Peace

Comparatively little notice was attracted by a conference of soft coal miners and operators at Jacksonville. There might have been a major strike if there had been a disagreement. Instead a contract was signed extending the present wage scale and all other conditions for three years from the expiration of the present contract on April 1. The miners wished a four-year extension, but the operators insisted on a three-year term in order that the next agreement might not be made in a Presidential year when all politicians are looking for the miner vote. After ten days of unostentatious conference, the agreement, covering the soft coal fields of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and western Pennsylvania, was signed. Good things happen quietly.