income was insufficient to meet the demands upon it. For the twelve years from 1877 to 1888 the account stood as follows: In 1889 the company undertook to make the fund self-sustaining. The monthly contributions were considerably increased, as is shown by the following new schedule: First class (miners and skilled laborers), 50 cents per month; second class (mechanics) 40 cents per month; third class (ordinary laborers), 30 cents per month; fourth class (old men and boys), 15 cents per month. Greater efforts were also made to induce the employees to subscribe to the fund. Hitherto this had been left optional with the men. Now, though still theoretically optional, it is practically compulsory. All employees are put upon the list, and the monthly dues deducted from wages without asking the consent of the "contributors." No doubt the full wages could be collected if it were attempted, but those who wish to stay in the company's employ did not think it advisable to make any protest. The arrangement is generally acquiesced in and is indeed generally regarded as an advantageous arrangement by the men. Occasional complaint is, however, heard that the rates are too high for the kind of insurance given; that both sick and accident benefits could be had in beneficial orders at a lower rate. The experience of the company, however, is that if this arrangement were not practically forced upon the men, no provision would be made for insurance. The new scale of contributions went into effect May 1, 1889. As will be seen, a slight change was made in the classification of employees, and accordingly one was made in the benefits paid. For injuries resulting in disability, $5 per week, not to exceed six months, is paid to those in the first, second, and third classes, and $2 to those in the fourth class. Thirty dollars in cash and $7 per week for one year is paid to the families of those in the first three classes in case of death by accident while at work, and the same funeral expenses and $2.80 per week for those in the fourth class. Under this new arrangement there was a slight deficit for the year 1889 $488.13. But since that time the fund has been self-sustaining, and the total deficit which, up to the end of 1889, had reached $131,763.50, has gradually been reduced to $57,129.51 in 1896. The following table shows the operations of the fund for the last ten years: RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS OF THE BENEFICIAL FUND OF THE PHILADELPHIA AND READING COAL AND IRON COMPANY, 1887 TO 1896. 10, 829. 10 a Deficit. $1, 470 $46, 989, 13 b Including dues refunded, $67.45. e Including dues refunded, $92.35. 2,980 $45, 848, 76 a488. 13 10, 947. 15 4,904.00 16, 789.88 11, 904. 17 95 $19, 251. 16 $65, 099. 92 a$18,110. 79 109 22, 197. 72 65, 949, 87 a17, 847. 12 111 22, 551. 24 74, 493. 66 126 25, 522. 67 82, 144, 68 153 30,077. 14 98, 400, 81 152 28, 079. 02 694, 884, 04 139 29,033. 64 c99, 505. 56 165 31,549. 14 d107, 875.80 164 34, 134. 15 e116, 534. 77 169 33, 116. 17 ƒ113, 298. 22 5, 176. 27 14, 083. 42 d Including dues refunded, $134.15. A more liberal policy has been adopted by several of the other companies. The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company and their 5,000 employees have, since 1883, maintained a fund to which the company contributes the interest on an investment of $20,000, and a fixed amount for each ton of coal mined, while the men contribute a percentage of their earnings. At present their contributions amount to one-half of 1 per cent for inside workmen, and one-fourth of 1 per cent for outside workmen. In 1895 the fund received $14,143, of which $8,335 came from the company, and $5,808 from the employees. From it was paid during the year in benefits $16,396. There is usually carried a balance of some $35,000 or $40,000. The death benefits are $30 for funeral expenses and half pay for eighteen months to the family. Those disabled by accidents receive half pay for a period not exceeding six months. This company, like the Reading, appoints the trustees of the fund, and the payments are made on the certificate of a regularly appointed physician. The Lehigh Valley Coal Company has helped to maintain a relief fund at some of its collieries for about twenty years. Those employed who wish to become beneficiaries of the fund are invited to contribute a day's wages, the company agreeing to pay a sum equal to the contribution of the men. When the fund is exhausted another call is made, and those wishing to continue members again contribute a day's wages, the amount being covered by the company. Inasmuch as this plan obviates the necessity of carrying a heavy cash balance it is thought to be fairer for the men, especially for those who are only temporarily employed, than that of the Reading or the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. The death benefits are identical with those given for the Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal and Iron Company. An injured member receives $1 for each working day he is disabled for a period not exceeding three months. In the northern region the fund is only fairly maintained at the company's collieries, while at all its collieries in the Schuylkill region, and at many in the Lehigh region, it has been entirely abandoned. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, and part of the companies controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, have funds maintained on the same plan. In the case of the latter company, like that of the Lehigh Valley, success has been indifferent. The plan of the Delaware and Hudson, adopted in 1887, is almost identical with that of the Lehigh Valley company. The fund is kept by the company in both cases and is disbursed upon orders from a committee composed at each colliery of the mine foreman and two employees chosen by the contributors. Besides the regularly organized relief funds, provision is made by various operators for the relief of injured employees. Coxe Bros. & Co. have always been liberal in this regard. Their practice is, and has been for some years, to give $50 for funeral expenses in case of death from accident and to contribute to the support of the widow, when there was one, at the rate of $3 per week for a year and $1 per week addi-' tional for each child under the age of 12. Regular payments were also made to workmen disabled by accident. All this is gratuitous on the part of the company. The Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company, controlled by the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey, has neither a fund nor an established rate of contributions for their injured employees. In case of death, however, the company pays funeral expenses, and makes a monthly allowance for all accidents according to the condition of the injured person's family. In addition to the means provided by the relief funds spoken of, and many other less regular contributions made by operators and workmen in case of accident, there are maintained in the anthracite region two hospitals at the expense of the State. Attempts to secure such a hospital were made as early as 1870 for the southern district and some legislation was enacted. (a) But the plan of that legislation involved a tax upon the tonnage of producers for the support of the hospital and was never acted upon. In 1879 the legislature provided for the incorporation of the "Trustees of the State Hospital for Injured Persons of the Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania," and appropriated funds for the purchase of site and erection of buildings. The location chosen was Ashland, in Schuylkill County. The hospital was opened to patients in 1883 and came under the control of the State board of charities. That some such institution was needed is shown by the fact that about 2,000 patients per year are treated there. Of these 90 per cent are workers about the mines. In 1891 a similar hospital was opened in the middle district at Hazleton. Besides these two institutions, supported wholly by the State, there are others in the a Laws of Pennsylvania, 1870, p. 919. region which receive regular appropriations from the State. Such are the Wilkesbarre Hospital at Wilkesbarre, the Lackawanna Hospital at Scranton, and the Hospital Association of Carbondale. It is generally thought that the means for the relief of workmen in this highly dangerous employment are at present inadequate. It is an employment in which the death and disability rate is not only invariably high, but one in which the proportion of accidents due to others than those receiving the injury is large. In view of these facts, attempts have often been made to establish a fund by a tax on all coal produced from which injured workmen could be paid, without reliance upon the generosity of the operators or the foresight of the workmen. One of the inspectors in his report a few years ago varied this proposition by recommending a tax on tonnage, to be paid, not by the operators, but by the owners of the coal lands. This would create no burden either for the operators or for the consumers, but would fall upon those who were amply able to bear it. It will be seen from what has been said that the lot of the anthracite laborers has never been an easy one, and that never has it been so hard in most respects as at present. Wages are deplorably low for all but the best paid workmen, though not so low as at many bituminous mines. It is not, however, the low rate of wages so much as the irregularity of employment that accounts for the small incomes of the laborers. Consumers also have a grievance in the irregularity with which the mines. are run, not so much because of the restriction of production as because of the wasteful way in which the restriction is produced. For the laborers who are kept idle half the time the method is a sore evil. The anthracite miners of a quarter of a century ago looked with favor upon such a centralization of power as would make restriction possible, just as the bituminous miners are doing to-day. But centralization so far as it has now gone, while it has helped to maintain prices and perhaps wages, has solved no real problem for either producers or workmen, and certainly none for consumers. There are too many workmen in the anthracite region trying to make a living by mining coal, and too much capital seeking to earn profits. One may assert this with assurance without being able to tell where either men or capital may be better employed. RECENT REPORTS OF STATE BUREAUS OF LABOR STATISTICS. MARYLAND. Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial Statistics of Maryland. 1896. Charles H. Myers, Chief of Bureau. 284 pp. The following subjects are treated in this report: General industries, 10 pages; the iron industry, 8 pages; Maryland street railways, 12 pages; trade reports, 10 pages; female labor, 7 pages; sweat shops, 9 pages; employment agencies, 15 pages; chattel-mortgage associations, 11 pages; convict labor, 54 pages; strikes and the legal aspect of the strike question, 40 pages; compulsory arbitration, 19 pages; counties of Maryland, 51 pages; labor laws of Maryland, 25 pages; extracts from proceedings of the National Association of Officials of Bureaus of Labor Statistics, 5 pages; financial statement, 1 page. GENERAL INDUSTRIES.-Short accounts are given for each of 19 industries, showing the wages, weeks in operation, number of employees, labor disturbances, etc. On account of a lack of voluntary cooperation on the part of industrial establishments the information is somewhat meager. THE IRON INDUSTRY.-This chapter contains a review of the iron industry in the State and detailed statements for each of eleven ironmanufacturing establishments. MARYLAND STREET RAILWAYS.-A history and description is given of the different street railways in the State, their locality, and operations, and the amount of taxes paid. The street railways of Baltimore are taxed 9 per cent on their gross receipts as a park tax, each car is licensed at $5 per annum, and the companies have to pay in addition the regular city tax on the assessed value of their property. During the year 1896, the city of Baltimore received from street-railway companies $243,202.22 park taxes, about $5,000 licenses on cars, and $63,459 regular city taxes, or a total of $311,661.22. The companies received $2,702,247 from car fares. The gross earnings for 1896 were $3,494,979.71 and the assessed value of the plant in the city proper and annex was $3,756,998. The companies possessed 891 cars, had 271 miles of single track, and employed 630 motormen, 650 conductors, and 332 substitutes. Motormen, conductors, and substitutes received $1.75 and $2 per day of 12 hours' work. Other street railways are operated in Baltimore County, Hagerstown, Frederick and Middletown, and Cumberland. TRADE REPORTS.-Accounts are given of the condition of thirteen trades, as reported by those engaged in them. |