Evening star., 1944-02-20
Mine Warriors
British Youth Drafted
For Coal Pits
By Barbara Wace.

America, there haze been labor
troubles. There has beef, man.
po,Der shortage, too. While
America has been talking OF a
labor draft, Britain had her labor
registration long ago. Workers
have been assigned to jobs
throughout the country. No1O
the drattees, 1S-year-old boys er-
pectant not long ago OF induc-
tion into the armed services. are
being assigned to the mines.
They are providing Britons ,Dith
some food for thought and are
doing some thinking themselves.
To get the tollo,Uing story about
it, girl reporter for the Asso-
ciated Press Went doiDn into
the ptts.)
COAL TOWN IN ENGLAND
A tall, fine-looking miner leaned
across the table in the canteen at a
Durham colliery.
ITS the best thing that's hap
pened for years-for the miners, I
mean," he said, glancing at group
of newly arrived boy trainees,
drafted to work in the mines under
the Ministry of Labor. They'll 60
back to their homes all over Eng
land and people will understand
what it means to be miner"
Already British newspapers are
full of stories Of inadequate pay for
trainees-inevitably bringing out the
fact that miners sons. working in
the pits since the age of IA, get no
more. 1t looks as II the miners
theory is working already, and Min
istry of Labor officials themselves
see this focusing of public attention
as one of the schemes benefits.
Apart from the financial disap-
pointment-the l8-year- -olds discov-
er that after paying rent, fares,
meals and bath money" they
haven't enough over to buy Gig
arettes-the reactions of these boys
wasn't always what had been ex-
pected.
Many Disappointments.
1t wasn't going down for the first
time in the dark cage which seemed
the worst to these clerks. shoe
makers, milk roundsmen, butcher
boys, gardeners, drivers, copy boys
and hairdressers.
And it wasn't the first morning
underground, faces blackened, backs
aching, nor, except in a few cases,
was it resentment at being the first
men in British history to be COM
PEELED into the mines.
1t WAS the first shock or realizing,
homesick already, that in this dingy
mining country life was often drab
and colorless in the towns as we'll as
undergroul and that the billets,
poverty-stricken by their home
standards. were the best the town
could offer. 1t was humiliation at
being called the ''Bevin boys" after
the Minister of Labor, and the dis
appointment OF many who had
passed examinations for the armed
services and then been sent to the
mines instead.
We went down into the mine
Its funny, isn't it, coming down
isn't so bad as I thought said a
slight. blond boy with strong glasses,
who. until the week before, had been
a shipping clerk Its almost anti
climax when you get here to find
there are lights and you can
stand up"
Resigned to Job.
A dark, tall lad came up to us.
He'd been practicing moving the
tube" tracks) and his face was
streaked. A hairdresser's assistant.
here in the pits he was trying to take
an interest, but the old miner ex-
planning the workings was almost
unintelligible to the London boys,
with his thick Durham accent and
the jargon Of the pit.
II suppose it'll be all right. but it
wasn't what I thought Id do" The
boy laughed bitterly
Il thought I was going into the
navy. All my family have been
sailors for years back. But sup
pose it can't be helped"
The trainees. grouped together.
were eyed rather skeptically by the
old hands. You can't mistake a
trainee. for he never takes off his
safety helmet-which, with his steel
reinforced boots, is the nearest he'll
get to uniform, drafted soldier
though he is. The old miners often
cannot be persuaded to wear them
even in the pit.
"Ach. they'll learn" said an old
man, 40 years in the pit, tolerantly.
Give them year and they'll learn
pit sense"
But many mine managers are
skeptical. They'll help the scheme
all they can-but they don't think it
will up production much.
Give me back some of my old
miners in the forces, and they'll get
more coal for me than all these
boys said one of them. You've
got to be brought up to coal mining" !"
A House Full.
Mrs. Foster. our landlady. is
awfully kind She does all she can
for us. But she's got 19 in the house,
you know-f1ve kids, including a g.
mopth-old baby! six of us, four regu-
lar boarders, some theatrical gentle
men," young ex-copy writer told
me. We've not got sheets. and it's
pretty dingy, but it's not her fault"
I saw Mrs. Foster-tired, over
worked, never catching up. She was
kind. But the house was nothing
like the snug, comfortable suburban
homes which many of the trainees
had left.
None Of the boys here struck for
more money, though in others they
threatened to do so. There was dis
content; out of these so, only 3
could not take it, Everything was
against them, their upbringing, their
more comfortable homes, their
youthful resentment at being forced
to work underground while their
brothers and friends, though drafted
into the services and in danger, have
a chance to win medals. to see
foreign countries, to be heroes. But