that deficiency." The boss says, "That is not a deficiency." He says it is, and he walks out and stays away until the pit boss says it is a deficiency, and then he brings his case up—

Senator REED. Before whom?

Mr. TAYLOR. Before the board that is composed of miners and operators, as provided for in the contract, and if his case is decided against him there is nothing more to it, and if it is decided in his favor the company has to pay it.

Senator REED. Pay what?

Mr. TAYLOR. Whatever the board awards.

Senator REED. Do they have to pay for his time off?

Mr. TAYLOR. If they prove the company wrong, they pay for his time off.

Senator REED. And in the meantime that room stays idle?

Mr. TAYLOR. That room stays idle, as a general thing.

Senator REED. How long does it take to adjust any of these disputes?

Mr. TAYLOR. Well, they ought to be decided in two days, but it sometimes drags on for months.

Senator REED. So you are liable in such cases before this board, which is composed in part of miners and in part of operators, to lose a very large sum?

Mr. TAYLOR. There have been sums paid of over a thousand dollars where the principle was involved and the case went along and the man was paid compensation.

Senator REED. Now, what kind of a decision do you have to have from this board? A unanimous decision or a majority decision?

Mr. TAYLOR. It takes a unanimous decision, and that is the faulty thing in the contract. If we could get a majority decision, or have an umpire to be called in in case neither side could agree, it would be very much more equitable; but, as it is, the miners maintain their position and the operators still maintain their position, and there is no further regard for the contract, and they call a strike.

Senator REED. Now, in practical working, then, it amounts to this, that the company never can get a decision in its favor unless every member of the miners' organization that sits on the board votes against the miners' contention?

Mr. TAYLOR. Yes, sir.

Senator REED. If they all vote against the contention, the miner returns to his work and the company has lost and the public has lost the production of that room in which that miner worked; if, on the other hand, one single miner stands out, the room stays vacant during all that time, and if there is an ultimate decision against you you have to pay the miner his wages; that is right, is it? Mr. TAYLOR. That is right; yes, sir.

Senator REED. If the case stands and never is decided—that is, if you are unable to get a unanimous agreement, then ultimately the men will walk out and close the mine altogether?

Mr. TAYLOR. If we do not just let it die; sometimes they just let the case die and the fellow goes away, and it is dropped; but if they pursue the case the men come out. If there is a dispute arising in the mine they call a meeting of the pit committee.

Senator REED. Who composes the pit committee?

Mr. TAYLOR. The miners appoint their own committee. Sometimes in a big mine there are more, but usually from one to five; that pit committee is called in to look at the place that the dispute is about, together with the pit manager and mine boss.

Senator REED. Who does he work for?

Mr. TAYLOR. For the company. If they can not agree-and they generally do agree on any little ordinary thing; the contract is very plain on it--but if it is an attempt to make a test case, and he knows about it, it is then passed up to the superintendent and what they call the board member-that is, one of the district body, one of the paid officials of the miners. If they can not agree on it, then it goes up to the president of the district.

Senator REED. Who does he represent?

Mr. TAYLOR. The miners; the president takes it up with the company's leading official. And if they can not agree, then the joint board that I spoke of a while ago of the miners and operators, which is provided for in the contract try the case. When the case gets to the joint board, then it can not get out of their hands until a decision is reached for or against, and, as you see, it takes a unanimous decision to settle that thing; and beyond that, the miners claim that they then have to use economic force-that is a light term for strong economic force.

Senator REED. We have that in the League of Nations-an economic boycott.

Senator FERNALD. Suppose this thing should happen-of course, it would not happen, but assume that it would happen-that some man shows up intoxicated and the foreman feels that it is dangerous to the men and it is not a wise thing to permit that man to work. Who determines whether that man is fit-the foreman, the maa himself, or the miners?

Mr. TAYLOR. The foreman decides it, and sends him home. Sometimes the men stay at work and sometimes they do not.

Senator FERNALD. But they may?

Mr. TAYLOR. They may. Mr. Chairman, I did not bring this over, but I sent over and got it It would seem incredible when you read this that men should be so disregardful of their earning power as to let one man lead them into all this trouble; but we finally went to work and had the strike history of district 14 prepared, which is in Kansas, and which is held by Mr. Alexander Howat, who is a nation-wide agitator; I mean he has a reputation which is nation wide. It goes on to explain every case, beginning with 1916-the number of the mine that struck, the number of days idle, the number of men employed, the number of one-man days; that is, figuring eight hours; and then the number of men who went out on that strike and what it cost them in wages, using the rate of $5 a day, which at that time was the wage. It is now $7.50. The President raised it just before election to $7.50. It is the amount of money figured at $5.

Senator WALSH of Massachusetts. What election do you refer to? Mr. TAYLOR. The election last fall. It shows the amount of money lost in wages.

Senator REED. Evidently Lew Dockstader is correct when he says the Republicans failed to notify the Democrats that there was an election. [Laughter.]

Mr. TAYLOR. I guess the miners, from the way they felt, did not know about it either.

It goes on here and shows that for 45 months, ending December 31, 1919, there were 705 separate strikes at individual mines in the State of Kansas; that the miners recovered out of those strikes, all of them, $852.83, most of which was the adjustment in the price of dynamite, and they lost in wages, at the lowest wage paid anybody, $3.866,780.34.

The causes of those strikes are very numerous and they are all printed here:

Account company installing low motors, requiring no brushing in entries; called out by marching miners; miners refuse to allow company to select entryman; refuse to work on account decision rendered by the joint board in Morehead case; dispute over price of dynamite; refuse to load cars during time track was being raised; the hanging of Frank Little, the I. W. W., at Butte, Mont., etc.

Senator REED. Who hung him?

Mr. TAYLOR. They hung him out in Butte, Mont., and they shut down the mines in Kansas in protest after he was hanged. Also, when a mule kicked a fellow carrying his dinner bucket, and they quit; dispute over light in washhouse; refuse to work on account of gas in one man's room; went home on account of cold weather; Howat in jail-they shut off lots of times because he was in jailrefuse to work because cager was a Hun-they claimed he was. Senator REED. During the war?

Mr. TAYLOR. Yes.

I shall not read all of these, but will ask to have this incorporated in the record.

The CHAIRMAN. The pamphlet will be inserted in the record.

(The pamphlet on the Strike History in District 14, referred to by Mr. Taylor, is here printed in full, as follows:)

DO YOU KNOW THE STRIKE HISTORY OF DISTRICT No. 14, OF KANSAS, FROM APRIL 1, 1916, TO DECEMBER 31, 1919?

Do you know that the miners' and operators' contract governing disputes reads in part as follows:

"If the president of the district and the commissioner of the operators' association or their representatives fail to agree they must either make other d'sposition of the case for final adjustment or refer it on the records in connection therewith, together with a brief in the case, to the district joint board of miners and operators for settlement, whose duty it shall be to adjust all grievances referred to said board, and their authority in the matter of adjusting grievances shall not be questioned. Pending a final settlement of any dispute the mine shall continue in operation and all miners, mine laborers, and parties involved shall remain at work, except discharged employees."

Do you know that for the 45 months ending December 31, 1919, there were 705 separate strikes at individual mines in the State of Kansas?

Do you know that the amount of dollars and cents gained by the strikes was $852.83, and that the total loss to the miners in wages figured at the scale rate per day per man, on account of these strikes, was $3,866,780.34?

Do you know that there were settlements made by the joint board under the contract on cases properly taken up amounting to thousands and thousands of dollars without any resort to strikes?

Do you know that $765 of the $852.83 reclaimed up to December 31, 1919, was simply an adjustment in price of fuse and dynamite, which was being adjusted when strike was called and that only $87.83 recovered was for wages claimed?

Do you know that these 705 strikes in 45 months, an average of 153 strikes per month, has prevented the Kansas coal field from having a steady and reliable coal production, which forces the consuming public to look to other fields for a steady source of supply?

Do you know that the causes given for strikes ranging from the "bathhouse being too hot" or "too cold" or "electric globes being broken and not repaired " and other insignificant causes are in violation of the contract?

Do you know that the causes for these strikes seem ridiculous to the public at large and should not be supported by men of mature judgment? That this kind of strikes do not gain you anything but cut your living down from the American standard by reducing your earning capacity?

Do you know that these strikes are very unprofitable to the miners, are not fair to his family, and are injurious to the coal industry of Kansas?

If you do not know that the above facts are true, please study the following record of the strikes which have occurred in Kansas from April 1, 1916, to December 31, 1919, giving days and dates, and determine the question for yourself, as to which is the best plan-peaceable negotiations under the contract with equitable results, or strikes through force and certain loss.