Evening star., 1916-05-12

streams. thrifty villages Beneath them
all are tier after tier of mining opera
tions. tens of thousands of miners
working at different depths. a maze of
shafts and tunnels. of railroad systems.
of drainage operations. of artificial
ventilation-teeming ant hills of hu-
man industry that do not appear at the
surface.
Once every mile or soa huge. sheet
iron building raises it's head. 1t might
be big grain elevator ten stories
high. In reality it is breaker" Near
it is a shaft that leads deep into the
earth and from which tunnels run in
all directions at all levels on which
there is coal Up this master shaft the
coal from all levels for a mile around
Is sucked. A huge belt carries it to the
very top of the breaker There the
great chunks of black rock are
smashed into usable sizes. The coal
passes down over screens and through
chutes. in order to sift out the rock,
ciean. grade and assemble the market
able product. Twelve great railroad
systems have been built that the prod
uct or these mines might be hauled to
market
1t is remarkable community that
ma ma neen built up about these breakers.
ne descendants of the families who
.INed .ed mere as modest farmer folk before
'ne coal days have mostly grown
wealthy by selling to the mining COM
panies the right to what lies far be-
heath the surface of their lands The
tentacles of the shafts by the breakers
nave reached forth and, on dozen
leHeiS nave removed the coal. The sur
race mas been undsturbed and the orig
mai owners or their successors still
dwell quietly on their ancestral farms
But the complexion of the population
mas greatly changed from the original
m KIT of
Complexion of English n d
Population Changes. pu'1nt ~ ,r;s, fa,s, na
the welsh came into the coal fields and
worked these mines. generation ago
they began to be displaced by Hunga-
rlans. Russians, Slavs and Italians.
lhese have come and are still coming
by tens of thousands Many of the
workers here have been but a short
t1me IN America. About the mouth of
each mine are posted Safety First
signs, on which it is necessary that the
warning should be set forth in twenty
languages. The round and yIobular
dome of the Russian church is every
where to be seen. The Greek church
occupies pinnacle here and there.
There are touches of many races. The
anthracite regions are. Babels of lam
guag ges. and as cosmopolitan as Con-
stantinople
And all these peoples are prosperous
European peasant imaginings Slow
witted. cowlike Slavs are the parents
OF quick. bright American boys that
astonlsh him who attempts to under
stand the racial influences of the new
land. The sons of Polish miners are
the practlcing attorneys in the courts
of Scranton and Wilkes Barre. There is
plenty in all the miners homes and the
public schools remove the hyphens.
There is not "A better kept commu-
nifty IN the nation than is the anthracite
region. There is peculiar condition
existing here with relation to such
matters as the maintenance of the
public roads. The coal companies ac-
cording to the returns of the assessor,
pay 80 per cent of the taxes. They
would, therefore. under the ordinary
method. contribute 80 per cent toward
the building of the roads if they were
constructed by the counties This
money would be expended through
method has been shown not to be the
most economical or effective
The coal companies have. therefore,
volunteered to assume fun responsible
ity for road construction. There are no
road taxes and the companies have as
sumed this burden. They find il cheap
er. The roads are constructed along
best proven, scientific lines and main
tanned on the same basis They are
mostly paved with brick. even those in
the country. They are kept in perfect