Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-06

| old and feeble to take employment Hehat-
ing fire and his eldest son. fifteen years
declined Job of the sort, saying ne pre-
ferred to starve than burn to death.
| The father has mined coal in the same
| mine fF* twenty years. He is now %
years OH, and raised a family OF hve
chldren,.the Oldest being the f1fteen-year-
old boy boy, and the next being fourteen
and no on down. The first two or the
| boys are also coal diggers
The house is one of hundred OF It's
Kind making up the Hungarian section OF
Pocahontas. It is very small and painted
red. The front yard is a gorgeous mass
of rnarigolds and sunf1owers and the front
| door is almost closed up: with morning
glory vines.
Inside the family Of seven, including the
parents. live in three rooms. for which
they pay the company $3.50 month. One
of the rooms is used by the father and
mother and the three youngest children.
another room has two beds, in one of
which the two Oldest boys sleep, and in
the other two ''boarders." The third room
is for the cooking and eating. The floors
are clean, but the furniture consists
nearly altogether of beds.
The fffteen-year-old boy earns a dollar
a day digging coal, and the old father and
the fourteen-year-old boy together earn
7 from $2.25 to 50 a day.
In telling of his twenty years of work
for the company the old man made me
put my hand to his sides. It was merely
a bunch of broken ribs. He had been
seriously hurt four times, and each time
meant the spending Of every cent he had
been able to scrape and save. The COM
missary was always ahead, he said; as
fast as he got even, one Of his old bones
| was broken or he was taken Ill with
some disease.
The f1fteen-year-old boy had his leg
| broken before the strike. He had been
| paying one dollar month for accident
insurance. The policy allowed Ave dol
lars week while he was unable to work.
He was laid up thirteen weeks, and put
in his claim for s65. He was given SIS,
the other $40 having been taken out to
settle his fathers Indebtedness a the
commissary. Business connection be-
tween the insurance company and the
commissary is, however, denied.
The complaint that is btterest on the
part of these miners concerns the policy
of the company concerning the home life
of the workers. The company pays e
physician about $3.50 a month and
charges every married miner one dollar
month, and every unmarried one a half
dollar month for his services, whether
or not needed. In. this way the. company
gets an income of thousand dollars a
| month, perhaps.
In this particular family the father paid
the married mans dollar and his fifteen
year-old son was made to pay the I'M
| married mans half dollar, although his
fathers tax should have covered him.
When the miners are hurt at their work
they must go in debt to the cornmissary
for food, fuel. and other necessities.
The last time this old man was injured
the company allowed one of his friends
to take up subscriptions in the mines.
y! IL 49,.
he paid back when he returned to the
mines.
WHAT IT COSTS TO LIVE.
Here are some of the items on which a
miners wife has to do some heavy figuring
every month:
Coal supply. s1.5O a month. whether de-
sired or not; but not compulsory during
the summer.
Water. IS cents r month.
Electric lights, 20 cents month each,
at least two being necessary.
Flour, $3.50 barrel and up.
| Pork. 12H cents a pound ard up.
Meat, the kind used only for boiling,
three pounds for 81 cents.
Physicians fee, 81 a month for the
father, and so cents each for the sons.
Accident insurance, 81 down, and 81
month.
Loss on cashing company's script, Is
cents on the dollar.
Powder. 81 a key.
In all of this, except on the insurance,
| the company makes big profit It may
be back of the insurance company. The
president of the bank here is president
Of the coiieries company. Bank pays IS
cents in cash for a dollar in script, and if
the community of interest between the
two concerns is at all intimate, the COM
pany that pays the miner dollar has
him hand back quarter of it.
PAYS TWICE FOR COAL.
Again, the coal that the company COM
pels the miner to buy is the same coal
he has been "docked" for because it was
not properly mined. The general super
intendent admitted that it was "inferior
coal. but burned all right"
Asked why the company compelled the
miner to buy it, he replied: ITO Keep the
men from stealing it,"
All the mountains here are coal, it is
said, and the Pocahontas mines are the
biggest soft-coal mines in the world.
So the operator gets two profits on the
coal that heats the homes of the miners
The general superintendent told me
that the men were not obliged to buy of
the commissaries But the men take the
most Of their money in script, neverthe-s
less. for it is considered the right thing
to do, and the man who demands all
cash for his work is not profitable in
vestment to the operator.
COMMIsSARY BUSINESS
However strenuously the company
may deny influencing the men in this
way, they cannot deny that the commits
saries do a great business and that their
percentage Of profits Is mighty hear one
hundred, if not that or more.
It is also q fact that the many indie
pendent stores sell at lower prices, but
regardless Of this the miners deal with
script to their loss and the company's
gain.
The wife of the old Slav put dinner
before US as we chatted. 1t consisted of
half-loaf of bread, large plate of
boiled beef. and a small plate of home
made cucumber pickles. There was also
coffee, but no milk.
In front of my seat, suspended against
the plain board wall of the room, was a
white china cruciix. The arms Of the
Saviour seemed stretched toward us in
pity.
Here was the sorrowful situation of the
group.
When the strike was ordered the old
man did not go out. He had been unable
to keep up his union dues. The boys
laid down their picks and put their lamps
in a corner. Then the father was taken
sick, and nobody in4 the house was earn
Ing. a cent The union gave them food,
hllt the rOnnanvg pava them orders To