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Show w x - : ii UuU .,.ik.A.i!.. :. .. o JouAiil-! Glowing Picture of Prosperity Prosper-ity Painted Before Stride ; Commission by Attorney ' - ' . .'. . ' ' '.v . - , . : 0 I COAL MIHES VERITABLE HEALTH RESORT. . , We are satisfied the commission will find there Is no manual employ- ment requiring so little training, or skill, the exposure to so little risk of S life and the occupation of so small a portion of the working day, which Is 0 so liberally compensated In wages as the work of the anthracite miners. . In. this connection we shall show that the employment Is not extra has- ardous, and Is more" than ordinarily healthful. ATTORNEY TORRET FOR THE "ANTHRACITE OPERATORS ' ; '. , - ' ' PHIIjADELPHIA, Jan. 10. The nonunion non-union men having closed their case, the coal companies opened their side of the controversy today before the . strike commission. Chairman Gray Is still confined-to his home In Wilmington, suffering from a cold, and. Gen. Wilson i again presided. ' The proceedings were opened today, by the Delaware. & Hudson company through its counsel, James H. Torre y of Scranton. ' In presenting the case of the company , he represents, Mr. Torrey first' delivered - an address Indicating what the company would try to prove. He spoke In part as follows: . His Company's Case. ' "A general opening of the case on behalf be-half of the respondents having. already been made,. I shall at this time confine myself so far as practicable to a brief statement- "of the :i partfcuUur mAtters which It Is expected to prove and ply relating to the case of the Delaware tc Hudson company. .We shall show that for many" years up to the beginning of the 1900 strike the relations between the company and Its employees had been friendly and harmonious, and that the , Inception of such degree of hostility aa has since marked those relations was coincident with the entry into the anthracite an-thracite field of the organization of the United Mine-Workers, v Vlners' Case Flat. . - "After spending , weeks of valuable time, the case upon the part of the miners mi-ners was closed without the production of any material evidence to substantiate substanti-ate any of their claims. With almost infinite labor and pains, and by the aid of an army of clerks and accountants, a vast array of information has been accumulated for the use of the commission commis-sion with -reference to tho wages aifi conditions of employment of our ' employees. em-ployees. -. ' ' "By these statements and from other testimony which will be offered, it will be demonstrated that there is no merit in the first demand for a 20 per cent increase in-crease upon the prices paid during the year of 1901 to employees performing contract work. It will be shown- that both the rates paid and the annual earnings upon this kind of work are larger than are paid to the bitulilnous miners for similar work and the occupations occu-pations requiring skill and training in the region. We shall show that since the last Increase of wages there has been no material advance In the cost of living. We shall negative the unsupported unsup-ported claim that the children of the miners are forced to work at an early -age by submitting a list of employees whose boys are working with the ai nual earnings of the parents which average about $540." - Eight-Hour Contention. ? - : ."To -the second demand for an eight-hour eight-hour day for company men, the evidence which has already been -outlined will to " a large extent apply. In addition thereto,, there-to,, we shall submit statements which will show that even during the period -when coal was most in demand and the collieries were operated to the limit of their capacity, the breakers operated an average of less than eight hours per day, for reasons partly due to the voluntary vol-untary action of the men and partly to . ' causes beyond the control either of the company or the men. Average Wages Claimed. - ' "We have prepared a schedule show- . ing the wages, the number of days worked and the annual wages of all company men and boys, the general average av-erage being for men $318.95 and for boys ) $196.97, which Is a higher average than obtained In other similar employments. "In this connection we shall show that . the only tabulated statement offered in evidence by the mine-workers purport- ing to give a comparison of the earnings of company men In the bituminous and anthracite- fields Is misleading in its . scope,, full of inaccuracies in detail and false and misleading In conclusion." |