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Author:
Bloch, Louis
Title:
The coal miners
insecurity
Place:
New York
Date:
1922
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MASTER NEGATIVE «
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Business
.264 '
1562
Bloch, Louis.
... The coal miners' insecurity; facts about irregularity
of employment in the bituminous coal industry in the
United States, by Louis Bloch, for the Department of in-
dustrial studies, Eussell Sage foundation. New York,
Russell Sage foundation, 1922.
50 p. diagrs. 23*". ([Russell Sage foundation, New York. Division of
industrial studies. Pamphlets] IS 7)
"The basis of this report is a manuscript which was prepared for the
Russell Sage foundation by Louis Bloch."
1. Coal-miners —
the l/nited States.
Library of Congress
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THE COAL MINERS'
INSECURITY
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1913 1914 t9K 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921
THE IRREGULAR PRODUCTION OF SOFT
COAL IN THE LAST NINE YEARS
RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION
NEW YORK
April, 1922
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THE COAL MINERS'
INSECURITY
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FACTS ABOUT IRREGULARITY
OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE
BITUMINOUS COAL INDUSTRY
IN THE UNITED STATES
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By
LOUIS BLOCK
FOR THE DEVA^TMSNf CF INDUSTRIAL STUDIES
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PREFACE
The purpose of this pamphlet^ is to bring together, in small
compass, dependable data drawn mainly from publications
issued by state and federal bureaus, which show some of the
economic facts behind the unrest of the miners in the bituminous
or soft coal industry. No solution of the problem of human rela-
tions in this industry, nor any satisfactory wage adjustment, will
be possible until industrial leadership has proved itself competent
to give to the men employed a reasonably continuous oppor-
tunity to work while supplying coal to the country in the quanti-
ties required. This report does not undertake to suggest the
methods by which efficiency and stability may be attained in
bituminous mining, but merely to outline certain vital facts which
affect the daily working life of the coal miner and explain his
willingness to strike in defense of his wages. Only by under-
standing these facts can the public exert its influence toward
more co-operative human relations in the industry.
For thirty-two years, from 1890 through 1921, the average
number of days of operation of the bituminous mines of the coun-
try has been only 214 a year. The miners, of course, can neither
work nor earn when the mine is not operating. Meanwhile the
number of new bituminous mines has steadily increased. Instead
of digging coal regularly throughout the year in those mines
already in operation, many more have been opened than were
required to supply the country's needs, with the result that mines
and miners are idle for nearly a third of the working days of the
year.
The miner has naturally sought rates of pay sufficiently high
to enable him in his 214 working days to earn enough to maintain
himself and his family throughout the year. The operator,
seeking to keep down costs, compares these rates with the hourly
» The basis of this report is a manuscript which was prepared for the Russell
bage Foundation by Louis Bloch. Later the diagrams were constructed and
some additional material supplied by members of the staff of the Foundation.
3
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or daily earnings in other industries as evidence that the miner
is over-paid, but he does not usually take into account the more
r^ular employment in other occupations. The public, eager for
lower prices for coal, is not in sympathy with any demand of
labor which would seem to lead to higher prices. Thus the atten-
tion of all three groups is fixed upon the wage rate, over which a
conflict of interests develops, while the irregular operation of the
bituminous mines, which is the cause of the unfortunate com-
bination of high rates and low earnings, receives no effective
consideration.
Every two years a wage contract is negotiated in the mining
industry between the United Mine Workers of America and the
operators, and every two years the public faces the danger of a
widespread strike if the representatives of miners and operators
cannot reach an agreement satisfactory to both sides. Yet no
basis for a permanently satisfactory contract between miners and
operators in this branch of the coal industry can be attained
through merely changing the wage rates, while employment con-
tinues to be intermittent and uncertain. If too many mines are
in operation and too many miners are scantily employed in them,
the condition is not one to be improved through periodic contests
between the operators and the union over rates of wages per ton
or per day. Over-development can be remedied only by a careful
plan of regulation to limit the bituminous mines in operation to
a number which could supply the country's need if reasonably
full use were made of their capacity. In such a plan there would
be no permanent conflict of interest, since the public, the operator,
the investor, and the miner would all profit by a more efficient
organization of the bituminous coal industry, which would make
possible more regular employment for the miner, reasonable prices
to the public, and wise conservation of the country's soft coal
supply for the future.
The facts in this report relate solely to the mining of soft
coal, not anthracite. Instability and irregular operation are
much less characteristic of the anthracite industry. The natural
supply of anthracite coal is limited, while bituminous coal de-
posits are abundant. In the anthracite fields, therefore, over-
development does not exist as it does in the bituminous areas.
Increase in the selling prices of soft coal results in the opening of
more bituminous mines, and once open, deterioration of the
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property and loss of capital can be prevented only by operation
of the mine. The number of miners at work under the more favor-
able conditions of anthracite mining is very much less than the
number in the disorganized industry of bituminous mining. The
men in the bituminous coal mines number about 600,000, while
only 150,000 are at work in the anthracite mines.
Not the wage rate only but the opportunity to earn wages regu-
larly is vital to the miner. Not wage rates only but stability
and efficiency of production affect the public interest. All in-
dustry pays tax for capitalizing and operating more bituminous
mines than are required for the country's needs. The improve-
ment of human relations in industry which the public conscience
now demands can be attained in the bituminous mines only by
such thoroughgoing reorganization of the entire industry as will
stabilize production and make employment regular.
April 15, 1922
Mary Van Kleeck
Director, Department of Industrial Studies
/
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...
TABLE OF CONTENTS
« , PAGE
Preface *
List of Tables ^ .. 1 .!.!.!.!.!]!!! ! 8
List of Diagrams g
The Coal Miners' Insecurity jj
The Country's Use of Soft Coal !!.!.! 12
The Capacity of the Bituminous Mines 14
Increase in Mines 17
Increase in Miners 20
Intermittent Employment and its Causes 22
Seasonal Variations 95
Earnings of Bituminous Miners 32
Miners' Statistics of Earnings. ! . . 32
Operators' Statistics of Earnings '37
Absenteeism ^
Earnings in 1921 44
The Miners' Estimates of Cost of Living 4^^
Summary ^7
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LIST OF TABLES
NO. PAGE
1. Mines, tonnage, men employed, and average days of mine operation,
by classes of mines, Illinois shipping mines, year ended June 30, 1919 ... 15
2. Average annual production and estimated full year production of bi-
tuminous coal mines in the United States from 1890 to 1919, by five-
year periods 18
3. Number of bituminous coal mines and tonnage produced in the United
States in 1913 and in 1917, by classes of mines 19
4. Average and relative number of employes and of days of operation for
bituminous coal mines in the United States from 1890 to 1919, by five-
year periods 21
5. Average and relative number of employes and days of operation for
bituminous coal mines in Illinois from 1890 to 1919, by five-year periods 2 1
6. Days lost by the bituminous coal industry each year, 1890 to 1921 22
7. Bituminous coal produced in the United States in the months of highest
and lowest production each year from 1913 to 1921 27
8. Monthly production of bituminous coal by shipping mines of Illinois
from 1906 to 1913 28
9. Average annual earnings of miners and average days of mine operation
in the four districts of the central competitive field, 1913 to 1918 34
10. Actual earnings and estimated full year earnings of miners in the four
districts of the central competitive field in 1913 and in 1918 37
11. Average daily earnings of miners working full opportunity during the
ten months, January to October, 1919, in selected mines in the fields
comprising the central competitive field, by fields 39
12. Advantage taken of full opportunity to work by employes in selected
bituminous coal mines in the central competitive field in the ten
months, January to October, 1919 40
13. Average full-time hours, hours of mine operation, and hours worked by
miners in selected bituminous mines, in one half-month pay-roll period,
in 1919 42
14. Cost of a health and comfort budget for one year for a family of five in
mining communities at price levels of January, 1920 47
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LIST OF DIAGRAMS
^^- . PAGE
1. Bitummous coal consumed in the United States in 1915, by uses 13
2. Number of shipping mines in Illinois operating specified number of
days during the year ended June 30, 1919, by size of mines 16
3. Miners employed, tonnage produced, and average number of days oper-
ated by the bituminous coal mines in the United States, 1890 to 1921, by
years * ^g
4. Days operated by bituminous coal mines in the United States each year
from 1890 to 1921 compared with full working year 23
5. Relative importance of three primary causes of lost time as estimated
by the United States Geological Survey 23
6. Monthly production of bituminous coal in the United States. 1913 to
, »'21 26
7. Seasonal fluctuation in the production of bituminous coal in Illinois
mines, 1906 to 1913 3Q
8. Time worked by miners and time the mines operated compared with full
time 43
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THE COAL MINERS' INSECURITY
"They have opened three mines where only two were
needed ; they have employed three men where only two
were necessary. These mines and men can find pro-
ductive work only during 175 instead of a possible 300
days in a year . . .
"This idle time of the miners is not confined to one
season or period during which they can find employ-
ment elsewhere. To the contrary, the men are always
subject to call, for which reason they urge a greater daily
wage that their annual income may be sufficient for their
needs. "1
This statement was made not by coal miners but by their
employers, the coal operators of the bituminous coal fields. If it
is accurate, it reveals a perplexing dilemma. A miner is paid
for the number of tons he sends out of the mine. The men in a
mine earn no wages on days when the mine is closed. Is it true
that the miner is given opportunity to work less than three days
out of five working days? Is this intermittency in work so
uncertain that he never knows from week to week, or even from
day to day, how often the whistle will blow to tell the men in
the camp that the mine will be open for work? If the industry
must keep too many men "subject to call," can the wage rates
be made high enough to pay the cost of living for the miner and
his family the year round? How great a tax does this inter-
mittency of coal production levy upon the possible earnings of
Illinois Coal Operators' Association and the Indiana Bituminous Coal
Operators' Association. A Statement of Facts Concerning the Conditions in
the Bituminous Coal Industry in the States of Illinois and Indiana. December,
1914, pp. 2, 6. — This statement was addressed to the President of the United
States "for his consideration in connection with the appointment of the Federal
Trades Commission. " In it the operators besought relief from "the conflicting
regulations of the states and the nation," which, they said, rendered them
powerless to prevent waste in the industry. " Only the nation, " they declared,
"can reverse this tendency and provide against it."
11
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the miner, upon the pockets of the buyer of coal, and upon the
profits of investors in the industry?
To outline the pertinent facts as a basis for discussion is the
purpose of this pamphlet. The statistics which are available in
governmental publications show how much soft coal the country
uses; how rapidly the number of mines in operation has been
increasing; how many days in the year bituminous coal mines
are operated ; what causes are responsible for lack of opportunity
to work; and how employment varies from season to season.
Concerning the most important of all the facts about employ-
ment in the industry, — the miner's actualjearnings in a year com-
pared with what he is capable of earning if he had the opportunity
to weadtrggularly, — the information is unfortunately very meagre,
but such statistics as are available will be set forth in later pages.
The Country's Use of Soft Coal
"At the present time America requires less than 500,000,000
tons of bituminous coal a year, while the capacity of the mines
in operation is over 700,000,000 tons.''^ This comparison of
needs and capacity for production was made in 1920 by the
United States Bituminous Coal Commission appointed as the
means of ending the miners' strike for higher wages which
occurred in November, 1919. A decidedly larger estimate of
excess in capacity has been made by F. G. Tryon of the United
States Geological Survey, a thoroughly competent specialist on
mining statistics. In December, 1920, in a speech before the
American Economic Association, he said: "Since 1915, when
the spot price began to rise sharply in response to the war-time
demand, there has been an extraordinary increase in capacity.
In 1915 the annual capacity of the soft coal mines was about
675,000,000 tons. Today it is certainly 800,000,000 tons, and
there is evidence pointing to a figure of 900,000,000 tons. The
increase in five years has therefore been between 125,000,000
and 225,000,000 tons, or between 19 and 33 per cent. . . . The
bituminous industry was probably never more heavily over-
developed than it is today."*
* United States Bituminous Coal Commission, Majority and Minority Re-
ports to the President, 1920, p. 26.
* Tryon, F. G., The Irregular Operation of the Bituminous Coal Industry;
in American Economic Review, Supplement to Vol. XI, No. 1, March, 1921,
p. 62.
12
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Unlike anthracite coal, which is largely used in households,
bituminous coal is the fuel of transportation and industry. Dia-
gram 1 shows how the country's output of bituminous coal is
consumed. The facts are for the year 1915, which was fairly
typical of other normal years in the proportionate demands of
the several industries for soft coal, though the total consumption
in that year was somewhat less than normal.
TONS
Industrial establishments* 159,745,000
Railroads 122.000.000
Coke manufacture 61 ,832 ,000
Household 55,000,000
Export 18.776,000
Bunker
Used at mines
Gas manufacture
Total
11.777,000 |t.T
9,799,000 I ta
4.563,000 I 1.0
443,492.000
Diagram 1.— Bituminous coal consumed in the United States in 1915, by
uses^
* Includes electric utilities.
foio^^^?°SV"K^-^^'/^^'^' Administration. Report of the Distribution Division. 1918-
1919, Part I, Distribution of Coal and Coke, p. 12. »«»«"". x^Ktr-
The significance of the figures for our discussion is their evi-
dence of the close connection between the soft coal mines and the
other industries of the country. The regularity of demand for
the goods and services of business in general largely determines the
regularity of operation of the mines. General business depression
speedily affects the employment of the miners. On the other
hand, efficiency and economy of management of the bituminous
mining! industry directly influences primary costs in all other
businSs. The fact, shown in Diagram 1, that over 77 per cent
or more than three-fourths of the soft coal purchased in a typical
year was used by industrial establishments, by railroads and in
coke ovens, shows how dependent are the soft coal mines upon
general business conditions. Only 12 per cent was used as house-
hold fuel and only 1 per cent for gas production.^ While the
1 Coal used for production of electricity is included in the diagram with that
used by industrial establishments, because the principal use of electric power is
for industrial purposes.
13
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purchase of soft coal by householders in advance of need, instead
of waiting until production is at its highest point, would help to
make employment regular for the miners, it would nevertheless
affect only 12 per cent of the total output. More important to
the bituminous mining industry is regularity of purchase by
manufacturers, railroad companies, and makers of steel.
The Capacity of the Bituminous Mines
The largest soft coal fields are found — in order of the amount
of their production — in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois
and Ohio, with smaller fields in Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama,
Colorado and scattered areas in other states.*
How far their combined capacity for production exceeds the
needs both of industries and of households for coal has been
pointed out in the statements, already quoted, of the United
States Bituminous Coal Commission and of the statistician of
the Geological Survey, that the bituminous mines actually in
operation can produce 700,000,000 or more tons a year while the
nation requires approximately 500,000,000. This over-develop-
ment is reflected in the spreading of work over too many mines
and among too many men.
The facts for Illinois, which is the third largest producing
state, may be regarded as roughly representative of other large
bituminous coal fields. The working time in Illinois has aver-
aged less than in the Appalachian coal regions but the difference
is merely one of degree. Table 1 shows the amount of coal pro-
duced, the number of men at work, and the days of employment
in mines of various sizes in Illinois for the year ended June 30, 1919.
The table includes data for shipping mines only. These are the
mines which distribute coal outside the immediate locality. Of
all the coal produced, a small part is used at the mine for steam
and heat, a part is made into coke at some mines, and a small
part is sold locally. The "local" mines produce an inconsider-
able amount of the total tonnage.
Table 1 shows that the average number of days of operation of
all the Illinois shipping mines was only 190 in the year which
ended on June 30, 1919.* The small mines averaged fewer
* United States Geological Survey, Coal in 1918, Part A, Production, Insert.
* The period covered in this table is not the calendar year but the last half
of 1918 and the first half of 1919. Comparison with the average days of opera-
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TABLE 1.— MINES, TONNAGE, MEN EMPLOYED, AND AVERAGE
DAYS OF MINE OPERATION, BY CLASSES OF MINES, ILLINOIS
SHIPPING MINES, YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1919a
Mines
Tons produced
Men employed
Aver-
Mines producing
age
days
Num-
ber
Per
cent
Number
Per
cent
Num-
ber
Per
cent
oper-
ated
Less than 50,000
tons
91
24.4
2,400,238
3.3
4,836
5.5
169
50,000 and less
than 100,000
tons
60
16.1
4,557,564
6.2
7,336
8.3
180
100,000 and less
than 200,000
tons
93
24.9
13,723,060
18.6
19,881
22.6
195
200,000 and less
than 400,000
tons
78
20.9
22,877,039
31.0
26,573
30.2
205
400,000 and less
than 600,000
tons
33
8.9
15,936,120
21.6
16,744
19.1
201
600,000 tons and
over
18
4.8
14,257,700
19.3
12,592
14.3
215
Total
373
100.0
73,751,721
100.0
87,962
100.0
190
e* / 9*J?,P'^^ ^j;?™ ^'^^ ^°^ individual mines presented in the Annual Coal Report for 1919
State of Illinois, Department of Mines and Minerals, pp. 4-9.
days of operation than the larger ones, and for those producing
less than 100,000 tons a year the combined contribution to pro-
duction was 9.5 per cent of the total for the state, while the same
small mines employed a slightly disproportionate number of
men, 13.8 per cent of the total. The size of the mine is, however,
not the controlling factor in production. The thickness of the
seam of coal, the use of machinery, and other surrounding condi-
tions are probably more important than the size of the mine, and
these differences do not appear in the statistics quoted. The im-
portant point brought out in the table is the wide variation in the
tion for the country as a whole, which are given for the calendar year, is there-
fore, impossible. The average days of operation of all bituminous mines in the
^SVJ^'^^T l^^ '\^^}\^?^ i^^ ^" ^^^^' (S^^ Diagram 4.) In the last half of
1918 and the first half of 1919, production of bituminous coal fell off greatly as
compared with the other six months of each of these years. (Diagram 6 )
Illinois average of 190 days for the twelve months ending June 30, 1919 there-
fore, was probably not very different from that of the country as a whole.
15
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average number of days of operation of the mines, from 169 to 215
in the same year for the different groups of mines.
Even in regularity of operation, however, the size of the mine
is not the cause of differences. Some small mines work as
regularly as some of the large producers, and some large mines
are idle as many days in the year as their smaller competitors.
This fact is brought out clearly in Diagram 2, which shows the
days of operation for the same mines for which statistics are
given in Table 1.
38 Mines produdns
Less than 50.000 tons
50.000 to 100,000 tons fTTTTTl
100.000 to 200.000 tons g^^
.. 200.000 to 400.000 tons m
■^ 400,000 to 600.000 tons g^
Over 600.000 tons ■■
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Diagram 2. — Number of shipping mines in Illinois operating specified number
of days during the year ended June 30, 1919, by size of mines
In Diagram 2 the variation in the number of days of operation
in a year is even more startling, since it is not obscured in aver-
ages. Some mines, both large and small, were open as few as 120
days in the year, while one was recorded as having "less than 70"
days of operation. The largest group operated between 190 and
199 days. Only one mine worked as many as 300 days in the year.
16
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Clearly the supply of coal was obtained from more mines than
were necessary, operating, therefore, only part of the year.
Other conditions being equal, fewer mines could have produced
the 74,000,000 tons of coal in Illinois, had they been operated
regularly throughout the year. To illustrate this possibility,
it may be pointed out that the Illinois mines having an annual
production of 200,000 tons or over in the year 1919, produced
53,000,000 tons in the twelve months considered in Table 1.
These mines were operated, on an average, 205 days during that
year. Had they been operated a full year of 304 days,^ at the
same rate of production, they could have turned out 79,000,000
tons of coal, or 5,000,000 tons more than the output of all the
mines together. In other words, if the same rate of production
had continued for 304 days, the state's output of coal in that year
could have been secured from about 35 per cent of the mines with
steady work for 64 per cent of the miners/^hus, the facts seem
to show that insecurity of employment for the miner of bitumin-
ous coal results from the operation of more mines and the employ-
ment of more miners, than the industry can reasonably support.^
Increase in Mines
That the bituminous coal industry has grown steadily during
the three decades since 1890, and also that unemployment of the
miners during a large part of the working year has been a con-
stant feature of the industry, is shown in Table 2. Diagram 3
shows the increase in number of miners, as well as in the tonnage
produced and the days of operation year by year since 1890.
Table 2 shows that the average annual output of coal during
the five-year period ending with 1919 was in round numbers
507,000,000 tons. This output of coal was accomplished in an
average of 224 working days. If a working year of 304 days had
1 We shall assume that 304 working days is a fair standard of measurement
?i o® "i*'"™"™ possible working year for the operation of a mine, allowing for
52 Sundays and 9 holidays out of the 365 days in the calendar year. The
absenteeism of individual workmen, such as accidents or illness, would reduce
further the reasonable expectation of days of employment for the miner.
Moreover, conditions inevitably affecting an industry like bituminous coal
would make it unreasonable to expect that this maximum number of days of
operation would be an easily attainable standard. We are concerned here
with the possible number of days of operation of the mines as a standard of
measurement of regularity of operation of the industry rather than with the
average days of employment which may reasonably be expected for the individ-
ual miner, or a reasonable expectation of practice for the mine.
17
\
i
I
I MA
HI
if
.1
TABLE 2.--AVERAGE ANNUAL PRODUCTION AND ESTIMATED
FULL YEAR PRODUCTION OF BITUMINOUS COAL MINES IN
THE UNITED STATES FROM 1890 TO 1919, BY FIVE-YEAR
PERIODS^
Period
Average
tons pro-
duced per
year
Aver-
age
days
oper-
ated
per
year
Average
tons per
day
Possible ton-
nage at same
rate per full
year of 304
working
days
Excess of full year
over average an-
nual production
Tons
Per
cent
1890-1894
1895-1899
1900-1904
1905-1909
1910-1914
1915-1919
120,653,153
156,058,560
251,954,028
353,002,993
434,852,490
506,876,698
211
205
223
213
216
224
571,816
761,€61
1,129,839
1,657,291
2,013,206
2,262,842
173,832,064
231,423,344
343,471,056
503,816,464
612,014,624
687,903,968
53,178,911
75,364,784
91,517,028
150,813,471
177,162,134
181,027,270
44
48
36
43
41
36
• Data for production and average days of operation for each year from United States
Geological Survey, Coal in 1918, Part A, Production, pp. 711, 717; and subsequent publications
of United States Geological Survey.
600
^
500
(ft]
or
\M)j
•
n
1
400
/
Ia
/ V
\
300
•
A
M
fon
■uiioa*}
200
X'
--_r/>
A
DftTS 0
AH
fo^^gp
^
V
100
V
:y
\
0
1890
1895
1900
1905
1910
1915
1920
1925
Diagram 3. — Miners employed, tonnage produced, and average number of
days operated by the bituminous coal mines in the United States, 1890 to
1921, by years
18
/-
-'\
i~
• w
t
been maintained the average annual production at the same
daily rate would have been about 688,000,000 tons, an excess of
181 ,000,000 tons, or 36 per cent. This excess of capacity over pro-
duction represents a surplus of many thousand men employed in
the industry. For instance, in 1918, when the average output per
miner was high, 942 tons was the average amount of coal pro-
duced per man,i and at that rate it would take about 192,000 mine
workers to mine the 181,000,000 tons, which was the difference
between actual and full-time production in 1919.
The increase in demand for coal has not resulted in the more
regular operation of mines already open. New mines have been
opened and more men employed, while the number of working
TABLE 3.— NUMBER OF BITUMINOUS COAL MINES AND TON-
NAGE PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1913 AND IN
1917, BY CLASSES OF MINES*
Mines
Tons produced
Mines
1913
1917
1913
1917
producing
Num-
ber
Per
cent
Num-
ber
Per
cent
Number
Per
cent
Number
Per
cent
Less than
10,000
tons
10,000 and
1,728
29.9
2,193
31.7
6,280,271
1.3
8,824,023
1.6
less than
50,000
tons
50,000 and
less than
1,558
27.0
1,966
28.5
42,292,052
8.9
51,596,000
9.4
100,000
tons
100,000 and
959
16.6
1,044
15.1
69,018,483
14.4
74,894,269
13.6
less than
200,000
tons
200,000 tons
837
14.5
914
13.2
118,475,544
24.8
129,485,524
23.5
and over
694
12.0
792
11.5
241,463,241
50.6
285,365,741
51.9
Total
5,776
100.0
6,909
100.0
477,529,591
100.0
550,165,557
100.0
loialS?? &°^t"^^*'*k^*?^^^ ?"^' Administration, Report of the DistribuUon Division.
1918-1919, Part I, Distribution of Coal and Coke, p. 19.
» United States Geological Survey, Coal in 1918, Part A, Production, p. 717.
19
V
^
<A
rl
days has shown no appreciable increase. Diagram 3 shows the
dead level of days of operation while total tonnage and the num-
ber of miners have both grown steadily larger.
Moreover, as Table 3 shows, the small mines increased in num-
bers in the period between 1913 and 1917 more rapidly than the
large ones, — a fact which makes more complicated the problem
of stabilizing the industry, since regulation of small, scattered
and unstable operations is difficult. Table 3 shows the changes
between 1913 and 1917 in the number of mines and in the total
production of coal in mines of different sizes. In these facts for
the period through 1917, the full effect of our participation in
the war was not yet evident.
Table 3 shows that in 1917 the mines in the United States
numbered 6,909, which was an increase of 1,133 mines or 20 per
cent over 1913. In 1917 the smaller mines were more numerous,
in proportion to large ones, than in 1913, when the number pro-
ducing on the average less than 50,000 tons annually was 3,286,
or 57 per cent of all mines. By 1917 this number had increased
to 4,159, or 60 per cent of the bituminous mines of the country,
but these 60 per cent produced only 11 per cent of the total ton-
nage. In 1917 the mines with an output of 100,000 tons or
more constituted 25 per cent of all the mines but produced 75
per cent of the total output of coal, while the other 75 per cent
of the mines together produced only 25 per cent of the coal.
Increase in Miners
That the increase in mines has been accompanied by an in-
crease in miners, rather than by more regular employment for
those already in the industry, is clearly indicated again in the
following table. Table 4 shows how the number of employes in
the bituminous industry has increased and how the days of opera-
tion have varied since 1890. As in Table 2, the figures are given in
five-year periods and the average number of days of mine opera-
tion is brought forward from that table.
The number of employes in the industry has increased since
the five years ending with 1894 from 217,000 (in round numbers)
to 592,000 or 173 per cent. All through those five-year periods
from 1890 to 1919, the average number of days of mine operation,
or, expressed in terms of the miners* interest, the opportunity
for employment, has remained depressingly low, the averages for
20
/-
•
>
iA
TABLE 4.— AVERAGE AND RELATIVE NUMBER OF EMPLOYES
AND OF DAYS OF OPERATION FOR BITUMINOUS COAL MINES
IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 1890 TO 1919, BY FIVE-YEAR
PERIODS*
Period
Employes
Days of operation
Average
Relative
Average
Relative
1890-1894
1895-1899
1900-1904
1905-1909
1910-1914
1915-1919
217,174
251,739
373,655
492,144b
561,866
591,801
100
116
172
227
259
273
211
205
223
213
216
224
100
97
106
101
102
106
• Data from United States Geological Survey, Coal in 1918, Part A, Production, p. 71 7, and
subsequent publications. v,
*» Average for four years. Data for 1909 lacking.
the five-year periods varying from 205 to 224 days in the year.
Again the facts show work spread thin over the year and covering
not much more than two-thirds of it. Although a slight increase
is shown in the number of days of operation during the period
from 1915 to 1919 as compared with 1890 to 1894, the year 1921
has shown the greatest loss of working time of any year in the
last three decades.
These figures are for the country as a whole. In Illinois, as
Table 5 shows, the opportunity to work has actually decreased
while the number of men employed has more than doubled.
TABLE 5.— AVERAGE AND RELATIVE NUMBER OF EMPLOYES
AND DAYS OF OPERATION FOR BITUMINOUS COAL MINES
IN ILLINOIS FROM 1890 TO 1919, BY FIVE-YEAR PERIODS*
Employes
Days of operation
Period
Average
Relative
Average
Relative
1890-1894
33,610
100
186
100
1895-1899
36.251
108
173
93
1900-1904
46,825
139
182
98
1905-1909
66,400
198
178
96
1910-1914
78,197
233
166
89
1915-1919
82,937
247
169
91
* Data from State of Illinois, Department of Mines and Minerals. Annual Coal Report.
1919, p. 100.
N,
TIB
%.
From an average of 186 days of operation of the mines in the
five years from 1890 through 1894, the opportunity to work and
to earn fell in these mines to 169 in the five years from 1915
through 1919, while in that period the number of miners increased
from 33,610 to 82,937. The increased demand for labor has not
lengthened the excessively short working year.
Intermittent Employment and its Causes
The data given in several tables thus far in the discussion have
covered long periods in order the better to show broad tendencies
as measured in total capacity for production, numbers employed,
and the regularity of operation of mines. These statistics have
obscured the fluctuations within shorter periods which reveal the
influence of general business depression, and of seasonal variation
in demand.
Table 6 shows the number of days lost by the bituminous
mining industry throughout the country each year since 1890,
and Diagram 4 shows in graphic form the days of mine operation
each year.^
TABLE 6.— DAYS LOST BY THE BITUMINOUS COAL INDUSTRY
EACH YEAR, 1890 TO 1921a
Year
Days lost
Year
Days lost
Year
Days lost
1890
78
1901
79
1912
81
1891
71
1902
74
1913
72
1892
85
1903
79
/1914
109
/1 893
100
C1904
102
; 1915
101
11894
133
1905
93
1916
74
/l895
110
1906
91
1917
61
1 1896
112
1907
70
1918
55
^^4897
108
C1908
111
(-1919
\l920
109
1898
93
1909
89
84b
1899
70
1910
87
1921
134b
1900
70
1911
93
• •
• m
• Based on figures of the United States Geological Survey for average days of mine operation,
assuming a full year of 304 days. The figures from which Table 6 has been derived are those
for average days of mine operation, of which use has already been made in Tables 4 and 5 and
in Diagram 3. The days lost were ascertained by subtracting the days of operation from the
standard of a full operating year which we have adopted, that is, 304 days.
*» Based on preliminary figure for days operated.
* In Diagram 4 the average days of operation each year are illustrated by
the upright columns, and the distance between the tops of these columns and
the "full year" line at the top of the diagram represents the number of idle
days. Both in the diagram and in Table 6 the recurring business depressions
of the last three decades stand out conspicuously.
22
<
I
i
Days
Full Tear
^
^ -
^
1^
Diagram 4. — Days operated by bituminous coal mines in the United States
each year from 1890 to 1921 compared with full working year
The statisticians of the Geological Survey have estimated the
relative importance of the various causes of the loss of time in the
decades from 1890 to 1919. They found three principal factors
and measured their comparative influence as shown in graphic
form in Diagram 5.
Per cent of Total Days Lost
Through business depression
Through over-development
Through seasonal demand
H
Diagram 5. — Relative importance of three primary causes of lost time as
estimated by the United States Geological Survey
23
I !
ml
General business depression, as Diagram 5 shows, is estimated
as accountable for 16 per cent of the loss of time in the operation
of the mines. Over-development accounts for 37 per cent, and
seasonal fluctuation for 47 per cent, of the lost days. The effects
of general depression are evident in Table 6 in the large number of
idle days in the years from 1893 to 1897, in 1904, 1908, 1914, 1915,
1919 and 1921. Obviously the remedies for this cause of idleness
lie largely outside the coal industry.
"Only a sixth of the time lost in the past thirty years has been
due to this cause, however," said Mr. Tryon of the Geological
Survey, commenting upon these statistics. "If the maximum
effect possible is allowed for these secular fluctations there is still a
residue of lost time — on the average 78 days* per year — ^which
must be due to other factors."* This residue, as shown in Dia-
gram 5, which is based on Mr. Tryon 's estimate, he would attrib-
ute to over-development and seasonal variations. Over-devel-
opment has been discussed in the preceding pages. Seasonal
fluctuations, according to the Geological Survey, account for an
even larger loss of time.
The reader may be surprised to find in this analysis no reference
to "railroad car shortage," or to strikes as causes of idleness,
since these are named frequently in the public press as the chief
troubles of both operator and miner. In an article in the Survey
Graphic,' two members of the statistical staff of the Geological
Survey, explain why they do not regard car shortage and strikes
as primary causes of the miners' "broken year."
"Losses due to strikes," they say, "are spectacular when they
occur, and in the last 20 years have mounted up to the enormous
loss of 125,000,000 man-days.* But the time lost on account of
strikes is only 10 per cent of the total time lost, and it may be
questioned whether much more coal would have been produced
in the aggregate during that 20 year period if there had been no
^ Mr. Tryon 's standard of "a theoretical full year" is 308 days, and it is
with this number in mind that he states the average annual loss of time as 93
days, of which 15 are the result of business depression.
* Tryon, F. G., Irregular Operation of the Bituminous Coal Industry; in the
American Economic Review, Supplement to Vol. XI, No. 1, March, 1921, p. 58.
* Tryon, F. G., and McKenny, W. F., The Broken Year of the Bituminous
Miner, "published by permission of the director, United States Geological
Survey," Survey Graphic, March 25, 1922, p. 1012.
* "Includes strikes in the anthracite region which account for 33,000,000
man-days. "
24
<
4
vk
Strikes. ... More commonly strikes have been discounted
in advance by accumulating large reserves of storage coal. . . .
In terms of man-days lost because of strikes, the year 1910 was
the record. Yet it also set a new record of production, and the
average sales realization f. o. b. mine — the best index of prices,
all things considered — did not differ greatly from that of the year
before nor of the year immediately after. Strikes and labor dis-
turbances, therefore, like car shortage, must be classed as second-
ary rather than primary causes of non-operation."
Of car shortage they say: "No doubt we need more cars, but
simply increasing transportation facilities will not mend the
broken year of the coal miner. . . . More cars . . .
will not sell more coal. They will merely affect the distribution
of working time through the year, tending to increase it in the
periods of peak demand, and to make it still less than now in
periods of low demand. Car shortages have occurred not in-
frequently; but it is a curious fact that rarely have they curtailed
the actual consumption of coal. For the most part their effect
has been to limit the quantity of coal which could be produced
in the fall and winter, thereby forcing some consumers to pur-
chase earlier in the year." Thus in the opinion of these experts
car shortage is merely a secondary cause of lost time in the coal
industry, and actually tends to limit extreme fluctuations in
seasonal production.
Seasonal Variations
We have noted that, in the estimates of the United States
Geological Survey, the seasonal demand for coal is the cause of
the largest proportion of loss in working time. Records of
monthly output, which are available for the country as a whole
from the year 1913, will serve to indicate the extent of the fluc-
tuations month by month through the years. Diagram 6 pictures
these variations in the period from 1913 through 1921.
Both seasonal and annual variations are shown in Diagram 6.
In seven of the nine years included in the diagram the tendency of
production to fall to relatively low levels in the spring and sum-
mer is clearly shown. It is to be recalled, however, that this is
not an entirely normal period because it includes the war years.
The war demand buoyed up production during the summers of
1917 and 1918, and the fluctuations in those years were much less
25
/
< .■
violent than in the so-called "normal years" before the war or
in the period since the armistice. Table 7 shows the variations
in production between the months of highest and lowest output
during the same period which is included in Diagram 6.
Million
tons
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
f
4t
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
Diagram 6. — Monthly production of bituminous coal in the United States,
1913 to 1921
The month of October, it will be observed, appears five times
in Table 7 as the highest production month, while the month of
April appears five times as the month of lowest production dur-
ing the nine years from 1913 to 1921. In 1917 and 1918 there
was continuous demand for coal due to war production and the
normal seasonal fluctuation was largely obscured. The rela-
tively low output of coal in December, 1918, followed the signing
26
of the armistice in November and was also the effect of an in-
fluenza epidemic; while the extremely low production in Novem-
ber, 1919, was due to a wide-spread strike. With these excep-
tions, however, the figures presented in this table may be read as
depicting a tendency to produce coal in largest quantities in the
fall, while low production is characteristic of the spring. The
fluctuations between the extremes in output in fall and spring
are wide. For instance, in the year 1915, over 16,000,000 more
tons were produced in December than in February, and in 1920
and 1921 the output in October was 37 per cent higher than in the
preceding April. A wide variation like that between March and
April, 1914, or between October and November, 1919, appears
to be due to the stimulated demand for coal in anticipation of a
strike in connection with the discussion of a new wage agreement
in union mines. This cause of fluctuations will be discussed more
fully later.
TABLE 7.— BITUMINOUS COAL PRODUCED IN THE UNITED
STATES IN THE MONTHS OF HIGHEST AND LOWEST PRO-
DUCTION EACH YEAR FROM 1913 TO 1921a
Highest month
Lowest month
Excess of highest
over lowest
Year
Month
Tons pro-
duced (in
thousands)
Month
Tons pro-
duced (in
thousands)
Tons (in
thousands)
Per
cent
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
October
March
December
January
October
August
October
October
October
46,164
45,455
45,814
46,593
48,337
55,114
56,243
52,144
43,733
April
April
February
April
February
December
November
April
April
34,169
23,609
29,321
33,628
41,353
40,184
18,688b
37,939
27,553
11,995
21,846
16,493
12,965
6,954
14,930
37,555
14,205
16,180
35
93
56
39
17
37
201
37
37
• Data from the United States Geological Survey.
*• Low production in November. 1919, was due to the general strike in the bituminous
industry in that month.
While monthly figures for the entire United States are avail-
able only since 1913, a longer record of monthly figures can be
secured for Illinois mines. The data for the eight years from 1906
to 1913 inclusive are significant because all the abnormal condi-
27
I
4
I
I
tions of the period of the war and afterward are excluded. It is true
that Illinois is an extreme illustration of seasonal variations in the
bituminous fields. Most of the eastern districts show some sea-
sonal rhythm but the range from high to low is less marked than in
the Mississippi valley and the peak does not always come in the
same month. Illinois is also affected, as are its neighboring states,
by the fact already noted that the most violent extremes occur
just before and after the dates of expiration of the biennial wage
agreements, which normally occur on April 1st in the "even
years." The sequence was interrupted during the war. Table 8
shows the comparative output in the mines of Illinois each month
in each of the years from 1906 to 1913, when seasonal fluctuations
were unaffected by war production.
TABLE 8.— MONTHLY PRODUCTION OF BITUMINOUS COAL BY
SHIPPING MINES OF ILLINOIS FROM 1906 TO 1913*
Month
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
Average
Amount in Thousands of Tons
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
4.289
4.336
5,378
392
659
2.556
2,884
3,245
3.479
4.283
4.344
4.613
4.852
4.255
3,731
3,572
3.785
3.394
3.545
4.113
4.223
5.279
5.098
4.837
4.408
4.567
6,055
1.401
2.082
3.463
2.978
3.809
4.299
5.020
4.523
4.748
4.641
4.108
4.149
3,470
3.146
3.067
3.304
^.739
t.413
5.235
5.219
5.243
5.722
5.552
7.026
24
110
1.637
1.770
2.414
3.580
5.451
5.877
5.769
5,038
3,957
4,209
3,671
3,549
3.474
3.688
4.449
4.583
4.293
5,«00
5,810
6,005
6,435
7.836
43
2.890
3.365
3.914
4.857
4,944
6.318
6.125
6.370
6,020
4.941
4.965
4.263
3.924
3.875
4.347
4.692
5.360
6.358
6.152
5.862
5.122
4.769
5,419
2.104
2.518
3.104
3.304
3.915
4.360
5.280
5.380
5.406
Total
40.458
50.684
47.353
49.734
44,932
52,421
59,102
60.759
50.681
Per cent of Annual Production
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
10.6
10.7
13.3
1.0
1.6
6.3
7.1
8.0
8.6
10.6
10.8
11.4
9.6
8.4
7.4
7.0
7.5
6.7
7.0
8.1
8.3
10.4
10.1
9.5
9.3
9.6
12.8
3.0
4.4
7.3
6.3
8.0
9.1
10.6
9.6
10.0
9.3
8.3
8.3
7.0
6.3
6.2
6.7
7.5
8.9
10.5
10.5
10.5
12.7
12.4
15.6
.1
.3
3.6
3.9
5.4
8.0
12.1
13.1
12.8
9.6
7.6
8.0
7.0
6.8
6.6
7.0
8.5
8.7
8.2
10.9
11.1
10.1
10.9
13.2
.1
4.9
5.7
6.6
8.2
8.4
10.7
10.4
10.8
9.9
^8.1
8.2
7.0
6.5
6.4
7.2
7.7
8.8
10.5
10.1
9.6
10.1
9.4
10.7
4.2
5.0
6.1
6.5
7.7
8.6
10.4
10.6
10.7
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
• Data from State of Illinois. State Mining
Minerals). Annual Coal Reports. 1906 to 1914.
28
Board (now Department of Mines and
V
4i
I
Table 8 shows that in Illinois production and employment are
concentrated in the winter months. The average annual pro-
duction of bituminous coal in Illinois in the eight years covered
in Table 8 was, in round numbers, 50,681,000 net tons. Over
three-fifths of this tonnage, namely, 62 per cent, was produced in
the six months of January, February, March, October, Novem-
ber and December; while the remaining 38 per cent was taken
out of the mines in the slacker months of April, May, June, July,
August and September. Inevitably for the miner this means
lost, or reduced, opportunities to earn during the year. The
mines in Illinois were equipped with men and machinery for an
average maximum production of nearly five and a half million
tons in the busy fall and winter month, while their average
monthly production was a little less than four and a quarter
million, and the average in the month of least demand, April,
was little more than two million.
To attribute all of this difference between the extremes in
March and April to seasonal variations in the demand for coal,
however, would not be accurate. It ignores the effect of the
biennial wage adjustment, to which reference has already been
made. In Diagram 7 two sets of facts are shown for comparison :
(1) the average monthly production in the entire period, as al-
ready given in Table 8; and (2) the average monthly production
in the four alternating years when wage adjustments were not due.
Comparison of the^averages in the odd and even years shows
that in the "even" years of biennial negotiation the swing up or
down from average production is much greater than in the "odd"
years, when seasonal demand is not accentuated by forced buying
in anticipation of a strike. With revision of wages expected on
April first every other year, the abnormal buying of coal forces up
production in March and earlier, while output is correspondingly
decreased in April and May, even though no strike occurs.^ The
lower portion of the diagram which eliminates this disturbing
factor may be said to picture accurately the seasonal variations.
* In a statement issued for the newspapers by the Bureau of the Census of
the Federal Department of Commerce on March 23, 1922, appears this para-
graph : "Coal production continued to increase during the second month of the
year. Even with the smaller number of working days the output of bitum-
inous coal was 3,000,000 tons greater than in January. This increase was in
response to the demand for consumers' stocks in case of prolonged labor diffi-
culties."
29
'V
■u>
f
s.
4
Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec
Average Monthly Production in Per Cent of Totel Annual Production in Eight Years.
1906 to 191 J •
_, March AiMril
Average Monthly Production in Per Cent of Total Annual Production ''^/.^^^"^'^^^*
1M7. 1909. 1911. and 1913. in which the Biennial Wage Adjustment did not Occur
Diajrram 7.— Seasonal fluctuation in the production of bituminous coal in
Illinois mines, 1906 to 1913
30
Seasonal variations in the coal industry and the remedies for
them have been discussed frequently by engineers and official
commissions. These comprise such measures as storage at the
place of use to make purchases feasible in advance of need, and
lower freight rates from the mines during months of least con-
sumption in order to encourage buying. Seasonal variations
constitute a major cause of irregular employment. The increased
demand in winter tends to keep more men in the industry than
would be needed if the work were more evenly distributed
throughout the year. This excess in numbers of men employed
tends in turn to make employment irregular and uncertain, re-
gardless of variations in market demands. It is important to
realize that increased storage facilities, reduced transportation
rates during the slack months, and other means of eliminating sea-
sonal fluctuations, desirable as these improvements are, would not
wholly regularize the operation of the coal industry. From esti-
mates of the Geological Survey already quoted it is shown that
seasonal fluctuations are responsible for 47 in every 100 days of
idleness in the mines during a year, but 37 in every 100 are lost
through what the Geological Survey calls "sheer over-develop-
ment." These estimates are more or less speculative, because the
three big problems of seasonal demand, over-development, and
recurrent business depressions are so related to one another that
the effect of each on the industry cannot be accurately deter-
mined. It is safe to conclude, however, that the soft coal industry
is functioning irregularly, and that its instability causes unem-
ployment and uncertainty for the men who earn their living in
digging coal.
Instability affects also the efficiency of the coal business and
tends to raise the price of coal and hence the cost of all articles
dependent upon coal for manufacture or transportation. So little
information is available, however, on the various factors entering
into the price of coal that it is possible only to suggest, but not to
demonstrate the effect of instability in bituminous coal mining
upon business in general. That the coal miner and his wife and
children are the first to feel the effects of this irregular functioning
of the industry needs no elaborate proof, despite the fact that
data on earnings are as meagre as are many other relevant facts
about the coal industry.
31
V
Earnings of Bituminous Miners
Facts about miners' earnings, and the suflFering which unem-
ployment causes, can be understood only if conditions of life
in a mining camp are known. In many mining communities
the mine is the only place of employment. To find another job
in dull periods means moving to another town. Moreover, a
miner's family lacks the economic safeguards of life in a com-
munity with several varied industries, in which other members
of the family, including wife and daughters, find work to help to
secure the necessary income. However desirable, or undesirable,
the employment of women and young girls outside the home may
seem to the public, it is still the means of maintaining the
households of many wage-earners, when dependence upon the
insecure employment of one bread-winner in a seasonal indus-
try becomes too hazardous. For many coal miners, this resource
is lacking. The industry necessarily becomes responsible for
insuring sufficient income to the men in the mines to maintain
their families throughout the year. This fact must never be
forgotten when comparisons are made between the rates paid in
mining and those in other industries.
What, then, are the earnings of miners in the bituminous coal
industry, and what effect has the irregular operation of the indus-
try upon the miner's annual income?
Available facts concerning actual earnings are incomplete. The
Geological Survey collects data on production, but does not
include wage statistics in its reports. Special inquiries into
wages have been made from time to time by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, but these have been limited to comparatively few
mines and have not covered a period as long as a year.
<
Miners' Statistics of Earnings
Information concerning annual earnings was presented to the
President's Bituminous Coal Commission in 1920 by the organiza-
tion of the miners, the United Mine Workers of America. These
facts related to the union scale of wages as agreed upon in con-
tracts between the United Mine Workers and the operators'
associations in the unionized central competitive field, which
includes the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and the western part
of Pennsylvania. Non-union mines were not included. As the
material was compiled before the increase in wages which fol-
32
'\fi
'S.
lowed the award of the Bituminous Coal Commission, it does not
show the earnings under the wage scale in effect from 1920 to
1922 and similar data are not available for this period.^ The
main point in which we are interested, however, is the effect of
instability and irregularity of employment upon the miners*
earnings, and for light on this point a comparison of actual and
possible earnings in the years from 1913 to 1918 is as useful as if
it covered the most recent period.
The wage data presented to the Bituminous Coal Commission
by the United Mine Workers of America^ were based on the
amounts paid as dues to the organization by its members in the
bituminous mines. Through the offices of the coal companies by
the so-called "check-off" system, the local unions of the miners in
the various districts collect from their members a percentage of
their gross earnings for the support of the national organization.
This assessment affords a basis for calculating the annual average
gross earnings of the miners. Out of his gross earnings the miner
must pay for powder, and for certain other expenses in connection
with his work. The actual contents of his pay envelope are, there-
fore, less than the gross earnings upon which the union dues are
calculated.
Table 9 shows annual earnings as computed by the United
Mine Workers from assessments and size of membership in each
of the four districts constituting the central competitive field, and
also the average number of days of mine operation in these
districts as given by the Geological Survey for the six years from
1913 through 1918.
The average annual earnings for the period of six years in
Western Pennsylvania, where they were highest, were only $988.
In the war year of 1918, when the days of operation were at a
maximum of 260,' the average earnings in that district were
* In a forthcoming report of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics,
data on earnings in this period will appear, but they are not available as this
manuscript goes to press.
' The same data were presented to the Senate Committee on Manufactures
in the hearings on the Caider coal regulation bill, in testimony by William
Green, Secretary-Treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America. His
testimony has been published by the union in a pamphlet, — Statement of
William Green, International Secretary-Treasurer, United Mine Workers of
America, to the Senate Committee on Manufactures, January 24, 1921.
* The reason for the larger number of days of operation in Western Pennsyl-
vania, not only in the war period but in every year considered in Table 9, in com-
33
vm*^
$1,583. Indiana miners came next in that year with an average of
$1,5 16, while in Illinois the men averaged $1,390 and in Ohio $1,364.
TABLE 9.— AVERAGE ANNUAL EARNINGS OF MINERS AND AVER-
AGE DAYS OF MINE OPERATION IN THE FOUR DISTRICTS
OF THE CENTRAL COMPETITIVE FIELD, 1913 TO 1918
Western
Pennsylvania
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio
Year
Aver-
Aver-
Aver-
Aver-
Aver-
Aver-
Aver-
Aver-
age
age
age
age
age
age
age
age
annual
days
annual
days
annual
days
annual
days
earn-
oper-
earn-
oper-
earn-
oper-
earn-
oper-
ings
ated
ings
ated
ings
ated
ings
ated
1913
$867
237
$705
189
$708
190
$766
206
1914
776
207
650
173
630
168
405
108 »
1915
781
210
672
179
672
179
528
142
1916
895
229
775
198
732
187
771
197
1917
1,027
251
995
243
904
221
859
210
1918
1,583
260
1,390
228
1,516
249
1,364
224
Average
$988
232
$865
201
$860
199
$782
181
i
* Low number of days operated in Ohio in 1914 is partly explained by the strike in Ohio
mines in that year.
The average annual earnings varied from state to state with
differences in the number of days of mine operation. The simple
average for the six years was lowest in Ohio, $782 with 181 days
of operation, as compared with Indiana's $860 and 199 days,
Illinois' $865 and 201 days, and the maximum of $988 and 232
days in Western Pennsylvania.
Differences from year to year in days of operation are also re-
flected directly in differences in earnings. In the period covered in
Table 9, the miners of the central competitive field received in-
creases in their rates of pay in 1914, 1916, and twice in 1917. In
spite of the increase in rates in 1914, the average wages were
lower in 1914 and in 1915 than they had been in 1913. This was
evidently because the days of mine operation decreased in 1914
and 1915 owing to the business depression in those years. The
parison with other states, is probably the wider market for coal of this district,
which includes Canada, New England, and the entire Atlantic seaboard, as well
as the iron, steel and other industries of Pennsylvania.
34
i
\.
V
significant point is that the average annual income of miners, like
that of wage-earners in other irregular industries, is reduced by
lack of opportunity for employment, and irregularity of work may
more than nullify increases in rates of pay. This should not be
understood to mean that increases in rates of pay are unimportant
to the miner, or that he can be indifferent to decreases. Quite the
contrary is true. The fact that he works so much less than full
time is his justification for seeking higher rates.
Aside from the effect of irregular employment upon earnings,
which Table 9 has been used to indicate, the facts are important
as showing actual annual income. To be sure they are averages,
and they are compiled by one side in the wage controversy, the
miners. How closely they correspond to the operators' figures
will be shown later. Meanwhile it is interesting to compare them
with data for 1919 derived from the United States Census. These
are for the same states, except that the census figures are for the
whole of Pennsylvania and not merely the western district. In
1919, according to these calculations, the average earnings of the
miners in Pennsylvania was $1,318 and the days of operation 218;
in Illinois $1,110 in 160 days; in Indiana $1,062 in 148 days; and
in Ohio $1,102 in 164 days.i
These earnings are distinctly lower for each state than those
given by the union for 1918. The year 1918 was more prosper-
ous for the miner than 1919, because he had more days of work
and this would account mainly for the differences. Certainly it
does not appear that the union understated the miners* earnings
in order to make a case for an increase. The data both from the
union and from the United States Census give no evidence of high
annual earnings, even in Western Pennsylvania, where the earn-
ings were highest.^
In order to picture the effect upon income of the loss of so many
working days, which characterizes the industry, the facts about
» Fourteenth Census of the United States, Mines and Quarries, 1919, Bulle-
tins for Pennsylvania, pp. 16 and 17; Ohio, pp. 6 and 7; Indiana, pp. 10 and 11;
Illinois, pp. 14 and 15. The average earnings were ascertained by dividing the
total wages paid in the year by the average number of wage-earners in 10 months,
January to October, 1919. This avoided the months affected by the strike,
November and December, 1919, when the number employed was not normal.
The data on days of operation were supplied by the Geological Survey.
' Earnings are affected by conditions in the mines, such as thickness of the
seam of coal, efficiency of machinery, availability of mine cars, etc. To
some degree conditionsare equalized by the differentials in rates which are agreed
upon in applying the general wage scale to a particular district.
35
<^ tv
. Iji 1
V ' 'f
^Il
average annual earnings in Table 9 are used as the basis for esti-
mating the difference between the income which the miners
actually earned and that which they would have received had
they worked 304 days, losing no time because of the failure of the
mine to operate. It should be pointed out that since Table 9 shows
the average earnings, which were actually received by the miners,
allowance is already made in those averages for all causes of lost
working time, whether due to the idleness of the mine or to the
absence of the miner from work for illness or other personal rea-
sons. These averages include the earnings of men who were not
employed regularly every day when the mine was in operation.
In every wage-earning group days are lost through sickness,
through change of job from one place of employment to another,
or through other personal causes. The days of employment shown
in Table 9 were not days worked by the men but days when the
mines were open for work. How many days of work these miners
in the central competitive field actually put in, we do not know,
but the amount which the men individually failed to earn through
not working every day when coal was coming over the tipple is
already discounted in the averages of actual earnings. If then,
from these statistics of the wages actually received by the men in
the specified days of mine operation, the possible earnings be esti-
mated for a full-time working year of 304 days, the difference be-
tween actual and possible earnings represents fairly though roughly
the tax upon the miners* income made solely by the idleness of
the mine.
The result of this estimate of possible full-time earnings as
shown in Table 10 should be regarded merely as a viv\d picture of
what irregular employment means in reduced earnings. It has
all the weakness of trying to prophesy what might happen if con-
ditions of employment were radically different. Actually, greater
stability might produce even more startling possibilities in in-
creased output for the miner, or wage rates might be decreased
without any disadvantage to the miner provided his opportunity
for employment were substantially increased and made more
certain. Thus Table 10 becomes a measure of present waste
rather than a prophecy of a future possibility.
According to Table 10, the miners in Illinois earned in the year
1913 only 62 per cent of the amount which would have been possi-
ble had they dug as much coal per day in 304 days as they dug in
36
V
the 189 days when the mines were open. They actually averaged
about $705 in annual earnings. At the same rates of pay and with
the same regularity on their part, with full-time operation of the
mines, they might have averaged $1,134. The difference was
$429 in the year. In Western Pennsylvania, where the mines
were open for work the largest number of days in the year, 237 in
1913, the estimated difference for each man was $246. In 1918,
which was the year of maximum production during the war, the
days of mine operation were decidedly higher than in 1913.
TABLE 10.— ACTUAL EARNINGS AND ESTIMATED FULL YEAR
EARNINGS OF MINERS IN THE FOUR DISTRICTS OF THE
CENTRAL COMPETITIVE FIELD IN 1913 AND IN 1918
District
Average
annual
earnings
Days of
mine
operation
Average
earnings
per day
of mine
operation
Possible
earnings
at this
rate in
304 days
Difference
between
actual
and full
year
earnings
Per cent
actual
earnings
are of
full year
earnings
1913
Illinois
Indiana
$705
708
189
190
$3.73
3.73
$1,134
1,134
$429
426
62
62
Ohio
766
206
3.72
1,131
365
68
Western Pa.
867
237
3.66
1,113
246
78
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio
Western Pa.
1918
$6.10
$1,854
$464
75
6.09
1,851
335
82
6.09
1,851
487
74
6.09
1,851
268
86
Nevertheless, though higher basic rates and more regular work
resulted in higher average earnings in 1918 than in 1913, the days
of operation were still considerably less than a full working year,
and the actual earnings were less than the estimated possible
earnings for 304 days by $268 per miner in Western Pennsylvania,
$335 in Indiana, $464 in Illinois, and $487 in Ohio. The estimated
possible annual earnings in 1918 were $1,854 in Illinois and $1,851
in each of the other districts.
Operators* Statistics of Earnings
The National Coal Association, on behalf of the operators,
submitted to the President's Bituminous Coal Commission data
37
1 1
li
il
/
^l
regarding the earnings of miners in certain selected mines in the
ten months from January to October, 1919. These mines were
located in the same districts, the central competitive field, for
which the statistics of the union were given though they were not
for the same year. The operators stated that many of the men
did not take full advantage of the opportunity to work while the
mines were open and that this voluntary idleness accounted for
low earnings. In their statistical tables they classified the earn-
ings separately for several groups, according to the regularity of
their attendance at work on days when the mines were operating.
The number of calendar days each mine loaded coal was taken as
" 100 per cent opportunity for labor to work." A certain pro-
portion of the men in each occupation were recorded as "working
more days than the mine loaded coal," which means that these
men worked in the mine every day of mine operation and also on
days when coal was not being hauled out.
The operators' figures were for daily and monthly earnings,
classified to show the " percentage of full opportunity " which each
group worked. We have compiled from the tables, which the
operators submitted, figures showing the earnings of those men
only who worked "more days than the mine loaded coal." The
average daily earnings of this group were closely similar to those
of the group "working from 75 to 100 per cent of full oppor-
tunity," but they were distinctly higher than the daily earnings of
the men who worked less regularly during the time that the mines
were operating. We have used in Table 11 the average earnings
of the group working at least all the days the mines were open,
because their wages presumably show the maximum opportunity
for earnings offered to the men by these mines in 1919.
According to the table, the machine miners, who are relatively
few in number, had the highest earnings and they averaged daily
$7.07 in these fields. The hand miners averaged $6.34 daily, the
loaders $5.99 and the day laborers inside the mine $5.13. The
highest average in any field included in the table for machine
miners working "full opportunity" was $8.72 a day and the low-
est, $5.32. Hand miners averaged $7.28 daily in the best field,
and $4.90 in the field of lowest average earnings.
The union's figures showed a daily average for all occupations
in 1918 of $6.09 in three states and $6.10 in the fourth. The
operators did not give a general average for all occupations but
38
the range of their averages for the four groups of "inside" mine
employes in 1 1 sub-divisions of the central competitive field was
from $4.86 to $8.72 for those groups only who worked the full
time that the mines were open. The resemblance between the
operators* figures and the daily averages obtained in Table 10
from the union data is sufficiently close to indicate that the union
did not underestimate the annual earnings. In making this com-
parison of daily earnings in 1918 and 1919 it should be recalled
that the wage rates remained the same during those two years.
TABLE 11.— AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS OF MINERS WORKING
FULL OPPORTUNITY DURING THE TEN MONTHS, JANUARY
TO OCTOBER, 1919, IN SELECTED MINES IN THE FIELDS
COMPRISING THE CENTRAL COMPETITIVE FIELD, BY
FIELDS »
Field
Number
of
Hand
Loaders
Machine
■
Inside
day
mines
miners
mmers
labor
Pittsburgh Thick Vein
7
$7.15
$5.77
$8.04
$5.21
Pittsburgh Thin Vein
14
6.02
5.90
6.80
5.23
Eastern Ohio
18
6.06
5.55
6.15
5.22
Southern Ohio
32
7.28
5.95
7.04
5.04
Indiana
23
7.20
6.93
7.47
5.21
Southern Illinois
15
• •
7.14
7.88
5.37
Southern Springfield
9
6.53
6.62
7.60
5.04
Northern Springfield
9
5.54
5.56
5.32
5.05
Fulton-Peoria
6
6.23
5.41
8.72
5.01
Northern Illinois
4
4.90
4.86
6.40
4.89
Fifth and Ninth Districts, 111.
•
13
6.46
6.22
6.36
5.18
Average 11 fields
• •
$6.34
$5.99
$7.07
$5.13
Highest field
• •
7.28
7.14
8.72
5.37
Lowest field
• •
4.90
4.86
5.32
4.89
Annual earnings at these rates in 249 days, the average number
of days bituminous mines in the United States operated in 1918
Average 11 fields
Highest field
Lowest field
• •
$1579
$1492
$1760
■ •
1813
1778
2171
• •
1220
1210
1325
$1277
1337
1218
• Compiled from tables furnished by the Bureau of Coal Economics. National Coal Associa-
tion, showing average daily earnings as reported by the operators of selected mines in each field,
by occupations, and by percentage of full opportunity worked. The number of days each mine
operated is counted as full opportunity.
The operators made no statement of annual earnings. If their
daily averages be multiplied by the average days of mine opera-
39
^ A V
tion in 1918/ as is done at the bottom of Table 11, the resulting
range of average annual earnings is from a maximum of $2,171 for
the most regularly employed of the machine miners in the field of
highest earnings to $1,210 for the loaders in the field of lowest
earnings; while the average in all fields is $1,579 for hand miners
and $1,492 for loaders.
Absenteeism
The chief difference in the testimony regarding earnings
offered by operators and union officials to the President's Bitu-
minous Coal Commission was that the operators stressed the
effect of voluntary idleness of the miner, which they contended
was the chief reason for low earnings. We have already noted
that in their statistics of earnings the operators classified the daily
wages according to the time which the miners worked in pro-
portion to the days the mines were open. Table 12 shows the
TABLE 12.— ADVANTAGE TAKEN OF FULL OPPORTUNITY TO
WORK BY EMPLOYES IN SELECTED BITUMINOUS COAL
MINES IN THE CENTRAL COMPETITIVE FIELD IN THE TEN
MONTHS. JANUARY TO OCTOBER, 1919
Average number of men working specified portion
of days the mines loaded coal each month
Less
than 25
per cent
25 to 49
per cent
50 to 74
per cent
75 to 100
per cent
More
than 100
per cent
Total
Miners
Company men
1,650
1,158
2,989
1,126
3,457
1,005
16,808
4,329
1,677
7,030
26,581
14,648
Per cent
Miners
Company men
6.2
7.9
11.3
7.7
13.0
6.9
63.2
29.5
6.3
48.0
100.0
100.0
proportion of miners and of "company men" who worked the
various percentages of "full opportunity," according to the
operators' reports. Miners here include only the men who dig
coal, — the hand and machine miners and the loaders. " Company
men" are the other groups of mine employes who are paid at
daily or monthly rates.
* The year 1918 is used in order to make possible comparison with the figures
given by the union for that year.
40
V
Thus, the group who worked more days than the mines loaded
coal, and for whom the statistics of earnings have already been
given, constituted 6.3 per cent of the miners, but nearly half of
the company men. The largest group of miners worked 75 to 100
per cent of the days that the mines were open.
A special inquiry would be necessary to analyze the causes of
absenteeism. The Bituminous Coal Commission in its final re-
port to the President pointed out a weakness in these figures of
the operators, and made the following comment upon them :
"The contention of the operators has been that the miners
do not make full use of the opportunities for labor afforded
them and that those of the miners who work at least three-
fourths of the available time earn sufficient wages. In support
of this contention the operators submitted figures collected
from a representative number of mines showing the number
of men working each specified number of days, with their
daily and monthly wages.
"We realize that a certain proportion of time is lost by the
miners voluntarily. At the same time, we find that the
figures submitted by the operators do not afford a measure
of the amount of time so lost by the miners, for the reason
that these figures make no allowance for the turnover. In
these tabulations every man who worked at a mine at any
time during the month is counted on the same basis as one
who was on the roll every day the mine was in operation,
regardless of the fact that many miners may have obtained
employment on the last day of the month or been discharged
at the end of the first day or moved to another mine in the
middle of the month or died some time during the period.
"A man who worked 13 days out of a possible 26 at one
mine and 13 at another would be counted in these figures as
two men with an aggregate voluntary absenteeism of 26
days or 50 per cent of the 52 working-days for the two
mines."^
The report then goes on to discuss the psychological causes of
absenteeism :
"But even after allowance has been made for all the factors
* United States Bituminous Coal Commission, Majority and Minority Re-
ports to the President, 1920, p. 44.
41
*c?
entering into the problem a margin remains between the
number of days that the miners actually work and the num-
ber when they have an opportunity to work. A fair inter-
pretation of this margin is that an irregular industry breeds
irregular habits among the workers. When the men are not
accustomed to going to work regularly every morning the
incentive for regularity becomes less potent and a certain
amount of absenteeism inevitably results. This is the psy-
chological factor of irregularity, and it may be expected that
it will disappear in large measure as the industry becomes
more stable."*
These statements of the Commission can be supplemented by
the results of a special investigation made in 1919 by the U. S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Careful records were kept of the
actual hours of labor of the men in the mines investigated. The
proportions of full time worked by the mines and by the men
are shown in Table 13 and pictured in Diagram 8.
TABLE 13.— AVERAGE FULL-TIME HOURS. HOURS OF MINE
OPERATION. AND HOURS WORKED BY MINERS IN SELECTED
BITUMINOUS MINES, IN ONE HALF-MONTH PAY-ROLL
PERIOD. IN 1919 a
month pay-roll period, and the result constituted "full-time
hours" in the period considered.^
Average
full-time
hours
Average
hours of
mine
operation
Average
hours
miners
worked
Hours lost by
miners out of
Occupation
Full
time
Actual
time
mines
operated
Hand miners
Machine miners
Loaders
102.5
104.3
104.7
71.1
77.9
81.2
60.0
73.2
65.3
42.5
31.1
39.4
11.1
4.7
15.9
• Data from Wagea and Hours of Labor in the Coal Mining Industry in 1919, United
states Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly Labor Review, December, 1919, p. 223.
In making the inquiry the Bureau of Labor Statistics defined
"full time" as "the number of hours which are regarded by
employer and employe as constituting a day's work." This
was multiplied by the number of days constituting the full half-
» United States Bituminous Coal Commission, Majority and Minority Re-
ports to the President, 1920, p. 45.
42
1^
Per Cent of Full Time
Miners Mines
worked operated Full time
Hand miners
Machine miners
Loaders
Diagram 8. — Time worked by miners and time the mines operated com-
pared with full time
The significant facts of the table are summed up as follows in
the report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics*:
"From the figures given ... the immediate re-
sponsibility for idle time may be roughly apportioned be-
tween the management and the employes. Thus, the aver-
age full-time hours of all mines in which hand miners were
found were 102.5 for the half month. Hand miners actually
worked an average of 60 hours. The difference, 42.5 hours,
was the amount of lost time on the part of the hand miners.
But of these 42.5 idle hour^ there were on the average 31.4
hours during which the mines were not in operation. For
that amount of idleness, therefore, the operators were im-
mediately responsible.' The remaining 11.1 hours of idle-
ness represent the time during which the mines were in
operation and opportunity for work was given of which the
employes failed to take advantage. For that much idleness,
therefore, the miners were immediately responsible.
1 United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly Labor Review.
December, 1919, p. 210.
» Ibid., p. 224.
' Presumably this statement is a broad and general one, merely indicating
that the individual miner could not be charged with voluntary idleness when
the mine was shut down. Of course, there are reasons for the failure to operate
a mine,-;-shortage of railroad transportation, or "no market," or physical con-
ditions m the mme (fire or flood, for instance), or sometimes a strike,— for
which It is not fair to hold the operator "immediately responsible." But in
relation to the point at issue, namely, voluntary absenteeism of miners, the
distinction is clear between operators ' responsibility and miners' responsibility
for time lost.
43
t;
r^
"For all machine miners combined the figures show
average hours of idleness 31.1, of which the operators were
responsible for 26.4 hours and the miners for 4.7 hours.
The corresponding figures for loaders are 39.4, 23.5, and
15.9, respectively."
Earnings in 1921
The award of the President's Bituminous Coal Commission
resulted in increases of 27 per cent, on a general average, in ton-
nage rates, and a dollar a day for day workers or so-called "com-
pany men." In August, 1920, the operators granted an addi-
tional $1.50 a day to company men, making the standard rate for
them $7.50. These increases in rates would have increased the
annual earnings of miners had employment continued to be no
more irregular than in the past. No thoroughgoing inquiry into
earnings in bituminous mines has been made since these increases
took effect,^ and we can estimate only very generally how the
miner has fared.
As has been shown in Diagram 4, the year 1920 was better than
1919, with 220 days of employment as compared with 195 in 1919.
This greater regularity with higher rates of pay doubtless brought
the miner a higher income in 1920 than in 1918 or 1919. The
year 1921, however, was the worst in 30 years, with only 170 days
of employment (if the preliminary estimate of the Geological
Survey remains unchanged). Thus the average days of mine
operation decreased about 23 per cent in 1921 as compared with
1920, and 32 per cent as compared with 1918 with its 249 days
of operation, so that the earnings in 1921 could hardly have
averaged as high as in 1918, even with the higher rates in 1921.
Further light on irregular operation in 1921 and early in
1922 is given by an analysis of the working time in bituminous
mines made by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics from
» See footnote, p. 33, for reference to an investigation by the U. S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics which is not yet published. In reply to our request for
recent data the National Coal Association wrote that "the National Coal
Association has not collected any wa^ statistics of bituminous coal mine
workers since the award of the Bituminous Coal Commission m 1919. In
some states estimates have been made by officials of state bureaus but these are
not satisfactory because they represent no analysis of pay-rolls. The Illinois
Coal Operators' Association has recently begun the periodical collection of
data on employment from its members and reference will be made to these
in the text. We have been unable to discover any information concerning
earnings in non-union districts.
44
data furnished by the Geological Survey for each week from
October, 1921, to February, 1922.^ In no week of that period
did more than 10.7 per cent of the mines give employment for 48
hours or more. The number of mines reporting ranged from 2,086
to 2,584. In only two weeks in that period did more than 20
per cent of the mines work more than 40 hours a week and the
maximum group working more than 40 hours in any week was
only 25.1 per cent of the whole number. The Bureau says of
these figures: "The number of mines reporting varied each week,
and the figures are not given as being a complete representation of
all mines, but are believed to fairly represent the conditions as to
irregularity of work in the bituminous mines of the country."
The Illinois Coal Operators' Association has been issuing statis-
tical tables for bi-weekly periods since the autumn of 1921. Of
those which its secretary furnished us, from October 16, 1921,
through January 15, 1922 (with one missing for the two weeks
ending November 30), none covered more than 29 per cent of the
mines of Illinois. Full data for wages are not presented; all
miners earning less than $50 in the two weeks' period are omitted
from consideration and the tables give the average earnings only
of those earning $50 or more in two weeks, together with the per-
centage which they constitute of the whole force. The average
earnings in two weeks of these employes are reported as $92.76
for the two weeks ending October 31, 1921; $86.85 for Novem-
ber 15; $82.46 for December 15; $80.81 for December 31; and
$79.36 for January 15, 1922. These appear to be gross earnings,
from which must be deducted the amounts payable for powder,
small tools, and other "occupational charges." These average
charges are stated. This higher paid group is recorded as con-
stituting a varying percentage of the total employes, from 91.3
per cent on October 31, 1921, to 59.5 per cent on December 15.
The Association intends to publish fuller details, but in their pres-
ent form the data do not include in the picture the group with
lower earnings which in one of the two-week periods included 40
out of each 100 miners. Their earnings would depress the aver-
age. Moreover, the data do not yet cover a period long enough to
show the effects of irregular employment in a year. The Associa-
tion in its publications is emphasizing " the excess number of men
» Data of U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to be published in the Monthly
Labor Review for April, 1922.
45
detained in the industry," and the fact that this results in lower
average earnings than if the number were less.^
The United Mine Workers have no comprehensive figures on
earnings since 1918, but data have been given by W. Jett Lauck,
from information supplied by the United Mine Workers for the
men actually employed in a few districts. According to these
figures, the average earnings during the year 1921 were only $763
in the Pittsburgh district; $550 in the Ohio district; $500 in West
Virginia (New River) ; and $420 in Tennessee.*
The Miners' Estimates of Cost of Living
These facts about annual earnings are significant only if they
are measured in terms of the cost of living. In the hearings be-
fore the Bituminous Coal Commission the miners* representatives
gave two estimates of the cost of living, one for a so-called "mini-
mum of subsistence, ** and the other for a "minimum of comfort. "
For the minimum of subsistence an annual income of $1,603 was
estimated as necessary, in January, 1920. This was to cover
barest living necessities for a family of five. The detailed items of
this budget were not published, but the total estimate was based
on a number of earlier investigations in industrial centers revised
to cover subsequent changes in retail prices. The "minimum of
comfort" budget, which was estimated with a view to the needs
of families living in mining communities, called for an annual
income of $2,244. This latter estimate was prepared by Professor
W. F. Ogbum of Columbia University, at the request of the
United Mine Workers. Table 14 shows the principal items of this
budget.
This budget is simply an estimate. Moreover, it was prepared
at a time of higher prices than the present. The cost of living in
mining communities is one of the many import;^ant subjects con-
nected with human relations in this industry about which exact
facts are not available. The estimate made by Professor Og-
bum serves, however, to illuminate the effects of irregular opera-
tion of the mines upon the lives of the miners. The miners
might earn a reasonably comfortable living if they could work the
»See, for instance, the pamphlet, ♦'Coal, a Few Thin^ the Public >yants to
Know," issued by the Illinois Coal Operators' Association. (Undated.)
•Signed article, by W. Jett Lauck. with head-line. "Says Miners Wish
More Work, Not Less and Must Get It," in Baltimore Sun, March 23. 1922.
46
year round. The lack of opportunity to work so many days in a
year reduces their income to what the miners contend is often
not even a bare subsistence.
TABLE 14.— COST OF A HEALTH AND COMFORT BUDGET FOR
ONE YEAR FOR A FAMILY OF FIVE IN MINING COMMUNI-
TIES AT PRICE LEVELS OF JANUARY, 1920-
?^hi„g *^'''
Husband $146.81
Wife 130.92
Boy (11 yrs.) 77.40
Girl (5 yrs.) 66.13
Boy (2 yrs.) 34.00 455.26
Housing, fuel, and light 286.00
Miscellaneous ; 576.30
Total $2,118.94
Average saving on garden and chickens 15.00
0^
IT 1 • vu. $2,103.94
£.xplosives. smithing, etc 140.00
Total $2,243.94
» Prepared by W. F. Ogburn and presented by the United Mine Workers of America in
their report. The Case of the Bituminous Coal Mine Workers, to the Bituminous Coal Commis-
sion m 1920.
In brief, the alternative to raising rates of pay is to increase the
regularity of the opportunity for work at the present rates. The
miner might well ask for a guaranteed minimum of employment
as more important than higher rates of pay. The necessity for
regarding a minimum of employment as a fixed charge upon the
industry would probably make operators more reluctant to open
new mines or unduly to enlarge those already open. To make
employment regular is important not only for the miner, but for
the economical conduct of the industry. Capital, as well as men,
is wastefully used when money and energy are invested on a scale
which could produce much more coal than can be sold.
Summary
1. The capacity of the bituminous mines to produce coal has
been conservatively estimated as 700,000,000 or 800,000,000 tons a
year compared with actual requirements of about 500,000,000 tons.
2. The bituminous coal mines have operated on an average of
only 214 days a year in the 32 years from 1890 through 1921. If
47
J
• f
If
ll
Ki
I
I!.
I,i
I
we accept 304 days as a full working year, the lost days of employ-
ment in bituminous mines have averaged 90 in a year.
3 Of these lost days 37 per cent, according to the estimates ot
the United States Geological Survey, have been due to the over-
development of the industry. The short working year has con-
tinued through times of prosperity. The excess of capacity over
production in the bituminous coal mines makes employment
intermittent for miners even when business in general is most
''T'rhrproduction of coal has increased from 120.600,000 tons
per year in the five-year period from 1890 through 1894 to nearly
507,000,000 tons a year from 1915 through 1919. The number of
employes has increased from an average of less than 200,000 in
1890 to about 600,000 in 1921. The days of employment in a
year have shown no appreciable increase except temporarily dur-
ing the period of the war. The increased demand for coal has
resulted in opening new mines and employing more miners rather
than in giving more regular employment in the mines already
*"1!*Sonal variations, according to the United States Geolog-
ical Survey, account for 47 per cent of the lost days in bituminous
coal mining. In the period from 1913 through 1921 the «cc^ ^^
production of coal in the month of greatest output over thatof the
month of least output in each year varied usually f«'";11^.0«>
to 16,000,000 tons or more and was never less than 6,900,000 tons.
These seasonal variations result in keeping more men m the in-
dustry than would be needed if work were more evenly distributed
throughout the year. This excess in numbers of men employed m
the industry tends in turn to make employment more irregular
and uncertain. . v uv
6 With employment intermittent and uncertam, the bitumin-
ous miners are forced to seek higher rates of wages to offset the
periods of idleness and lack of earnings. The mme workers re
ported to the Bituminous Coal Commission that m 1918 which
was a year of unusual regularity of employment owing to the war
demands, the average annual earnings of their members in the
central competitive field varied from $1,364 m Ohio to a ma^-
mum of $1,583 in Western Pennsylvania. Data derived from the
United States Census indicate that in 1919 the ^;^^'^^^^;^^^^^
earnings of the miners in the same area varied from $1,062 in
48
V
Indiana to a maximum of $1,318 in Pennsylvania. Estimates of
annual earnings derived from average daily earnings reported by
the National Coal Association to the President's Bituminous Coal
Commission indicate that the average annual earnings in the
central competitive field for men working the full time of mine
operation were about $1,277 for inside day labor, $1,492 for load-
ers, $1,579 for hand miners and $1,760 for machine miners. The
general average increase of 27 per cent granted by the Bituminous
Coal Commission would have increased these earnings had em-
ployment continued to be no more irregular than in the past.
Even in the comparatively prosperous year of 1920, however,
employment was 12 per cent less than in 1918, while in 1921
employment decreased 23 per cent as compared with 1920, and
32 per cent as compared with 1918. This shows that opportunity
for employment as measured by the number of days the mines
are operated is of primary importance to the miner, since irregular
employment nullifies the advantage of increased rates of pay.
7. Estimates of the cost of living, prepared for the United Mine
Workers, and presented by them to the Bituminous Coal Com-
mission, showed that in January, 1920, $1,603 was required for a
budget to provide a "minimum of subsistence*' for a family of
five. The cost of providing a " minimum of health and comfort "
for families living in mining communities was estimated as re-
quiring an annual income of $2,244. Even in the prosperous year
of 1918 the miners' average annual earnings were not equal to
the "minimum of subsistence," except for the annual income
of a comparatively small group of machine miners employed
"full opportunity," as estimated from the operators* figures, and
their earnings were neariy $500 less in a year than the miners'
"minimum of comfort" budget. An allowance for a decrease
in the cost of living and an increase in the miners' rates of pay
probably would not cover the difference between a reasonable
budget and the annual income of the miner in his short working
year.
8. Present conditions in the bituminous coal industry render
precarious and difficult the lives of more than half a million miners
and their wives and children. The adjustment of wage rates is
sure to produce conflict and bitterness until the equally impor-
tant questions of stability for the industry and security of employ-
ment for the miner receive effective attention from operators and
49
JJ^^AA^
public. Greater security in employment must be made the foun-
dation of better human relations in this industry.
Wasteful over-development is a problem of organization ot
the industry as a whole in which either the operators or the pub-
lic must take the initiative. The cost of living of everybody .s
increased by disorganization in the basic industry of coal. The
public, the operator and the investor, and the coal ™ner have
a common interest in making bituminous mmmg efficient and
, economical.
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