The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-01
FOREIGN COAL MINERS
IRREGULARITIES OF THE WORKERS.
FROM EASTERN EUROPE.
In the PennsyIvania Regions They
SuppIanted Welsh and Irish and
Form a Class of Their own.
wllkesbarre Pa) Letter in New York
Post


means a Pole Hungarian, an italian, a
Slav or Russian. Little is known Of this
element outside the coal regions and their
like is perhaps found in no other part of
the world not even in their own countries
for it is the mixture that makes the class
peculiar to the region of the shaft, the
breaker, and the culm pile. These foreign
ers first came here in 1878, few hundred
of them being brought over by the late
Eckley B. Coke. Previous to that time the
miners were chiefly Welsh, English end
Irish, with a few Germans, the Welsh and
Irish predomnating. These people have
been forced out of their places by the work.
ers from eastern Europe.
Between 1870 and 1878 the miners were
making good wages-common miners, TOO
earning as much as Sc and 81 day. The
average was about 81. 1t was the day of
the miners unions, and these organizations,
fiourishing in every town and mining ham,
let were frequently Differed by selfish and
INSCRIPTIONS men, eager to advance their
own interests at the expense of both MINER
and operator. At their word of command
the men of the union would strike, often
on very slight grievance, frequently on
a fictitious one, and seldom when they eX-
pected to gain anything. Both strikers and
quently made that the officers of the union
gained by selling the strike. The strikes
increased rapidly with the greed of the Of
ficials, until in 1878 the operators hit upon a
plan to protect themselves. 1t was the i'm
portaton of the foreigners The prom
Used wage, more for day than they could
earn at home in month, attracted first
the Hungarians and Poles, and soon the
Slavs, the Italians and the Russian Poles.
Within a year after the first arrived there
were several thousand here.
The miner in those days had to pay his
laborer S. or $3.50 a day. When the for
eigners" came 1t was quickly learned that
they would work for 81 or $3.50 a day and
accomplish more than the laborer who re-
ceived twice as much. Friding themselves
upon their acumen, the miners engaged
these foreigners then in an hour or two
blasted sufficient coal to keep the laborers
busy loading all day, and went back to the
surface, each having ma made IS or y with
ing how we'll the plan worked induced
more foreigners" to seek fortunes in the
coal field, and quietly waited for their time
to come. 1t came quickly. A strike was
threatened if some alleged grievance was
not righted. In previous years the opera
tors would have been compelled to make
an adjustment or to undergo a strike
which meant heavy loss to them Now
as soon as you do we will fill your places
with your laborers, the foreigners
BROKE UP THE UNIONS.
1t did not take the men long to realize
the situation, for they knew that they had
taught the foreigners not only the laborer's
duty of loading cars, but the miners work
of blasting the coal and timbering and 9TH
er mining work which required skill as
we'll as muscle. The tide which so long had
set against the operators now turned in
their favor, and they took full advantage
of it. The first evidence of the changed
conditions was the disintegration of the
unions. An attempt had been made to get
the foreigners" to join them, but the STU
pid Hun or Pole realized that working for
a wage, however small, was better than do
ing nothing, and continued at his work It
was not long before the operators ordered
reduction, then another and another:
and, after these, orders which amounted
to the same as another reduction The old
threat of I'VE will strike had terrors.
There were numerous accidents, of course,
owing to the ineXperience and stupidity of
the new miners, but the company could
contend with these much better than they
could with the strikers There were also
some attempts at violence but the Hun
the Pole was good at that sort of thing
as the Welsh or the Irish. The triumph
of the operators was complete and from
that day to this there has not been a
miners union in this region nor a strike
which was at all serious. This little bit of
history will explain why the anthracite
miners do not join the bituminous miners
in the present big strike.
The great majority of them come here with
the one purpose of making a fortune and
returning to their homes to pass the rest of
their days in comparative comfort The
fortune they toll so hard to get is about $500
Some labor on until they accumulate $780,
or, perhaps. $1,000, but the majority are
slider themselves rich. With it they can buy
a small farm near their birthplace, engage
their Tess fortunate relatives to work for
them and have all the power Of a land
owner over the peasants 1t is no unusual
sight to see a body of twenty or thirty of
these Huns and Poles at the railroad sta
lions, bound for the old country. The men
wear oVeralls and carry their own trunks
The women carry great bundles and attend
to the children They do not bring many
women with them. The proportion is about
one woman to every fifty men, and the one
woman is usually the wife of the boarding.
house keeper.
A MONTHLY CAROUSAL.
The average Hun, Pole or Italian is a
good ctizen-inasmuch as he is quiet and
well behaved - for three weeks of the
month. In the fourth week he is a danger
Gus person. 1t is his week of recreation and
commences on payday night 1t is a riot
Gus carousal and seldom does it pass off
without some one being hurt or killed The
fun" consists of drinking, dancing and
flghting-chiehy drinking and fighting. 1t
commences early in the evening. wash
tub is put in the center of the floor and
nearly filled with beer. Then a large guam
tity of whisky is emptied in and the beer
well stirred. This is called "polnky" and
it's special property is that 1t will make a
man drunk more quickly than anything
else. The fighting commences within an
hour or two after the carouSal opens. and
while at first the weapons are but fists and
feet, it is not long before more dangerous
weapons are employed and the ready stilet-
to and handy revolver make work for the
police and the coroner.
These people thrive on food which would
not keep an Anglo Saxon alive. Coarse
bread, the cheapest kind of beef and little
of it, with coffee, is the extent of their
menu. Fruit, pu0dings, or pastry are too
expensive. Board can be obtained for IS a
month at the Hungarian boarding house,
and a house of four small rooms frequently
accommodates forty or fifty boarders.
Naturally, with such crowding there is
great filth. Still, so hardy are these people
that sickness is rare. The boarding house
keeper and his wife have a bunk; the
boarders sleep on the floor Straw is scat
tered over it at night, and in cold weather
they get comforts.
Few of the Huns become naturalized, and
generally only those who are in some way
ambitious and rise to become saloon
keepers or store keepers. But even those
possessing naturalization papers are citi-
zens in no sense of the word. They do not
know what republic is; they know moth
ing and care less about observing the laws
and they do not understand or follow the
customs of the country. They live to-
gether like cattle, have race riots with adj
joining settlements, and seem to have no
friendship, love or respect for each other
a case is known where a man. witness to
the murder of his brother, told the officers
he knew absolutely nothing about it, fear
ing that he would lose so much money by
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