality of coal miners in the United States is the com- bined collective experience of American life insurance com- panies, issued by the Medico-actuarial committee. The experi- ence, fortunately, is divided into anthracite and bituminous, but not with reference to the causes of death. The data are set forth in detail in Table 161. which indicates the ratio of the actual to the expected mortality, showing for the anthracite coal miners a ratio of 191 deaths actually experienced against 132 for the bituminous miners. How far the factor of occupa- tional selection is of importance has not been determined. In all probability the average duration of insurance in bituminous coal fields is less than in the older anthracite fields. The experi- ence for both classes is entirely too limited for a safe conclusion in that there are only 66 deaths of anthracite coal miners and 45 deaths of bituminous coal miners. The small number ex- posed to risk at the older ages is suggestive of extreme care in medical selection. The table, particularly for the younger ages, indicates that the general mortality of coal miners in the Ignited States is distinctly above the average." 8 MORTALITY FROM ALL CAUSES MIONG COAL MINERS OF UNITED STATES (MEDICO-ACTUARIAL EXPERIENCE) BY AGE GROUPS. Age at Death. Anthracite Coal Miners: 15 to 29 years 30 to 39 years 40 to 49 years 50 to 59 years 60 years and over Total Bituminous Coal Miners: 15 to 29 years 30 to 39 years 40 to 49 years 50 to 59 years 60 years and over . . . . Total Number exposed to risk. Actual deaths. Expected deaths. Ratio of actual to expected deaths. 1,412 11 6.71 1,460 15 8.89 949 22 9.76 405 17 8.89 9 1 .30 164 169 225 191 333 4,235 2,883 2,684 738 106 3 66 22 18 I t i 34.55 12.60 13.75 6.00 1.79 .08 6,414 45 34.22 191 175 131 67 56 132 In the introduction to this study it is stated ''generally the excess of the mortality ratio over 100 per cent indicates the extent of the extra mortality due to the particular occupation in question" (Vol, III, p. 6). It is thus fair to state, on the basis of the small number of miners accepted by conservative insurance companies, that the anthracite miner has a death rate at least 91 per cent higher than the average; in other words, almost two anthracite miners die for every one person in a healthy occupation, such as farm worker. The causes of the high death rate of coal miners are analyzed in Bulletin 207 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, which gives in condensed form a study of the mortality experience of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (Industrial Department). The Bulletin states (page 28 and following) : "There were 1,557 deaths among coal miners.^ The table fol- lowing indicates the distribution of these deaths by age periods^ and the corresponding distribution in all occupations" : ^This title includes foremen and workmen in coal mines: Line drivers, pit miners (in coal mines only), cagers, cribmen, drillers, laborers in coal mines, trimmers, shaft tenders and tlmbermen in coal mines. NUMBER AND PER CENT OF DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES, AMONG COAL MINERS, BY AGE PERIODS, IN COMPARISON WITH ALL OCCUPA- TIONS—WHITE MALES. Age periods (years). Ages 15 years and over. Item. 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 and over. Coal Miners: Deaths 1,557 151 135 182 319 407 363 Per cent of deaths. . All Occupations: Per cent of deaths. . 100.0 100.01 9.7 11.8 8.7 13.7 11.7 16.2 20.5 17.7 26.1 20.3 23.3 20.3 '•A considerably larger proportion of the deaths in this occu- pation occurred after the age of 44 — 69.9 per cent, as against 58.3 per cent in all occupations. The average age at death is 51.3 Tears. "The following table analyzes the mortality of each age class, bv cause of death": NUMBER OF PER CENT OF DEATHS FROM SPECIFIED CAUSES AilONG COAL MINERS, BY AGE PERIODS, 15 YEARS AND OVER— WHITE MALES. (Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., Industrial Department — Mortality Experience, 1911 to 1913). Ages 15 yrs. and over Per cent of deaths during age period (years) Aver- age age at death Causes of death Num- ber Per- cent 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 and over Number of deaths 1,557 151 135 182 319 407 363 Influenza 23 91 71 94 149 49 161 37 116 18 317 431 1.5 5.8 4.6 6.0 9.6 3.1 10.3 2.4 7.5 1.2 20.4 27.7 0.7 4.0 .7 .7 2.6 4.6 '"".7 62.9 23.2 'ii!9 1.5 .7 4.4 7.4 .7 1.5 2.2 43.7 25.9 1.6 12.1 2.7 1.6 6.6 1.1 10.4 1.1 6.6 2.2 30.7 22.9 0.6 6.6 3.4 4.1 8.8 1.6 14.7 4.1 7.8 2.2 15.7 30.4 2.2 3.4 6.9 7.6 10.8 4.2 11.3 2.9 11.5 .7 10.3 28.0 2.2 3.3 6.6 12.4 15.2 6.9 8.8 2.5 8.3 '41 29.9 58.9 Tuberculosis of the lungs Cancer (all forms) 45.8 58.9 Cerebral hemorrhage, apo- plexy, and paralysis Organic diseases of the heart 62.3 57.9 Acute and chronic bron- chitis 63.6 Pneumonia (lobar and defined) un- 53.1 Cirrhosis of the liver Bright's disease 56.4 58.3 Suicide (all forms) 44.6 Accidental violence 36.6 All other causes Total 1,557 100.01 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 51.3 10 *'In the age period 15 to 24, tuberculosis of the lungs is of small consequence, causing only 4 per cent of all deaths, as compared with 33.8 per cent in the general group. Its relative index is 11.8\ Or- ganic diseases of the heart are low (44.8), as is also suicide (25.0). On the other hand, accidental violence shows a relative index of 327.6. In the age period 25 to 34, practically the same general con- ditions are observed. Tuberculosis of the lungs is very low (29.1), and accidental violence remains high (349.6). In the age period 35 to 44, the relative index for tuberculosis of the lungs is 36.8. In- fluenza and the respiratory diseases exhibit a high proportionate mortality. The relative index for influenza is 266.7, that for bron- chitis 366.7, and that for pneumonia 128.4. Suicide exhibits a rela- tive index of 75.9, and accidental violence remains high, with an index of 310.1. In the age period 45 to 54 no new variations are noted. Tuberculosis of the lungs is 35.7; bronchitis and pneumonia remain high, the relative indices being, respectively, 266.7 and 179.3. Accidental violence, though lower than in the previous age periods, is still high (184.7). In the age period 55 to 64 the relative index for tuberculosis of the lungs is low (39.5) ; for bronchitis (381.8) and for pneumonia (150.7) it is high. Accidental violence still re- mains high, with a relative index of 158.5. In the age period 65 and over the relative indices for bronchitis (363.2) and pneumonia (139.7) are high." Life insurance companies use a system: of rating hazardous occu- pations based upon the companies' past experience in granting insur- ance to persons following these occupations. Their method of pro- tecting themselves is either to refuse applications or to accept such applications with stringent restrictions. Persons engaged in min- ing (underground) are accepted for insurance, but with the handi- cap, first, of having 16 years added to their actual age, and, second, of being permitted to purchase no cheaper form of policy than a 20- year endowment, the rates of which are more than double the rate for ordinary life policies. From the following list, used by a typical company, the New York Life Insurance Co., it will be seen that only one occupation, "freight brakemen on trains without safety appli- ances," is charged a higher rate. It may be said, therefore, that an underground miner is engaged in such a hazardous occupation that he is barely within the class which is permitted to purchase life insurance. ^ Relative index means that all occupied males in the age class are considered as equalling 100. 11 The following table includes all occupations which are subjected to an advance of 9 or more jears in age because of the occupation hazard involved : HAZARD RATINGS OF NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. (Source: New York Life Insurance Co. Treatment of applicants engaged in occupations which involve some additional hazard. Form 1519, New York City, 1912.) Years. Railroad freight brakemen — on trains without automatic couplers — signal' men, not from towers, yard switchmen (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Working miners (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Oilwell shooters (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Railroad freight brakemen— on trains equipped with automatic couplers — car cleaners, coal heavers, flagmen at crossings, Pullman car porters, section hands, wrecking crews, yard signal repairers and switch repairers (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Stock yards butchers, shavers and skinners (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Soldiers, gunners and ordnance men (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endow- ments for an amount not exceeding $2,000) Cartridge workers who break up condemned cartridges (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Firemen and sailors on ocean and Great Lakes (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Navy ordnance men, sailors and gunners (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments for an amount not exceeding $2,000) Railroad engine flremen, engine hostlers, wipers and flue cleaners, freight conductors, conductors of mixed passenger and freight trains (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Cement mill employees (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) OSicers on sailing vessels and master mariners on fishing vessels Metal polishers (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Potters — wheel or mold (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Powder mill foremen and skilled employees in factories; those who work in the outside gang, in the acidhouses, or in the warehouses (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Sawmill filers Smelter workers, laborers (limited to 10, 15 and 20-year endowments) Mine owners, superintendents, mining engineers, foremen, bosses and over- seers, whose regular duties take them underground 20 16 15 15 15 12 12 12 12 12 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 While it may not be strictly accurate to say that the life insur- ance companies regard the miner's life as 16 years shorter than the life of a person in a safe occupation, yet this is what the above rating practically amounts to. 12 II. THE ACCIDENT HAZARD OF COAL MINERS. (a) Fatal Accidents. The data for hard coal and for soft coal mining are not always given separately. An analysis of the causes of death of coal miners — hard and soft coal — insured in the Prudential Insurance Company (Industrial Department) is given in Bulletin 157 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. A special form of statistical table is used to compare the deaths from accidents with deaths from all other causes. This table is reproduced below. Commenting upon it, the Bulletin states (p. 114) : *'As an illustration of the method adopted, a brief reference may be made to coal miners; there were 2,719 deaths during the period 1907 to 1912, of which 631 were due to accidents, or 23.2 per cent of the mortality from all causes. The corresponding average proportion for all occupied males was 9.4 per cent. The excess becomes much more marked when the percentages are compared for the separate divisional periods of life: At ages 15 to 24, out of every 100 deaths from all causes of coal miners, 56.9 were deaths caused by accidents, against 20.7 for all occu- pied males ; at ages 25 to 34 the respective figures were 42.3 and 12.8 ; at ages 35 to 44 they were 34.3 and 10.2 ; at ages 45 to 54 they were 20.4 and 8.9. The excess in the mortality figures for coal miners continues throughout life, for at ages 55 to 64 the accident percentage for coal miners was 12.9, against 6.4 for all occupations; whereas at ages 65 and over the respective per- centages were 5.1 and 4.1. The analysis, therefore, proves con- clusively that throughout every year of the working period of life the mortality of coal miners includes a relatively much higher proportion of deaths from accidents than is found to pre- vail among all occupied males. The facts are, therefore, quite conclusive of the need of a nation-wide effort to bring about a material reduction of the accident frequency in mines." 13 PROPORTIONATE MORTALITY OF COAL MINERS, MALES, FROM ACCI- DENTS BY OCCUPATIONS AND AGE GROUPS, 1907 TO 1912. (Prudential Isurance Co.) Age groups. Age groups. Deaths from — Coal Mines — Drivers: 15 to 24 years 24 to 34 years 35 to 44 years 45 to 54 years. . . . 55 to 64 years 65 years and over. Total Coal Mines — Laborers: 15 to 24 years 25 to 34 years 35 to 44 years 45 to 54 years. . . . 55 to 64 years 65 years and over. Total All causes. 21 5 2 28 11 12 6 10 9 4 52 Acci- dents. Per cent of deaths due to accidents. In speci- fied occu- pation. 18 4 1 85.7 80.0 50.0 23 16 Coal Mines — Foremen: 15 to 24 years 25 to 34 years 35 to 44 years. . . . 45 to 54 years. . . . 55 to 64 years. . . . 65 years and over. Total Coal Miners: 15 to 24 years 25 to 34 years 35 to 44 years 45 to 54 years 55 to 64 years. . . . 65 years and over. Total Deaths from — All causes. Acci- dents. 4 10 22 14 6 56 267 281 341 623 699 508 2,719 14 152 119 117 127 90 26 631 82.1 63.6 50.0 io.6 11.1 25.0 30.8 Among occupied males. 20.7 12.8 10.2 8.9 6.4 4.1 9.4 20.7 12.8 10.2 8.9 6.4 4.1 9.4 Per cent of deaths due to accidents. In speci- fied occu- pation. 50.0 50.0 18.2 7.1 33.3 25.0 56.9 42.3 34.3 20.4 12.9 5.1 23.2 Among occupied males. 20.7 12.8 10.2 8.9 6.4 4.1 9.4 20.7 12.8 10.2 8.9 6.4 4.1 9.4 14 The experience of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (In- dustrial Department) likewise shows an excessively high proportion of deaths from accidents to coal miners (anthracite and bituminous). Bulletin 207 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics gives a statement of this experience for the years 1911 to 1913 (see table above on p. 8). By using the figure for all occupied males as 100, a "relative index" is obtained. This shows, for instance, that for all ages up to 44 the deaths from accidents were over 300 — that is over three times the average. The study in Bulletin 207 states : "The high rate from accidental violence is characteristic of all age periods, but especially up to age 45. For all ages the relative index of accidental violence is 219.4. Between the ages of 15 and 44 the relative indices are all over 300. The age period 45 to 54 has a relative index of 184.7 ; in the age period 55 to 64 the index is 158.5. In the last period, 65 and over, it is only 93.2. The Prudential experience is very nearly the same as that of the Metropolitan ; for all ages the relative index is 246.2. The index for the material of the British Registrar General's office is 256.9. The above figures show clearly the effect of the dangers of the occupation upon the mortality of coal miners." Another impartial estimate of the accident hazard of anthracite mining is found in the rating of the occupation by the accident insurance companies. These companies have a joint bureau which has made elaborate studies of occupation hazards and has published the results of these investigations in a volume entitled "Classifica- tion of Occupations for Accident and Health Insurance. As Ap- proved by the. Standard Manual Committee of the Bureau of Per- sonal Accident and Health Underwriters. Revised and Corrected to March 1, 1919." New York, 1919. (The coal mine ratings cited herewith are found on pages 14, 60 and 61 of this publication.) According to the experience of these companies, they are willing to provide a coal mine owner who does not enter or visit his mine $10,000 of personal accident insurance, but if he does enter or visit his mine, then this amount must be cut in two, and he can secure only |5,000 protection. According to the manual, therefore, merely entering or visiting a coal mine cuts a man's desirability as an acci- dent insurance risk directly in half. If, however, a man is a coal miner, then he is at once excluded from the usual classes of risk, and is placed in a special class, designated as the "C Miner" group, and under no circumstances may he have 15 more than $500 protection ; furthermore, if he is a miner's hiborer, he may not have more than |250 protection. In the opinion of these specialists on occupation hazards, |500 is all that it is safe to risk on a trained coal miner and |250 on his helper. A carpenter, using machinery, may have .f2,000, a machinist may have |2,500, a printer (pressman) may have |3,000, and other skilled occupations may liave corresponding amounts of protection, but the trained coal miner may have only a minimum of protection — his occupation hazard being too great to permit of anything more. The record of fatal accidents in the Pennsylvania anthracite mines from 1899 to 1916, inclusive, is given in the Pennsylvania Anthra- cite Report for 191G (the latest available) . This record is as follows : FATAL ACCIDENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRACITE MINES, 1899-1916. (Source: Pennsylvania, Department of Mines Report, 1916, Part 1, Anthracite, Page 104.) Year. Production. Employes. Fatal accidents. Lives lost per 1,000 employes. Lives lost per 1,000,000 tons produced. Produc- tion per life lost. 1899 1900 1901 1902 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912........ 1913 1914 1915 1916 60,518,331 57,363,396 67,094,665 41,340,935 178,409,849 73,594,369 78,647,020 72,139,510 86,056,412 83,543,243 80,223,833 83,683,994 90,917,176 84,426,869 91,626,964 91,189,641 89,377,706 87,680,198 140,604 143,824 147,651 148,139 262,688 161,339 168,254 166.175 168,774 174,503 171,195 168,175 173,338 175,098 175,310 180,899 177,339 159,169 461 411 513 300 832 595 644 557 708 678 567 601 699 601 624 600 588 565 3.28 2.86 3.47 2.03 3.17 2.69 3.83 3.35 4.20 3.88 3.31 3.57 4.03 3.43 3.56 3.32 3.32 3.55 7.62 7.16 7.65 7.26 4.67 8.08 8.19 7.72 8.23 8.12 7.07 7.18 7.69 7.12 6.81 6.58 6.58 6.44 131,276 139.570 130,789 137,803 214,435 123,688 122,123 129,514 121,549 123,220 141,488 139,241 130.067 140,477 146,838 151,982 152,003 155,186 Totals and averages . . 1,394,656,847 2,951,604 10,230 3.47 7.34 136,330 1 16 As stated elsewhere, a constant effort has been made by the indus- try and by the State government to provide inspectors, safety devices, etc., in order to reduce the number of fatalities in anthracite mines, though so far but little success has attended these efforts. The true index of the fatal accident rate is the rate per 1,000 em- ployees. For the period 1899-1916, the average deaths were 3.47 per 1,000 employees ; in 1916 it was 3.55, and in the past ten years five of the years have rates in excess of 3.55, while the lowest rate in the last ten years was 3.32 per 1,000 employees. It is fair to state, there- fore, that no appreciable reduction has occurred in the anthracite mining hazard since 1900. This general statement is emphasized if the fatal accident rate is given by decades. Stated in summary form, the deaths per 1,000 employees by decades, 1870-1916, were as follows (Keport, 1916, Pennsylvania Department of Mines, Part I, Anthracite, p. 153) : Deaths Period. per 1,000 employes. 1870-1879 4 02 1880-1SS9 310 1S90-1S99 3 15 1900-1909 3 42 1910-1916 3 54 1916 3.55 The causes of fatal accidents in anthracite mines are shown in the following table for the period 1870 to 1916 : 17 02 CO ■ 0) t- O; 03 Q^ oiOicoTH■;t>;T»-^ OO" 1m" i-T r-T CO tH 1 \ m Oi-HlOlOIMC-LOOCOMd O COCOOOC^OOC^jt-jrJ^t-jTH o ^§^ to ui «rJ Ti< CO M Tji ' ' 'to o • cot>iftiOi-HU5me^i-HcqM co rH CO* 1 \ M «OMU5rHM-^t-t~OiC^-* o THC<)lOCe;OT-HLrac-iro7-i • C5 o sis' iH Tt<' O CO CO l>^ Tt< ' r-i : ff4 o lO iH rH o 1-1 is OOlO«5-*t:-OOOMT)H • o t>; C^ICOCii-li-IOOC^r-ITfl • r-l CJ_ l« CO iH i-H IM tH ; T-l co" t-e;D(35«)OJO (N ^ 1 J, w coincocoot-^coiHco t-; o Per cen1 age O l> 05 ' CO » TjJ t> o m rH o I-l 1880- 1889 THOOO o <4-l tt-l o 02 2 -o .2 0) 03 3 o "=•« o S -, ^ 02 fl 02 t^ -tJ ™ c O a a. != • ^ 03 >. O o '5 S ^ c3 '^ ci O -^ O — "O O ° u 'm 03 'w to" bc 2 'E s rt.S §■'« g'iS'3 S=^.2 El- S H cc tamfeu S H S 1 r*< O T}< CO t- O i o O to O CO CO ?■ J o t- CO U5 CO C 5 O CO cq c 3 © 1-1 . — W N UI 00 O r- -1 OO © 05 CO CO Oi tH 1- -1 !>• r^ OJ CO r-l O D to •«ti IM Oi r-l in CO CO CO Oi -"j f © M CO t~ in c © t^ CSi esq t^ c 5 © 1-1 o in in • I-- - © CO N c 5 © '"' 05 t^ CO CO Sv 5 t^ •»t< C5 e<) CO CO c> 3 eg 1-1 iH ev i to co_ tH CO O Oi • -^ ■< © 1-1 tr- t> t~ t£ > © Oi in to r- - © CO M Cv J © iH t- O CO Oi a 3 t- 05 CO iH C<1 C^l © iH tH •* rH oo" to 05 to CO c > © 1-1 1-1 in CO l> © o to in 00 o- © CO e^ e\ © iH CO to •<* tH ir C in ■* C<1 CM IM • 03 • X3 '. 02 : 3 02 o ^. 0) tion in explos icity. 02 3 O 13 -o O 03 ^5 ars achin iffoca oiler lectr iscell u s «3 m w S 1 ^ .5 The table is of particular value in endeavoring to assess the occu- pation hazard of the anthracite miner. Throughout the whole period the same causes keep recurring as responsible for the greater part of the deaths. Thus, 92.76 per cent of the deaths inside the mines from 1870 to 1916 were due to falls of material, mine cars, gas and suffocation, explosions of powder and dynamite, blasts and falling of men into shafts and slopes. In spite of all improvements in safety arrangements and increases in inspections, falls of coal, slate and roof keep on killing about half the men who lose their lives in anthracite mines. The mine cars are next in the list of leading causes, and. together with the preceding cause, are responsible for about two-thirds of the deaths inside anthracite mines. If to these two causes be added the deaths due to explosions of gas and suffoca- tion by gas, about three-fourths of the deaths are accounted for. These four causes persist as primarily responsible for the killing of anthracite miners throughout nearly half a century, and little im- provement has taken place in all these years. The important fact, hoAvever, in this connection is that the inher- ent hazard of anthracite mining is increasing from year to year. Mr. Van H. Manning, Director of the United States Bureau of Mines, states :' a* * * rpijg hazard of mining is undeniably on the in- crease. The hazard is increasing because mines are becoming larger and are employing more men. Consequently, not only are there many more points in a mine at which accidents may occur, but a great accident imperils the lives of many more men. An explosion that might have killed 25 or 30 men a few years ago may now trap hundreds. Furthermore, the area of worked- out ground is larger, so that there are large numbers of rooms in which gas and dust may accumulate to increase the risk of explosions as well as their violence. "As mines grow larger they necessarily require more exten- sive haulage systems, more locomotives and mine cars, and thus the danger from haulage accidents grows." This general statement as to the steadily increasing hazard in mines is supported by the latest report on anthracite mines of the Pennsylvania State Department of Mines — that for the year 1916. On page 10.5 of this report, reference is made to the steadily increas- ing number of State mine inspectors from 1884 to 1916, the report stating that ''The great increase in the number of inspectors has not ■Van H. Manning, "Mine Accidents and Their Prevention," in Monthly Bulletin of Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, May, 1916, pages 52-54. 19 brought about the result desired, namely, a decrease in the number of fatalities in and about the mines." On page 7 of the same report it is stated : "It is almost incredible that with all the modern safety appliances, the improved methods of mining, the comprehensive mining laws and the stringent rules for the guidance of employees, there should be no reduction in the number of accidents. There are several reasons, however, for this apparently illogical state of affairs. Two of the most important are ( 1 ) the mining of coal is now more difficult and hazardous than ever before, and (2) the ignorance and the resultant carelessness on the part of the workers." (b) Xon-Fatal Accidents. The best analysis of accidents occurring in anthracite mines is the detailed study published in the Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Depart- ment of Labor and Industry, No. 7 of 1917, entitled ''Analytical Tables, Compiled in the Bureau of Statistics and Information, and the Bureau of Workmen's Compensation — Showing Cost of Acci- dents which resulted in the Killing and Injuring of Miners in the Anthracite and Bituminous Coal Fields of Pennsylvania During the Year 1916" (page 06 and following). The following statements are derived from this study. The figures include only cases reported to the Bureau of Workmen's Compen- sation. During the year 1916, there were 9,413 workers in the anthracite field who were injured to such an extent that they were disabled for more than 11 days, some of them permanently. Besides these, there were 16,979 workers injured and disabled for periods of less than 11 days, the average being 5 days. Together, these two groups number 26.392 workers in 1916. As the number of persons employed was 159,169, this makes 165.8 per 1,000 employees injured in one year, or practically one-sixth of the entire working force. It is needless to state that this proportion of injured workers is extremely high, and is perhaps exceeded only by one or two industries for which no reliable data exist. The causes of these accidents are so varied that it is impossible to present them in brief space. The leading causes, however, are the same as for the fatal injuries, the falls of material, falls of per- sons, explosions, mine cars and locomotives, etc., and they emphasize the great difficulty attending accident prevention in anthracite mines. In the greater part of these accidents the arms and legs were most 20 frequently injured. These injuries are particularly disastrous in lessening the miners' earning capacity". The clearest evidence of the high accident rate of the anthracite industry is found in the experience of the Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Act. The table given below shows the varied nature of the injuries sustained by anthracite miners, but the most con- vincing figure is that contained in the last column of the table. If one compensatable accident is taken as the basis, then all the acci- dents sustained by the anthracite workers involve an annual charge of .f!l,035 per $1,000,000 of annual payroll. Quarrying comes next, with a charge of |6S2 ; bituminous has '1621, while the average for all industries is only $240. In other words, anthracite mining is over four times as hazardous as all industries under the compensa- tion act and is over five times as hazardous as the manufacturing industries. Attention should also be called to column 12 of the table, which gives the rates for death and permanent total disability ; anthracite mining has a rate of |5.4 per $1,000,000 payroll ; quarrying has 13.00, bituminous mining has $2.9, while for all industries it is $1.00 and for manufacturing only it is but $0.8. In other words, anthracite mining accidents of all types are five times the average for all industries, and the most serious accidents, namely, the deaths and the total permanent disablements, are like- wise over five times the average for all industries. -H 1-1 T-T Oh CO oi o H 0> m lH S . w y n s H t^ U 3 r/1 o S H § "i cd > o H .23 I— I CQ i i eu, 2 H o H < -^ a <1) H Q Z tn s HH o 0) 3 If s o — i © Ift T-l IM U5 S '^ 3j -e 51 tS •^ CO C^ 00 c- o ©^ O^ «D «0 ,H rH d d^ s a- iH (M CO O eg E3 CO t- tc O c-? O U ^ o o HO '^ C t-i CO t> o lO m CO o c 00 1-! CO U^ Ol CD O CO ■C -^ ■^ Cd 1— 1 tH c ^ T-l rH 1— 1 ^-' « — — " +— 1-1 •^ ■»*< t- I^ Fh oJ --^ CO CO ir: CO t- rt >.oo t- rH CO 05 Q. W^ c •a a -3 CCl cd u fe eu4 O o. i-> o ,-■ 00 M (M «> 5£> tH ;_r T3 C ^ CO ,-( O uo 0) o a b'^ lO CO J2 rt < - S ffi M «5 t- -^ ,_! !^ ^-^ 1-1 Oi O CO CO <;b O TJH Oi - — . — =^h-c T^ r-i 1-1 CD «> 1-1 C- 00 C~ LO CO ej t> o c^-- c CD oo o OC" CO t>-' r-T co- co iH CO ^^ t- 1-1 Oi Oi o S5 -d O O 0) ^ Tf CO OC Tt" t^ t-. O CD_ C<1_ Tt<_ ^§:^S UO Oi Co" 1^3 t- 1-1 Tt< CD C^ LO C3 ^•- "-^ t-_^ cq 1-i Oh g c^' i-T &9- • 6C W) Wl • .e 3 3 * 3 'c 'C ^^^ 1 2 e 3 O ""51-1 'E O 03 ' c3 3 p c ■»-> *J 3 W) t*-i TS fH § O £ .3 = ^ ca .3 >. 3 ^ t-< 3 ^ ^^ no — r-. -^ e_ H 1 ^-IffiO < 1 ■ '—— u 22 III. OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES OF COAL MINERS. There is a long list of diseases to which anthracite miners are par- ticularly liable because of their occupation. The general nature of these diseases has alreadev been referred to in connection with the high mortality of miners. In addition to miners who die from these diseases, there are many who survive, but only with seriously im- paired working capacity. The most important of these afflictions are the respiratory diseases, pneumonia, anthracosis, miners' asthma, etc. It is occasionally stated that thet>e special diseases among miners are not as frequent as formerly, but Bulletin 231 of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (page 406 j gives the warning that "Conclusions based upon frag- mentary observations derived from the experience of physicians in coal-mining centers throughout the world cannot be safely applied to modern coal-mining conditions in the United States. The rela- tively high mortality from asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia is cer- tainly suggestive of more or less health injurious conditions under- ground, probably directly related to dust exposure, which cannot be explained on any other principle of correlation in disease." The United States Bureau of Mines, in its Bulletin No. 93, pub- lished a special study of Miners' Nystagmus, in which it is stated that while the existence of the disease in the United States is not well known, yet — "In view of the foregoing it would seem extremely improbable that an occupational affliction so well defined should be wholly absent in the coal-mining industry of the United States. ♦ ♦ * "The statistical application of the foregoing considerations to the coal-mining industry of the United States is rather lim- ited at present. No trustworthy data exist which warrant more than an approximate estimate of the probable number of nystag- mus cases among American coal miners. According to the sta- tistics of the Bureau of Mines the number of men employed under ground is estimated at 596,470 for the year 1913. As the average rate of new cases of nystagmus reported under the Brit- ish Workmen's Compensation Act during the five years ended with 1912 had been 9.2 per 10,000 employed, this' rate, when applied to the total number of persons employed in coal mining in the United States in the year 1913, given by the Bureau of Mines as 747,644, would indicate the possible, 'if not probable, existence of 688 new cases of nystagmus per annum. As the cumulative rate of old and new cases under the English experi- 23 ence by the year 1912 had reached 29.8 per 10,000, this would indicate a possible, if not the probable, number of persons em- ployed in American coal mining and affected with nystagmus as numbering 2,228 for the year 1913. These rates are unques- tionably conservative, for they are far from the 5 per cent of ascertained cases for certain mining districts of Germany. If the proportion of American coal-mine employees affected with nystagmus were as high as 5 per cent, the number of such cases estimated for the year 1913 would be 37,382." In this connection it should be mentioned that the medical ex- amining boards of the War Department, acting under the Selective Service Act, discovered an unsuspected number of young men with this disease. "Nystagmus was found to a marked degree in 854 cases, of which all but 47 were rejected." (Defects Found in Drafted Men, Statistical Information Compiled from the Draft Records, Senate Committee, Printed in Washington, 1919, page 78.) Aside from the special occupational diseases of the miners, there is the question of their general liability to disease, such as all wage- earners are liable to. In this connection the Pennsylvania State Commission on Health Insurance Report of 1919 states (p. 176) : "Health hazards involved in coal mining are briefly discussed in Dr. Hamilton's study, special emphasis being laid on the high death rate among miners from non-tuberculous diseases of the lungs. This fact is confirmed by the results of the Western Pennsylvania Survey, which, besides finding that the total sick- ness rate among miners was 8 per cent higher than the general rate for white adult males, states that 'It is probable that the true rate for miners' asthma, involving disability for work, is not less than 400 per 100,000 exposed among anthracite and not less than 175 per 100,000 among bituminous miners. These figures foi< anthracite and for bituminous miners measure within certain limits of error the incidence of anthracosis among the coal miners in the two groups, asthma being the most prominent symptom, to the lay mind at least, of that condition." 24 IV. PREMATURE INVALIDITY OF COAL MINERS. One phase of the miners' occupation which has been but little studied in this country is the early wearing out of the miners' physique. For the German miners some information is available, but accurate data for the LTnited States seem to be lacking. Compe- tent observers, however, have called attention to this early disability of the miners. Thus, Bulletin 231 of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states on page 414 : "There is unquestionably a very con- siderable amount of needless premature invalidity, as is clearly shown by the experience of German Miners' Associations, and to a lesser extent by the investigations made by life insurance companies in the United States." The same general observation was made by the Pennsylvania State Commission on Old Age Pensions in its report made in 1919. The Commission found that there were practically no miners over 65 at Avork in the mines; in explaining this the report says (on page 29) that first, miners age prematurely, and second, that accidents carry them off before they can reach the higher ages. The report states : ''The low rate of disability due to old age, attributed to skilled mechanics and miners, may be explained by the fact that with the development of modern machine processes men are scrai)ped much earlier in life and aged men are generally unde- sirable in the skilled trades. Miners, on the other hand, age prematurely and in both occupations the accident rate runs high — 25.44 per cent for miners and 20.28 per cent for skilled groups."' ^ Report of Pennsylvania Commission on Old Age Pensions, Harrisburg, 1919, page 29. BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER '- WHOLESALE AND RETAIL PRICES OF ANTHRACITE COAL 1913 TO 1920 Presented by W. JETT LAUCK On behalf of John L. Lewis, President Philip Murray, Vice-President F. P. Hanaway, International Representative Percy Tetlow. Statistician John Dempsey ) Committee Representing Thomas Kennedy } r>w- .. • .^ i 7 jo /^L • T /-• ij " I Districts I, / and V Chris. J. Liolden ) Of the United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 13 BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ANTHRACITE COAL COMMISSION EMPLOYES EXHIBIT NUMBER- WHOLESALE AND RETAIL PRICES OF ANTHRACITE COAL 1913 TO 1920 Presented by W. JETT LAUCK On behalf of United Mine Workers of America WASHINGTON 1920 ISA WHOLESALE PRICES OF ANTHRACITE COAL, 1913 TO 1920. The following table shows the changes which have taken place in f. 0. b. mine prices of the principal sizes of anthracite coal from 1913 to June, 1920. For the years 1913 to 1918, inclusive, these prices are taken from the report of the United States Greological Survey, 'Trices of Coal and Coke, 1913-1918," published in 1919. The prices for 1919 and six months of 1920 are taken from the market reports of the Coal Age, which is the same source used in the Geo- logical Survey report, and the averages are computed in the same manner. The weighted average of all sizes is arrived at by weight- ing the sizes specified in accordance with the tonnage of that-^ize shipped, as reported by the Geological Survey. , — ^___-^ COMPARATIVE PRICES OF SPECIFIED SIZES OF ANTHRACITE COAL, 1913-1920. F. O. B. MINES— NEW YORK MARKET. (Unit, Gross Ton of 2,240 F ounds.) Year. Egg. Stove. Chestnut. Pea. Steam. Weighted Average of All Sizes. 1913 $3.50 3.58 3.59 4.04 4.52 5.04 6.29 6.84 $3.53 3.60 3.59 4.19 4.75 5.29 6.54 7.09 $3.76 3.83 3.84 4.29 4.81 5.39 6.64 7.19 $2.05 2.08 2.05 2.48 3.83 3.99 5.24 5.66 $1.23 1.28 1.24 1.31 2.48 3.17 3.04 3.20 $2.79 1914 2.85 1915 2.84 1916 , 3.16 1917 3,98 1918 4.56 1919 5.33 1920 (six months).. 5.75 The next table shows the f. o. b. mine prices of all sizes of an- 'thracite coal, by months, from January, 1919, to June, 1920, in- clusive. The quotations were taken from the market reports ap- pearing in the Coal Age and averaged by the same method used in the Geological Survey report referred to. It will be noted that the weighted average of all sizes for 1919 does not agree with the figure in the foregoing table. This is oc- casioned by the fact that only certain specified sizes are included in the first table, while the second compilation includes all sizes. The weighted average price of all sizes corresponds very closely to the average sales realization as computed by the Federal Trade Commission. 3 MONTHLY PRICES OF ALL SIZES OF ANTHRACITE COAL, 1919-1920, PER GROSS TON (2,240 pounds) F. O. B. MINES, NEW YORK MARKET. (Quotations taken from the Coal Age.) Bro- Chest Buck- BoU- Bar- -a (u f Ift lO O O U5 Irt O CO in m o o 00 00 i-\ iH t>; OO O O t- t- 00 00 00 OS o o CO t-. 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