Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-14
BETWEEN GREATEST GOLD

the bugle. and takes his place in a gang
of thirty, which is in charge of boss
boy, who leads them into the dining
hall for breakfast.
He eats under the electric light. sitting
at table. At the close of the meal n
bugle again sounds and the men march
out gang by gang. The roll is then
called and it is ascertained just exactly
what coolies are working. and the reason
for the absence of those who are not
again and the Chinese move off TO the
shafts and go down underground. Each
takes a nalf loaf of white bread along
for his luncheon at midday.
AS to the time the men stay i'm the
mine this depends on their skill and on
the jobs on which they are working. II
on piecework they can depart when they
have done certain amount. For in
stance. the hammer boys. who drill holes
for the blasting. supposed TO make
two feet in a day. but if they can drill
that In three or four hours they are at
liberty to return to the surface. or they
can stay and work on at the rate Of
one cent per inch for all above that.
The most ever made by any one i'm
day is IS inches, and one of the Chinese
gangs here has an average of fifty-four
inches per man. which means that they
make about 80 cents per day in addition
to their board and lodging. AS a rule
the men work on until > o'clock. when
they march back to the compound for
dlnner, thus closing the day.
The New Labor Supply.
The question as to how the loss of the
Chinese is to be repaired is discussed
everywhere in the Transvaal. At pres
ent there are in the mines about 5000
whites, $4,000 natives and in the neigh
borhood of 5OOOO Chinese. The number
of mining companies employing Chinese
is over thirty. and these companies pro-
duced in 1906 more than s50.Oo0O0o worth
Of gold. They paid out in wages and
salaries something like $25OO0.O 600. and
in addition considerable in the way OF
food supplies and other stores. Their
dividends were between 100000 and
sS.O0O0O0.
When the Chinese have gone 1t is sup
posed that their places will have been
filled by natives. There is a great preJu-
dice here against the Hindoo. and it is
hardly probable that he will be imported
AS to the native labor supply. large
part of that now in the mines is from
Portuguese East Africa. 1t was brought
here by contractors who pay the
Portuguese government s4.25 per head
and agree to give the natives good wages
and good treatment. indeed. ii is said
that before the Chinese came more than
50 per cent of the colored labor was
brought in from outside the Transvaal
On my way down the coast | met the
agent of a labor organization who had
labor lie had contracted for large
number of negroes of various tribes
whom he marched down to the port OF
Chinde and there loaded them on the
steamers Central Africa Is not thickly
populated but 1 am told here that about
10000 natives can be annually brought
from there to the Rand If the proper in
ducements are offered. AT present the
wages in that part of the world are
about 3 or cents a day, so that the
50 cents or a dollar paid i'm the mines
seems riches.
Men From Rhodesia.
Another possible source of labor is Rho
desia There are now many negroes
from Basutoland and Bechuanaland here.
During my stay in Rhodesia ] was told
that the negroes of that country make
fairly good workmen, and that if rightly
superintended they will form an eff
cient labor supply They move slowly,
but they work steadily and do not loaf
on the job like the average American
or European. The ordinary working day
is about eleven hours long, and the wages
in the mines there is/s1O per month. in
cludin. the cost of feed. On railroad
construction ordinary workmen are paid
&; a month and receive their food in
addition. The extension of the Cape I'D
Cairo railroad is being constructed with
native labor. and i am told that these
negroes can lay track almost as fast
as the best track-laying machines of the
United States when manipulated by our
white labor. During the last stretch of
the railroad which ends at Broken nll
they laid five and one-half miles i'm
eleven hours. and on the average they
laid more than mile of track per day
for something like 400 miles. In this
work the rails and steel ties were brought
along on tie cars as fast as the track was
laid. The natives took the rails from
the cars and carried them to the ties
About fifteen men were required to each
rail. and the stream of carriers went on
continuously from daylight to dark.
doubt not they could do equally well
In the mines.
FRANK G. CARPENTER