Part 24

Dear Sirs,--I deplore the existence of the circumstances which have admittedly rendered some reduction of wages necessary. But I congratulate both parties on having been able to settle the question themselves by amicable discussion without the intervention of a third party. Nothing affords me greater pleasure than to hear that they have done so. I say this not from any desire to spare myself any trouble in your service, but because it is the best earnest for future harmony and co-operation in which the joint claims both of capital and of labour will be recognised.--I am, dear sirs, yours very faithfully,

DAVEY.

The Joint Secretaries, Durham Board of Conciliation.

THE FILLERS' AGREEMENT

With this notice we will conclude our history. For some time there had been a gradual introduction of "Mechanical Coal Cutters," and it was necessary that an arrangement should be made for a new class of workmen known as "Fillers," whose work consisted solely of filling the coals after they had been got down. One main feature had obtained from the commencement in the policy of the Association--viz. the permission to the employers to work the mines as they thought proper (consistent with the safety of the workmen), providing the workmen were paid a recognised wage; and second, no objection was ever raised to the introduction of new machinery, if regard were had to safety and wage. When these machines were brought in their utility was recognised. It was seen they were to ease the heaviest portion of the hewers' work, and the attention was turned to the two considerations named. After many meetings and much negotiation the following agreement was made:--

Agreement made this day, 26th day of November 1904, between the Durham Coal Owners' and Durham Miners' Association:--

1. That the standard basis piece rate of wages for "Fillers" who follow mechanical coal cutters shall be four shillings and sixpence per shift, and that the length of shift shall be eight hours from bank to bank, except on Saturdays, when it shall be less in proportion to the reduced coal-drawing hours on that day at the respective collieries.

2. That the above standard piece rate shall be the basis for Joint Committee purposes, or for the purpose of any adjustment of "filling" prices, either as to advance, reduction, or revision thereof as the case may be, provided that each one and a quarter per cent. advance or reduction in the county percentage shall be held for Joint Committee purposes to vary the wages of "Fillers" by three farthings per shift.

3. That the duties of "Fillers" shall be held to embrace, according to the requirements of the management of the particular colliery concerned, breaking up, casting, and filling (into such receptacle as may be provided by the said management) coal kirved by mechanical coal cutters; the squaring of the coal face so as to leave it straight and perpendicular; the picking out and casting back under an agreed "laid-out" penalty of all material which the hewers are expected to pick out at the respective collieries; timbering in the absence of the deputy and according to the special and timbering rules; preparing the face and leaving it clean and free for the subsequent operations of the coal cutter.

4. That the "Fillers" shall be included among the classes of men entitled to free houses or the customary allowance for house rent under the conditions of the Conciliation Board resolution of November 5th, 1900, regarding "Houses and House Rent."

For the Durham Coal Owners' Association, REGINALD GUTHRIE.

For the Durham Miners' Association, JOHN WILSON.

The noticeable features in the agreement are--first, the wages, which are 4d. per day (as a basis wage) higher than those of the coal getter, the hours being eight from bank to bank; second, the percentage is regulated as it is for the hewers, five per cent. in price meaning 3d. per day in wages; third, the duties they are called upon to perform are plainly set forth; and fourth, they are entitled to free houses or the customary allowance for rent as the other acknowledged classes.

* * * * *

_P.S._--Inadvertently the death of Mr Meynell, chairman of the Joint Committee, and the appointment of Judge O'Connor to that office has been omitted and this _P.S._ supplies the omission. The last meeting at which Mr Meynell presided was held on December 14th, 1900. The first under the presidency of Mr O'Connor was on April 9th, 1901; the chair in the _interim_ being filled _pro tem_.

AFTER WORDS

The Lawyers--The Changes

We leave the history of the organisation for the time being, but before closing the volume, it would leave a vacuum if there were not some mention (even if it were little) of the legal advisers who have been connected with the Association, and have helped it in the questions of law which from time to time are inevitable in such a large organisation. The first regular lawyer was Mr "Harry" Marshall, the leading solicitor in the city of Durham. He was well on in life when the Association was founded, but he was retained until the time of his death. His offices were in the Market Place, Durham. He was followed by Mr H. Forrest, who was heir to the business and offices of Mr Marshall, and by a natural sequence the legal matters of the organisation fell into his practice; but they did not remain there long. Gradually Mr I. Isaacs of Sunderland was called in, until finally he was appointed officially to the position. In Mr Isaacs the Association had a very skilful and painstaking adviser, and a gentleman who stood well with the magistrates in every district in the county. He died a young man, but he had attained to a position which was one of the envied positions by the whole of the legal gentlemen in the county. He was made clerk to the Castle Eden magistrates, but, unfortunately, died shortly after; in fact, before he had rightly taken over his duties. He was a man of the highest type, a Jew by religion, upright in all his dealings. The standard he lived up to was high enough for all to aim at.

To keep the succession complete we may insert here a notice of his successor, Mr H. F. Heath. He was in Mr Isaacs' office until a very short time prior to the decease of the latter, and from the time of his appointment has proved himself a reliable guide. His advice is given for the good of the Association, and not on the low ground of personal profit. He is as skilful in the stating of a case, or detecting the weak places in the position of his opponents, as he is versed in law. Having to deal with mining matters he has made himself thoroughly acquainted with the technicalities of the mine, and is most desirous for the success of the business which is placed in his hands. No member of the Durham Miners' Association has more regard to its welfare and prosperity than has the miners' solicitor and advocate.

CHANGES

Within the period of our associated life there have been many changes, a few of which we may with profit enumerate. The "Yearly Bond" has been dealt with as one of the first actions of the Associations. It was considered a species of slavery, and a remnant of the old feudal times when men were part of the estate. We need not dwell further upon it nor its abolition.

The change in the "First Caller" is no mean one, apart from its implied shortening of the hours. It uniformed the time for men commencing work in the foreshift, and it gave them two or three hours more time to rest when it was most natural and most needed. The writer of this (as all men who were hewers at that time would go) went to work, if in the whole, at one in the morning. The "caller" made his rounds then, but there were many men who never waited until he came. They were at the pit and down before the time. At some collieries the back shift men went in at six or six-thirty A.M. If they were out until the latter time they were the last to go in. It was not considered necessary to suspend the coal-drawing to send them down. The man and his picks were put into an empty tub, and went down against the full tubs coming up. The engineman was told there was a "man on," and the only difference in the running was the easing up a little at the bottom. When the back shift hewer got to the face he had the company of his marrow for some two or three hours. In 1872 the calling time was changed, and the loosing in the face established.

Take the position of checkweighmen. Prior to the commencement of the Union (and at the time) the workmen's choice of their weighman was merely nominal. They selected, but the selection was subject to the approval of the employer or manager, and he was at all times liable to receive his notice, not from the men for whom he worked, but from the manager--and it could be given for anything which did not harmonise with the will of the manager. A breach of the law was not considered except it was colliery-made law.

It will be obvious that his freedom of action (so far as the advocacy of the rights of workmen was concerned) would be very much restricted. In the generality of cases the policy was to "lie low." In this there has been a great and useful change. Now the checkweighman is employed by the workmen, and can only be removed by them, except he violates the conditions of the Mines' Regulation Act; and now he is (with rare exceptions) the mouthpiece of the men when meeting the manager, the leader in public movements, and the most prominent in matters relating to the Association.

No less important is the facility for meeting the employers, and the spirit of equality which obtains. What a contrast between 1869 and 1904! Then it was truly a meeting of the superior with his inferiors, and as a natural consequence there was an absence of free discussion, which is so essential to the proper settlement of the questions arising between employers and workmen. Happily, that feeling has died out. There is less of the dictator and dictated to, and more of the meeting of equals. Then it was thought to employ men was to confer a favour upon them, and that consequently they were to consider themselves under patronage, and be satisfied with the treatment meted out to the patronised. Now it is realised that if the employers employ a man's labour the workmen employ their capital, that reciprocity and mutuality form the platform upon which the two sides can meet, and that free, unrestrained, courteous expression is not merely the right, but the safest and most beneficial course.

There has not only been an economic benefit accruing to both sides alike, as a result of this equality, but there has been a mental stimulus given to the workmen. It is true that, concurrently with the life of the Association, the schoolmaster has been more abroad amongst the people. The boys commence work later in life, and with a larger mental capital, and that as a consequence there is more ability at command for the use of workmen, but it is a safe assertion that the fact of the organisation operating in our midst has been no mean factor in stimulating the use of the learning so acquired. The young men think it no small attainment to take part in the various offices which are held out to them in the Union, and they know as well that they must be prepared to fill those offices in an intelligent manner. It would be a difficult, but yet a most interesting, calculation if it could be shown how many men have been incited to mental activity in the manner indicated. From the very inception the Association has demonstrated that the industrial relations in this county were passing out of the region of brute force into that of reason, and the play of mind against mind, and that the body of working men who desire to hold their own, and progress, must do so by the mental force they could command. The greater that force the safer the position, and the more assured the amelioration of their conditions. By that will they conquer. The contrast between the number of able men now and in 1869 is encouraging. It gives the young assurance, and rejoices the heart of the aged, who in their youth saw this day as in a vision, but desired it.

A natural corollary from the equality in meeting and the mental impetus is the amended mode of settling disputes and conducting our negotiations. We have come from a chronic state of open and avowed antagonism to (if not complete conciliation) at least a great approach to it. The history in describing the various stages in our path, will prove that the old era of contention was wearying and wasteful, as it was sure to be when the two parties considered themselves as two armies, and their strength of numbers and increase in capital were for purposes of crushing the other side. These ideas, like that of national superiority and large armaments, were hard to destroy on either side. Their presence made the attempts at compromise more difficult, and often helped those who were wishful to retrograde. They brought about the abolition of the sliding scales and the first Conciliation Board. It may be at some future stage they will effect the same with the second. This will not be, if the past teaches any lessons and the workmen of Durham recognise the tendency of the times. That is towards conciliation, and no step should be taken except to perfect it. If wisdom rules, that backward action will be avoided as a great danger.

A very pleasing change is the greater care for life manifest during the last thirty-six years. The county has had its share of explosions in the period indicated. The following table will give us a view as to the extent of the life-saving in the mines of the nation. The table deals with three decades, and 1905 singly, and gives the deaths per year, the numbers of persons employed, with the number of tons, the average of each ten years being taken.

Ten Years Deaths per Number of Number of ending Year Persons Employed Tons

1882 1129 558,816 152,221,629 1892 1032 614,200 182,646,507 1902 1015 666,060 215,790,835 1905 1159 887,524 249,782,594

The table is very cheering. The full value of it will be realised if we take the decade ending 1882 and compare it with 1905. There we have thirty more deaths, but we have 300,000 more people employed, and an increase of over 97,000,000 tons in output. The proportionate reduction in the saving of life is great.

Three more changes remain to be noted. First, the political change. In 1869 the political power in the hands of the miners (as of all county dwellers) was a very small quantity. The logic of the situation was curious. Above a certain monetary position or size of a house, or possession of land, or living on one side of a line, men were allowed to vote; without those, and being over the line, they were prohibited. The law of England was an open declaration that houses, money, land, all insensate, could guarantee a man a qualification for doing that which alone can be done properly by the operation of mind, and living within an arbitrary area imparted to him full competency for the right of citizenship. He might have them to-day, and live on the borough side of the line, and be qualified; but the vicissitudes of life might strip him of his possessions--or the necessities of his occupation might compel him to move to-morrow--and he would be considered unfit to take part in the election of those who had to make the laws he was bound to obey, which is certainly a most sacred right. That anomaly was swept away. The Durham miners took their share of the work, and set the example as to the proper use of the power.

Another of the changes we note is the strong desire there is for an improved home life. It is not an extraneous feeling forced upon the miners by outsiders, but is within them. There is a great change in that respect. There has been much done in the direction of the much-needed reform. The present is a long way from being satisfactory, but it is far in advance of the state at the inception of the Association. That only existed because it was born of use. The old-time houses are a standing witness of the opinion those who built them had of the workmen. How should we know that the merciful man regarded the life of his beast except by the manner of his feeding and _housing_? There is a change in that respect, but there is a more hopeful one, and that is the desire on the part of those who live in them for betterment. The man who is _content_ with a hovel, or room in a slum, will never look higher. To be dissatisfied with them is healthy, and is the sure road to a better state. May the feeling grow until bad houses and insanitation are removed; but it should never be forgotten that a house itself does not make a home--the life in it alone can do that.

The last of the changes, but not the least, is the altered opinion about, and the more accurate knowledge of, the miner there is in the country. Forty years ago, to many of the people of London the northern miner was a dweller in remote regions, and a man of uncouth and rude speech and habits. Some believed he remained down in the mine, never coming to bank except for a holiday. The writer was once asked by a man not far from London how long he had been in the mines. He replied eight or nine years. Then said the querist: "Have you never been up till now?" He was informed that the miner came up every day. With surprise he exclaimed: "I thought you lived down in the mines altogether." That is only one of the numerous instances which could safely be quoted expressive of the ignorance about the miner and his life. They knew his product because it warmed them and cooked their food, but that was the extent of their correct information.

But the change in the geographical and domestic knowledge is not all, nor the most important; the altered opinion of the miner as a man is more. The common name was the "Geordies," and that was used as being indicative of something low rather than a class cognomen. It was the idea as seen in the attitude of many in Durham when the first gala was held--as stated above. That is all changed during the thirty-six years we have existed as an Association. The man who speaks lightly of the class does it in the face of the clearest light, and from malice. It is of the class we speak here. If we reason from the individual our logic will be unsound, and all classes stand condemned. Taken in the bulk, as compared with our start, the miner has been raised on to a pedestal of respect. That is a result of his own self-respect. Without the latter the former will never be attained. It is the compelling force. It is the philosophy of Shakespeare's "To thine own self be true," which finds exemplification in every sphere and grade of life. The Durham miners have shown this in a marked degree. They may be void of some of the polish which is to be found amid the complaisances and conventionalities of the finer trades or higher walks of life--their battle for bread is a rough one--but he who wants honesty, uprightness, and bravery will not be disappointed if he turns to them. He need not seek far.

IN MEMORIAM

We have finished our history for the present, and traced it in rapid outline for thirty years. With the benefits we are enjoying from it, the enjoyment must not induce forgetfulness of the brave men who laid the foundations of our little kingdom, for such it is. We enter into their labours, but we will do so with gratitude, and not indifference. Their memory deserves more than a mere casual place with us. We should not be true men if we gave it only that. Let us remember that in reality the position we have realised and the solidity of our Association have been won and made possible by their spirit and foresight, and because we have kept ourselves close to the lines of their procedure. Ours is a great organisation, not because of its numbers (bulk may be weakness), but because of its principles. If it were not so, instead of standing out prominently as we do we should be in a dwarfed and stunted condition, and comparatively useless. The structure we now possess has risen by slow growth from very small beginnings and opposing forces. Every new idea, all the teaching of experience, were used as blocks by those patient builders laying the foundation for those who were to follow them. It is true there might be some mistake and bungling in the building. But in spite of these the structure has arisen with solidity, and from the rubble of that time we have reared up great walls and fair outlines, giving promise of future strength, durability, and usefulness. Truly the little one has become a great nation, and the weak one a strong force, and as long as we do not harm ourselves no power outside can.

How shall we show our respect for them? We have no possible way except by carrying on their work and seeking to give effect and volume to it. The end of their policy was reform, not revolution--not only in a political way, but in every direction where it was needed. Every hindrance in the whole round of working conditions was to them an evil, and as such should be removed. Where immediate abolition was not possible they tried to reduce its magnitude. They preached the ideal life, seized the possible, and made the best of circumstances. And is the wisdom of their action not evident? The spasmodic has been succeeded by the settled and the orderly. Where hate was endangering the general weal by its unreasoning action we now have regular business relations. No doubt to many whose main feature is ardency and rush they were slow-paced. These would have gone faster, but there would have been slower progress. To the Israelites Moses was slow-paced, but the wilderness was their portion as a result of their grumbling. There were grumblers in our start from Egypt to a better position (some of them remain to this day), but these are not the spirits who would either lay foundations or rear structures. The live men before us now were not grumblers. They were too busy; the work before them was too imperative. They were discontented; but in essence there is a wide difference between that and a grumbler. Never since the world began has any grievance been removed by the latter class. They may have hindered, but never helped. They are the drags on the wheels, and complain because more speed is not made. The men of 1869 were men of different mettle, or the fear is we should never have had the Association we have, nor stood in the proud position we enjoy among the trades organisations of the nation. We are reaping where they sowed, and while we enjoy the harvest let us remember the sowers.