Page images
PDF
EPUB

anything to cause the men now working to quit or cause men seeking work to refrain from so doing; from interfering with or obstructing men from going to or returning from work; from the use of vile, opprobrious and ridiculing names or any insulting names and especially the words "Scab" and "S- of b-." From distributing pecuniary contributions, in furtherance of the conspiracy to keep men from employment or seeking employment with the plaintiff, from doing any act to interfere with the right of plaintiff and its employees or persons seeking employment to agree upon such wage as is agreeable to them, from doing any act, directly or indirectly, to test the nerve, courage, and strength of those desiring to work.

(e) From doing any acts or uttering any words of any kind in the furtherance of any combination or conspiracy or other unlawful acts for the purpose of preventing plaintiff from operating its mines or to reduce the tonnage.

Returnable Saturday the 12th day of November next at 10 o'clock a. m. Witness the Hon. J. H. Langham, president judge of our said court, at Indiana, the 8th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1927. [SEAL.]

CLAUDE E. BATH,
Prothonotary.

(No. 5, December term, 1927. Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation v. A. J. Phillips, Tony Ross, Robert Slee, et al. In equity. Writ of injunction.) I certify the within to be a correct copy of the original.

Attest:

J. M. MALCOLM, Sheriff. (Thereupon, at 10.15 o'clock p. m., Sunday, February 26, 1928, the committee adjourned until Monday morning, February 27, 1928, when the party will visit the mines at Rossiter, Pa.)

CONDITION IN THE COAL FIELDS OF PENNSYLVANIA,

WEST VIRGINIA, AND OHIO

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1928

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON

INTERSTATE COMMERCE,

Rossiter, Pa.

The subcommittee left the Moore Hotel, Indiana, Pa., at 9 a. m., and motored to Rossiter, Pa., going first to the office of the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation.

Present: Senators Gooding (chairman of the subcommittee), Pine, Wheeler, and Wagner.

Present also: Mr. A. J. Musser, vice president and general manager of the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation; Mr. F. D. Welsh, superintendent of the same company; Mr. Philip Murray, international vice president of the United Mine Workers of America; Mr. Patrick J. Fagan, president of district No. 5; Mr. James Mark, president of district No. 2.

STATEMENT OF A. J. MUSSER, VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF THE CLEARFIELD BITUMINOUS CORL CORPORATION

Senator GoODING (chairman of the subcommittee). Wheeler, will you conduct this investigation?

Senator

Senator WHEELER. Mr. Musser, so that we may have the record straight and have it as a matter of record, I want to ask some questions. Mr. MUSSER. All right.

Senator WHEELER. What is the name of this company?

Mr. MUSSER. Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation.

Senator WHEELER. And it is a subsidiary of what company?

Mr. MUSSER. The New York Central Railroad Co.

Senator WHEELER. And let me ask you if they were a party to the Jacksonville agreement?

Mr. MUSSER. The Coal Corporation was; yes, sir.

Senator WHEELER, I meant the Coal Corporation.

Mr. MUSSER. Our corporation had an individual agreement, not as a member of the association or of any association, but we signed an agreement on the part of our own corporation, which was made in 1924 and carried through to the termination of that agreement on March 31, 1927.

Senator WHEELER. So that this coal company did not terminate the Jacksonville agreement?

Mr. MUSSER. We absolutely did not. We went a little further, and carried it on three months in addition, under a temporary arrangement.

Senator WHEELER. You considered that agreement as binding upon your company?

Mr. MUSSER. We did.

Senator WHEELER. The same as any other agreement that you enter into?

Mr. MUSSER. We did.

Senator WHEELER. When was it that you finally changed from the Jacksonville scale to your present scale?

Mr. MUSSER. After our failure to negotiate an agreement in Philadelphia. On two occasions we made an effort to deal but could not.

Senator WHEELER. On what basis, what wage scale?

Mr. MUSSER. We offered at that time as a member of the association, and last April we were a member of the association, and we offered the scale known as the Philadelphia scale, which is the one we are paying here now.

Senator WHEELER. What is that scale?

Mr. MUSSER. That is $6 a day and represents about a 21 per cent reduction from the Jacksonville scale.

Senator WHEELER. Is that more than some of the mines are paying around here at the present time?

Mr. MUSSER. Oh, yes. There are many mines working on the 1917 scale, which is $5 base. Our scale compares favorably with anything in Pennsylvania; in fact, I do not know of any that are any higher.

Senator WHEELER. Do you know who the stockholders of your company are?

Mr. MUSSER. Well, the stock is owned 100 per cent by the New York Central.

Senator WHEELER. By the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Co.?

Mr. MUSSER. Yes, sir. There are a number of men on the board of directors and who hold nominal shares in order to quality them as directors and officers. But no one has any money invested here except the New York Central, and we represent what is known as captive tonnage.

Senator WHEELER. Will you explain that term?

Mr. MUSSER. That means that our output is not sold in the market, that we are not conducting the mine on a commercial basis. Senator WHEELER. Your output goes entirely to the New York Central Railroad Co.?

Mr. MUSSER. Yes, sir.

Senator WHEELER. Is this the only mining company that it has? Mr. MUSSER. Pardon me, but as to that I want to say that we are in the same class with the Bethlehem Mines Corporation, which is owned by the Bethlehem Steel Co. It has what is known as captive tonnage, that is, it furnishes coal to them only.

Senator WHEELER. Does the New York Central own any other coal company except this one?

Mr. MUSSER. No; it has no other coal company. But our company owns about 150,000 acres, and we lease to other people about 50

operating mines, with which we have nothing to do except as lessors We operate several groups of mines ourselves.

Senator WHEELER. Do you take coal from these other lessees?
Mr. MUSSER. No; they are in the commercial business.

Senator WHEELER. I understand that the Sample Run Mine was run by the New York Central Railroad Co.?

Mr. MUSSER. No; by the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation. Senator WHEELER. And that in turn is owned by the New York Central?

Mr. MUSSER. Yes, sir.

Senator WHEELER. And the Clymer mine.

Mr. MUSSER. Clymer No. 1 is the same as Sample No. 1, and the Barr mine at Dixonville.

Senator WHEELER. Are there any other mines owned by this same company?

Mr. MUSSER. Yes, sir; we own and operate another mine in this county, and also own and operate a group down in Clearfield County, which have not been operated since last summer.

Senator WHEELER. This injunction has created a great deal of talk, and we have heard a great deal about it, both in the Senate and out of the Senate, as you understand.

Mr. MUSSER. Yes, sir.

Senator WHEELER. We were interested to know why it was that the injunction was granted preventing the holding of religious services up here in this church. It seemed, to us at least, as a rather unusual thing.

Mr. MUSSER. Well, have you read the bill of injunction?
Senator WHEELER. No; I have not had a chance.

Mr. MUSSER. If you had read it you would have found that it very clearly provides that we take no exception to any religious services held inside the church building. The exception we take, and what we asked the court to do, was to restrain the people from assembling outside of the building, on the church lot--which, by the way, we donated to. that church about two years ago for the nominal consideration of $1, two lots. At that time that church was a regular organization, presided over by a doctor of divinity, a very high type man, under the name of Magyar Presbyterian Church. For some reason and I do not know just what, but Mr. Welsh does, I think that man got out. This present congregation, if it may be so called, does not represent the denomination to which we donated the lots.

Senator WHEELER. What is the denomination at the present time? Mr. MUSSER. I could not tell you about that.

Senator WHEELER. Does it belong to the Methodists, or Presbyterians, or Baptists, or what?

Mr. MUSSER. No; I could not tell you about that. I understand the congregation is made up of some Čatholics, some of them Italians and they may also be Catholics but I do not know about that. But it is made up of people of different denominations and of no denomination. The man who conducts the services I think I am safe in saying is not a regularly ordained preacher of any denomination. Senator WHEELER. You think he is not a regularly ordained preacher of any denomination?

« PreviousContinue »