A History of the Durham Miner's Association 1870-1904

by John Wilson

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.