The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-08-25
COAL rrINnxas, HOMES.
small Wages Earned and Ends Made
10 Meet With Difficulty.

ooeeeu aionB bue nlllslueS ana the valleys
Of the anthracite area of Pennsylvania are
thousands of modest little homes, around
whose porches the roses are blooming and
IN whose adjacent gardens the traces of in.
dustry and good taste are visible in these
golden days. Some of these dwellings are
only single story, but the majority of
them are two stories high. They are cosy
frame buildings, erected for accommodation
rather than comfort, yet combining both,
and around the doors of many of them and
under the friendly shade Of the fruit trees
that throw their cool shadows across the
walks are heard the voices of children,
whose merry prattle if fatal to anarchism
md all other isms that aim at the destruc-
ion of love and home and hope and relig.
ION. As general thing, the miners have
large families, and, while their tables do
not boast many of life's luxuries, they man.
age to get moderate share of such sub
stantial fare rs pork and cabbage, potatoes
and beefsteak, with an occasional pie. The
majority of them now find it difficult
matter to feed themselves and their fami-
lies. 1t requires no small degree of tact. at
The present rate of earning, to pay the
monthly store bills, to shy nothing of cloth
ing and the other necessaries of life. And
yet the output of coal is large.
People naturally ask why it is that wage
,arning should be Mt such low ebb in the
,oal fields when the aggregate shipments of
anthracite are so much greater than they
were few years ago, at time when
miners and laborers earned higher wages
and lived much better than they do at pre-
sent. The miners average about fifteen
working days month at the present time,
and four hours day. When business is
brisk seven or eight hours constitutes a
miners working day, while the laborers
work ten hours or more per day. On full
time miner earns from $3.50 to 1915 a
lay, and he is fortunate just now if his
earnings average $1.25 to $1.50. Under
favorable circumstances, and with plenty
If work, o laborer earns 81. rs day gener
ally, but he does not earn much more than
rs cents day at present. The men EN-
ployed ON what is called i" the day shift "
generally go to work at seven O'Clock in the
morning, and those employed in the mines
at night or on the night Shift begin
their tasks at five o'clock in the afternoon.
The food of the miner and his family gen
orally consists of plain, substantial fare,
meat of some kind being used invariably
once day. Much of this meat is bacon or
+" shoulder" which is bought because it is
cheaper than I" butchers meat" This is
the staple article of diet and it is supple
mentcd by bread, potatoes, cabbage, When
in season, and good deal of salt fish ana
cheese. These constitute the main articles
of food on miners table, but when work
is steadier and pay better the love of lux
urp extends to an occasional cake or pie.
Some of the miners, although they are the
exceptions to the general rule, are SO for
tunately situated ms to be able to raise their
own pork, and at their tables meat is not
rs scarce as it is with those who depend foi
the necessaries and comforts of lifs on then
slender earnings.
In these dull times, when there's little
to earn and many to keep the miners and
laborers can barely support themselves by
practicing the most rigid economy. Matters
have not been much better for the last two
years, and there has not been any great
opportunity to lay aside anything for "a
rainy day Those who are best off among
the miners made their money during wal
times, when wages ran high and q man
could earn as much in q single day as he
can make in week at the present time
Most of the miners and laborers are frugal
and temperate, and try hard to live within
their means. Under existing circumstances
the strictest economy is essential, since ex-
cess or extravaganza of any kind means
bitter penalty in the direction of subse-
quent want and suffering. In work that is
SO irregular, SO full Of peril and so poorly
paid, 1t would not be surprising to find
widespread restitution, and it speaks vol.
umes for the careful, economical life led by
the miners that such is not the case.
1t seems strange that, while the increased
output of coal, wages should be so small,
md yet it is not so strange after all. A few
years ago the mining regions of Pennsyl-
vania were not over-crowded with labor, as
mines had more steady employment than
they have at present and were able to die.
tate not only their own compensation, but
in measure the product of coal also. The
combined companies, seeing this encouraged
immigration, opened more mines aud en-
larged their facilities until now, even with
nearly three times the tonnage, they are
able to mine all the coal the market needs
N less than one-third the time. Hungarian
and italian labor, which was not known in
these valleys ten years ago, has become an
important element in road-making, erecting
buildings, street repairing and loading coal
Although there are mine laborers of these
nationalities they have not progressed sufh-
GENTLY as yet to become expert miners, but
the evolution is quite natural and may as
SORT itself i'm time