is a small mountain stream. Open gutters exclusively are used for the conveyance of sewage. The excrement from the dry closets is washed by every hard rain and by the melting snows into gullies which often empty into the street gutters. Refuse from the kitchens is thrown from the side porches upon the ground, and from there it is conveyed to the gutters. In many instances troughs are erected to facilitate the conveyance of kitchen and household refuse to the ground, and from there it is carried in ditches into the street gutters. Thus the street gutters are nothing more than open sewage channels, which empty into and pollute the nearest running water. In the summer season noisome odors arise from these channels, and the general sanitary conditions of the location are impaired by such a system of sewage disposal. THE COMPANY-STORE SYSTEM. The company stores, while not under the direct management of the officials of the company, are closely connected with it. A main store and one branch store are located in the urban center, and a branch store is near each of the following mine locations: A, B, C, E, G, and J. Upon accepting work with the company each man is given a pass. book to the company stores and is required to sign an agreement to permit deductions to be made from his biweekly wages to cover the amount of purchases made during the period, which are credited to the stores by the mining company. The following tables, showing deductions for the year 1908, together with the amount of deductions by principal items for each of 25 American, Slovak, Magyar, and Polish families in Community A, indicate for these representative races in the community the relation between their earnings and the deductions made for rent, smithing, hospital, store, and miscellaneous items. TABLE 261.-Deductions from earnings of employees of the mining company in Community A, August, 1908. TABLE 262.-Earnings and deductions from earnings of families representative of races employed-Continued. Dealing at the company stores is not absolutely compulsory upon employees, but a good customer of the stores is less likely to be discharged should occasion arise than is one who deals at other places. In the mine locations, there are no stores except those controlled by the company, and unless the inhabitants go into the urban center and subcommunities they have no recourse. The prices at the company stores are higher than at other places, but the goods carried are of a superior quality. Inhabitants of the urban center in many instances prefer to deal at the main store of the company, whether they are employees or not, owing to the fact that a better grade of goods may be had. Persons dealing with the company stores who are not employees of the mining company receive a lower price on their purchases than is given to employees. The reasons for this apparent discrimination against its employees by the mining company are: First, that persons other than employees pay cash for all purchases, and, second, that payments on account of employees have to be held out of wages and formally transferred from the books of the mining company to those of the stores. RELATIONS AMONG THE RACES. At work the races are not segregated, the men working in gangs being about equally apportioned among the several races. Officials of the company believe that when no one race preponderates in a gang the efficiency of the group is maintained, and that if any one race makes up a group, or greatly outnumbers all other races in it, the output is lessened, and clannishness and discontent are fostered. In housing, boarding, and sleeping places, the different races are segregated. Magyars, for instance, will not live in the same house with Slovaks or Poles, but remain apart. This clannishness is carried to such an extent that it is seldom that families of different races will occupy the same double house. Among persons of the second generation, association, though slight, is more free than among the immigrants. This is due, in part at least, to the effect of the public-school system. The native Americans associate only to a limited extent with the immigrants from southern Europe, while association among the native Americans, Irish, English, Germans, Welsh, and Swedes is very free. HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL SERVICE. Practically no welfare work or gratuitous service is undertaken by the mining company, and an attitude of indifference is maintained by them in this respect. Medical service is furnished by the company at a charge of 50 cents a month. This payment is compulsory, being deducted from the wages of each employee. The company has erected a large and modern hospital in which injured employees are cared for. The hospital service is about the only instance of welfare work in the community. The monthly deduction of 50 cents entitles an employee to unlimited treatment and medical attention in the hospital when sick or injured. Should an employee, while an inmate of the institution, desire the services of a physician not connected therewith, such physician has free access to the hospital, but must be paid by the individual. The company appoints a resident physician to take charge of the hospital for a period of six months, his salary being paid out of the sum deducted from the wages of the employees each month. At the end of this time another is appointed for a like period, or the same one reappointed. An efficient corps of trained nurses is maintained, and the apparatus and general equipment is thoroughly modern. |