The age-herald., 1900-04-30
LABOR QUESTION
 A YEXED PROBLEM
Causing Mine Operators of the
 District Much Trouble.
GREAT SCARCITYAT PRESENT
Industrial Activity Has Made the Negro iable-Introduction of Italians May Prove the Solution-Prom-
 inent Operator Talks

The labor question is one of the most | troublesome now confronting the mine op- orators of this district, and they realize 1 that something must be done to improve | the conditions
 For years 1t has been the custom of local | operators when in need of laborers to send | agents into other sections of the south to
 employ negroes and bring them here the l companies employing them to pay for the transportation of the men to Birmingham. l This arrangement worked very satisfac- l torily until within the recent past when
 work in all lines in this district became so 1 plentiful and laborers so scarce that extra | inducements were offered for men. For several months the operators have had considerable trouble and have lost several thousands of dollars that they had paid out for transportation for these men brought in from other sections. The men
 would come all right and work one or two days and then skip out before paying for their tickets Nearly every instance of this kind costs the employers several dol lars and then they have to go through the same process to fill the vacancy caused by the men who left. This condition has grown to such an alarming extent as to cause the operators great annoyance and they are now seeking some way to put stop to it.
 Italian Labor
 Ore mine operators are considering the
 question of utilizing Italian labor in the mines, and in fact, have representatives now in New Orleans looking into the ques- tion. It is expected that several hundred
 
 parishes around New Orleans and brought to Alabama and put to work in the mines in the northern port of the state. Some years ago the Pioneer Mining and Manu-
 faeturing company tried the experiment with Italians in the ore mines at Goethite but found it unsatisfactory for the reason that the blacks and whites did not get along together.
 An official of one of the largest mining companies in the Birmingham district stated yesterday that the question of la Dor was a serious one, and that it was giv- ing his company great trouble. 'The de- mand here for labor is so great that every
 man who wants work can get it. said he, and when we send away and get few l hands cannot count on them staying | with us for more than a few days. Taken Advantage of
 "The negroes drift from one mine to another, working a day or two at a time and the company that buys them ticket
 from their homes to this district finds it. self in the hole for the amount of the tickets cost. There is no law by which we can force them to work for us until they have paid up their indebtedness, and only thing we can do is to go and get other men when in need of them and charge the expense up to profit and loss. My company has lost thousands of dollars in the past year by reason of this drifting
 tendency of the negro popouation. Tt has put the operators to thinking
 and unless the negroes become more re-
 liable we will be forced to secure other
 labor and dispense with their services to
 the greatest possible extent car load of
 negroes brought, say from Georgia, by my
 company costs a considerable sum of
 money, and it has been almost the rule
 for a year now that after working for us
 day or two a large per cent. of them
 and in some instances two-thirds of them
 trict, working a day or two at a place.
 There is way by which we can make
 them refund the money we paid for their
 tickets, and so we have to bear the loss"