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Monthly Circular.
No. 22.	February.	1917.
TO THE MEMBERS.

Gentlemen,

Miners' Earnings.

My attention has been drawn to a statement that appeared in the Sunday Pictorial on February 25th, 1917, and the responsibility for which is attributed to the Rev. J. T. Wardle.

I have not the pleasure of knowing this gentleman; but his calling is one that ought to establish a certain measure of credence for any statement he may make.

On a question of opinion alone, it is always wise to exercise a certain amount of care; but when making a statement of fact, from a position that is supposed to be immune from class prejudice, and the veracity of which is less likely to be challenged for that very reason, precaution is doubly necessary; and it is, in my opinion, a moral duty to be sure that the grounds for making a statement are absolutely unassailable.

The statement in question was couched in such general terms, that, except to the miners themselves, and those who are in close touch with their daily life, only one construction could be placed upon it, viz., that those who were engaged in the mining industry were earning £12 per week.

A more misleading or maliciously false impression was never created; and to those who possess a knowledge of the facts, it is so obviously untrue that many people may be inclined to the opinion that it is really not worth refuting. 1 can only say that this is not my opinion.

Do there not exist thousands of coal consumers, particularly in large towns, who experience the greatest difficulty in obtaining fire coal, owing to the almost prohibitive price to which it has risen, not from any shortage of supply, but for other reasons of a more sordid character, and these many thousands of consumers have always been deliberately led to believe that the high price of coal was due to the high wages that had to be paid to miners; whereas the true facts are that in the whole of the British coalfield the price of coal has to be realised before the wages of the miners are regulated by such prices ; and, in many cases, it may be a matter of almost three months before the ascertained price can materially affect wages.

It may be regarded as part of the game for those who have made and are continuing to make fortunes out of the coal industry to foster a delusion of this sort; but when one, whose duty is the spread of truth and righteousness, lends his support to a deception of this kind, by publicly stating what is not true, then it is the palpable duty of someone to contradict and remove so damaging an impression.

It may be true that, in some instances, where speculative bargaining has been applied to certain work in the mine, one or two exceedingly lucky individuals may have made as much as twelve pounds per week, although these instances have not come to my personal knowledge; but to lead people to think that it applied generally is a deception nothing short of wicked.

If the reverend gentleman had but an elementary knowledge of the working of the industry, he should be aware that, in any case, his statement could only apply to the piece rate workers, who do not represent more than from 50 to 60 per cent., and that the rest are on by the day at wages varying from 6/0.6 to 8/8.2; and if they get the whole of the days that the pit works in a week, which cannot be more than six, they are getting the magnificent wage of 36/- or 52/-, and not £12 per week, for following an occupation under unnatural conditions, and admittedly one of the most dangerous that can be followed. Surely it cannot be claimed that these men can be described as war profiteers.

Granted that many of our piece workers may be making fair wages, though not the imaginary £12 per week, it is nevertheless equally true that many of them are on the minimum, which until quite recently was 6/4 per shift — surely a long way removed from £12 per week, a figure that it was impossible to remedy, except by negotiation, owing to the fact that anything in the nature of controversial legislation was tabooed for the period of the War. It is only fair to say that for the hewers this was ultimately increased by mutual arrangement to the sum of 7/6 per day, hedged round, however, by so many prohibitive clauses that in numerous cases men are deprived of even that amount, and this, too, at a time when the cost of living was almost double that obtaining in pre-war times.

In addition, how many thousands of homes voluntarily gave up their sons, who, by virtue of their robust manhood, were a most important financial asset to the homes of their parents, in defence of their country and the lives and liberties of even ministers of the Gospel; and if what the Rev. J. T. Wardle said was correct, then, judged from a worldly point of view, their sacrifice was all the greater, and the grim misfortune is that many of them will never return, and thousands will come back with their earning powers considerably reduced by the hardships, suffering, and maiming they have had to endure.

Were none of these facts known to the reverend gentleman before he disseminated a statement which could only create the impression that the miners of Durham County were reaping a harvest, as the result of the War? If not, then I have no hesitation in saying that his ignorance of the subject, that he was endeavouring to educate the general public in regard to, was almost criminal for a man of his profession.

I am fully cognisant of the fact that press reports, in the process of boiling down, may frequently misrepresent the meaning of what a speaker says, and for that reason I purposely refrained from at once rushing into print, with a view to giving the reverend gentleman the opportunity of correcting any false impression that may have been created; and as, so far as I can ascertain, he has made no effort to do so, I can only assume that he was correctly reported, so far as time meaning of his speech was concerned; and presuming this is correct, I have no apology to offer, nor do I desire to retract anything I may have said.

The Recent Home Office Instructions.

It will be remembered that a short time ago certain instructions were issued, arising out of an interview that the Miners' Federation Executive had with the Home Secretary.

Only one construction could be placed upon the regulations which were submitted by the Home Office and issued by our and also other Societies, and that was that, apart from anyone who entered the Industry since August 14th, 1915, all others were to be treated as being entitled to equal privileges, so far as calling up for Military Service was concerned; or, in other words, those engaged at the mines prior to August 14th, 1915, were entitled to two months after their exemption certificate was withdrawn, thus obtaining freedom from the somewhat invidious distinctions many of our members were being subjected to.

It now transpires that the concession, that every member of the Committee believed had been given to them, was really not worth the paper it was written on although there is not a shadow of doubt in the minds of those who were present at the interview that it was the intention of the Home Secretary to treat the Mining Industry as a whole; but unfortunately it would appear that all civil departments are subservient to the Military Control; and, although the Home Office proposed, the War Office disposed, with the result that the representatives of every District connected with the Federation were responsible for misleading their members; the inevitable consequence being that friction arose in some Districts, fraught with the possibility of developing into a serious situation, which, under present circumstances, would not only be deplorable, but highly disastrous, and an immediate interview with the Authorities was therefore essential.

At that interview it was pointed out by the Home Secretary that although during the passage of the Military Act an amendment was accepted by the Government, to relieve the apprehensions of trades unionists, that fourteen days exemption from being called up for military service was so short a period that, in the event of a dispute involving a stoppage of work, men might be drafted into the Army in such a manner as almost amounted to Industrial Conscription, and to meet this apprehension the period was extended to two months, the irony of the business is that the Military Authorities now claim that every man who attested is practically a soldier on reserve; and the only men to whom the Act applies are the unattested, which, considering that almost 90% of our men of military age attested, means in effect that the amendment to the Act was rendered abortive.

The methods resorted to by the employers and military authorities when seeking for men to attest under Lord Derby's Scheme were of a most questionable character, and it was invariably clearly laid down that his position as an attested man would be better than that of the unattested man. That this was nothing less than specious trickery has now been proved, and no matter how keenly one may be desirous of seeing the War prosecuted to a successful issue, we ought to at all events, see to it that our hands are clean and those in authority ought to realise that indirectly, at any rate, they are responsible for obtaining men by trickery and deceit, that we so glibly condemn when practised by our enemies, and the least they can do is to refrain from taking advantage of it.

After two interviews with General Geddes the situation was relieved to some extent by the following conditions being accepted :—

"General Geddes agrees that if a general volunteering scheme amongst colliery workers is agreed to, he will send out a general wire of instruction to the Military Representatives to suspend the calling up of all those who have received notice calling them to the colours, and who have not yet joined up and been posted; and if at the end of two months from this date the full 20,000 have been secured, the men who have now received notices will not be called up.

"If the full 20,000 have not been secured, the men who have received notices will be called up to complete the number.

"It is clearly understood that Volunteers will join up at once, without waiting for two months or other period."

From this, it will be observed that no man who had not actually joined up is compelled to do so before a period of two months, and, in the meantime, calling up notices can be ignored, pending a call for volunteers who are expected to join up immediately on volunteering.

This recourse to the principles of voluntaryism, even though it is only for the period of two months, is one the Federation Executive felt it was impossible to ignore, particularly as it went a long way in the direction of relieving the tension created by the issue of the Home Office regulations, and the subsequent, in my opinion, distorted application of the same.

Control of the Mines.

It would be interesting to know precisely who is responsible for the appointment of the Advisory Committee for the Control of the Mines, and whether it is intended that Durham County should come under such scheme of control, or are they left to work out their own salvation.

If it is intended that the mines of Durham are to be controlled, and it is deemed desirable that not only owners but workmen should be on the Advisory Committee for the purpose, it is nothing short of a studied insult that, if not the largest coal producing district, the largest organised body of mine workers in England should have no direct voice or vote in a matter so vital to their interests, except through the medium of one of their coal owners.

It points to only one conclusion, and that is that the powers that be are apt to value an organisation in proportion to its ability and desire to sting; and successful efforts to preserve industrial peace during a period of National stress is counted as an evidence of weakness that can be traded upon with impunity. There is always the possibility of the worm turning from sheer compulsion, and to justify its existence.

---

Mr. House reports the decisions of the Compensation Committee, held on March 5th, as follows :—

Fatal Cases.

Fatal Cases

Lodge	Name	Age	Occupation
Hebburn	Thomas A., Brown	15	Driver
Bowden Close	F., Davis	27	Hewer
Blackhall	William, Dickinson	15	Driver
Hebburn	Mitchell, Ellison	28	Stoneman
Delight	J. T., Garbutt	24	Hewer
Edmondsley	Robert, Hall	38	Hewer
Easington	Robert, Herring	41	Stone Tippler
Tanfield Moor	George, McMahon	59	Driving Staple
Trimdon Grange	Henry, Owen	40	Hewer
Hetton	Wilfred, Robinson	17	Engine Plane
Langley Park	James, Turnbull	17	Driver
Hedley Pit	James, Wilson	53	Hewer
West Thornley	John, Wilson	43	Hewer

There were other 8 requests and re-allocations confirmed.

Non-fatal Cases.

Non-fatal Cases

Lodge	Name	Age	Occupation
South Moor, Morrison Pit	F., Abbot	19	Water Leader
Shotton	John, Anderson	47	Stoneman
Wheatley Hill	F., Bell	35	Hewer
Washington Glebe	Alex., Borthwick	50	Wasteman
Lumley	Thomas, Clinton	57	Screener
Horden	Edward Charles, Cooper	14	Belt Boy
Usworth	Thomas, Dixon	28	Hewer
East Hetton	John M., Garside	14	Driver
Tanfield Lea	John, Graham	22	Hewer
New Herrington	T. W., Henderson	14	Driver
Byer Moor	Thomas, Howe	38	Hewer
Shotton	James, Hughes	27	Hewer
Trimdon Grange	James, Hutchinson	17	Coal Cutting Lad
North Biddick	Nicholas, Miller	41	Hewer
Byer Moor	John, Reay	66	Hewer
Addison	James William, Robinson	28	Hewer
Dean and Chapter	Samuel, Scott	15	Driver
Wheatley Hill	Stephen, Shutt	49	Hewer
Usworth	J., Thornton	25	Hewer
Bearpark	James, Trow		Driver
Wheatley Hill	J., Turpin	66	Shifter
New Herrington	William, Wales	68	Rolleywayman
Cornsay	John Thomas, Wells	29	Hewer
Fishburn	George, Wilkinson	22	Hand Putter

Durham, February 1917. T. H. Cann.

 

Source:

NEEMARC - Ref: NUMDA/1/6/42, D.M.A. Minutes, Circulars etc. for 1917 (one volume: covers Jan-Jun)