38 



THE INDIA RUBBER \?VORLD 



[November i, 1902. 



mutual understanding more difficult, but still serious 

 troubles were avoided, and the same wage rate was long 

 maintained, without regard to the selling price of coal, the 

 rate being higher than could be earned by carpenters, rail- 

 way employes, or in any other wage earning capacity in 

 the same region. Then came the professional agitator, 

 representing the United Mine Workers of America, a body 

 which had gained great influence in the bituminous coal 

 districts, pointing out that the miners, by paying monthly 

 dues to the union, could call to their aid that mighty 

 organization in bettering their condition, and gain the 

 "whip hand" over the rich mine owners instead of re- 

 maining their " slaves." Such seed fell on fruitful ground, 

 especially in the minds of foreigners and the thousands of 

 boys employed. Local unions sprang up, in which every 

 complaint made by a miner was magnified into a "griev- 

 ance," with the result that foremen and superintendents 

 soon found their time largely occupied with the settlement 

 of troubles, in which they had to deal, not with the ag- 

 grieved employe, but with an outside influence. The 

 owners of the properties found themselves with nothing to 

 do but pay wages, all the details of management being as- 

 sumed by the obliging gentlemen with headquarters at 

 Indianapolis, Indiana, supported by the dues paid by the 

 miners. The owners could hire whom they pleased, but if 

 a new man couldn't show a "card " work was stopped un- 

 til he paid for one, or was discharged. The owners could 

 discharge a man, without the approval of the union, only 

 by provoking a strike. The " local " ordered holidays, 

 stopping all work, without giving notice to the owners, and 

 sought generally to ignore the latter save on pay day. 



In October, 1900, the first strike occurred, under the 

 new conditions, to settle which the mining companies ad- 

 vanced wages 10 per cent., and the strike last spring was 

 called to enforce a demand for " arbitration " relating to a 

 further increase of 20 per cent, in pay for contract work, 

 and an eight hour day with ten hours pay for time work. 

 " Arbitration " in this case meant definite recognition of 

 the Indianapolis headquarters as the medium for commu- 

 nication with the companies' own employes. Upon the re- 

 fusal of the mine owners to grant such recognition the 

 strike was called, after which time the owners became 

 engaged in a struggle to save their property from destruc- 

 tion ; non union men were intimidated to prevent their 

 going to work, and tradesmen or others who countenanced 

 the "scabs" were rigorously boycotted. 



The spirit of the union has been best demonstrated in 

 the fact that one great obstacle to bringing about the 

 agreement suggested by President Roosevelt was the de- 

 mand made by the mine owners that on the resumption of 

 work their non union employes should not be molested, 

 and the unwillingness of the union to consent to this. An- 

 other thing to which the union objected was a suggestion 

 by the mine owners that any future grievances should be 

 reported to them by committees of their own employes, 

 instead of from a foreign source. 



We have been unable to learn that the coal mine owners 

 are opposed to the organization of labor, and we are cer- 

 tain that the rubber manufacturers are not, provided the 



spirit of the organization is not such as to destroy confi- 

 dence between employe and employer, and make direct 

 communication between the two classes difficult or im- 

 possible. One thing certain is that the rubber industry in 

 the United States never could have attained its present 

 importance if Christopher Meyer, John H. Cheever, Joseph 

 Banigan, and Elisha C. Converse — not to mention other 

 forceful founders and their successors — could have dealt 

 with their employes only through the medium of a union 

 executive committee, working on the theory that all rub- 

 ber workers are built in the same mold and that the most 

 inefficient is entitled to the ma.ximum wage for a minimum 

 day's work. Another thing certain is that the industrial 

 progress of Great Britain has been retarded by an incu- 

 bus of tradesunionism which, instead of holding out an 

 inducement to every worker to do his best, has tended to 

 lower the standard of work to the capacity of the least 

 competent. 



If Mr. John Mitchell, the leader of the coal miners' 

 organization, should happen to discharge an office boy and 

 find himself unable to secure another of his choice on ac- 

 count of intimidation by a committee of some International 

 Office Boys' Union, stationed outside his door, he probably 

 would appeal to the police to stop the interference, al- 

 though the same principle is illustrated in the working of 

 the plan to prevent every man from mining coal who does 

 not recognize Mr. Mitchell's authority in the premises. 



BRAINS AS AN ADULTERANT OF RUBBER. 



\ \ /ISE men are ever counselling those to whom they 

 ' '' wish well to buy brains, but until recently no at- 

 tempt has been made to fix a definite commercial value 

 for this commodity. It is particularly interesting to note 

 that the first practical advance in this direction appears to 

 have been made through the enterprise of a rubber manu- 

 facturing company. The fact has become public through 

 a circular issued by the company, stating : 



"We mix a dollars woilh of brains with every ounce of 

 rubber we buy." 



The India Rubber World expert, who is fairly up in 

 compounds, was more than interested to see the goods pro- 

 duced by this new adulterant. He therefore secured a 

 sample of the finished goods, examined it carefully by the 

 ordinary tests, the following compound being indicated : 



Para rubber, i pound. 

 Litharge. I pound. 

 Brains, 16 pounds. 

 Sulphur, 6 ounces. 



Just what grades of brains were used it was impossible 

 to determine — whether coarse, medium, or fine, or indeed 

 whether reclaimed brains were used. It appears, however, 

 that the 16 pounds of brains displaces about 2 pounds of 

 ordinary ingredients, say whiting and oxide of zinc, worth 

 about 6 cents. The company, therefore, are paying $16 

 for ingredients instead of 6 cents paid by their competi- 

 tors. Of course, they may not pay a dollar a pound, for 

 they say a dollar's worth, but we warn them that to com- 

 pete they must get a grade of brains costing not more than 

 f cent per pound. 



