davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

chevrons, denoting exclusively at
home service-the public will be
proud to acclaim it. Under the guid
ance of Captain A. B. Cox, the Of
ficer in charge, this bureau has &C
complished the following "bie
things:
l. Provided all the long gshoromen,
dock hands and laborers REQUIRED
for the movement Of army supplies
and troops during the war. Eighty
thousand such applications have
been passed on.
.. Employed stewards, coal pass
crs, deck hands and machinists need
ed on army transports. More than
- 500 have been handled
5. Administered all the insurance
required IN the employment of these
men and paid promptly and efficient
~ all claims.
j. Has been so discerning and
cautious in its operations that de-
spite the thousands OF workers as
signed who were heretofore uN-
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
Saring Money on ON Army job

known to the bureau not one overt
act has rcsulted-not an explosion
or outrage of any sort during the
entire period of the war
The amount of money saved can
not be figured to the dollar, because
of the huctuating scale adopted by
the shipmasters and other agents
VINO formerly supplied workers to
the government, at an average cost
of $40 man, but it is certain that
it has totaled nearly S1,000,000 in
the employing department Of the
bureau alone.
Insurance premiums paid on the
policies held for the workers for
merly amounted to considerably
more than $1,000,000 a year. All
this money is saved by the insur-
ance and compensation department,
under the direction of Captain AL
bert NJ Petite, a veteran officer who
has proved himself as adept in his
new calling as he was in the nu-
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

the pure air Of the country and sur
rounded by lovely vistas just beyond
the ramshackle back fence. And the
miners take advantage of the coun-
try. In every house is a shotgun or
rife, or, maybe, both. The strike
order came into effect on November
l; the hunting season opened the
same day. The operators had to
wait until Monday to know whether
the men had gone hunting or strik-
ing.
There's no deadly grind for the
miners proper. They work when
they feel ike it. They measure their
work by their output and their neces-
sities rather than by the number of
hours. The eight-hour day is only a
kind Of maximum that thew mostly
ignore. One miner will get out a
hundred tons OF coal in five DAYS
and another won't get out eighty in
SIX days. The superior workman
feels that he has earned a day off
whenever he feels like it. Or, if he
mas cleaned up the pile Of coal that
'he cutters and the shooters threw
down for him at a certain face, he
PICKS up his kit and trudges to the
shatt, even if he has worked only
hve or six hours.
BESIDES, the world is very delight
fui above, there are squirrels in the
woods and rabbits In the bushes
ana there isn't much life and ioy in
an underground hole that may be
only three feet high. Also, it's
lonely. In most mine work the
worker tolls alone in his room in the
coal seam with none but the feeble
hight of his head lamp, which, by the
way, Is nowadays likely to be ar
electric light fed from small
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

storage battery strapped 10 his
waist.
The mine is dark and IN tan
seams very cramped and sometime,
it is damp, but there is no rain 81
summer or snow in winter to bolaen
1t is neither very cold IN winter nor
very warm IN summer. Powerlc
ventilating fans and systems l-et
the air pure, and the roar OF passin-
trains Of "vagons,7 as the L.i.
trans that haul the coal away =
the hosting shaft are called, r.
minds him that he is always IL. toocf
with the outer world.
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

its tall stacks. The tipple is the
slanting structure that stands over
the hosting shaft or at the entrance
Of the drift, into which the coal is
hoisted or trammed and within
which is housed the machinery that
dumps the skips and conveys the
coal to the cars waiting underneath
1t is the shipping shed Of the mine,
1t and the powerhouses are about
all that is visible Of coal mine.
The works" are below the surface.
Even the largest mines are dis
appointingly not in evidence by sur
face activities and structures. Not
far from the tipple will be the COM
pany store and then near by are
rows and rows of houses built on the
same, usually ugly, plan and usually
painted the same dreary maroon or
dirty gray.
Until recent years all the houses
in a mining village were exactly
like each other III their ugliness.
and also ike those of every other
village They are -- these elder
monstrosities - two-family houses,
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
A Shock

Coal is associated with the man
ufacturing industries, and one nat
urally thinks of the coal miner as a
dweller in congested communities
"a man who passes his days in sub
terranean darkness and gloom and
his nights in crowded tenement
slums. SO it is with something of
a shock OF the incongruous when,
motoring along a pleasant country
road, you suddenly meet q throng
of black faced men with miners
lamp-caps. Almost before you
realize it turn Of the road
plunges you into coal mining
community set down in the midst
of farms.
For the most part these mining
villages are as architecturally hide
Gus as the grimy workers are un-
lovely. In the country, they are dis
tnctly not Of it. All around rise the
curved hills with their great sweeps
OF field and pasture, their groves aud
orchards and their nesting farm
houses. Beyond, in this foothin
country of western PENNSYLVANIA.
ascend the blue ridges of the distant
mountains. Below are the smoking
stacks of the mine powerhouse and
above are herds of cattle. 1t is but
step across a road from the hud-
died dwellings Of the mine workers
to the wide spaces of the fields. Hid
den in gulches and valleys, the min
ing villages do not greatly affect the
general rural aspect, but the
streams, running yellow with the
sulphur water pumped from the
mines and lacking all aquatic life,
tell the tale of mans marring ac-
tivities.
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
By Theodore NJ. Knappen
Pittsburgh, Nop. 6.

Pittsburgh, Nop. 6.
~OAL MINING is a rural
rather than an urban in
~ dustry, and the miners are
to be considered as villagers
rather than as cts. There are some
large cities whose population is
largely made up Of coal miners
such as Springfield, H., and Scran-
ton, Pa, but the major part of the
coal miners of America live III small
towns and village ges-hundreds of
them having virtually no population
outside the miners and their fam-
les. These village groups of people
with the same industrial and livel-
hood interest have made orsaniza-
ton of the miners into unions com
paratively easy For the same rea-
son they require less leadership ard
direction in carrying on q strike
than if they were dispersed in @
large and diverse population
Coal is found in almost every sort
of Typographical environment that
the continent offers. You viii find
miners working in the pinnacled
mountains Of Washington and Brit
ish Columbia on the very verge OF
the snow line, and you will find them
burrowing underground in thc level
prairies OF Kansas and Oklahoma,
the rolling hills Of Iowa, the fat
lands of Illinois and Ohio and in all
the reaches OF the Appalachian
monntain system southwestward of
New Yor'..
In al the agricultural regions
where coal abounGs the farmer and
the miner live side by side, and
work the one above the other The
enc extracts from the depths of the
earth the converted vegetation Of
geologic ages near to the birth of
the world, while the other grows
on its surface the economic vege-
tation of the human age
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

to SIS prices for this years styles.
"Why, / haven't sold a ready
made suit to miner this year for
less than $50. They have made up
their minds that no good suit sells
for less than that price, and that is
all there is to it."
The sales records showed that the
women were buying georgette waists
at SO to SIS each and the late t
ideas i'll suits AS for the miners
table, nothing goes but the best cuts
OF meat from scrupulously sanitary
cooling rooms and the front rank Of
every seasonahle vegetable and fruit.
including some that are not season
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
NHERE is surcease and balm
for the oYertaxed citizen in
H. these hectic days of billion


dollar governmental budgets
and departmental squandering Of
public funds to know that there is at
least one branch of the United
States service that not only is pay
ing its own way, but which to date
has earned hundreds Of thousands of
dollars for the Administration S
Golfers.
Peculiarly enough, this thrifty
group of governmental workers is
a cog in the army machine, the or
ganization which has been roasted
to brown turn because Of it's
wastefulness during the war. 1t is
the Labor Employment Branch of
the United States Army, with head
quarters at Sd Dey Street, and when
it's service record is written-though
it may be garnished with silver
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
The Tipple

The pine. of course, is the center
of the village. 1t may be a shaft
mine or drift, that is, a tunnel
mine; but in either case the chief
object that marks it's presence is the
tipple. If the mine is operated by
electricity. as many are these days,
there may not be a powerhouse
helching black clouds of smoke from
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

with the front and back yards and
porches divided precisely in the
middle by fences and partitions.
They have two stories and generally
have four or five rooms on each
side. The only attractive thing
about them is the rent, which ranges
from SIS to $r2 month. should
say that that is the only attractive
feature as they were originally built,
FOR most of them nova DAYS have
flower gardens in front and vege-
table gardens behind, and even a
patch of lawn.
In all the older villages the bunk
house and the boarding house are
gone. lerhaps because they are
so near 10 roomy nature, the for
eigners who constitute the bulk Of
the coal miners in these parts have
adopted higher standards of living
much more rapidly than their breth-
rem of the steel mills. A bachelor
has hard time of it to find quar-
ters, and the housewife thinks her
self quite above taking boarders.
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

able. Mrs. Miner demands fresh
lettuce the year around and is an
eager buyer Of the advance guard Of
each fruit or vegetable as the sea
sons roll around.
This is not proAigacy, either, oh,
you white-collared city dweller.
These miners can afford to pamper
their tastes and appetites. With my
own eyes l saw pay rolls that con-
tanned items of $400 a month for ma
chine coal cutters aud any number of
"loaders" who had from $50 to $50
a week set down opposite their
names-and not man on the list,
even the most humble common
laborer, drawing less than $505 for
an eight-hour day. And rent not
more than S12 q month, and cheap
coal, and company store that knows
not of profiteeringl
Pure Air
The houses may be ugly, but they
are cheap, and they are swept by
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
Finding a Boarding.House

A mine superlnten endent in vii
lage near Pittsburgh, having en-
gagged two likely new men the other
day, assured them that he would
find them a boarding place, so, tax
ing them in tow, he called on GER
tain Mrs. Miner, who was not en-
numbered with a numerous prog
eny. In his best manner he asked
her if she would consider taking
on the two men.
Does your wife take boarders?"
she countered, and changed the sub
ject to the weather.
ooh, they're coming fast" said
this superintendent, talking about
his people. eve don't seem to need
much Americanization assistance
hcre-at least so far as ambition is
concerned. These people are thrifty,
but they live to live. They earn
and provide we'll. No SOW
belly and old country soup for them,
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
On the Surface

Nhlie underground conditions aft
improving from year to year, I'll
surface environment also is gettin,
better. The new mining towns "a
not ugly monotones. The two-stor9
eyesores in maroon and gray are
giving way to cheerful one-famlis
bungalows, the muddy lanes to trim
ly concreted streets, the ragge
front yards to smooth lawns. Bat;
tubs are being more freely intrn
duced, now that the foreigners als
beginning to use them legitimate;
instead of as storage chests for GO.
or the family baking, and the bet.
managed mines are putting in ann
shower bath and locker eouir.es
at the m'nes, so that your $4,000
a-year worker can look the part
he goes 70 and returns from ba
work, and not, as now, like III
capped burnt-cork actor-especiain
when he is riding in his own au+a
After all, it may be that the il.
tolerable conditions that Mr.. Lev
complains of are only the iilusioa
aroused by too much prosper
That's what the mine superinter
ent thought when his men notih
him that they would quit if he d
not add garages to their Sl2-a
month houses. But he added them
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

shoes of the product of 1916 that
he has been unable to sell because
the workers demanded the best and
associated it with the prevailing $40
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
Reduced Hazards

To be sure, there are hazards pe
culiar to mining, but they have bee
greatly reduced in recent years br
law and by preventive researcl.
Modern system and machinery have
taken much of the hard toll out Ct
the mines. The face of the coal
cut into by q sort OF cutting naohiue
electrically operated, the powder
holes are punched or drilled wita
other machines, and the miner
has only to shovel up the coal that
is thrown down for him by tha
blasts, shore up his working place
and smooth off the ceiling Of the
chamber. Even the sad old mine
mule is getting his freedom, and
electric trolleys pull the wagons
through the drift entries.
So, after seeing all this-from PIT
to store and RESIDENCE asked p
non-union miner what the strike Wa
about. As he had worked only sig
hours that day, he couldn't make
out the six-hour demand, and as ha
didn't work more than five days g
week unless he felt like It h
couldn't fathom the fve-day deman5
About all he could make out Of 8,
was that the strikers wanted ~
work still less and make still more.
Of course, it must be remembered.
in all fairness, that these western
Pennsylvania mines and miners aI6
about the most happily situated in
the country. When they can get q
full car supply from the railroad
they can run every working day 3r
the year, including the formidable
list Of church holidays, and the
men know little Of the feast-and
famine alterations that character
ize some mining districts. In those
districts the miners explain thas
their five-day week and six hours 4
day is nothing more than an eaors
to stabilize production in an sffor'
to force u uniform demand. Real
ly, they say, take it the yea.
through, they don't work even thai
much now. Viewed in that light
they are striking for more work il.
stead of less, but in any event to
a higher rate of pay
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

able conditions President Lewis O
the mine workers talks about?
asked the storekeeper as he pulle
down heaps Of excellent S. and $
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

with a bit of meat once u week.
Come over here to the company
store and take look around"
Does this look like the intoler-
New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
Pure Air

The houses may be ugly, but they
are cheap, and they are swept by
Alma record., 1919-01-30
LETTER FROM THE
STATE CAPITOL
FEDERAL AMENDMENT AGAIN
RATIFIED eY MICHIGAN LEGis
lATURE.
BUDGET COMMISSION REPORTS
Bills Galore Are Being introduced In
Both Houses, First Four Weeks
Brings Nearly $50.
BUDGET COMMISSION REPORTS
BY William Lee Calnon.

Lansing, Mich
The legislature, after fussing around
Tor week over an error in its resolu.
ton OF January 2 ratifying national
prohibition. has had To ratify al lover
again in order to have Michigan listed
down in Washington as in favor of il.
An effort by Rep. Lewis to have a
resolution instructing the clerk OF the
house and the secretary OF the senate
TO correct the language of the original
resolution. fell down in the house. The
members felt miffed over the first
error and wanted 10 be sure that il
was not being steered wrongly sec.
ond time.
An opinion therefore was sought
from the attorney generals office and
Deputy Attorney General Doherty in
formed the members that I'm his opln.
ion the original ratification was
nullity, the exact amendment sub
mitted by congress not having beeA
passed The only logical thing to do.
he held. was TO forget the first vote
and do II all over His advice was
accepted The vote was unchanged
from that OF January ?. except that
about twenty house members were
away on visits TO state institutions
Among them was Rep Daprato. one
OF the three no" voters OF the legis
lature The other two noes. Rep.
Fred J. White. OF Detroit, and Rep
John Holland, OF Gogebic. stuck 10
their old vote
The net result OF the bobble over
the original resolution is that Micht
gan loses It's rank "a the sixteenth
state TO ratify and lands somewhere
along about fortieth in the list OF
states.
Alma record., 1919-01-30
LIEUTENANT WRITES
Continued from page one)

Continued from page one)
rumored now that We may leave the
last Of next month. ] surely hope
il is true.
Glad to hear that the boys there
came out alright. A mans chance
of getting bumped off the line were
certainly good and "A man who came
out was lucky. At the finish / had
five men left in my platoon who had
come from Camp Upton with the
company. Some have returned from
the hospitals by now though. so there
are more AT this time. ! only had
seven killed but great many were
seriously wounded. How many
Boches we accounted for do not
know but ! do know that the day
you celebrated over there we had
about 20 out in an open field where
they couldn't get cover. We just
happened to get them in trap. |
got two with rifle and took two
prisoners while the two machine
guns ] had there accounted for lot
more. ] am still carrying a watch
collected off from one Of the men. Ii
comes in handy as ] have lost my
other one
saw Ed. Johnston, the boy who
graduated from Alma college last
year, in Nice He is lieutneant in
the 305th +. A, and in this division.
! also ran across Koepfgen, an old
man there. He has been flying at
the front since last March Andre,
a boy from Ithaca, is also lieuten-
ant in this battalion. He was one of
the first men TO go into st. Juvin and
help collect $50 prisoners out of the
town. 1t so happens that there only
two Michigan in this battalion, and
also the only ones who have been
recommended for the ID. S. c. They
are Andre and myself This division
is one of the average and has been
advertised a great deal. The Lost
Battalion gave us more than any
thing else, and of course, being from
New York has helped along But
over here the 32nd is one of the real
fighting divisions. OF course every
one boosts his own outfit and there
will be some wild stories told when
We return home
II is getting late now and a candle
doesn't help ones eyes. Besides
have censored an even lOl letters
from the company. The Free
Presses were fine and I hope 10 get
more mail soon.
With love,
Floyd.
Lieut.. Floyd Smith.
305th VI G.. Bn., nth y. Y. Div. |
Alma record., 1919-01-30

where we were biIeted for seven
days. On October We went into
action on the Verdun front, on the
eastern bank of the Meuse river,
just south of the Argonne forest.
Here is where we saw French cities
leveled to the ground and where the
29th saw three weeks of the hardest
and bloodiest fighting on one Of the
most, if not the most, stubbornly
contested fronts Of the entire war.
- | saw $50 Allied planes bom-
bard a machine gun nest in the Ar
gonne forest which had stopped the
Allied advance for time. also
saw German, flying in French
plane, bring down in flames, two
Allied observation balloons, and
many other air battles. which result
ed in the bringing down Of both
Allied and enemy planes.
Leaving this front October 29. we
went in truck convoy to our rest
camp at Robert Espagne, where we
were on November IL when the
signing Of the armistice took place
We were at this time booked to go
to the Metz front, and received the
glad news with a loud hurrah and
big celebration.
Your brother,
Pvte. Olin G.. Ferris.
Alma record., 1919-01-30

Two big state commissions have
made their reports TO the legislature
and submitted bills based on their
findings. One Is from the budget com
mission and the other from the com
pensation law commission
The latter recommends increasing
weekly compensation from the SO
and 81 maximum and minimum TO Sl4
and 81; increasing the percentage oil
compensation from 90 TO So per cent
OF the weekly wage: extending med
ical attention 10 three months. reduc
ing the waiting period. for compensa-
tion TO start. TO the eighth day: In
creasing total disability maximum
from $4,000 to $1,000. TO be paid in
900 weeks. ss now, and allowing he
state accident board In its discretion.
TO extend payments in partial dis
ability cases beyond 300 weeks.
The budget commission recon.
mends standardizing salaries and
wages paid by the state II shows
that some OF the most important OF
the states responsibilities are in the
hands of men Yho are only paid $4,000
to S2.s00 a year. and that justices OF
the supreme court are paid still on
basis fixed in 1893. getting less than
many circuit judges In the state are
paid.
The states expenses for food. cloth
ing and coal at state institutions are
due 20 fall Al less ten per cent In 1919
and twenty per cent In 1920 on food
and clothing, and from twenty to thir.
ty-flve per cent on coal. owing to the
end OF the war, II is stated. and these
reductions were taken into account in
estimating expense for the coming two
years.
Highway development is especially
urged by the commission. which made
liberal allowance for this In its esti
mates owing TO the wide demand for
good roads. A uniform accounting
system Ia absolutely necessary TO
successful budget system, the report
declares
Alma record., 1919-01-30
WAR SAVINGS
Campaign This Year Will Go Into
Schools of the Country

In the reorganization Of the W. $.
S., which is now a part of the Gov
ernment Loan and Savings organiza-
ton, extensive plans are being worked
out in the Seventh Federal Reserve
District for the purpose of carrying on
a great savings campaign this year.
DR.. Shailer Matthews secretary Of the
w S. S. for Illinois, has been selected
as chairman of committee to outline
the work for the educational institu-
tons of the district, which comprises
the states of Illinois, Michigan, Indi-
ana, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Plans contemplate Penny Savings
in the schools. Pupils will be encour-
aged in a spirit Of competition to save
their pennies usually spent for candy
and other frivolities and put these
penny savings into Thrift stamps The
War Savings societies in the schools
as well as in the manufacturing plants
and business concerns will be utilized
on more extensive scale 10 stimulate
saving. There are 500 War Savings
societies in the schools of Cook coun-
ty. Illinois, with a membership OF
22s,000. In the plants and business
concerns there are 1850 Societies. with
membership of l74,50O. According
to W. A. Brownlee, who has charge
of the War Savings societies, there is
the keenest rivalry among there soci.
eties, both in the schools and business
concerns, and it is planned to throw
out incentives in the form of Honor
Flags or other inducements 10 compe.
tition in getting the biggest member.
ship.
Saving as the road to success will
be the keynote Of the 1919 campaign
wherever the Community or State
Food Administrations have gone out
of business, their work Of preaching
general conservation Of money, labor
and material. especially as it applies
TO the household, will be assumed
by the w. S. s. Banks, Postoffices anC
other public institutions will be listeC
TO boom the sale Of the stamps. Tn,
people at large will be through tn,
schools and the post offices. Banks
and schools each month will be sup
piled with hanging cards showing tn,
new monthly price of the stamps.
State Superintendents Of Public In
struction will be linked with the gen
eral savings campaign, carrying tn,
big message to the schools of the en-
tire Seventh District.