Show I GERMAN I ARE BADLY USED Appeal to the Controlling Syn Syndicate Syndicate For Relief GENERAL STRIKE POSSIBLE d GOVERNMENT INTERESTED IN INTHE INTHE THE MATTER MATTERT T 1 Berlin Jan r of the rep re of miners employed In the mines t coal syndicate are being held through throughout out the t regarding the silence of the members of thE syndIcate on en the reqUEst for a different eye tern or of measuring the hours o of work The mines are under individual coni orrt pany management the whole allotted produce being marketed by the syndi syndicate c cate te Two hundred and fifty men In one mIne refused t to work today but a general strike is not yet et in Imminent prospect although the miners Iners are em embIttered embittered by the long controversy The miners ask that the hours or of work shall be measured from the time or of arrival at the pits mouth until they I reach the pits mouth on returning in instead instead stead ot of upon reaching t the e work gal I lery until ceasIng to work The men affirm that It takes minutes each nay ay goIng Into and I leaving the deep sunk shafts and long galleries so that a nominal da day becomes a day of nine and a half hours They asked for tor the first year yeara I a day for tor the second year eight and hours and for tor forthe the third year and thereafter eight hours calculated between getting Into J and coming out or of the entrance I The miners aver that the diggings are more unhealthy than ever and that i 55 per Cent ot of the men are now dis diseased I eased According to official reports the average life lite of miners Is less than for formed j med The miners leaders urge md m d and the observance of order The public generally is deeply interest interested i ed in the result of the dispute The coal syndicates contract which went Into effect In April 1904 for tor twelve yeas yeats fixes the allotment ot of each mine for the entire period Th The result com is that the powerful mining com comI are mining economically buying I up the weaker ones and closing them supplying ing theIr allotment from ne neI new I shafts of the range Targe mines The work workmen men of the small smaIl mines are forced to sell their cottages at a sacrifice and move moe to the large Jarge mInes There are government representatives tives at the meetings or of the mIners and police and troops are held ready to sup suppress press dIsturbances f fr I r |