The ample surplus of bituminous coal now mined has driven down prices and in the union fields (through Illinois particularly), is forcing suspension of mining activities. So high did the coal union wage scales raise the cost of production, that the union bituminous fields cannot compete with the sections where mining labor is not completely unionized and where wages can correspond to the normal forces of supply and demand.
The non-union miner, during periods of coal scarcity, has enjoyed a lower wage as a general thing than the union miner. On the other hand,...
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