EDITOR, CARROLL D. WRIGHT, COMMISSIONER. ASSOCIATE EDITORS, G. W. W. HANGER, CHAS. H. VERRILL, G. A. WEBER. CONTENTS. Report to the President on anthracite coal strike, by Carroll D. Wright, Commissioner of Labor ... Page. Origin of the present strike Demands of the mine workers.. Claims and complaints of the employees. The demand to have coal weighed... Wages and cost of production........ Profits on coal mining, and production. Question of freights General considerations.... Suggestions that seem reasonable and just.... 1147-1228 1148, 1149 1149-1151 1151-1153 1153-1155 1155-1159 1159-1162 1162-1164 1164-1166 1166, 1167 Appendix A.-Statement of the Delaware and Hudson Company showing position of the operators, September, 1900... 1167-1173 Appendix B.-Correspondence between Mr. John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers of America, and Mr. Olyphant, president of the Delaware and Hudson Company, relative to proposed conference in March, 1901 .... 1173-1175 Appendix C.-Correspondence between United Mine Workers of America and operators; letters and telegrams; operators' claims...... ..... 1175–1187 Appendix D.-Report of Mr. E. E. Loomis, superintendent of the coalmining department of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company. 1187-1202 Appendix E.-Report of interview of Commissioner of Labor with Messrs. 1213-1215 1216-1218 Appendix G.-Statement of Mr. David Willcox, vice-president and general counsel of the Delaware and Hudson Company.......... Appendix H.-Contract of bituminous coal miners and operators.... 1218-1228 Agreements between employers and employees.... 1229-1232 Italian bureau of labor statistics... 1233, 1234 Digest of recent reports of State bureaus of labor statistics: Statistics of manufactures in Massachusetts: fourteenth and fifteenth annual reports 1244-1252 Laws of various States relating to labor enacted since January 1, 1896.... 1298-1324 III BY CARROLL D. WRIGHT. COMMISSIONER OF LABOR. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, Washington, D. C., June 20, 1902. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith a report on the causes of and conditions accompanying the present controversy between the anthracite coal miners of Pennsylvania and the coal operators. I undertook this investigation in accordance with your verbal request of the 8th instant. The organic law of the Department of Labor provides that the Commissioner of Labor is "authorized to make special reports on particular subjects whenever required to do so by the President or either House of Congress." Immediately after your request, as provided by the law quoted, I proceeded to the city of New York, for the purpose of ascertaining all facts possible relating to the present controversy. I have not visited the coal regions, but I have been represented there by a very experienced gentleman who has studied the conditions of the coal regions many times and who undertook to make the necessary inquiries relative to the present strike. I am very glad to say that in every direction I have been met with the utmost courtesy, and all the facts required were generously put into my possession. These facts have been gained from presidents of coal-operating railroads, independent operators, capitalists thoroughly familiar with the coal business, but not engaged in it, presidents of railroads not operating coal mines, officials of the miners' union, foremen, superintendents, business men, miners, and laborers. One of the gratifying features of the investigation is that, so far as I have been able to ascertain, there has been no attempt to misrepresent, either willfully or otherwise, the facts as the individuals testifying understand them. The difference in point of view, in attitude to |