The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-01-04

a hoe. and a little further on 4, Z brick
pile three sturdy girls were loading tricks
upon a wheelbarrow, which Il fourth girl
pushed upon the car when 1t was fun.
They were working hard. and tha persrira-
ton stood out in white beads upon their
dusty faces. 1 took a photograph %. them.
and MY heart came into my throat as they
smiled.
l have said that the women who sort the
coal earn about 30 cents a day.
Some get less. but ther, are others who
make as much as 40 cents. ana in the mines
they are paid as lish n: 10 cents.
Men miners get 20 ar 50 ccrts underground
and about so cents at tie surface.
Boys Of Il and 10 are pait. A. cents. and
children about 20 cents and upward.
All together there are 12i 600 miners In Bel
GUM. and of them all l doubt whether 10
per cent make Il dollar a LAY. @
And still the Belgian working da: aver
ages from ten to twelve hours, and the
average number Of working Gays every
year is more than 800. Low wages and lorg
hours are the rule.
WOMEN r EVERYWHERE
PAID LESS THAN MEN.
There are 10000 working People mere. and
of these nine-tenthS work ten. eleven or
more hours per. day. OF all the workers.
one-fourth make less than 40 cents per day:
o%ne-fourth from 40 to 60 cents. AID another
fourth from 20 to so cents per dem.
Women are everywhere paid less nan the
men. and about half of the :cnlale workers
make less than 80 cents a Jay. willie in the
whole country Of more than 6,0OO.6 600. half of
whom are women, only 35 women get as
much as so cents a day.
Among the best-paid women here are
those who work underground in the mines.
The work is hard and degrading.
1t unsaxes those who are thus working
away day after day in the semidarkhess,
and in time makes them animals.
In old age they are little better than the
horses and donkeys which work with them
and which stay in the mines until they die.
Some Of the horses will live from ten to
twenty years after going down under
ground. but they become perfectly blind at
the end of three years.
j have been interested in the life of the
people.
Every great mine has its dwelling houses
about 1t. a collection of little two-story
bricks built together in blocks.
Each house has five rooms. two on the
ground floor. two above and a little attic
under the roof.
The families are large. and the average
hummer OIL CuiiuESu Is SIX OT SeNtu. II
miners are miserably poor.
Nearly every one pays a rent of SO or
800 a year for his home, but only the Iew-
est save. money.
The people are great drinkers. In this
region every third house is a saloon. and
the most of the wages go for drinks.
The people drink alcohol. and the women
drink as well as the men.
Belgium spends more than eight times as
much for liquor as 1t does for schools. and
its annual drink bill is about s. per head,
or SEE per family.
/ am surprised at the number of saloons.
They are known as "estaminets," and you
see them everywhere.
There is hardly a block in the city with
out one or more. and they are scattered
along the country roads.
There are more than 200. 900 saloons in
Belgium. and it is said that one person in
every thirty of the whole population is en-
ployed in selling Intoxicating drinks.
WORKINGMEN HAVE THEIR
COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES.
Many of the workmen get drunk on Sat-
urday and lay of over Monday.
Similar conditions prevail in England,
where drunkenness il. IL anything, worse
than here.
There are a number of workingmen's as
sociations' In Belgium.
The men have their trades unions and
their cooperative societies..
There is one kind of organization. known
as 'Mutuafities." which has over $1,000
members.
There are societies for mutual help. so
formed that the members support each
other in times Of trouble, providing medical
attendance and other such things.
{ Many Of the societies are protected by
| the Government, and to some the state
| gives subsidies. increasing their funds for
| medical attendance and support in time of
sickness
: The Government now has pensions for