Operators’ Letters
June 14, 1902
Summary
Coal company operators submit letters to John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers, declining any negotiation of higher wages due to “the competition of soft coal”.
Transcription
Correspondence with Mitchell on coal situation made public.
President Baer's attitude.
Declined to join in conference to fix wage scale for anthracite regions, claiming it was impracticable, and refused to agree to arbitration.
New York, June 11.-- The presidents of the coal roads immediately affected by the strike of the anthracite coal miners made public yesterday letters and telegrams which have passed between the operators and President Mitchell and other representatives of the United Mine Workers. The operators say they have heretofore hesitated about making public this correspondence. "The president of the United States," they said, "having requested Mr. Wright, the commissioner of labor, to investigate the strike, the presidents of the coal companies have given him such facts as he desired, including this correspondence, and it is now given to the public."
The operators' preface the correspondence with a brief history of the unionizing of the anthracite coal miners after the establishment of the United Mine Workers, originally an organization of bituminous coal miners, and recite the agreement to an advance of 10 per cent. in wages in 1901, following the strike of 1900; the abolishment of the sliding scale, and finally the invitation of February 14, 1902, to the operators to a joint conference to form a wage scale for the ensuing year. Then the text of the letters and telegrams are introduced.
The first letter on the list is that of President Baer, of the Reading Railroad, dated Philadelphia, February 18, 1902, and addressed as were all replies, of the operators, to "John Mitchell, president, and others," at Indianapolis. In part Mr. Baer says:
"Gentlemen-- I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of February 14, inviting this company to be represented at a joint conference of operators and miners on March 12, the object of the conference to be the formation of a wage scale for the year beginning April 1, 1902, and ending March 31, 1903, and in which you express the hope "that the methods employed by the miners' organization in adjusting the wage scale in all districts where it is recognized and contracted with will comment themselves to us." In the judgment of the companies I represent, it is impracticable to form a wage scale for the whole anthracite region. The mining of anthracite coal is entirely different from that of bituminous coal. The distinction between the bituminous and anthracite mines is recognized in the Pennsylvania laws regulating mining, which have been enacted primarily at the solicitation of the mine workers. Special laws are created for each.
"We will always receive and consider every application of the men in our employ. We will endeavor to correct every abuse, to right every wrong, to deal justly and fairly with them. The objection to your proposition is not alone the impracticality of forming a uniform scale of wages, but it is to the divided allegiance it creates. Discipline is essential in the conduct of all business. Your organizations have no power to enforce their decrees, and thereby insure discipline, and we have no powers to maintain discipline except the power to discharge.
"A careful analysis of the results of last year's operations shows that the efficiency of our mines has decreased 1,000,000 tons, because the contract miners have worked only four and one half to six hours a day.
"With no disposition to interfere with labor organizations in all honest efforts to better the welfare and condition of the working classes, we respectfully decline to join in any conference for the formation of a wage scale for the next year.
"George F. Baer."
The replies of the other operators follow the same lines, and all decline to join in any conference for the formation of a wage scale. The operators also claim that to grant an increase in wages would result in the further advance in the price of coal to the public, which is impracticable, owing to the competition of soft coal. They offered to allow miners' representatives to examine their books, and after saying that the anthracite mining is a business and not a religious, sentimental or philanthropic proposition, refused all suggestions for arbitration.
President Baer's attitude.
Declined to join in conference to fix wage scale for anthracite regions, claiming it was impracticable, and refused to agree to arbitration.
New York, June 11.-- The presidents of the coal roads immediately affected by the strike of the anthracite coal miners made public yesterday letters and telegrams which have passed between the operators and President Mitchell and other representatives of the United Mine Workers. The operators say they have heretofore hesitated about making public this correspondence. "The president of the United States," they said, "having requested Mr. Wright, the commissioner of labor, to investigate the strike, the presidents of the coal companies have given him such facts as he desired, including this correspondence, and it is now given to the public."
The operators' preface the correspondence with a brief history of the unionizing of the anthracite coal miners after the establishment of the United Mine Workers, originally an organization of bituminous coal miners, and recite the agreement to an advance of 10 per cent. in wages in 1901, following the strike of 1900; the abolishment of the sliding scale, and finally the invitation of February 14, 1902, to the operators to a joint conference to form a wage scale for the ensuing year. Then the text of the letters and telegrams are introduced.
The first letter on the list is that of President Baer, of the Reading Railroad, dated Philadelphia, February 18, 1902, and addressed as were all replies, of the operators, to "John Mitchell, president, and others," at Indianapolis. In part Mr. Baer says:
"Gentlemen-- I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of February 14, inviting this company to be represented at a joint conference of operators and miners on March 12, the object of the conference to be the formation of a wage scale for the year beginning April 1, 1902, and ending March 31, 1903, and in which you express the hope "that the methods employed by the miners' organization in adjusting the wage scale in all districts where it is recognized and contracted with will comment themselves to us." In the judgment of the companies I represent, it is impracticable to form a wage scale for the whole anthracite region. The mining of anthracite coal is entirely different from that of bituminous coal. The distinction between the bituminous and anthracite mines is recognized in the Pennsylvania laws regulating mining, which have been enacted primarily at the solicitation of the mine workers. Special laws are created for each.
"We will always receive and consider every application of the men in our employ. We will endeavor to correct every abuse, to right every wrong, to deal justly and fairly with them. The objection to your proposition is not alone the impracticality of forming a uniform scale of wages, but it is to the divided allegiance it creates. Discipline is essential in the conduct of all business. Your organizations have no power to enforce their decrees, and thereby insure discipline, and we have no powers to maintain discipline except the power to discharge.
"A careful analysis of the results of last year's operations shows that the efficiency of our mines has decreased 1,000,000 tons, because the contract miners have worked only four and one half to six hours a day.
"With no disposition to interfere with labor organizations in all honest efforts to better the welfare and condition of the working classes, we respectfully decline to join in any conference for the formation of a wage scale for the next year.
"George F. Baer."
The replies of the other operators follow the same lines, and all decline to join in any conference for the formation of a wage scale. The operators also claim that to grant an increase in wages would result in the further advance in the price of coal to the public, which is impracticable, owing to the competition of soft coal. They offered to allow miners' representatives to examine their books, and after saying that the anthracite mining is a business and not a religious, sentimental or philanthropic proposition, refused all suggestions for arbitration.
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Upper Left Quadrant
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Contributed By
Brooke Royer
Citation
“Operators’ Letters,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1065.