Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1904 — IOWA MINES SHUT DOWN. [ARTICLE]

IOWA MINES SHUT DOWN.

Conftrence of Workmen and Operators Unable to Settle Dispute. Unable to agree to an arbitration of their differences, the lowa miners and operators split in joint conference Thursday, with the result that every mine in the State will be shut down, throwing 13.500 miners out of employment. The conference adjourned a session covering a period of six weeks, the latter part of which was devoted to an attempt on the part of both to arrive at some amicable conclusion.

The split resulted front a refusal on the part of the operators to raise the wages of the unskilled and to lower the price of blasting powder demanded by the men. The refusal to increase the wage of unskilled miners’ workmen, such as m.ule drivers and top men, at the beginning of the conference extended only to certain districts where that class of labor is unusually expensive, but at the close of the conference the operators demanded that it should be universal and apply to every district in the State.

Summed up. the situation is thus: The miners demand a reduction in the price of blasting powder from $2 to $1.75 per can. They demand a uniform advance in the scale of wages paid top men, and that drivers in districts Nos. 1 and 4 should receive the same scale as in districts Nos. 2 and 3. The operators claimed they were standing by the Indianapolis agreement and in so doing could not submit to genet al increases in the wages paid unskilled labor throughout the district. There was no dissatisfaction with the scale paid skilled workmen in any district.

President White of the lowa miners said: “The miners made every attempt to arbitrate' and were unable to reach an agreement. There is nothing else now to do but to fight it out to the end. I shall never sanction an agreement under the present conditions.” Leading operators say the position of the miners is untenable and that they cannot reach them so long as they cling to their present position.

The strike and lockout will Include mines in Appanoose. Mahaska, Keokuk, Wapello, Marion, Jasper, Polk, Boone and Webstc-- counties, lowa, and those in Putnam County, Missouri. In Tolk County there are 4,500 miners, while more than $2,000,000 is invested in the business in this county alone. The struggle is likely to be long and bitter.