The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1902-10-14

THE COAL MINERS.
How They Work and The Wages They Receive

How They Work and The Wages They Receive
Boston business man last week wrote
TO the Scranton Tribune, the leading ma
per OF northeastern Pennsylvania. ask
ing Tor some light on the conditions OF
the work OF the coal miners. The follow
ing is the reply:
heplying TO your inquiry OF the 1st
INST, Will try TO explain mining cOndi-
tions TO you as briefly as possible. The
miner drills the hole in the coal seam. in
serts the powder, fires the blast which
knocks the coal down. and then takes a
rest while his helper pulls the coal out
aud loads IL into the mine car. miner
IN four to six hours with easy work. can
ordinarily knock down enough coal to
keep his helper busy forfrom eight TO ten
hours, or longer.
The miner is paid by the car in this re-
gion, averaging about a 81 a car, and
the usual days work is six cars. hold
ing about three thousand bounds of
lump coal. rock 'bony' and slate. OF
this SO gross earnings the miner paws
- 10 the laborer aud keeps the 81 for
himself, out of which he must paw for
the powder he uses OIL wicks, fuses and
the sharpenings of his picks. In some
places the unit of pay is the square ward
oil coal in the seam. and in others a
weight unit of $3.50 pounds, il being
Claimed by the operators that on an
average it will take from 1850 TO 3 600
pounds OF gross coal that il. coal IA IL
comes from the SEAM 20 net one ton of
2,24O pounds of coal as prepared at the
breaker Tor market. The miners claim
that where the unit Of payment is the
mine car the car of today is bigger than
In years gone by. and continually grow
ing. one oil their Jokes Is that the mine
car IL made of live oak. However this
may he land my personal belief is that
there Is Just about as much honesty on
one side as on the other, It is "A fact
that the Industrious miner averages, net.
per month, for about twenty days' work
OF from four to six hours day, all the
way from $50 to 500, and could make
twice as much il he would enough coal
TO keep two laborers employed instead
OF one.
To-day miners who are s'scabbing"
work as high as ten chambers apiece
earn in some cares, $40 a day. But IL h
peculiar fact that under normal condi-
tons the miner does not seem to be am
bilious to do more than one chamber at
time, or to work beyond FIVE or six
hours day. The real cause ofthis strike
wac that the miners, helpers, who are
mostly foreigners. had got il into their
heads that the miners were not making
lair divide. They were organizing a
mine laborers movement to force the
miner TO divide even. The operators
have nothing to do with hiring the help
ers. They are hired by the miners them.
selves To avert a substrike among their
"butties, as the iaborers are called. the
miners swung through the general strike
ostensibly Tor the points set forth in their
published demands, but in reality to en-.
able the union TO control discipline and
thus put IL beyond the power of the Ia
borer TO revolt. in the mines also are
many company hands" men paid by
the month TO run engines, act as fireman.
attend to the pumps. etc.
The unions demand for an eight hour
day was TO enlist them in the strike
Ihey are getting good wages-engineers
500 to $50 a month for long hours bur
light work, and others in proportion.
Nine-tenths of these men were entirely
satisfied, and many OF them refused to 90
out. When the coal in big Jumps Genes
from the mine or pit, it is passed through
high structure called the breaker. where
II Is broken b., steam machinery into the
various sizes. and the impurities ara
picked out. Much of the labor of the
breaker is done 10y boys, who average 10
cents day. They have no complaint.
Tor their pay is better than that OF the
average lad in a city office But they be-
long to the union, and have votes in the
calling of strikes, and the idea of striking
has developed among them rapidly. Last
year in this end OF the coal fields there
were a hundred-odd local strikes, mostly
over the pettiest conceivable things, and
the breaker boy and barroom loaier ele-
ment had a good deal to do with declar
ing them.
| have lived in the anthracite region
fourteen years, aud know that in the
year 1901 the miners earned more money
than ever before during my time Our
banks are full of their savings, very little
oil which has yet been drawn out, in spite
OF their five months idleness. There is
no similar grade OF labor in the country
which is better paid than the anthracite
coal miner, and no workman more indie
pendent. because the law of the State
practically gives him monopoly of the
labor OF mining by forbidding any but
licensed miner to work at mining in the
mines. To get a license, or certificate. as
lt is called, he must first have worked at
least two years in the minee as a laborer.
and then pass an examination to show
that he knows enough about the peculiar
requirements Of mining to be a safe man
To admit to a chamber
O.rhu