The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-12

mines. This is D. m., and miners all leave then. Sometimes there are three shots prepared, but all are fired at p. m. Last shots fired at p. m. I generally start down at a. m. and 1t takes me an hour to walk to face of coal and quit at in the afternoon. No regular hours. l quit when choose. I work with buddy. We load ourselves. No laborers are al- lowed in Pratt mines.
 There would be a kick if the operators tried to sub-contract any part of the work. Year in and year out the opportunities for work at Pratt are very steady.
 Large Family.
 I have eleven children, seven at home and four away. beside my wife.
 The second day of the month is known as check day or trading day and more men lay off on that day than any other day. I made most of my money by invest ment. Only one of my boys ever worked in the mines. One of my boys graduated at Auburn He is a surveyor.
 It is a contention of the miners that all men engaged In the same room should share and receive equal amounts for the coal mined there alike. I have not tried to work steadily for the last year; that is what I meant when I said I did not work so hard as formerly. I work fewer days. The companies keep a surplus of men, so that each man will make less and be forced to deal in the commssary never believed the men were kept to insure a full output. They dhe companies) can all ways get all the coal they can hoist. With us the rope stops running at 4:30 All shots are fired at and then the men quit.
 The Year 1897.
 In 1897 when iron was selling at $6 per ton MT. Baxter. president of the Tennes- see company. visited every mine in the district and asked the men to grant q voluntary reduction of cents. He said they had 100000 tons of iron on their yards and would be ruined unless miners would take less. At that time the Ten nessee company had a system of sub- contracting in the Pratt mines. The men at the Pratt mines on May To- 1S97 two months before the expiration of the con- tract for that year. agreed that if the Tennessee company did away with the sub-contract system and the laborers in the mines then they would voluntarily take 21s cents less. This led to the adop- tion of this rule in all the Alabama mines.
 Check day is the second day of the month. Mines are run on that day. Many of the miners are not thrifty, and are looking for a chance to stay out of mines. I don't know that surplus of men is necessitated by men laying off
 I was a member of the wage scale com mittee in 1897, and we were willing to make reduction because we believed that the company could not afford to pay 40 cents ton with iron selling then at the price of s6. The minimum was based on the No. l furnace iron at $. 90 per ton or less. When that 37ih cents minimum con- tract was in existence there was no max imum.
 MT. Fairley reads the contract of May [ 1S97-No. 1 foundry iron to be used as a base; $7.5O to be a minimum on which coal shall be mined for BYE cents, advanc- ing to 50 cents when No l reaches BIO, and increase 21k cents for each dollar increase in price of iron
 MT. Powell reoumes-That contract is based on No. 1 foundry which l under stood was the best grade at that time. Now contract price is based on all grades except silver gray and one other grade. If at that time the average of the grades had been taken 1t would have made difference in scale.
 Negro Labor.
 It is a fact that colored labor did get a preference. But I don't see much of this now.
 MT. Flynn makes a statement-At Pratt the miners are about equal as to race. We get at this through our hospital cen- sus.
 Mir. Powell resumes: Negroes make more money digging coal than at any other employment around here.
 It is well known that at the Tennes- see company's Blue Creek mines for more than ten years there were only colored men employed at Johns and Sumpter, and no white man could be employed. The Tennessee company has always insisted on having colored men. They were first put in by the De Bardeleben company. The strike of 1890 lasted six weeks, and in 1894 it lasted for four months.
 The miners fire last shots and quit at 4. but drivers and chalmers keep going un- til 4:30.
 Drivers have to work for half an hour after miners and company men quit in order to get ready for next days work. Miners always have full cars in the rooms for drivers.
 The Driver.
 In answer to Judge Gray, Powell said A l. L.. 14