Evening star., 1949-12-25
Nations Host Of Gifts
Bring Good Will 10
Hungry Sha||mar
Continued From First Page.)

laSheS and cried when laid on her
back. She selected a 50-cent rag
doll instead.
One of the men checking the
children in and out knew what
had happened. Elaine's mother
had been in the night before and
had obtained a nice doll that
Elaine will find under her Christ
mas tree tomorrow. The mother
thought the second beautiful doll
should go to some other girl.
In the union hall, which is the
third room of the school, Albert
Males, financial secretary of the
United Mine Workers local and
head Of the committee on distrib-
ution, was unloading automobiles
and trucks with the aid of his
committeeman. They came from
neighboring communities, Cum
berland, Hagerstown, Kitzmiller,
Frostburg, Oakland and Accident.
And one truck rolled ip from
Montgomery County loaded with
60 cartons of canned goods and
clothing. It was the collection of
the Kensington View College
View Citizens Association. Elmer
Dwyer was at the wheel and with
him were Robert L. Edwards, pres
ident Of the association, and
William w. Rodgers, assistant
principal of Roosevelt High
School in Washington.
It is a little hard for city peo-
pie to understand how the resi-
dents of Shallmar got themselves
into such trouble without doing
the thing that seems so obvious
from a distance-moving.
The Shallmar coal mine, which
is the one reason for Shallmar's
existence. operated only IL days
this year, only about 36 days last
year.
At one time the Shallmar mine
was one of the best in the area.
It operated when other mines were
closed. The men hope it will
open again.
There are other reasons for not
moving. At Shallmar they have
a roof over their heads, some
thing they would have little ex-
pectancy of finding in their
broken condition in another
community.
Mr.. Males, his brother and his
nephew got apple-picking jobs
last summer, only because they
were lucky enough to find a place
to board near the orchards. Coal
mining is a dangerous occupa-
tion, but picking apples while
standing on a ladder scares a
miner almost to death. They
picked and picked and made as
much as $12 a day. But, of
course, the job didn't last.
: Hard To Find Jobs.
Another difficulty is the way
miners have made their jobs Sc
cure by unionization. There was
q time a mine superintendent felt
he, could pick men on sight who
would produce good tonnage. To-
day he must employ men on the
basis of seniority. and the Shall
marites who secuted the coal
fields of Maryland and West Vir-
gir1ia found that every mine had
men of their own on the waiting
list. ~
A third reason given by the
men is that due to retirement and
disqualification benefits, mines will
not hire men over As, and Shall
mar, which has been producing
since 1918, has many of these.
Howard Marshall, president of
the Wolf Den Coal Co., which op-
crates the mines on lease. was a
little reluctant to talk about it.
The truck. from Montgomery
County bore a sign, "Operation
Shallmar." That bothered him a
little, for Shallmar is Marshall
with the syllables transposed.
hcSQcCtcu ny WucTSs
While he was from New York
and had worked in the diamond
mines of Africa when he arrived
here 81 years ago, Mr.. Marshall
worked as a coal miner for years
and the men respect him. They
have nothing but good words for
him. The mine is financed
through a cousin, w. A. Marshall,
. New Yorker.
Shallmar's vein, a part of lower
Kittaning, has a stratum of rock
In the middle. 1t must be blasted
and the rock fragments make it
. low grade coal, one of high ash
residue. An investment of 500, 1000
or so in washing machinery would
improve the competitive position
Of the product.
But it is extremely doubtful
whether any such investment will
be made. The mine has always
produced for the spot market Mr..
Marshall said, and when the
market is of, all the mines of the
area have a hard time.
AS for the future of Shallmar,
the only suggestion Mr.. Marshall
had was that flood control work
on the Potomac might give the
men some work.
Mr., Males was of the opinion
that mines like Shallmar's had
not done well since the Guffey Act
which protects coal prices. Pur-
chasers prefer higher grade coal
at the same price. And the men
remembered that the mine had
been deteriorating since the tipple
burned at the end Of the boom
in the '20s.
Suspension Bridge Used.
Shallmar Is southwest of Cum
berland. The Potomac, which
forms the Maryland-Wes Vir-
ginia border; ripples by so mar
row that suspension foot bridges
have been erected. The Western
Maryland tracks are on the other
side of the river and most of its