The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-09-13

mg town / met child carrying a sack
filed with coal screenings, that he had
stolen from a company's nile for ,,sa
in his mothers cook stove. THE child
certainly did not look a day over n
years old. His face was pale and his
cheeks were hollow. He was very
round -shouldered for a child of his age
and he showed the stunning and with
ering eftects of q struggle for exist
ence against tremendous odds.
How old are you?' 1 asked.
Thirteen, goin' on fourteen" was
the reply.
And you work in the breaker?"
Sure, and so does all the other lads
in the town. when they're not striking
You haven't got it in for me?" he asked
in scared tone. 4 s'pose you is some
kind OF a company's detective, amt
you?"
succeeded in allaying his fears bv
telling him that [ was merely a visitor
in the town, and that l was living in
miners boarding house.
Tell me little about your work in
the breaker 1 said.
Well, that's it over there" and he
pointed to tall, black structure ont
lined against the sky. -Four hundred
lads works in that building. There's
e--N ~ ~-NAANAN' III NAIAo IOMu, so Inat all
the lads is working. We go to work at
in the mornin and stay until G. We
have half an hour at noon for eatin'
We sort over the coal as it comes out
of the sleeves. We pick out the slate
and Stag. That's all we do-see?"
Rather hard work" ] suggested.
Yes, II is, until you get used to it.
The coal dusts pretty bad Sometimes
u gets INTO your eyes and makes you
KIND Of blind. The breaker isn't heated
in winter, so you got to get used to
benz cold all day. But" he added,
proudly, I don't mind it no longer.
The only thing l kick about is the way
the coal cuts my fingers. Pickin' over
the coal viii once in a while wear
feller'S nails off and wear the skin
down to the BONE so he has to Law
of for week until they heals up. Say.
isn't it too bad that they can't invent
way Of keepin' the coal from wearfn'
a feller's fingers off'n his hands?"
g g g
How much do you receiver"
sixty cents a day. The most you
can make in the breaker is so cents a
day. I'll be maxim that in two years
from now. l started on 40 cents. I
am gettin' there
How long have you worked in the
breaker?"
Six years. Ever since me fadder was
burned in a gas explosion in the mine.
He's par-lyzed for life, you know"
Then you must have been I years
old when you began picking coal?"
The child hesitated. Well" he said
slowly, 1t makes no difference how
old / was. Me papers and alffydavits
was o. K. The comp'ny has got 'em
now. They says I was Is when I
cr1-fad 10
was"
Are many in the breakers younger
than you?"
Why, sure, I'm one of the Oldest. 1
am maxim so cents. Most of 'em is s
and years old, but their papers is all
right, though" he added earnestly.
The papers say they're all Is, goin' on
Il"
Did you ever go to chool?'
For the first time in our talk the
child laughed; not with the innocent.
ripping laugh of childhood, but with
the hard cynicism of a man of so.
SCHOOL," he echoed. say, mister,
you must be a green hand. Why, lads
in Anthracite doesn't go to no school:
they work in the breaker" As he
trudged off along the railroad track
with the heavy sack of coal on his lit
tie STOPPING shoulders, he looked back
at me quizzically, as though he Won
dered what STANCE manner of man this
might be, who could suppose for a
minute that a child born under the coal
dust cloud could ever receive the light
Of an education.
The child spoke the simple truth.
Boys do not go to school in Anthra-
cite. They work in the breakers, and
the Intellectual and physical stunning
0hil1hOod iC tba caddaSt mort Of
at the mines.
The coal that is brought up in cars
from the base of the shaft is in large
Jumps, just as it has been blasted or
heWn out Of the vein. From the cars
II is dumped into crushing machines,
which grind it into the various sized
Jumps in which it is sold to the con-
sumer. These machines are in the Gu
pola at the top of the breaker, and
from this process the breaker takes
Its name. The broken coal falls into
enormous revolving sleeves on the floor
below the crusher. From the sieve it
passes through chutes that wind
throughout the building to the ground
moor when it is loaded on freight cars.
MIXED with the coal is more or less
STATE, rock and dirt, and to pick this
Out Of the unceasing river Of coal is
me work Of the boys and old men en-
pioyed in the breakers.
FASTENED to the edges of the chutes
are little seats, where the workers sit
from morning till night, forever pick
ing over the black stream that flows
past them. An ordinary breaker en-
ploys from 400 to 500 boys and men.
over every gang of fifty is a foreman.
The interior of the breaker is as
cheerless as its outside. Nothing is
painted, but over everything is heavy
coating Of coal dust. The sleeves make
such dense and continuous clouds OF
Gust that it is sometimes difficult to
see within the breaker. Strung along
the wall are a few steam pipes that
connect with the mine engines. These
are supposed to heat the building in
winter. But as all the steam is needed
ID the mine, very little is ever allowed
10 percOlate through the breaker. Min
ers say that the temperature OF the
breaker is always the same as out
doors.
The company insists that on file in
It's office it has an affidavit sworn be-
lore a justice Of the peace, for every
boy who receives from 40 to so cents
for ten hours work in the breaker.
The affidavit declares the boys age to
be y years or over Therefore, there
is no such thing as child labor In the
mines" In name, though not in fact,
every breaker boy is Of the legal age
Prescribed by the law Of the state of
Pennsylvania for work in the mine.
That means that almost every break
er boys father must have committed
perjury in order to place his sons IN
life employment that shuts out all hope
Of an education, not only from DOCKS
but also from contact with the refine
nen+s or amenities Of civilized life;
that so limits his field of opportunity
that he is of necessity condemned to
life that shrivels his intellect, begrimes
hi .n-,l and tends to make OF MIN a