Evening star., 1933-12-03
New Order Being Nodded


Workmen? In the settlement, of course,
there will be no opportunity Of earning
such money. About all man can ex-
pect is a comfortable, secure living for
himself and his family. He will be
able to earn about $1,000 a year in
the Government factory and, on his
wide acres, he will be able to raise
a good deal of his own food supply.
He will have the priceless boon Of in
dependence.
''Tfey tell me-" Mr.. Grimes says,
that they wouldn't go back in the
mines for SlOO day and think they
are sincere"
The men say that it really makes no
difference what the mine pay is. 1t
may sound big, but regardless of the
figure it means at the best only a
fairly comfortable living with very lit
tie independence. because of the
company system. Here they are as
sured OF everything even $40 a day
would bring them, plus their inde-
pendence.
But if one of them actually was Of
fered S100 a week, 1t is admitted, there
would be a severe strain on the fabric
of his disillusion. For there is no idea
that life in the new community will be
arcadian. There will be plenty of diff
ficulties to be surmounted with hard
work.
Bitter at "The Company"
Just at present the men are bitter at
'the company"-this being a general
term for the whole economic system
under which they have lived for the
past 10 years and not q reference to
sny particular corporation. For the
most part they are close-mouthed
lot, but anger flashes in their eyes when
one mentions the mines.
Figures don't mean anything" said
one. 1T don't make any difference
how much the company pays you. 1t
takes it all back. 1t gets you going
and coming"
II never was willing to bow down to
the company" says another. L
wouldn't live in one of their houses.
So I was the first man laid of when
work got slack two years ago and I've
been out ever since. If I'd lived in one
of their houses they'd probably have
kept me on because they could have
got back about all they were paying
me in rent"
THE company" says another, his
voice trembling with Indignation
paws a fellow for his blood and then
trims him. There have been times
during the last year when we haven
had ANYTHING to eat in the house Tor
davs and nv children have been too
hungry to go to school.
Life Above Ground Pleases.
Besides there Is the lure Of the sun
shine. These men never have been
thoroughly acclimated to life below the
earth.
Some of them have become blue
men" Their faces are covered with
bluish-green splotches, lines and hg-
ures, as if they had been tattooed'
They might pass for savage warriors
in a grcta7que war paint. This comes
from coal dust explosions an ~
common types of accidents in the mines
The fine grains Of coal become lmbeddec
under the skin
disbursement. 1t is just something g
else they check up against the haled
company"
But whether their expeTlenee OF if tne
mast few wears has taught them SUI
ficientlv what few men ever learn ano
what the worlds greatest philosophers
have preached In vain since the Degln-
ming of history remains to be seen-that
the one supreme value III life, that men
work for money only that they may
have more and richer life, and that II
this can be had without money earnings
are worthless.
The men say. at least, that they are
/ convinced OF this.
This has been a peaceful, uneventfu
! countryside-but at least three grea'
] L.,
Sometime after the Revolution. fol-
! lowing the trail mapped out by George
Washington, Col. John Fairfax came
into this mountain wilderness and made
: himself the proprietor of vast estate
| including the land which now COM
| prises the Arthur farm.
| At the height of his greatness Col
Fairfax owned 200 slaves and was lore
of the hills as far as eye could see
| There is a tiny grave plot. surrounoec
bv log fence to keep the cattle out, il
a sycamore clump on the hillside. Still
| standing erect, the inscription easily
| decipherable, is the white gravestone OF
! Col. Fairfax, who was born in 1852 anc
| died in 1843. Ann Loid, his wife, sur
! vived him until 1856. Otherwise hel
| gravestone is undecipherable because o.
| lichens And the same Is true OF Mary
wife of A. Martin, and of John Pell anc
| his wife Sarah. Somewhere into tht
Fairfax family fits little William Y
! Conley, who died in 1915 at the age o.
years, his little slab of marble testifies
| That little family group asleep on the
| hillside are all that remains of the
| grand era in the history of the Ale
ghany table lands, before the angelic
countenance Of the mountains wa!
smeared with coal smut. Around them
| in unmarked graves covering the hill
side. sleep their 200 slaves. The one
! building remaining from the Fairfa>
| era is the house Of "Old Watt" the
! head slave.
Change Took Many Forms.
The next era was that of the indie
pendent farmer, characterized by sucf
| families as the Arthurs. 1t began Il
pass with the World War when farm
ing became less and less profitable ano
the factories and mines were drawing
the young people from the countryside
Good roads were built and the farmer!
were buying automobiles. The countr!
churches, unable to stand the com
petition of the village churches, begal
to suspend services. The countr.
doctor could not survive the horse ant
| buggy era.
The big farm picnicS, church suppers
barn dances and corn huskings became
memories. They could not stand th'
competition of the moving pictur
theaters in the village. The hand
crafts began to disappear. The SAM
articles could be purchased mort
cheaply in the Morgantown stores
The coal mines we're booming. Th
miners jeered at the "rllbe farmers