Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1885-12-30
nov coal MINERS LIVE.
The Exacti0ns and Tyrannies TO Which Cor
p0fatiOns subject Them.

-
Philadelphia aud Heading Railroad
alone will mine more than 3S per cent.
of this years output, and tho Lohigh
Valley Railroad will mine about 30
per cent. During the Molly Mcguire
troubles these great corporations de-
termined that they should never again
be troubled by strikes, and, therefore.
to-day the whole region is so crowded
with laborers that, Notwithstanding the
enormous output, not more than a
third OF the miners are employed at q
time. Most of them have work, for the
companies see to it that there shall
not be great enough dissatisfaction to
drive men out of the State in pursuit OF
other employment; but the work
amounts to very little for each man,
and from ten to fifteen days O month is
about what the men have. Therefore,
however good the rates OF wages may
be, the income of the laborers is very
small. A miner who receives nom
inally 81 q day makes really not more
than 81, and an inside laborer, who is
paid at the rate of al.5O, makes rs
cents a day. The companies filed the
region with labor by importation and
by opening colleries which are now
clio ed. The laborers in the shops and
mills, as we'll as in tho mipes, are en-
tirely in tho power of the employers,
and while they and their families are
receiving barely enough to eat, they
cannot accomplish anything by a
strike. There are too many men worse
of than themselves who are eager to
take their places. 1t is unnecessary to
search long or deeply for the cause o
the discomfort of laborers. In the
coal ard iron regions O mans wages
range from S14 to $50 a month. The
best-paid iron miners are making about
$14, and the best-paid coal miners
about S3o. The prevailing rate of
wages in the iron mines is 10 cents n
day. The amount of none which
each individual has for food, clothing,
medicine, and all necessaries, counting
three adults to a family, a man, his
wife, and two children, ranges from 10
cents to 81 cents a day. A miner has
work from ten to twenty days in the
IRON and anthracite regions, and it is
the half or two-thirds time which
makes the rate of wages meaningless.
Rents are high. A al whose monthly
income is $40 pays - for rent, and in
some places rent runs up to SIS and
$50. Five dollars is the amount
charged generally by the companies
for the tenements which they own.
What 10 cents q day means is shown
all over the mountains of Pennsylva-
MIA. The houses in which the miners
live are usually no better shanties than
are to be fou,Sl in the outskirts of any
one of our great cities. They have two
or three rooms each. The front one is
literally the living-room. There are
done the cooking, washing, and eating.
and often the father and mother occupy
it for q sleeping-room. A rag carpet
is rarely seen. The houses are almost
never painted, but are left to blacken
with the accommodating coal dust Of
years.
These people, living thus in dwell
ings without q single attractive feature,
eat scanty and unwholesome food.
Ten cents o day will not command
much in the way Of meat, and the men
do not have much besides the cheapest
kind OF vegetables. The ordinary dim
ner in 6 m ner's hut consists of pota-
toes and cabbare. A thrifty man will
keep q pig, and. il he can get q piece
OF ground, will raise pot and cab
bageJ. He is sure then. through the
winter. of a barrel OF pork and another
OF saerkrout. Eut tine great majority
OF miners have to buy their food, and
it is very expensive, especially where
the company store is maintained. This
institution has recently been made il.
legal by the Legislature of Pennsylva-
mia, but the corporations find means to
evaie the statute. Four or five of the
leading stockholders, for instance. will
own the store and put in en- agent to
manage it. A commission is paid to
the agent, or the store building, owned
by the company or operator, is leased
for from $l2, 900 to $4,000 o year. The
property is worth actually $500 to $500
rental. This large sum represents
prospective profits, less a fair sun for
the agents services. These stores
charge from 10 TO 80 per cent. more
than is charged by the regular village
~storekeepers and the agents do their
best to tempt the men and their fami-
lies to extravagant expenditure.
A good many tricks are resorted to
by the stores for the purpose OF in
creasing the bill. II q NINE wants o
load of hay it is the practice to haul it
for him in installments, the store charg-
ing for each hauling. Miners have
been ordered 10 "lay off" n few days
because they were a few dollars ahead
of the store, and have been compelled
to remain idle until their Indebtedness
at the tore equalled the sum due
them from the company. Other exac-
tions are charged against the opera
tives. 1t is said that they are unfair in
weighing the coal. In the anthracite
regions mining is paid for by the day,
so many carloads being required for a
days work. The miner is fined for q
certain percentage Of slate in q ear.
and discharged when the amount OF
slate is in excess OF the coal. His
helper or slave suffers with him. In
the bituminous regions the coal is paid
for by the bushel, and seventy-six
pounds constitute a bushel. The
weighing boss determines for the COM
pany and the check-weigher for the
men. The law requires that the men
shall have this check weighor, and they
pay him from their earnings. But at
many mines this law is evaded, and the
men charge that they are cheated by
the weighing boss, and that for them O
ton sometimes mean 1900 pounds.
The men are paid only for the coal
that does not pass through the screen,
although the company sells all that Is
sent to the surface. Three weeks pay
is kept back rs q guarantee that a man
will keep his contract, 80 that a new
hand works seven weeks before receiF.
ing q cent of pay. This is a good thing
for the company store. A miner who
complains is dropped, and he discovers
that his name is known at neighborine
mines, and that he cannot get employ,
ment in the vicinity. The men say
that the operators keep a black list Of
the men who Gre dissatistied.-Phiia
delphia letter.
The Republic OF Liberia.