The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-10-25
MisUsED MINERS.
Gross Violation of Law at the Mendoza
Coal Mines-The- Labor COnfmisSiOner
Unearths Pretty State of Affairs.

Gross Violation of Law at the Mendoza ]
Coal Mines-The- Labor COnfmlssIOner /
Unearths Pretty State of Affairs.
JEFFERSON CITY, No, Oct 19.-Mr. Lee |
Meriwether, Labor Commissioner, has re- |
turned from Putnam County, where he |
had gone TO investigate the condition Of /
miners at the Mendoza coal mines, and
has made known to the Governor some
facts concerning the payment of wages to
coal miners that are very interesting. In
1885 the Legislature passed law prohib-
iting the operators of coal mines from
paying the employees in orders on stores
or in any thing but cash under penalty OF
$500 and imprisonment. This law was
made necessary for the protection OF
miners all over the State, who, by reason
of the kind of wages paid to them by tbs
companies they worked for, suffered heav-
lily in reduction of wages that at best
were low enough to excite sympathy.
The mining companies, following the
Pennsylvania plan, had built little houses
about the mines, which they rented to the
miners, collecting the rent from their
wages, and had established stores from
which the miners were obliged to pur-
chase their supplies always at the high
est figures, so that when wages were paid
they were not paid in cash but In store
orders and rent receipts.
From reports of bis agents throughout
the State, Mr.. Meriwether has found that
the law is a dead letter, so far as the op.
erations of mining companies are cOn-
cerned, and last week the Labor Commis-
sioner paid visit to the Mendoza coal
mines in Putnam County to make per-
| sonal investigation into the manner In
which miners were paid by the Mendoza
| Coal Company. One of the agents OF the
labor bureau recently forwarded to his
| chief a circular piece of pasteboard, which
read as follows:
This check is good for one dollar. Due Janu-
| ary l, 1S99 Mendoza Coal & Mining Company,
! Mendoza, Mo.
The Labor Commissioners at once wrote
| the company, asking if it was true that
| these checks were not payable within ten
| years except in supplies from their stores,
| and in reply received a letter to the effect
| that the checks were payable in cash only
/ at the time stated thereon.
| al went to the mines at Mendoza" said
Mr.. Meriwether, "and without revealing
/ my identity circulated among the mine ners,
| and found that all that had been said
about the character of the checks received
| was true. 1t seems that the com pany has
| large store in the little mining commu.
| nifty from which the miners are expected
| to purchase all the supplies they need,
and that every miner has an account
at the store, payable in checks re-
| ceived wages. The company owns the
| houses, too, in which the miners live. and
deducts the rent from the wages of the
miners. Pay day is the 20th of each mon th
and then, if the miners prefer, they may
be paid in cash, minus their store and
rent account But at any other time of
the month should they need money they
can receive it only in the form of these
checks, which are discounted at the rate
of eighty cents the dollar. Now
it is true that a miner may wait un-
til pay day and then receive cash
wages, but if he follows that prac-
tice his days as an employe of the COM
pany are numbered. This is not a wild
statement, as / have here afIidavits from
men who were discharged from the SER
vice of the company by written notice
from the president thereof official pa
/ per because their account at the com
pany's stores was not large enough. 1 dc
not care to make any comment on sucA
transactions by mini ing company further
than to say that had no idea that the law
of the State could be openly and so fla.
grantly violated. asked the president of
the company for explanation of his
practice in this respect, and explained the
nature of the law forbiddingit He said he
had never heard of the law, and yet on
his desk before his eyes was copy of the
session acts of 1885 containing the law.
took this book from his desk and pointed
out the law to him. but he feigned great
surprise at its existence and claimed he
never before heard of it. l called a mass
meeting of miners and personally invited
the mine owners to attend. Some of them
did So About $50 of the miners were
; present, and there in public, and before
some of the operators, and in fac
of the fact that the company
! stenographer was present taking d
report of each sentence uttered, the
miners boldly avowed every thing
that they had in private communicated to
:. me about the Obligation they were under
to patroniEe the company,s store and the
; alternative they had of getting theil
checks cas'hed for so cents on the dollar
or losing their places, as it was no secre
that failure to patronizs the store to the
extent of a given amount every month
5 had become ground for dismissal. ! tolC
, the miners that there was law prob ibit
ing the owners of the mine from paying
their wages to them in the form of store
orders, and that / should lodge informa'
5 tion with the prosecuting attorney of Put
3 nam County against the operators foI
l violating it The meeting was thus
3 brought to a close and have since my re-
turn written to Prosecuting Attorney Nc
9 Kinley a statement of the facts 1 havr
8 discovered and accompanied the same b.
3 | COPIES of affidavits furnished by miners il