after the first two hours the men shall be paid for every hour thereafter, by the hour, for each bour's work or fractional part thereof. If for any reason the regular work can not be furnished the inside day laborers for a portion of the first two hours, the operators shall furnish other than the regular labor for the unexpired time.

PENALTIES FOR LOADING IMPURITIES.

In order to insure the production of clean, marketable coal, it is herein provided that if any miner shall load with his coal sulphur, bone, slate, blackjack, or other impurities, he shall, for the first offense, be notified by the mine foreman; for the second offense he may be suspended for one day; for the third and each subsequent offense occurring in any one month he may be suspended for three days; provided, that if in any case it is shown that a miner maliciously or knowingly loads impurities, he shall be subject to discharge. It is further agreed that if any miner has been suspended and claims that an injustice has been done him, the matter shall be taken up for investigation and adjustment in the manner provided in section three of this agreement.

DUTIES OF PIT COMMITTEE.

(a) The duties of the pit committee shall be confined to the adjustment of disputes between the pit boss and any member of the U. M. W. of A. working in and around the mines, arising out of this agreement or any district or subdistrict agreement made in connection therewith, when the pit boss and said miner or mine laborer have failed to agree.

(b) In case of any local trouble arising in any mine through such failure to agree between the pit boss and any miner or mine laborer, the pit committee and the pit boss are empowered to adjust it, and in the case of their disagreement it shall be referred to the superintendent of the company and the district president of the U. M. W. of A., or such person as he may designate to represent him; and should they fail to agree it shall be referred to the commissioner of the Southwestern Interstate Coal Operators' Association and the district president of the U. M. W. of A. for adjustment; and in all cases the mines, miners, mine laborers, and parties involved must continue at work, pending an investigation and adjustment, until a final decision is reached in the manner above set forth.

(c) If any day men refuse to continue at work because of a grievance which has or has not been taken up for adjustment in the manner provided herein, and such action shall seem likely to impede the operation of the mine, the pit committee shall immediately furnish a man or men to take such vacant place or places at the scale rate, in order that the mine may continue at work; and it shall be the duty of any member or members of the United Mine Workers who may be called upon by the pit boss or pit committee to immediately take the place or places assigned to him or them in pursuance hereof.

(d) The pit committee, in the discharge of its duties, shall under no circumstances go around the mine for any cause whatever, unless called upon by the pit boss or by a miner or company man who may have a grievance that he can not settle with the boss. Any pit committeeman who shall attempt to execute any local rule or proceeding in conflict

with any provision of this contract, or any other made in pursuance hereof, shall be forthwith deposed as committeeman. The foregoing shall not be construed to prohibit the pit committee from looking after the matter of membership dues and initiations in any proper

manner.

(e) Members of the pit committee employed as day men shall not leave their places of duty during working hours except by permission of the operator, or in cases involving the stoppage of the mine.

(f) The right to hire and discharge, the management of the mine, and the direction of the working force are vested exclusively in the operator, and the U. M. W. of A. shall not abridge this right. It is not the intention of this provision to encourage the discharge of employees or the refusal of employment to applicants because of personal prejudice or activity in matters affecting the U. M. W. of A. If any employee shall be discharged or suspended by the company and it is claimed that an injustice has been done him, an investigation, to be conducted by the parties and in the manner set forth in paragraphs "a" and "b" of this section, shall be taken up promptly, and if it is proven that an injustice has been done, the operator shall reinstate said employee and pay him full compensation for the time he has been suspended and out of employment; provided, if no decision shall be rendered within five days the case shall be considered closed, in so far as compensation is concerned, unless said failure to arrive at a decision within five days is owing to delay upon the part of the operator, in which case a maximum of ten days' compensation shall be paid.

LOCAL DEMANDS.

There shall be no demands made locally by either operators or miners which are in conflict with this agreement or any district or subdistrict agreement made prior to September 1, 1904; and there shall be no provision imposed violating the same. Any local member, official, or committee shutting down a mine without orders from the district president or district executive board shall be fined in the manner provided for in the national constitution of the U. M. W. of A., and such additional penalties may be imposed as are now or may be provided for in the constitutions of the various district organizations. All such fines are to be collected by the companies and paid into the district treasury of the U. M. W. of A. Should any operator violate this agreement, or any provision hereof, such operator or company shall be fined one hundred dollars ($100), said fine to be paid into the treasury of the Southwestern Interstate Coal Operators Association.

PAYMENT OF WAGES.

The operators agree to pay twice a month, the dates of payment to be determined by the district joint convention; and these payments are to be made at the office nearest to the mine wherein or at which the employees are employed; provided, however, that this office shall be located not more than two miles from such mine.

CHECK-OFF.

The operators will recognize the pit committee in the discharge of their duties, as provided in this agreement, and agree to check off dnes,

assessments, fines, and initiations from all miners and mine laborers. when desired. In order to protect the companies, the U. M. W. of A. agrees, when the companies so demand, to furnish a collective and continuous order authorizing the companies to make such deductions. The companies agree to furnish the miners' local representatives a monthly statement showing separately the amount of dues, assessments, fines, and initiations collected. In case any fine is imposed the propriety of which is questioned, the amount of such fine shall be withheld by the operator until the case has been taken up for adjustment and a decision reached.

It is agreed that the miners may employ a check weighman to see that coal is properly weighed and a correct record made thereof, and when such check weighman is employed the companies shall furnish him a check number, and he shall credit to his number such portion of each miner's coal as he may be authorized to do by the local union. It is understood that the above provision shall not affect the arrangements now existing at any mine where a check number is issued in the name of the local union, and dues, assessments, fines, and initiations collected by this method.

MEASUREMENTS.

It is agreed that measurements of entries, brushing, room turning, and deadwork shall be made semimonthly, and payment in full shall be made for such work in the same manner as that in which other work is paid for.

EQUAL TURN.

The operator shall see that an equal turn is offered each miner and that he be given a fair chance to obtain the same. The check weighman shall keep a turn bulletin for the turn keeper's guidance. The drivers shall be subject to whomever the mine manager shall designate as turn keeper in pursuance hereof.

DEATHS AND FUNERALS.

In the event of an instantaneous death by accident in the mine, the miners and underground employees shall have the privilege of discontinuing work for the remainder of that day; but work, at the option of the operator, shall be resumed the day following and continue thereafter. In case the operator elects to operate the mine on the day of the funeral of the deceased, as above, or where death has resulted from an accident in the mine, individual miners and underground employees may, at their option, absent themselves from work for the purpose of attending such funeral, but not otherwise. And whether attending such funeral or not, each member of the U. M. W. of A. employed at the mine at which the deceased member was employed, shall contribute fifty (50) cents and the operator twenty-five ($25) dollars for the benefit of the family of the deceased or his legal representatives, to be collected through the office of the company. In the event that the mines are thrown idle on account of the miners' or other employees' failure to report for work in the time intervening between the time of the accident and the funeral, or on the day of the funeral,

then the company shall not be called upon for the payment of the twenty-five ($25) dollars above referred to.

Except in cases of fatal accidents, as above, the mine shall in no case be thrown idle because of any death or funeral; but in the case of the death of any employee of the company or member of his family, any individual miner may, at his option, absent himself from work for the purpose of attending such funeral, but not otherwise.

DOCTOR.

No deduction shall be made for doctors, unless such deduction is authorized by the individual employee.

CONDITION OF THE MINE.

The company shall keep the mine in as dry condition as practicable, by keeping the water off the road and out of the working places. When a miner has to leave his working place on account of water, through the neglect of the company, they shall employ said miner doing company work when practicable, and provided that said miner is competent to do such work, or he shall be given another working place until such water is taken out of his place.

PROVISIONS FOR INJURED.

The operators shall keep sufficient blankets, oil, bandages, etc., and provide suitable ambulance or conveyance, readily available at each mine to properly convey injured persons to their homes after an accident.

POWDER.

The price of powder shall be $2.00 per keg during the term of this

contract.

1906 JOINT CONVENTION.

It is agreed that the Southwestern Interstate Coal Operators' Association and the representatives of the United Mine Workers of America shall meet in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, on the 25th day of January, 1906, at 10 o'clock a. m.

APPENDIX.

HARNESSING MULES.

In regard to taking the mules into the mine where the mules are kept on top of slope opening, the mules are to be taken to and from the tipple to the mouth of the slope. In shaft openings the mules are to be taken down and up the shaft by the company, either by the drivers on the company's time, or by the company employing a man to do so, and it may employ any man, or number of men, it chooses to do this work.

Where mules are kept in the mine, if the mules are harnessed by the company, the driver must be at the pit bottom, or the parting where be commences work, ready to begin at starting time. If the driver harnesses the mules he does so on the company's time.

PENALTIES FOR LOADING IMPURITIES.

The interpretation of, or the construction to be placed upon, that paragraph relative to penalties for loading impurities in the agreement between the U. M. W. of A. and the Southwestern Interstate Coal Operators' Association, entered into at Pittsburg, Kansas, July 27th, 1903, having been referred to the undersigned, is ruled upon as follows. The paragraph reads:

In order to insure the production of clean, marketable coal, it is hereby provided that if any miner shall load with his coal sulphur, bone, slate, blackjack, or other impurities, he shall for the first offense be notified by the mine foreman; for the second offense he may be suspended for one day; for the third and each subsequent offense occurring in any one month he may be suspended for three days; provided that if in any case it is shown that a miner maliciously or knowingly loads impurities, he shall be subject to discharge."

The question is upon what constitutes "one month" within the meaning and the intent of this contract.

It was clearly intended by the parties to this contract that if it became necessary to insure the production of clean coal, the penalties provided in this agreement should be and could be inflicted. It is also clear that if the operation of this agreement is to be limited and confined to each calendar month for the period it is in effect, the penalties can not be inflicted as contemplated by the parties to the agreement, and the offender must be allowed to go unpunished.

For example, suppose a miner is notified on the first or any subsequent day of the calendar month that he has loaded dirty coal, that is the extent of his punishment for that offense; and suppose he is notified on the first or any subsequent day of the calendar month following that he has loaded dirty coal, that is the limit of his punishment for the second offense, notwithstanding the second offense may have been committed on consecutive days-that is to say, on the last day of one calendar month and the first day of the calendar month following.

Again, the first offense may be committed on any day subsequent to the first day of the month; the second offense on any day subsequent to the first offense, and the third offense on the first day of the succeeding month or any subsequent day, and the offender go practically unscathed, because no penalty other than that provided for the second offense could be inflicted. Again, if the second offense occurred on the last day of any calendar month on which the first offense occurred, the offense is condoned, because of the application, as lawyers would say, of the "statute of limitations" interfering to save the offender from the infliction of the punishment provided as just and necessary to the consummation of the intent and purpose of the contract-the "insurance of the production of clean, marketable coal."

Now, in my judgment, that could not have been the intent and purpose of the parties to this agreement, because they clearly intended that the penalty should be inflicted if the offenses were committed