Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-05-01
DOWN IN COAL NINE.
An Old GOAL Miner Talks OF the Days When
the OIass Was Well to-Do.
Chicago Mall

the Glass Was Well to-Do.
Chicago Mail.
"I remember when coal miner was
an aristocret among workingmen.
The speaker was an old gray-bearded
msn-one OF q group discussing labor
matters.
Everybody" he continued, ''has read
or heard that the men who mine the coal
for which we pay SO much out here sre
paid, and it is q fact. Yet
there was q .ime when coal dfggers,
rs they are called down in Pennsylva-
mia, were we'll paid. was g miner
down there myself then, about
twenty years ago. When II
hear this talk shout the tariff and the
protecsio Of American Industries, and
you don't hear anything else in presiden-
tial yesrs down in the old Keystone state
where was born, it makes me think OF
those times. have seen the time when
$50 month was p1or months work
with me in Western Pennsylvania mine,
and have often drawn 3l20 in q month.
1t is wonderful what change has taken
place in that great branch of industry.
The coal miner now who can
make Sl2s dsY Is doing well, and
that is above the averages wages. II
he could make that the year round he
would be doing well, as things are now,
butsstrikes and lock-outs and the shut
ting down Of the mines to regulate the
output and keep up the selling price cut
into his small yearly income fearful-y.
In the Aash times, Just after the
wsr, the co.l-digger, when he was
above ground ard had washed the black
from his isce, held up his head. Now he
is a poor devil, looked upon IS q serf by
his neighbor. Twenty years ego most of
the miners were Americans, but thst is
not the case now. They We're intelligent
aud independent, and that csnnot be said
of the coal diggers OF the present day.
What has brought about the transitions,
or, more properly speaking, the retro
gression, shall not attempt to explain.
Down i'll the coke regions, where the
best bituminous coal in the world is
mined, the miners live in little hsmlets
and villages near the "pits,"a as they are
called. These pits are the
opening of the mines. These
villages belong to the companies
operating the mines. They are composed
of rows of shanties, generslly one room
down stairs and one above, with hole
cut through to permit the passage OF a
stove-pipe. They are considered aristo-
cratic If there is any lsth or plastering in
them at all. The occupants pay srent to
their employers, and in case OF strike
evictions follow as matter Of course.
The furniture in miners cabin general
lY consists If stove, table, and few
chairs. Carpet is q luxury to
which few of them aspire. I have
aoo, ~ fh1la hnuaaa in which
there was no light at night the year round
except that furnished by the smoky
miners lamp used by the father during
the day ct his work. The children, in
some instances, attend the public schools,
but as soon as they are able to work they
go into the mines to help their father
support the family. Among them sre
many good people, but, as a rule, tbs
standard of morality is not high, and
after pay-days there are hilarious
dances and 'hoe-downs' in the cabins,
which oflen end In terrible sffrsys.
"From time immemorial the miner has
been compelled to do ali his trading at
struck stores owned by mis- employers.
In the coal-diggeIs parlsnce they are
tpluck me- stores. Yesr after year the
Legislature of Pennsylvania has passed
struck bills as they are called, to abolish
these stores, and law of thkr kind is in
operation now. The truck store is s
place where the miner is compelled TO buy
all that he needs-f1od, clothing and
everything else. A few yesrs ago even
an unmarried miner WAS compelled to
spend certain proportion Of his wages
at his employers store. The prices
charged were always from 10 20 % per
cent. higher than at other stores, and on
some articles 90 per cent. There were
always two sets Of prices-one for the
mine operative and emploYe and the
other for the neighboring farmers and the
general public. II sign hung in the
store announcing that butter or eggs
were cheaper, or that -four could be
bought there at the lowest market
price, it had no meaning to the miner; he
knew he would have to pay premium. to
be taken out of his wages, or quit. The
miners wife came in and stood beside
the wife of a farmer or mechanic buying
calico, and paid 20 per cent. more than
they and never grumbled. 1 was in
store once where there was group of
young fellows, and one of them, looking
Cd at Discard tscked on the we'll, read:
IN. o. molssses, 80 cents a gallon
1t meant that New Orleans molssses
was selling ct 80 cents, but he read it
mo molssses for us fellows st 80 cents &
gallon His joke cost him his job on the
next day"
Few people know what laborious work
coal mining is, to say nothing of the dan
ger to which the miner is subjected al
the time from foul sir and the cavings In
of the mountain of earth that is always
about him, supported on locust posts.
The miners work in psirs, and frequently
q man with large family takes two or
three of his little boys to work with him,
in lieu Of s mate, who will share his earn
ings. They stsrt off in the main passage
way or one Of it's branches and work into
the coal veil, and as they advance day by
day the hollow which they cut ont, vsry-
ing in width from fifteen to thirty feet,
is called room. In time this 70 m be-
comes loog gallery, with ceiling Of
slate and a smooth floor of the same ma
terial. The first thing they do each day
is to make bearing H. This is done
by digging into the coal with picks and
making a big hollow the whole