The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-11-02
What the Miner Does
When He Is Not WORKING
Told By Times Observer

or could not. smile. draw her pap's
pay OF eighteen cents, | saw other
children and two or. three women.
None of them were smiling. They
seemed lost in their own thoughts.
I stopped and surveyed a play
ground on which there were several
pieces OF playground apparatus, in
Guiding two swings, a slide, sand
pile and a trapeze. There were no
children there.
No Autos to Dodge
In This Town.
! did not have to dodge automo-
biles. | saw none in that town.
There are about seventy-five houses
in that town. There are two flower
gardens, both pitiful pretenses.
In most OF the. houses the shades
at the front were drawn. At times
a chud, possibly two or three years
old, would life the bottom of the shade
and stare through the window at me.
At the rear of some OF the houses,
IL saw small plots under cultivation.
They were vegetable gardens. I
stopped a passing miner and asked
about the gardens.
1--WE can get a lot to eat of one
Of them places" he told me. "A gar
y,
put you out. IF you have a growing
garden, they can't put you out until
all the stun is used. That's why some
folks plant just a patch of cabbage.
It's a garden, you see"
l was invited into a house occu-
pied by Italians. There were three
rooms upstairs and three down.
Fourteen persons live there. Italians
batch" to keep down expenses,
was told. Sometimes six or eight will
occupy the same room.
On the walls, there were no pic
lures. / saw a service star in one
room, a flag OF the nations in an
other.
Two Bath Tubs
In This Community.
Coal stoves and open nreplaces fur
nish heat for the miners homes
There are few bathrooms in mining
camps There were two in this camp.
was informed, one at the home OF
the superintendent-the other at the
home of the foreman.
In some of the mining camps built
in the past few years, sanitary con-
ditions are good. This is enforced
by State laws.
1 had dinner in the home OF a
Greek. That meal consisted OF bacon,
bread, and coffee.
The furnishings in the three rooms
his family of six occupied l esti-
mated to cost not more than $3.50.
The alien miner-they are in the ma
jority-is merely camping for a tenn
porary stay in this country, so he
does not spent lavishly for furnish
inEs.
1 asked this Greek many questions
about his work, about himself and
the miners.
He plans to return to his native
land as soon as he has saved up
$4,000. The foreigner remains in this
country's mines from four to ten
years, he told me. depending on the
time required to lay aside what ever
sum they plan to take back home
This miner has been in this coun-
try two years. He has $3.50 in Lib
erty bonds paid for. He protested
against the child labor laws which
prohibit boys under sixteen years
working in the mines.
Two Sons Loaf
Get Into Trouble.
81 got two sons, one thirteen. one
fifteen" the miner told me. Neither
Of them were at home when 1 called
1 asked for them.
They loaf. They get into trouble"
the miner said. ut cost me money to
get them back home from Pittsburgh.
When they get old enough to
work, then they marry. I lose. They
don't pay me back for raising them"
Miners are essentially workers.
They know nothing but hard work.
The naturalized miners declare they
intend to follow mining all their
lives The unnaturalized miners
have as their goal the earning of
$4,000 to $4,000 that they may return
to their native lands and be able to
set themselves up in business.
The miner who objected to the
child labor law said he began work
at the age OF eight years; that when
he was fourteen he had been around
the world on a ship.
Il want strike-I want rest one
miner cried out when / stopped at
his home to pay him a visit. His
home was wretched place. II was
just place for himself, his wife, and
two little girls to live in-that was
all.
Mr.. President Wilson he saw can't