The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-04-12
Labor and Wages.
BY Jamee Fleming.


control the surface, and where not brought
into competition with the owners of closely
adjacent land upon which stores or dwell
ings can be built, they will neither sell nor
lease building sites, the contro. of the land
giving them better control of their men.
The employees are lodged In dreary row Of
company houses, divided by thin partitions
into from two to four tencments of from two
to four SMALL rooms. The houses are Of
wood, built in q cheap and aimsy manner,
usually unfinished inside and implanted out
side. The only evidence there is such a
thing as paint in the world las whitewash
seems %upknown) is. generally the company
number painted in bold figures. The rent
of these houses vary on different estates,
but the average is about SIS per month, and
being deducted from the wages earned.
This is now illegal in Pennsylvania, the law
requiring the payment of wages once q
mouth in cash or cash orders; but this is
evaded by what the miners term "cut throat
~leases,' which every tenant of o company
house, and sometimes his wife, Is required
to sign. By this cut throat lease the tenant
gives authority for the stoppage of rent out
of his wages, valves the benefit of the ex-
emption laws, and valves also the statutory
notice of expulsion, giving legal authority
for his eviction at any time upon five days
notice. With perhaps the exception Of a
clergyman or two, everyone is a tenant upon
five days notice. The results of such ten
antry may be seen. No effort at improve
ment or adornment, There may be a few
vegetables al the back of the house; no trees
or Towering PLAINS to relieve something of
the winter bleakness. On the coal fields Of
Pennsylvania the aspect of the hamlets is
dreary and forbidding, even in early sum-
mer when nature is in all her glory. They
suggest the poverty stricken hamlets of Ire
land without being so picturesque. There
is also the painful contrast between wealth
and extreme poverty. The owner or oper-
with beds of color that shame the glory of
Soloman's attire, palms from the hot house,
everything that betokens wealth AMI taste.
But the homes of tho men were bare and
mean and hard, as though they were but
places to eat and sleep in like the stables of
horses. No stores are allowed that will in
t~erfere with the "pluck me %store,' and in
one place brought under my observation a
widow who lived in q little house put up
and then abandoned by a former company,
was prohibited by the new lessee from SELL
ing the candies, tape and shoe strings by
which she managed to exc OUT a living. In
England the miner obtains free Of charge
what coal he needs for household use, and
this was formerly the custom in Pennsyl-
vania. Now, however, the rule is that he
must nay for it.. With the exception of
some of the great corporations, the company,
or as the miners call it, the "pluck me-
store system in Pennsylvania is general;
they are not always kept by the company,
but are sometimes farmed out to q separate
firm, in which the superintendent or other
members of the operating company have
interests. These "pluck me- stores seem to
we'll deserve the name the miners have
given them, the prices averaging from rs to
40 per cent. above ordinary retail rates.
Quality, too, is sometimes in inverse rela-
ton to price, as when a miaer bitterly COM
planned that while fresh roll butter could be
bought for rs cents q pound, the company
store charged As cents a pound for butter
'strong enough to pull a car up a slope
There is no vowed ~compulsion in dealing
with these stores, but it nevertheless effect
lively exists. A miners wife in Elk county
brought a basket with her into the company
store. The storekeeper took occasion to
raise the lid of the basket, and finding in it
q purchase she had made at another store,
her husband was next day discharged
without any explanation, although the cause
was we'll understood. 1t is well understood
that the man who spends the largest part of
his earnings in the store and has least cash
to take on pay day, gets the best work.
"AeA WV S"oAt S1tAAHSo VI IL u1ucIS, ~
is no wonder that a large proportion OF
them have only on pay day what they call
"bob-tailed checks" to receive. the credit for
work done being fully Offset by the fixed
, charges and store bill. Not half the miners
have usually any cash coming to them on
pay day, and this is the condition of many
from years end to years end. 1t is possible
for the miner to live in this way, since at
the store all he absolutely requires can be
) obtained, even to tickets for entertainment
/ in neighboriug towns. So, too, the company
/. pays the taxes Of its employees, deductipe
, the amount from their wages; for in Penn
!. sylvania, :"protectionism'' which originates
in the desire OF the rich and powerful to
throw the weight Of taxation on the poor
) and weak, is carried to the levyipg even Of
) county taxes; and while the borrower il
taxed by the state, the lsborer is taxed by
; the county on his Occupation" So. too
! the company pays the doctor, deducting &C
! cents per month from the wages of single
men, and Is cents from married men (which
however, does not cover all family charges.
, So, too. It often pays church dues, deductine
I the amount from their wages. There hal
l3ELs@ aG|Es:E.E%As F&~ o. A&T". Ia. ~.