Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-06

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coal miner may be learned by seeing
him at. work and seeing how he lives,
by seeing his home and his wife and
children. Reading about what he
earns is not altogether enlightening.
In a typical Kentucky coal mine the
miner earns his bread, and everything
that goes with 1t. Yet he enjoys q
sens of freedom. He may 60 where
he likes n be assured of good wages,
and the labor turnover in Kentucky
mines, large and small, large ones
especially, shows that he does 60 when
he likes. And he likes often to go.
Why so, inasmuch as he does not bet
ter himself by going? For the same
reason that a domestic servant, weary
of washing another woman's dishes,
movas on to a job no better in a vain
attempt to get away from dull routine.
bend almost double in the tunnels
which lead to the rooms in which min
ers work. The tunnels are in darkness
and it is necessary to be careful not to
touch an electric wire overhead which
runs the mine trolley cars. Miners get
used to the stopping position and grow
contemptuous of the live wire. One
strong mar grew finally to believe the
wire would not hurt him, and in a spirit
Of bravado took hold Of it. The wire
did not STAY him, but left him alive as
if to teach him a lesson. 1t visited
upon him for life the grim jest of an
unseen Titan.
Almost fabulous stories are told of
the possible, and occasionally actual,
earnings of miners when coal is high,
but the average earnings of a miner
may be learned, If anywhere, from the
ledgers of a mining corporation. The
company employees don't tell. The
miners don't know, apparently.
A man who does hard manual labor
IN an isolated room opening upon a
tunnel which runs q half mile to day
light on a mountainside ought to be
well paid. A man whose hair does not
stand on end when he removes coal
which has been left in the form of pill
lars, till the vein has been robbed, and
the mountain settle in front Of
him and close the opening that has been
made, has the admiration of anyone.
Few desire to witness that feature
of mining. Occasionally an error Of
judgment in that work, or an error as
to the stability of a slab of slate in the
roof of a room results in a three-line
report in the press that a miner was
killed, and leaves a widow and numer-
Gus children weeping in a cottage in q
coal camp.
Hazards of Mining
There are other causes of occasional |
fatalities, but the statistics of mining
do not show that the occupation is |
extremely hazardous. 1t is pointed
out that the miner is exposed to no
extremes of temperature. His work
Is done in an atmosphere not unlike
that Of Mammoth Cave, so well are
mines ventilated, and in an
.lnchanging cellar-like temperature.
After a short days work the miner
is free to enjoy life in Lynch or Jenk-
ms in such a climate as health seekers
far to enjoy. Lynch has nearly as
high an elevation as Rockbridge Alum
in Virginia, or the hotels in
co%nveniences and most of the Injuries
Of life in a first class city are provided.
The miners residence is near every
thing his wife wants in the way of
table or household supplies. Neces-
sary expense of living is not high.
The rapidity with which money is
spent by miners and their families in
welfare above that of a ma
ority of skilled laborers, including
hose engaged in occupations such as
bridge carpentry and outside painting
IN city buildings, which are as haz-
lrdous as mining. The miner who has
,ome out of the mine covered with coal
lust, caked on by perspiration. goes to
bath-house which compares favorably
With that of the Y. NJ. c. A. in Wash
nay be seen playing billiards or at
ending a picture show, attired like a
man, or idling on the street
n khaki, according to his bent. But
lis wife and his children nearly always
re well dressed, and nothing is too
,ood or too costly for the family table.
The elaborate system of welfare
in the model mining camp is, in
Iced, inspiring, but the labor turnover
indicates that it inspires the student
# industrial relationships more than {
t does the miner. He takes it all as a
of course. He seems about as I
in the less well equipped camps.
lie drifts from one to another often
With seeming aimlessness.
Some observers claim that in the
kentucky coal fields mel are more
~estless where they are best housed,
fed, and best amused. The reason
scribed is that the miners in the great
oal camps feel no sort of allegiance to
he soil, no matter how long their resi-
'liNC OF "a kAffH III "bbC u
q many of the smaller operations have
love of home which keeps them there.
Some Miners May Own Homes
Visitors are impressed especially
18th the living conditions and the ap- ,
aren't loyalty of the miners at Stearns,
timber and coal operation which has
IS administration buildings on the Gin
Southern railroad near the Ten
essee line. Here the miners are given.
nder stipulated conditions, opportunity
D acquire surface rights to land. They
lay build their cottages and own them
nd live in them in the style to which
mountaineers are accustomed. r
he result is that a great proportion of :
ne miners here are natives. Their log
abins peep from the pines in various =
Ituations so picturesque that they look :
s if they had been built for a movie :
amera to shoot" They are wholly l
ithout the conveniences which make .
miners home in a modern camp much I
Ike an apartment in Chicago or New :
ork. Wives of miners here pack \
alter from the spring" in native YER :
ocular, feed pigs in a pen, and keep d
lickens. They know the hardship of ,
labor, but seemingly they :
no desire to move, and their men :
lare their local attachment. :
In Floyd county, in the Big Sandy ,
alley, native miners predominant. 4
here are no camps in this region that !;
,uld be called show place of Ken !,
Icky coal fields. But native miners, Z
the intrusion of foreigners. a
e inclined to remain in one place. <
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