The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-06-02

Dbi VI llllOl HldLIOIl ana HIuuCd
ton. These articles are based upon
personal Investigations by Mr.. Hop
kins.
In my last article | pointed out
that the conditions under which the
miners live and the wage scale un-
der which they are employed are
fundamental factors which must be
intelligently adjusted as the first
steps in arriving at our overhead
costs and in formulating course OF
procedure leading to the ultimate So
luton of the entire coal situation.
The miners live in so-called houses
provided by the operators, contain
| ing from two to five rooms each.
| These houses are mere shacks built
of thin clapboards plastered inside,
but with no lights except kerosene
lamps, no running water, no toilet
facilities. and no heat except open
CRATES. They are built upon uneven
ground, without cellars. many of
them on piles, which makes it i'm
possible to heat them properly even
though the miners burn as much as
four tons of coal every six weeks.
The shacks are from 100 feet to one
quarter of mile distant from open
tanks erected in the middle of the
mining towns, from which all the
water must be carried in pals. They
are built on sharp declivties almost
as steep as railroad entertainments,
which are difficult to climb at any
seasonof the years and require creep
ers during the winter months. No
attempt is made to level the ground,
even though the immense piles of
slate and other refuse from the
mines could be readily dumped into
the hollows. The houses are painted
a monotonous color, unually red, with
no attempt at decoration or relief.
With few exceptions the mining
towns are without any grass. trees,
or other vegetation. There are no
sewerage arrangements. The out
side toilets, which are miserable
boxes, are however, cleaned once a
year.
The operatives have a right to
demand that these conditions be rem
edied. From the standpoint of eff !
ficiency the public has right to
make the same demand; and it would |
also be advantageous to the opera
tors themselves to establish decent, |
healthy, and attractive housing facil- |
tiles.
In considering the wage scale it |
is necessary to explain that the "day |
men" are paid by the day; the min
ers". that is the men who actually |
dig out the coal from the veins. by |
the ton; and an analysis seems to !
show that both of these methods as |
heretofore practiced are open to con-
siderable criticism both from the OPP |
orators and the miners standpoint |
The "day men" in the non-union |
mines in 1916 received slightly less |
than the union men, but by 1919 the !
increase in the cost of living and the !
demand for coal had resulted in re-
versing these figures so that the
non-union miners then received $3.50 |
per day against the union scale of
$3.50. Since then the non-union
mines have repeatedly cut wages, 50
that when the strike was called on
April l, 1922, the non-union men
were only receiving $500 whereas
the union men were still receiving /
$3.50.
But it is very misleading to deal
with this question simply on the ba
sis of IDEALLY wage. The miner has
to live 365 days a year. The mini
mum cost of living for the average
family with even comparatively de
cent surroundings is between $500
and $4,000. If the miner worked ev
cry day in the year except Sundays
at $3.50 per day he would have no
cause for complaint. But the fact
is that the mines are shut down
good part of the time, because they
work internationally, and the union
mines in series of years have not
averaged over 200 days, while the
non union mines seek to Justify their
lower wage by claiming that they
work close to 300 days, which would
produce practically the same result.
The real difficult. however, lies in
the fact that the number of days re-
fer to the number of days that the
mine is open, and not necessarily to
the number of days each miner is
Furthermore the opera
tors, even We're they willing to do so,
obviously cannot guarantee to the
miners any specified number of days
work. This situation has been ag-
gravated by the fact that during 1921
the average working days fell far
below normal averaging probably
about 125 days, or less than 81 900
per annum.
A solution of this difficulty would
seem to lie in applying the ordinary
business principle of employing
miners by the month, with the un-
derstanding that they must be given
a months notice if they are laid off.
The monthly compensation they re-
ceive, whether or not they are laid
r toll l.. %