The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-11-21
STORY TOLD By MINER
REASON FOR SIX. DAY
SCHEDULE GIVEN
MORtCOAL
Under the Present Conditions
Public Is Being "Gyped,"
He Declares

/ George Banks, striking coal miner,
formerly employed by G. +. Strom-
berg company of this city. is in Fair
mont taking ia Few days vacation as
the result OF the big walkout. says
The Fairnsont Sentinel.
"The government price for soft
Z, coal at the mine is s2.70 ton," said
! Mr. Banks, "and we figure that when
coal gets up to So and so ton. the
public is getting 'gyped' and the mi,
ners are getting 'gyped' too" -
Banks told Interestingly about the
method of mining coal used lin the
southern district of Iowa. a. "a
! The coal runs like the land above
IT." he said. IF the surface is; billy,
the strata Of coal also will be filfy.
4 In the mine where l worked the coal
is found about $50 feet below the sur
face inklayers on an average of four
fleet Thick. ,a5 ,
~ paid 81, Cents Ton.
'fWe were paid ninety seven cents
a ton for mining the coal. The stone
to be picked out of 1t was dead work,
something we got no pay for. Then
we have to put up timbers to make
the place safe and lay tracks for the
ears. We don't get paid for that,
either -
Goal mines are laid out good
i deal like city. In place Of the
houses along the street we have
what is known as entries They
run back about $50 feet. Each miner
has one of these in. which to work.
/ 1.-THE whole, or rooms as we call it
i is just as high as the> coal is deep
in most cases four feet IL siE here
that we drill the holes and make
our blasts, % ~ ao... ~ - -.
i Outfit Cost $50
4 eve have to furnish the blasting
pQwder. 1t, cost 81 for a twenty five
lpound keg. We pay ten cents a stick
4 for dynamite. The fuse costs US a
cent a foot. Our outlay, for a min
els outfit is about $50 to start in
! with. We pay the company, onetand
!! a third cents on each dollar Of our
gross earnings for Sharpening sGour
4 1--WE GET seven andsS third cents
an inch in depth per running yard of
slate thirty inches wade. All the
other stone and refuse must. be pick
Ted out at our own expense 1t cost us
around $2.seaa day for powder and
4 fuse. -
ifg"For each fifteen miners they have
/ man and mule TO haul the little
dump cars to the lift. The man is
paid SIS day for eight hours work.
The mine mule is really an educated
animal He is hitched to the front
end of the dump car, and when it
comes tire for him to dodge into a
small alleyway the man driving calls
gee or how and he is into the
place in short order. 1t doesn't take
them long to get into it. Fifteen
miners will average about 100 tons of
coal day.
Not Enough Work
eve were working eight hours a
lday. That lis what the coal com
Epany wants But they want us to
/ work only when they wish, That
means about three days a weak for
\ us, or about two hours. We. wanted
a guarantee of thirty hours work; five
! DAYS h week and six hours day. { =
| but that would produce stoo much
! coal. Then they couldn't hold the
] prices up where they are now. II
all the mines in the United States
1 were worked eight hours a day and
1 six days a week. coal would come
down. There. would be no snort,
age. -
"At night when we come. out of the
mine, if the engineer pulls one long
| blast on the whistle, we know there's
no work on the morrow. II he
sounds two blasts. we fill our dinner
pals and come to work the next day.
Either way, there are no questions
asked. 1t wouldn't do any good. IL
| we asked why there was no work for
1.-THE morrow, we would probably be
/ told there was shortage of cars.
At any rate, we are only digging the
, coal-not running the mine :
Mining Is Dangerous.
| 1.-THE miners are a good deal like
soldiers going to battle. When they
step into the cage to go into the mine.
they do not know If they will ever
see daylight again. In the mine where
l worked there was 16S of u.s. and
every day some one was hurt. We
| have half an hour for noon. We eat
our lunch in the uine. and have no
| place to wash first Our mine was
quite dry. Some are. not.
Most mining towns has company
store, and here the men have. to- buy
the necessities of life paying whatev-
Ter the mine owner wants to charge.
If they don't want to pay his prices
they can walk to the next town, per-
haps close to twenty miles away.
Peddlers and n:en selling groceries
are driven away.
"At one mine worked in someone
csme along with load of apples
and they chased him away. We
were ted that if we wanted apples.
We could buy them at the company
store"
!, Instead of the ninety seven cents a,
ton. the striking miners sought $1-37.
Banks last worked in the Sheriff
Coal Conananvss mine at Sheriff,