94 W. Va. 287 | W. Va. | 1923
The circuit court sustained a demurrer to the bill, and on its own motion certified its ruling to this court for review.
N. M. Brown and thirty-one others, plaintiffs, who sue for themselves and all others who are similarly situated and have similar claims, filed their bill against defendant, a coal mining corporation, seeking a recovery of various indefinite sums which they claim are owing to them as a balance of wages earned by them as employees of defendant during a period of several months beginning the first day of November, 1917. Their claims arise out of the increased price at which defendant sold its coal on the market over and above that prescribed by the President of the United States as the price at which
“Amendment to Order of August 21, 1917, Relative to. Prices of Bituminous Coal Fixed by President Wilson. Appendix I. It follows:
ORDER
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D. C., 27 October, 1917.
The scale of prices prescribed 21 August, 1917, by the President of the" United States for bituminous coal at the mine, as adjusted and modified, by order of the United States Fuel Administrator, to meet exceptional conditions in certain localities, is hereby amended by adding the sum of 45 cents to each of the prices so prescribed or so adjusted and modified, subject, however, to the following express exceptions:
(1) .This increase in prices shall not apply to any coal sold at the mine under an existing contract containing a provision for an increase in the price of coal thereunder in case of an increase in wages paid to miners.
(2) This increase in prices shall not apply in any district in-which the operators and miners fail to agree upon a penalty provision, satisfactory to the Fuel Administrator, for the automatic collection of fines in the spirit of the agreement entered into between the operators and miners at Washington, October 6, 1917.
This order shall become effective at 7 a. m. on October 29, 1917.
(Signed) Woodrow Wilson.
(1) An increase of wages effective November 1, 1917, and continuing through the period of the war, but not exceeding two years from April 1, 1918, substantially as provided in the Washington agreement of October 6, 1917.
(2) The United States Fuel Administrator has directed that if any mine worker or group of mine workers in any way interrupts the operation of the mine or causes a strike, the operator shall deduct from the earnings of each employe, except those who continue at work, the sum of $1 per day for each day or fraction thereof that such mine worker fails to report for work.
All questions arising under the foregoing provision are subject to review by the United States Fuel Administrator.
(3) If a mine is closed or the men locked out by an operator, without just cause, the United States Fuel Administrator will impose upon and collect from such operator a fine at the rate of $1 per day for each mine worker affected.
All fines imposed under this order shall be paid to the American Red Cross' through the United States Fuel Administrator.
(4) Every mine operator shall file- with the United States Fuel Administrator regular reports, on prescribed forms, giving him such information as will enable him to enforce-the foregoing order.
H. A. Garfield,
United States Fuel Administrator. ’ ’
The bill charges that defendant did raise the price of its coal 45e per ton and that plaintiffs are entitled to receive
The right of action is based on the theory that the “Lever Act” empowered the President to fix wages for those employed at the mines; that the power to fix prices for coal carried with it the implied authority to increase the wages of those engaged in its production; and that under the order of the fuel administrator of October 29, 1917, hereinbefore set out, no producer of coal, whether he participated in the Washington agreement or not could sell coal at an increased price over that originally fixed without at the same time using that increase to pay his employees.
There are several grounds on which the demurrer is based. The first ground challenges the whole theory of the cause of action set out in the bill. Defendant says the Lever Act authorized the President to fix the price of coal and provided punishment by fine and imprisonment for any violation by a sale of coal at a price • greater'than that fixed, but did not confer upon any miner any right whatever; that the increase of 45c authorized as a result of the Washington conference, was extended to other districts out of the “Central Competitive Field”, provided there was a substantial compliance with the provisions set out in the order of October 29, 1917; that neither the President nor the fuel administrator attempted to make any effort thereby to fix wages, but simply fixed the price of coal to take care of the wages otherwise
Logically, the first point of demurrer should be considered. Does the bill state a cause of action? Neither the Lever act nor the executive orders are specially pleaded, but they are specifically set up and their substance pleaded. We take judicial notice of the acts of the Congress and the proclamations of the Chief Executive in pursuance thereof. Spring v. Tel. & Tel. Co., 86 W. Va. 192. It is not necessary for the purposes of this case to consider and decide whether the Lever act empowered the President to fix the wages of employees at the coal mine. The orders do not attempt to do so, although they may have had the effect of bringing about a raise of 50% in the wages of the miners, and 78% in the wages of the best paid laborers at the mine over the wages of Aprii 1st, 1917, wherever the “Washington agreement became effective. The order of October 29, 1917, does not affect the price of coal or wages in the districts in which the Washington agreement does not become effective. The second ex-presé exception in the order of the Chief Executive is that the increase in price of coal shall not apply in any district where the operators and miners fail to agree upon a penalty
The bill does not charge that defendant participated dirictly or otherwise in the Washington agreement or was bound thereby; nor does it aver that plaintiffs and defendant agreed substantially upon the terms of that agreement; or that the notice to the employees provided for in the fuel administrator’s order was posted at the mine. Otherwise the permissive order would not govern nor apply to defendant. It would have no authority to increase the'price of its coal;
In passing, it may .be well to consider, casually, the allegation of the bill that there has been created a trust fund in the hands of defendant for the benefit of plaintiffs and other like employees. The substance of the bill in that regard is that the fuel administrator, by confirmation of the Washington agreement, (by which agreement the operators and United Mine Workers organization agreed upon an increase in wages to be covered by a corresponding increase in the price of coal), and the extension by the order of the fuel administrator of the provisions of that agreement to those operators in any district who should agree with their employees upon a penalty provision-, satisfactory to the fuel
The ruling of the lower court in sustaining the demurrer is
Affirmed.