The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-07-16

They try to do them things. It's nat
ural for 'em TO want TO be civilized.
They try 1t and get into debt"
wan stop Credit.
Merchants say they will be forced to
suspend all credit within three or four
weeks II the strike lasts, There Is some
destltution here now, barely ten days
since the shutdown. Few have any
means OF earning money at other labor,
Fewer have cent saved IN money. II
the strike outlasts the store credit there
will be great distress and sure trouble.
The better class of miners are the ones
10 suffer first The 400 foreigners have
not severely felt the years Inactivity
and most have money ahead. Some few
OF the more intelligent married men at
tempted to live decently In separate
houses, but they areln exactly the condl-
ton now OF all who have attempted the
same thlng-badly indebted
But so per cent OF the foreigners live
so cheaply as 10 save money even on
starvation wages. They do not dig ON
an average more than two ana half
| tons daily. They are not skillful, Many
have to go under the hill" at 4 In the
morning and work until at night to
mine even that, and the pay don't aver
age more than Sl.l5 each long working
day.
The past year averaged Just IS cents
daily, yet the plttance gives them
coarse abundance that would have been
luxury In their fatherlands.
The Squire" OF DlllonVllle says:
Them foreigners eat what We won't
touch"
Not Tempting Food.
Personal sampllng of u Bohemian
boarding houses kitchen kettles proved
he was about right Meat and bread are
almost the sole articles OF diet, The
meat, good when delivered, Is spoiled in
handling. The soup kettle is always
boiling. 1t Is seldom cleaned, the leay-
ings each day serving as the foundation
OF the next days ragout.
Meat OF all dates and conditions, With
few vegetables, form the staple dish.
a full pound and a half goes into the
Joint Kettle each day for each man, and
the odor and general appearance OF the
average catdrons are positively beyond
description.
This rude plenty is cheap. The meat
costs 10 cents. Seven more for bread
and vegetables and eight for cooking
make an average daily cost OF foreign
miner In this district 30 cents. The
mans half OF bed Is included In the
eight cents daily for cooking. The daily
cost is less than 30 cents when the men
are not working That cost Is only when
L.. l.. l,Ia Il 10 oil
pound and half OF meat is cut down.
He pays proportionately less, for
boarding shanty Is the same as n col
lege students boarding club, with the
difference that most foreign couples
make money. The man becomes
boarding boss" and works also at min
ing. The wife cooks, and the partner
ship gets $3.50 from each boarder
monthly.
The money department at this post
office would show that one of these men
has sent over $1,000 to Europe in the last
six years. Allowing for n deduction OF
idle days. the daily cost OF living OF n
single foreign miner Is not more than
% cents. Company houses rent for 81 to
50 monthly. found some incloslng If
teen adults and five children. Many
are more crowded.
Some are Clean.
Few are reasonably clean, but as
general thing the interiors of the for
eign miners boarding houses are
foetid combination, painfully visible un-
cleanliness and slckening human smells.
In one upper room | saw five filthy
beds, two men asleep In each The room
was about fourteen feet square by seven
high Two small windows struggled to
ventilate It. a blackened chimney
showed lamp that must have smoked
far into the night.
Unoccupied and In the daytime the
odor was a positive stencil, and yet ten
men sleep there every night, poisoning
each his little hundred odd cubic feet OF
air, not TO mention the lamp.
The worst tenement In New York
slums can't match the reeking elIluvia
Of such room as the combined dining
room. nursery and wet weather sitting
room below.
Flies swarmed over every square inch
Other small animals by thousands Ev-
.erything was coated with greasy dirt,
including two fat, puffy babes sleeping,
tiith Of the floor. The most prominent
objects were beer mugs. more OF them
than plates Other downstairs rooms,
occupied by the boarding boss and his
wife, were comparatively clean. There
was an absolutely dirty kitchen shed
about six fet wide. One woman was
washing clothes. while another woman
cooked the usual mess for fourteen per-
sons.
In front Of the house were dozen
men lounglng and playing cards. Only |
one could speak any English. and that |
but two dozen words, principally pro-
fame. finally OWNED that they were |
all contented. The strike was holiday |
at the proper time Of the year, and they |
expected to have enough to eat until It's |
end. They have always had enough TO
drink and to spare. At least 300
eighth" kegs OF beer come here every |
two weeks-pay day. Ninety per cent |
Is drunk By the foreign miners. average
ing pint and third daily for each |
man.
Never Misses It's Beer.
The cheapness of these peoples living
can best be seen when the fact develops |
that one OF them after paying for his
food and shelter gets his plentiful beer
and stlll has left II per cent OF his daily |
wage for other expenses, for clothing, |
which he buys seldom. and for foreign
money orders, which he purchases quite
often
The foreign miners boarding shanty |
have described Is not the worst in Dn-
lonvllle, nor are the neutrality-suspicious. |
minors hcre as bndlY of na I'm minor |