The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-04-05
BY BRUCE CATION
NEA Service Writer

w
Here in the heart of the West
Virginia soft coal field, which the
rest of the country often looks on
,as the abiding place of strife, power
ty and misery, there is a coal min
ang town
Where miners are averaging be-
tween seven and eight dollars day
for eight hours work.
Where their trim, neatly painted
homes make up as pleasant vii
lage as you would care to visit.
Where contentment is the pre-
Vailing note-among workers, wives
and children.
Where cleanliness has replaced
the traditional squalor of the min
3ng town.
Where an armed guard is never
seen.
Town Is Clean
The town and the mine which
has called it into being, are owned
and operated by Henry Ford. Else
where miners may be hungry and
idle, but here they are happy and
at work.
Twin Branch, which is the Ford
town, is tucked away in the noun
tainS in the center of Mcdowell
County, richest of all of West Vir-
ginia's bituminous coal fields. 1t
lies in a hairpin bend of Tug River,
surrounded on all sides by high,
Teavily- wooded peaks. /
Entering the town, the first thing
you notice is its cleanliness. Sena-
tor Gooding of Idaho chairman Of
the Senate's coal strike Investigate
ing committee, has called the coal
town a blotch on American civilza-
ton. But the dirt, refuse heaps,
implanted shacks and slovenly DESC
lation that provoked his remark are
not seen here
Wages High
Wages in the soft coal field are
based, in most instances, on ton
production.
At Twin Branch an average eX-
perienced loader draws SO cents a
ton and loaGs eight tons in his
eight-hour day. His pay, accord
ingly, ranges around $3.50 a day.
The ton rate elsewhere in the coal
field ranges from a minimum of 30
cents up to a customary maximum
of IS cents.
Inside day labor-the lowest
grade-at the Ford camp is paid
from so cents to SIPS an hour.
Living conditions here are as
cheap as the wages are high. The
houses rent for $3.50 per room per
month. A married man can get a
fve-room house, therefore, for
$3.50 a month. Not only is this
rate below the coal field average;
the houses are distinctly above the
average.
Miners COntented
Mine operators in this section are
inclined to sniff derisiyely at Fords
mime.
Sure, he pays seven or eight dol
lars day." they tell you in WEIGH
But his mine has only been operat-
ling two and three days a week
klately."
II I repeated this remark to miner
Pin Twin Branch. The miner stopped
1raking the topsoil over his new
&patch of lawn to answer:
'Yes-but when we only work
two days a week we make as much
money as most other miners dc
when they work full time. AND
when we work four, five or six days
Ia week-there's nothing can touch
BIT"
Mine Makes Money
And Superintendent Homan adds
~ Were starting full-time opera
tion next week"
The men in WEIGH also tell you
THAT Ford is not making money,
that his mine is being run at g
N BOSS so that he can get fuel for his
Factories in Detroit An official al
Twin Branch only grinned when
&passed that along to him.
"Of course, you'd have to get YOU
9aeXact figures from Detroit" he said
F'But I'll say this. Henry Ford ha,
b whole lot of money. And he didn
get any of it by running an!
Abranch Of his business at a loss"
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