Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-02-06
Mines and Miners.

OF the state Printer and Will shortly bt
ready for public distribution, contain.
very complete showing as to the con
dition of Missouri mines and miners
Part first Of the report deals with per.
haps the most interesting features o
the Labor Question as regards min
ers. The subject of Company stores
checks, and contracts binding employees
not TO join any labor organizations il
gone into with considerable detail, anc
some of the facts presented are surpris
ing. We have heard much of the
manner in which Pennsylvania miners
are treated but to many it will be news
that In our own state pretty much thu
same system of robbery ard oppression
is practiced. Commissioner Merfweth
er shows that it is almost genera
practice among Missouri coal operator
to pay their men but once month
and even then@to withhold from fifteeI
to thirty days wages. That is, minel
Ton the Goth of February is paid only ur
to the last of January. This long de
ferred pay day forces the mlner to seek
| credit and it is the custom, according
to the Labor Commissioner, for the
mine operator to keep q general supply
store where his employees trade paying,
of course. the highest sort of prices
since it is the only place where they
can get credit. The employer runs no
risk in giving credit because he himself
is already in debt to his emplyes for the
labor they have performed for him.
MIR. Merlwether cites one case where
miners were paid in checks reading on
their face not redeemable until 1898,
nearly ten years hence. Payment of
wages in such checks is Illegal aud the
commissioner succeeded in .brea aking up
the practice i'll numbe cases ,secur-
ing payment of wages in awful money
instead of in pasteboafd checks worth
ouIy go or 20 per cent. of their face
value.
An interesting showing is made of
the mineral product of the state for the
year ending June 3Qth, 1889. From
All lead, zinc, coal and iron mines was
produced an output which sold for
$7.937, GA. This product was divided
as follows: III coal mines produced
:, 223 Al tons coal, sold for So 046, ,9S7.
Z96 lead and zine mines produced G, ,469
tons of lead ore, 25, 440 tons pig lead
and 81 ,357 tons of zinc. The lead sold
for s.. 224 1874, the zine sold for ST, 1861
905. iron mines produced PSI ,006 tons
of iron ore ami 1864 tons of pig iron
which sold for 5000 651.
The labor cost of producing this enor-
nous mineral wealth is considered by
the Commissioner in his report, and
the result of the investig ations in this
line make a showing that will chal-
lenge attention. The wages of 1853
coal miners-more than a quarter of all
the coal miners IN the state-were ascer-
tained by actual Inspection of the pay
rolls. The wages received by each in
divdual miner were noted on sperate
Il l,, ~
ed it appears that Is per cent. of Mis- |
souri, coal mine employees have a daily
net income of less than 75 cents per |
day. 566 of the 1863 men were found |
receiving less than S1.00 per day. 1920 |
or "A per cent. received less than $1.50 |
per day. Only 6, less than one fifth of |
one per cent, received more than So
for each day in the year. These figures
represent what the stated number of
miners actually earned in the year
ending June 30th, 1889. They show,
not what the miners earned when act
ually working, but what their dailes
income was during that period. Miners
must live 365 days in the year whether
they work or moi, and the figures given
above show what amounts certain
miners had to live on. The showing
can hardly be considered very gratify-
ing, when 1920 men out of l663-74 per
cent.-are found supporting their fam
lilies on less than 81 so ii day. 752 min
ers were followed through for whole
year. OF these 102 men who were found
on the pay rolls Of each month in the
year, II pr. ct. received less than $500,
or less than S25 month. 46 pr ct. re-
celved between S25 and $41 66 per
month. Only 81 pr. ct. received more
than S41. When it is considered that
these 752 men are men who may be
steady, good workers, since
they appear for = consecutive months
m the pay rolls of one employer, the
fact that the majority of them received
less than $50 a month for work involv-
ing both skill and hard labor NAV well
cause surprise. Mining is the hardest
sort of work, yet, as clearly appears
from the painstaking investigation of
Commissioner MeriWetber, their aver
age wages scarcely equals the pay of
the commonest sort of unskilled labor.
In connection with the question os
wages is considered the cost of living.
l30 families were visited by agents of (
the Labor Bureau and from the inform
alton obtained from these representa- {
lives mining families it appears that
the average income per family is $5ll 9S
-
sons working per family was IA which
would make the average yearly income s
IF each person who worked S361.73,
The average amount expended per
family for fooG was S2ll d3. Of this
$50 II was for meat. The expense for {
rent averaged $5S.44 yearly for each
family. TIE clothing expense aver :
aged S83 95 per family or S16.84 per in |
iividual. The average total expenses g
IF each family were $470.4S, of each |
adult S15S. AZ. of each individual S94.3S. /
It will be seen from these figures that {
he average savings of these l3O min c
ng families amounted for the year l
ending June 30th, 1851, to S41 30 per c
year. The Commissioners remarks, t
however, that in many cases this saw
ng is not a genuine saving. In too q
nany cases the miners spend this sur e
Dlus in tobacco and whiskey. In con- |
lection with these figures showing the e
,ost OF living are presented Family |
3udgetsD which may be described as s
tatistical pictures of Missouri Miners t
md their families. These budgets 8
describe in detail the home conditions
nd surroundings Of the miners, what {
,ooks they read, their amusements, 2
he way they live, and, in short, all t,
he noints tending TO throw any light @
N the condition of miners are brough
onward in these family budgets. 1t
,as often been said that miners are
urbulent, uneducated set, always B
4