Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

THE COMPROMISE effected between the National Progressive Union and Trades Assembly No. 135 of the Knights of Labor at Indianapolis on January 25, 1890, when the United Mine Workers of America was formed, did not awaken the American coal-miners to a sense of national unity. The intelligence of the world's workers had not yet been sufficiently leavened by socialist and syndicalist agitation and education.

NO GREATER MISTAKE could be made than to consider the United Mine Workers of America as an artificial product, gotten together by orders from A. F. of L. headquarters or from United Mine Workers headquarters.

JUST as the American seamen have their "Seaman's Bill" (or Seaman's pill, as it is usually called) and have spent $40,000.00 up to date in a vain attempt to have its questionable benefits enforced, according to the financial reports of their decaying craft union, so the coal-miners also have their "coal-miners' bills," which also deserve the name of pills, bitter rather than sweet. There are such laws as the 8-hour law, the anti-script law, the company store law, the mine-sprinkling law, the check-weighman law, etc.

THE so-called "public," that is, the people who do not work in coal-mines, have the impression that, next to working in an ammunition or powder factory, there is no more dangerous calling than that of the coal-miner. And the public is right. At irregular intervals the whole world is shocked by the reports of mine explosions which have cost from 100 to 1,000 workers their lives. Such mine catastrophes are so common that explosions costing less than 100 lives attract little notice.

The following table shows the total number of tons of coal produced per year at different periods.

How Did the "Operators" Get the Coal Lands?

A Description of the Occupations in and Around the Coal-Mines

Transportation and Coal-Mining—the Industrial Siamese Twins

THE COAL FIELDS of the United States rank first in area of all the coal fields of the world, the known coal areas aggregating 339, 887 square miles out of the total 3,624,122 square miles of the United States, including Alaska, or nearly one-tenth of the total area. To this may be added 84,482 square miles sup-posed, but not definitely known to contain workable coal, and 28,470 square miles in which the coal lies at depths of 3,000 feet or more.

THERE are few things in this world which are the object of so many uncomplimentary remarks as statistical figures. They are called "dry," "uninteresting," "dull" and "cold" and many other similar names. In many cases this harsh condemnation of statistics is purely subjective and may be traced to a failure to really study the meaning of the figures.