The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-09-27
SATURDAY EVENING,


children following, calling loudly for
cakes. Most Of them We're not disappoint-s
ed. This was Saturday and was told
that If had been there on Tuesday,
which was pay day, the trading would be
much more brisk. The beer wagons then
make long day, and there is usually
dance in the evening. On other nights
when the men get home from work they
at once take off shoes and socks and go
barefooted the rest Of the day; sometimes
they remove little of the coal from their
faces but not enough to leave the stranger
in doubt as to their occupation. " = :,
"The women and children seemed
healthy and We're comfortably dressed
The girls often have better school adj
vantages than the boys whose one ambl-
ton seems to be to get to the breaker and
earn SO cents aday9 No .boyris employed
at that work under IL years of age or IN
the mines under IA and none is allowed to
cut coal under the age Of 16. except with
direct supervision Of an older person.
1.-THE girls who work In the Silk mills
are gorgeously appareled. I was told IN
Scranton of an experience Mother Jones'
had with these girls In which good deal
of human ma ure was displayed. She had
arranged a monster parade in which they
were all to march, carrying banners set
ting forth their wrongs and expressions:
She charged them as an essential part OF
the plot that they should array them
selves in the very worst rags they pos
sessed, in order to attract pity and to
show the deadly servitude under which
they existed. The girls were perfectly
willing to rebuke the aggressions OF CAPT
tai, but they did not fancy this way OF
doing it; their beaus would all be out on
Lackawanna avenue to see them pass, and
they could not afford to carry out Mother
Jones' directions in letter or spirit. 40
cordingly they wore stylish box coats and
hats which nodded with feathers and flow
ers. Mother JONES' I am told, washed
her hands from attempting to do anything
for. them thereafter thinking that they
were not worth saving.
1T would be unfair to represent the
miners as generally living in such places
as the patches which have just de-
scribed. The more thrifty ones, espe-
cialy those who have been for some years
in this country. live in good houses, and
many Of them have substantial savings.
There are whole streets in the towns about
Scranton filled with modern houses, we'll
furnished and we'll kept up, which are the
property of the miners. These are never
pictured in the newspapers and otherwise
brought to the attention Of the public. 1t
is only the worst quarters that are strik-
ing. The older miners maintain that
times are not what they used to be, but
heard In all occupations. Wages were
doubtless very high before 1877, and much
of the property Of the older miners is as
signed to savings made from the high
wages that then prevailed. If they could
to-day have steady work prosperity would
be reasonably ample. 49,. =
1.-THE answer most usually given to the
question why so many of the older miners
own their houses and why so few of the
later ones are now building, is that the
racial type has changed. The earlier
miners were Welsh, Irish and Scotch,
with a few Poles. They were home
makers and were intending to stay in this
country. They are very superior as a
rule to the races which are now following
them. The newer peoples, mostly from
southern and eastern Europe, are very
inflammable material. and have not yet
learned the uses Of such opportunity as
they find in this republic Many of them
squander their money In drink and are
great on going to the circus. Others send
a good deal Of money home, which is, OF
course, a more hopeful sign than the use
Of it all in vulgar indulgences here, even
though their standards of living remain
very crude" w. w. Jermare,