New Britain herald., 1926-01-15
DRAB PICTURE OF
 COAL DISTRICTS
Anthracite Section Itself Hit Harder Than New England

With the extremely cold weather of the past few days New Britain people as they watch their supply of coal diminish in the bins turn to the question of future supply with some little concern. But even so New Britain and other New England towns little realize just what the strike means in that section of Pennsylvania where anthracite coal is produced.
 The inconvenience of accepting some less desirable substitute, such as thfee-quartera of ton of soft coal with & quarter of ton of an- thraclte or a mixture equivalent to this. Is probably the worst harm the strike may do New Britain since local dealers report plenty of substitutes on hand so that even a railroad tie-up will not shut off the supply for five or six weeks.
 But in the home of the anthra- |. cite miners the pinch of the strike is being felt. Strikes in that section before have been in the summer and the suIering has been cores pondingiy less, Men have not worked since the strike was called more than four. months ago. Savings have been swept away in most cases. and many men, forced to seek living elsewhere have temporarily left their homes and gone to other parts of the country,
 soup Kitchens Opened.
 Towns which never before have felt the need of such extreme relief measures have opened soup kitch- ems te feed the hungry wives and children, Smaller grocery stores have closed their doors. In other eases the book system threatens to bankrupt the large hearted merchant who gives unlimited credit when Inc knows 1t will take struggle ol years to pay the bill, With the mem. ery of the strike of 1902 still fresl in the minds of many, when hun hreds of merchants were forced ou of business because of losses sus tained hy extending unlimited credi to striking mine workers, merchant today are reluctant to repeat th' story.
 The fuel question also presents { far different problem in the minini towns. The houses are heated entire lY by coal and in the majority 0 cases all the cooking is done on cea ranges. Cord wood is an unknowI commodity and gas ranges are no nearly as universal as in other sec tions.,
 No Coal Available.
 There is coal, of course. but no available. These towns, with the ex eep;ion of q few of the arger citie have no coal dealers. During norma tines coal is purchased direct fror the mines and delivered by "coa haulers" with trucks or teams, Wh Ret d reasonable fee for their serV ices. A strike immediately shuts o the source of supply, Soft coal is nc available; the only place where it seen is on railway locomotives goin through the towns and villages.
 On the outskirts of these town ar large banks, virtually sma mountains, of refuse, coal, coz dust, rock slate and all that has bee ,iiscarded as worthless. To thes banks during a strike go man miners and heir families, wome and children. Coal is careful picked one piece at a time an placed in bags after which 1t
 hauled home in wheelbarrows.
 This work is not simple. Hammer must be carried to break the large pieces of "boney" 10 separate tf coal from the slate, The job can be be visualized by imaging some or digging with his or her hands into pile of thousands of tons of so coal, collecting bagfuls of hard coa one piece at q time. buried und' the fine particles of dirt and dus Sometimes several men will club l. eether and erect a screen similar the sand screens used by paviT contractors. The rubbish or "culn will be shoveled against this scree the larger pieces then will be car fully sorted and thus the work V be expedited. But always there is il danger that some coal company p Hceman will drive, by an orde them away. and it is no uncommt thing for men to be arrested f trcspassing on these banks.
 Maintenance Men May Quit.
 The threat to call out the mai tenance men presents no small pro lem to the anthracite fields. If tt were done firemen would leave the