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The Coal Strike Award

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 1, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 13.

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The Coal Strike Award

The commission appointed to arbitrate the differences between the coal companies and the miners has completed its work and reported its decisions. Both parties to the controversy are claiming the victory. The simple fact is that, while the union has not been recognized (which was one of the demands of the miners), some of their demands have been granted, and some of the contentions of the employers also have been upheld. The following summary of the findings will give an idea of the work done by the commission:—
General increase in wages of about ten per cent.
Present methods of payment for coal mined to be adhered to, unless changed by mutual agreement.
Board of conciliation to be chosen for settlement of disputes and disagreements.
No strikes or lockouts to be permitted pending such adjustment.
No concerted action by mine owners or miners to limit the output of mines or detract from the quality of the coal mined, except by mutual understanding.
No discrimination for or against any workman on account of membership or non-membership in a union.
Unions must not undertake to assume or to interfere with the management of the business of the employer.
Persons who associate themselves into a union do not acquire authority over those who do not so associate themselves.
The miners have the privilege of having a check weighman of their own appointment.
Decision of the commission to be in force until March 31, 1906.
Recommends that coal and iron police not be employed in preference to regular peace officers.
The commission estimates the losses sustained during the strike to have been as follows: Losses to mine owners, $46,100,000; losses to employees, $25,000,000; losses to transportation companies, $28,000,000—a grand total of $99,100,000. During the week a number of railroads and some other concerns have increased the pay of their men materially; there have also been about the usual number of strikes.

Among the Mounds

During the excavations of the site of ancient Susa (Shushan) a column of stone has been found on which the laws governing Babylon in the time of King Ahasuerus are set forth in 300 paragraphs. We see by this that the codification of laws is not a modern thing. The many excavations now going on in ancient lands, bringing again to the attention of the world those people and events of which the Bible speaks so plainly, are serving an important purpose in God’s work. More and more minutely are the mounds corroborating the writings of the inspired men of old. A despatch from Egypt dated March 2 states that Mr. Davis, an American explorer who has been excavating the ruins of ancient Thebes, has found a splendid war-chariot in the tomb of Thothmes IV. The chariot was made of bronze and gilded wood. Other chambers were found in the tomb, the doors to which were sealed with the seal of the king. The floor was strewn with vases, dishes, and other objects. The walls were hung with paintings, and in the room were found pieces of textile fabric in which hieroglyphics of various colors are woven with such wonderful skill as to present the appearance of painting on linen. John Hayes Hammond of Yale University, until recently a mining expert in South Africa, stated, in a lecture in New York on March 6, that inscriptions had been found in South Africa which proved that Rhodesia is the land of Ophir referred to in the Scriptures.