FIGURE 36.-Number of men employed in bituminous coal mines that worked specified number of days in 1913, a normal year; 1914, a year of depression; and 1918, the year of maximum activity TABLE 27.-Average number of days worked by coal mines, 1913-1923 State 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 Pennsylvania (bit.). 267 South Dakota. 210 261 179 207 120 101 178 196 162 222 166 113 155 143 140 179 150 216 216 300 167 275 194 175 182 134 100 150 141 114 133 (@) (a) (s) Tennessee. 239 232 195 203 Grand total. Pennsylvania anthracite.. California includes Alaska in 1913; Idaho and Nevada, 1914 and 1915 (number of days not reported for Alaska); Idaho, 1916-1920 (number of days not reported for Alaska in 1917); and Idaho and Oregon, Includes Nevada. 1921-1923. 261 269 218 244 151 154 154 145 164 133 129 138 122 241 220 220 241 265 201 234 154 163 183 253 237 233 218 263 262 227 242 139 185 273 210 208 228 219 258 239 252 151 204 280 235 235 272 273 277 247 262 166 260 191 169 217 271 275 217 234 201 208 237 225 238 200 198 149 143 232 192 201 248 246 268 221 264 167 128 230 243 249 195 220 149 142 179 257 245 230 253 285 293 266 271 271 151 268 238 207 209 235 251 258 209 230 173 144 195 213 THE EARLIEST RECORD OF TIME WORKED AND LOST AT SOFTCOAL MINES For purposes of comparison, the following table, abstracted from the census of 1880, is of interest. It gives the first statistical record known to the writers of time worked and lost at the bi tuminous-coal mines. In Table 29 a comparison of the working year in 1880, 1920, and 1923 is given. It shows that the problem of idle time at the mines existed in 1880 but in less acute form than to-day. TABLE 28.---Average percentage of year worked, idle, and lost in strikes at bituminouscoal mines in year ending June 1, 1880 TABLE 29.-Days worked and lost at bituminous-coal mines, 1880, 1920, and 1923 Figures as first published expressed in per cent of the working year. 233 220 21 6 54 82 75 88 ॥੪॥੧॥੪ 179 2 127 129 308 308 308 HOURS OF LABOR The only change of consequence in the customary hours of labor in the mines that occurred in 1923 was the application of the eighthour day to those few occupations in the anthracite region that had not been affected by the agreement of 1916. In the agreement of September, 1923, the anthracite operators accepted the suggestion of Governor Pinchot, of Pennsylvania, that the few remaining employees be placed upon the 8-hour basis. A study made by the United States Coal Commission of the hours worked by 44,003 employees in the anthracite region in April, 1923, showed only 907, or 2.06 per cent, then working in excess of 8 hours. In the bituminous-coal fields little change in the length of the working day occurred in 1923. The 8-hour day, long the standard in union districts, has now been accepted so generally by the nonunion fields that a weighted average of the working day for the industry as a whole would be 8.06 hours. About 4.2 per cent of the men are still employed in mines that run 9 hours, and only 1.1 per cent are in 10-hour mines. The longer dey is confined to Alabama and parts of eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, and the nonunion districts of Pennsylvania. Even here, however, it stands out as the exception rather than the rule. In Alabama alone are a majority of the men employed in mines that work longer than 8 hours. Of 288 mines in that State reporting in 1923, 143 gave the 8-hour day as their standard. These 143 mines employed 12,989 men, or 43 per cent of the total number in the State. There were 74 mines employing 12,478 men that reported 9 hours as the standard working day, and 21 other mines employing 3,061 men that reported 10 hours. (See Table 30.) This condition is a change from that reported by Alabama operators in 1921, when 87 per cent of the men were employed in 8-hour mines. These figures show not the average number of hours worked by each employee, but the length of time that the mine as a whole is open for work. The tonnage men are less regular in their hours than the day men. Some employees leave before the end of the established day. Other men, particularly in the nonunion fields, may enter the mine for work before the established hour or remain after their fellows have gone. There are also occupations which require the men's presence for more than 8 hours. In some districts the tipple crews are regularly expected to work 9 or 10 hours, though the mine time is limited to 8. The gratifying progress in the adoption of the 8-hour day is recorded in Table 31, which shows the trend from 1903 to 1923. In 1903 the weighted average working day was 8.7 hours. In 1904 it fell to 8.6 hours, and there it stood until 1917, when changes in the labor market brought about by the war resulted in the rapid extension of the shorter day through the nonunion fields. Between 1916 and 1919 the proportion of the employees engaged in 8-hour mines increased from 58.6 to 95.5 per cent of the total and the average working day dropped from 8.6 to 8.06 hours. This was the most notable change since 1898, when the 8-hour day was written into the first wage agreement in the Central Competitive Field. These changes in the length of the working day must be taken into account in considering the output per man per day. The large increase in output per worker is the more gratifying because it has been accompanied by a decline in the length of the working day. The reduction in the length of day arrested for a time the upward tendency in output per man that had begun many years before, and for the single year 1917 the trend was downward. But the forces tending to increase output soon overcame the effect of the shorter day and may be summarized in the statement that whereas in 1911 an average working day of 8.6 hours produced 4.01 tons per man underground, a day of 8.06 hours in 1923 produced an average of 5.15 tons per man underground. To what extent, if at all, reduction in the working time was itself a cause of the increased output the record does not disclose. (See fig. 37.) TABLE 30.-Number of bituminous-coal mines having established working days of certain length and number of men employed, 1922–23 •Includes employees in mines where the established working day was changed during the year or where the working day was irregular or in mines which failed to answer the inquiry. Includes outside employees working 9 or 10 hours a day at certain mines where the established time for underground workers is 8 hours. Includes 816 men working 8 hours prior to September. • Worked 9 hours first of year and 10 hours last of year. TABLE 31.-Percentage of men employed in bituminous-coal mines that had established working day of 8, 9, and 10 hours, 1903–1923 * • Percentages are calculated on base of total number of men in mines definitely reported as having 8-hour, 9-hour, or 10-hour day. A small number of mines that work more than 10 hours or less than 8 hours have been excluded, as have also all mines for which the reports were defective or which changed their working day during the year. Data not available for 1909. PRODUCTION PER MAN PER DAY METHOD OF COMPUTATION AND VALUE OF THE AVERAGE If the total output in a year is divided by the number of men employed the quotient will show the production per man for each year. If this figure in turn is divided by the average number of days the mines worked the final quotient will show the average production per FIGURE 37.-Output of bituminous coal per man underground per day and average length of established working day, 1911-1923 man per day. For the bituminous-coal mines in 1923 the average production per man for the year was 801 tons, and the average per man per day was 4.47 tons. The average production per man per day is thus determined by arithmetical calculation rather than by engineering observation. The man who actually digs the coal gets out more |