Evening star., 1899-04-17
THE LOTOF THE COAL MINER
Benjamin James Relates His Experience to
the Industrial Commission.
Overcharged by Company Stores
of immigration on Wages.

uned De1Ore the industrial commission sat
urday afternoon. Mr.. James until last
January was working in mine with a
pick. At that time, being elected to his
present position in the miners association,
he quit work underground to devote his
time to organizing his craft. He is a young
man, but little over thirty years of age,
and since boy of twelve has worked in
the mines. Although deprived of opportuni-
ties for schooling, except to a very limited
extent, he gave evidence of having achieved
a good education in spite of adverse condi-
tions. His testimony was tersely given in
well-chosen words. and was forcible.
1t related alnaIgt exclusively to the
anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania.
He was convinced that operators discrimi-
nate against miners who join labor unions
by giving them tie least desirable work in
the mines.
OF the miners in the anthracite regions
20 per cent are non-Eng.ish speaking Most
of them were immigrants who came to
this country in 1870 when a strike caused
the employers to Introduce them in their
mine Some had cone since then. The
majority of the on-English-speaking peo-
pie We're Polish. Siavish. Hungarians and
Lithuanians. They live on what the Eng
Hsh-speaking people would staTve.
Higher Prices at Company Stores.
The strike in the anthracite coal region
in 1897 had resulted in great benefits to the
miners. The witness said he and his part
ner had been notified Just before that strike
by the foreman of the Lehgh Valley Coal
Company, Jeansvile, Pa, in whose mines
he was working, that if he did not buy his
stores at the company's store he would
have to take his tools out of the mine. His
partner had told the foreman that he would
buy where he could buy cheapest. The
strike came on before either of them was
ha pod n tiyrla
at the company's store. while it could be
bought in outside stores for S125 and $3.50
keg. That difference in prices charged by
the company and other stores also occurred
in all classes of goods. During the year
1897, he said, the miners in the anthracite
region of Pennsylvania paid 81 900 900 for
their powder in excess of what they could
have bought it for in other stores. Two
miners working together use on an average
six kegs of powder week.
The witness said that last year he earned
S104 working in one of the most desirable
colleries of the anthracite region of Penn
sylvania. He had his pay checks with him
to verify this statement, but could not state
how many days he had worked in the year.
The Docking System.
In the anthracite coal region they had
no trouble from screens. but they had
something worse in the form of docking
system, by which the miners lost much
of the result of their labor. OF every hun
dred tons of coal mined the miners are
docked on an average of ten or twelve.
Such docking is done for the alleged reason
that slate or other impurities are in the
COAL yet the coal docked and not paid for
is dumped by the company with other coal
to be put on the market. Miners com
planned that pure coal was as apt to be
docked as that which had impurities, and
regarded the system as for the pur-
pose of reducing their wages. To rem
edy this evil, he thought, the miners
check docking boss of their own to see that
the companys boss acted fairy. The COM
pany had resisted the adoption of such "A
suggestion, and the witness thought that
the only way to enforce such a system was
to secure q thorough organization of the
miners in that region and then treat with
the operators for what they want
There was Siding scale for wages in
force in the anthracite region, but while it
would slide down when the price goes
down, it failed to slide up in keeping with
a rising market. He didn't consider that
in reality the sliding scale was in opera
ton in the anthracite region.
Wages Now Lower Than Ever.
The wages of miners and all others en-
ployed around the anthracite mines had
been gradually reduced from year to year,
and at the present time their wages are
lower than they have been for many years.
among miners of the anthracite region to
remedy the evils he complained of if they
were left free to organize and treat with
their employers peaceably. The non-En-
glish-speaking miners, he said, look with
favor upon organization, and he thought
they would all cooperate.
There was a law in PENNSYLVANIA which
forbade coal company running a store.
but that law had been declared unconstitu-
tional
Some Exhibits.
The witness exhibited a number of relics
OF the anthracite coal region in the form of
store accounts. showing prices paid by
miners for their goods and the amounts
they received in money after their store
expenses had been deducted from their
wages Several of the papers he exhibited
showed that the miners had expended in the
store and in payment of rents for company
tenements all their earnings.
Effect of Idle Miners.
The number of employees in the anthracite
region is today as great as it ever was,
but there are many idle men there, and
their presence keeps down wages. The idle
men had been made because of the large
number of contract laborers that had been
introduced in years past. Quite a number
of very young boys are employed in the
mines. They worked to help support fam
The law forbids boys less than fourteen
years working in the mine, and less than
twelve years about the mine on the sur
face. He was sure that boys were employ
ed when of less age than that prescribed by
law.
The anthracite mines are capable of pro-
drcing IOWO,OO0 tons of coal a year,
though up to the present time not more
than I,OD,0O0 tons have been mined in one
year. Both the capacity of the mines and
the number of workmen in that region are
sufficient TO mine 70.U0,000 tons a year
In order to reduce the number of idle
men, the witness advocated the eight-hour
day for the anthracite region, such as is in
force in bituminous coal mines in Ohio, In
diana, Illinois and Pennsylvania. They now
work ten hours, or at times longer.
Immigration in the anthracite region had
reduced wages and allowed the operators
to enforce conditions on the miners which
they could not do if there was not so great
surplus of labor. The English-speaking
immigrants in that region ara in favor of
restricting immigration.
They have very good public school sys-
TEN, and free text books
AUCTION SALES Of REAL ESTATE. Sc
Today.
Thomas Bowling & Co Aucts I1o CT nv