Evening star., 1897-07-31

American miners are far better Off than
the miners of other countries. The codf
miners of Japan receive only few cents
day. Both women aid men work in the
mines, and the foreign ships. which get
coal at Japan are always loaded by women.
who pass the coal up the sides of the ship
in bI%EetS.
Women and Children in the Mines.
Women are still used in the coal mines
of Belgium They dress in trousers, just
like the men. and they do much The same
work They help load the coal, and in
some of the mines they drag the cars
from the tunnels to the bottom of the
shaft. L. Simonin, a Frenchman, from
whose book on underground life the illus
trations of this letter are taken, describes
the horrors of their life i'll ,he mines. For
a long time women were used in this way in
England and Scotland, and it was not un-
til about twenty-five years ago that parlia-
ment passed an act keeping them out.
Children employed in the Belgium
mines today. The English and Scotch used
them for years. They were taken into the
mines at seven, eight and nine years of
age, and were kept there until they grew
up. The English coal veins very thin
and the tunnels were not more than a yard
high These children were used beasts
of burden They were harnesSed to little
carts filled with coal, and had to crawl
along all fours with belts about their
waists and chains between their legs drag
ging the coal carts to the surface. Women
became deforn ed by this work. They were
dressed in trousers end shirts like men.
They learned to fight and swear like the
men and became bad characters. At the
age of fifty they were usually worn out.
In Scotland young women were employed
10 carry the coal on their backs out of the
mines. They dragged the coal to the foot
or the ladders and then loaded it on their
backs. holding it there by a strap around
the forehead while they climbed up the
IN fhn
worked from twelve to fourteen hours a
ua!, ana would do work. it is said which
the men would not do. tramoing through
the water with their loads of coal Ac-
.orolhs 10 law women cannot be employed
In our mines.
Boys, however, have been largely used.
lEey urlVe the mules. and in the anthracite
regions they pick over the coal tal,ing
the slate and refuse out of it. They pei
from oo to 10 cents day for bending over
the dusty coal, roasting in the summer
ana almost freezing in the winter. They
are frequently hurt though it is nv no
means as bad with our children as II was
with those of Europe a few years ago
when in one investigat ton it was stated:
mat tney seldom slept with whole
skin, and that their backs were cut with
knocking against the roof and sides of
the tunnels a..d that the walking in the
water covered their feet with fostering
Sores
Some Dangers of Mining.
ii'NS you ever DctIl uOWn III Il COat nine.
If SO you can appreciate some of the
dangers of mining. A coal mine is like a
great catacomb. 1t is a city under ground,
the walls of which in many cases are up
held by timbers. Now and then you come
to rooms out of which the coal has been
cut. The coal is taken down with blasting
powder and there is danger of the wall
fa ling and of the miners being crushed.
There is also danger from fire damp, or
the union of the gases of the mine brought
together by the light from lamp or can
die. This causes a great explosion. 1t
comes like stroke of lightning, and with
a clap of thunder. AS the explosion occurs
a roaring whirlwind of flame goes through
the tunnels, pulling down the timbers and
caving in the walls. 1t burns everything
within reach. Miners are blinded, scorched
and sometimes burned to cinders Hun
dreds have often been killed at time by
such explosions, and by the flood of car
bonic acid gas which follows them. The
statistics show that even in the United
States miner is killed for every hun
dred thousand tons of coal mined, and
those who are in ,ured number many times
this proportion.
FRANK G.. CARPENTER.