New Britain herald., 1922-10-10
SURVEY OF MINE DISTRICT SHOWS
 MINERS FASTENING THEIR OUTPUT

comparison Of wages Is made. con tract miner, who spends years learn ing his trade and then must pass al examination by the state mine exam ming board, which is more technica than most civil service examination. receives from s7 to sl0 per day, Ou or this he must buy gunpowder. dyna' mite. oil and other supplies makinl his purchases from the company ant having them deducted from his pa, check, For the balance he goes into dark pit. anywhere from a few hun dred feet to one, two or three mile! underground where he works at tho risk of his life all day long. He is IT a dark, foul smelling place called [ breast" with his laborer or "buttie' with no light except that of an oil burning torch or miner lamp, or pos sibly a carbide light on his cap. All around him water is dropping Pos sibly stray whiff of gas goes by once in while. In the latter case, all the light he has Is small lantern covered With thick screen called a safety lamp" which helps him to avoid ser lous explosions.
 Dangerous Job
 If his job Is "robbing pillars" which is what the contract miner Greatly only a piece worker) does he is en- gagged in taking out pillars of coal left standing as supports to the roof of the breast and serving as walls be- tween the breasts. replacing them with logs or timbers.
 A slight miscaculation on this job means a fall of top" and possibly miner and his "buddie" are carried out, crushed shapeless mass. For easier work, under safer conditions, and pleasanter surroundings plaster CTS in Philadelphia are demanding and getting sl5 a day and submit to no examination whatever.
 The ordinary miner, whose job is not quite so dangerous, gets about s5 day. He, too, must buy his sup plies from the company and works all day in mechanically pumped air in dark place, damp and il-smell- Ing. He becomes so dirty during the course of days work that he is compelled to change clothes and wash N-' N ItAD III oi oAlSlut lOpIll bSlDIt entering his home. Oil soaked cloth ing, smelling of sulphur water and mildew are kept outside the house.
 He, too, is subject to the dangers of a falling top" and to the possi- billties of a gas explosion which may smash everything in sight, bringing down hundreds of tons of rock, slate and coal.
 Dangers of Mining.
 Certain features of coal mining which might help 10 put the miner in a truer light in New England are not ed when it learned that the dangers of mining are so great that a state law in Pennsylvania forbds anyone mine except workmen un- less accompanied by the state mine elected by ballot. Another law forbids miner working alone. If he finds his laborer or "buttie," is not at work, he finds another man, if he can, or goes home for the day.
 The Chalk Mark.
 Before a miner enters the breast he must look for chalk mark at the entrance. This mark is placed by the fire boss, who goes through every early and tests every breast For gas. The mark tells the miner whether or not he needs safety lamp | or whether the breast is safe 10 enter.
 After firing shot, or blast, the | miner and his laborer go home for he day. They do not enter the breast | lntil the following morning and then only after satisfying themselves the | coal, rock, slate, earth, etc., has stop ped falling
 Identified Anywhere
 It is almost an impossibility to walk the streets in an anthracite coal min ing town and meet miner who has | not at some time or other been injur- ed in the mines The unsightly blue powder marks on face and hands are marks of an anthracite coal miner. Barely day goes by but | what on the streets of all coal mining towns can be seen the gloomy, terror striking black ambulance, drawn by .wo black mules proceeding at slow pace to the nearest miners hospital, with the mangled form of somebody's husband and father.
 The Pennsylvania State Hospital for Injured Miners, at Fountain Springs, Pennsylvania has between 200 and 300 patients in its wards almost every lay, half of which can safely be said