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CHAPTER XXII.

WORKING CONDITIONS.

Wages and hours-Liability to accident or disease-Medical or hospital service— Company stores-Company houses-Methods of securing recent immigrants— Relations among the races of recent immigrants-Organized labor.

WAGES AND HOURS.

Under normal conditions the mines in the community operate five days each week. The coal is of a high grade and in constant demand. During the spring and summer of the year 1908, with the exception of one large company which is engaged in supplying coal to the transatlantic carrying trade, the mining companies, owing to the industrial depression, worked only half time, or about three days each week. Wages are paid twice a month, in cash, deductions being made from the pay roll for rent of company houses, store accounts, labor-union fees, blacksmithing, powder and oil, fuel, and car checks. With the exception of the outside and inside labor, and the executive forces which are paid so much per month, per day, or per hour, the miners, both pick and machine, are paid on a piece basis.

LIABILITY TO ACCIDENT OR DISEASE.

The sanitary conditions are good and the mines of the community well ventilated and well conducted. There seems to be no special liability to disease. Asthma, which is always prevalent among miners, is more or less common in the community, but the extent of this ailment is said to be decreasing because of improved ventilation of the mines. There were no serious accidents in the mines during the past year. Among the natives the feeling is strong that the chances of accident are greatly multiplied by the employment of the recent immigrant who is ignorant of the language and does not grasp the meaning of danger signs and regulations.

MEDICAL OR HOSPITAL SERVICE.

There is no hospital in the community and none nearer than 10 miles by rail. No hospital or medical service is furnished by the various mining companies, all such treatment being paid for by the employee. If he is too poor, the burden is placed upon the county. In some of the mines the operators summon physicians in the event of sickness or accident, but the expense is borne by the employee. Funeral expenses of miners killed while at work are paid for by some of the companies. There is no welfare work carried on by the employers. The only approach to welfare work is the action of a few of the mines in furnishing coal without charge to some of the local churches.

COMPANY STORES.

All of the mining companies maintain stores in connection with their mines, either directly or indirectly. The laws of the State prohibit mining and other companies from conducting stores, but the law is evaded, in this as well as other communities, by conducting the stores under the name of a separate corporation in which the companies or their officials are financially interested. In Community B the relatives of the owners of one mining corporation conduct a store; another mining company makes deductions from the pay rolls for the accounts of a store in which it is apparently not interested, and other companies openly acknowledge that they are operating stores. One of the largest corporations conducts a store whose monthly business averages $12,000 to $15,000. This store is located within the limits of the town itself, and other stores are easily accessible. Theoretically, the employees are not required to patronize the company stores, and neither in the town itself nor in the semidetached mining communities are there open requirements as to patronage. Within the borough proper the miners seem to buy where they please, but in the outlying communities the attitude of the miners would indicate that they consider it good policy to patronize the company stores, although no cases have been brought to light where employees have been coerced in any way into giving patronage to them. In many semidetached localities, however, it is practically necessary to buy from the company store, because other stores are located at a considerable distance. No "scrip' scrip" or checks are issued by the mining companies or the stores. Credit is given to employees and the amount of the account deducted each month from the sum to be placed in the pay envelopes. In order to obviate the technicalities of the law, the employee when purchasing goods signifies his agreement to the deduction of their value from his pay by the company.

COMPANY HOUSES.

None of the mining companies conduct quarters where board and lodging may be obtained by the men. All, however, own houses immediately surrounding or at a short distance from their mines. These houses are rented to their employees, the rents each month being deducted from the wages payable by the company to the tenant. The rents vary from $7.50 to $9 per month, according to the number of rooms, some 4-room dwellings renting for $7 and some for $8. The prevailing rates of rent are based upon a charge of $1.50 to $2 per room. Some houses are equipped with electric lights, operated from the power plant of the mining company at a rate of $1 per month. A number of the operators express themselves as being unfavorable to owning and renting the miners' houses, maintaining that they were forced into building houses by the fact that there were no facilities at hand for housing the miners needed to operate the mines. Whatever may have been the necessity which led to the erection of company houses about the mines, it is probable that they have been and still are an exceedingly profitable invest

ment. Houses which rent to two families for $16 per month ($8 each), or $192 a year, are stated to have cost when new $550 each. When it is considered that the rents are deducted from the wages and so are fairly certain, and that repairs are evidently not a frequent item, together with the fact that ownership taxes are low, it is plain that this gross income of nearly 35 per cent represents a large net return upon the money invested. The land investment was practically nothing, although the lots have a value of about $100 each at the present time. It is also true that, owing to the higher cost of building materials, the buildings could not be duplicated at present for less than $800 or $900. This does not affect, however, the high rate of return accruing to the mining companies on the basis of the original cost.

METHODS OF SECURING RECENT IMMIGRANTS.

No concerted effort has been made at any time to bring immigrants into the community, except that when there has been an urgent demand for labor the mine foremen have communicated the situation to the immigrants in their employ, with the expectation that they would send for their relatives and friends. The growth of the immigrant population has been gradual. The Italian and Slavic people first came to the locality to do railroad construction and street improvement work, and when this work was completed they applied for and gradually secured employment in the mines. Subsequent growth in the foreign population arose from the constant extension of mining operations with the resultant demand for labor. When the older mines extended their operations, they secured additional labor from the immigrant people already residing in the locality, and when new mines were opened recent immigrant labor was obtained partly from the resident population, partly from abroad, but mainly from other sections of the United States after the local supply was exhausted. It is estimated that about threefourths of the Slavic and one-half of the Italian population did not come to the community directly from abroad, but from other sections of the United States. Almost all of the original immigrants to the community were single men or married men without their families.

RELATIONS AMONG THE RACES OF RECENT IMMIGRANTS.

In the outlying districts there is a well-marked tendency among different races to live apart in groups or colonies, but a great deal of racial association is caused by the close proximity of the houses and the fact that the tenants have no final decision regarding the house which they will occupy. Within the limits of the borough proper, the Italians live in colonies. All the other races occupy one large colony in another section of the town. The Slovaks, Ruthenians, and Poles are more closely grouped than any other races in this section.

In the mines the different races are separated at their own request, because they naturally seek places among their own countrymen. The Italians work together, usually not from their own choice but

because they are inferior miners as compared with other races, and for that reason are grouped together by the mine foreman. By way of illustration, the policy of one company which operates three mines may be cited. In Mines Nos. I and III there are no Poles. All Poles are in Mine No. II. On the other hand, all of the Italians are in Mines Nos. I and III. Moreover, it should be noted that out of the eighty men working in Mine No. III only two are English-speaking, while one-half of the miners in Mine No. II are English-speaking. The Slovaks are most numerous in Mines Nos. I and III. This situation shows a practical segregation of all races and the separation of the Slovaks and Italians from the English-speaking and Polish miners. The policy of permitting one race to do most of the work in a mine has a peculiar significance when compared to the policy pursued in other communities. By comparison with Community A, which it will be recalled is only 10 miles distant, it is seen that in that community the mine operators follow a constant policy of mixing the races employed in fixed proportions in their mines. The same is true elsewhere in the western part of Pennsylvania, and the significance of the situation becomes apparent when it is realized that Community B is controlled by organized labor, while the other mining localities in this part of the State are not. The existing situation outside of Community B seems to have arisen from the efforts of the operators to drive out organized labor in the past and to prevent any organization of the miners in the future. Members of the same race working together would be united in sympathy and language and would offer a good field for the efforts of the labor organizer. At the same time unanimity could be easily secured in presenting grievances to the employer. On the other hand, by mixing the races employed the barrier of language, together with traditional enmities and prejudices, prevents concerted action among the miners and renders it easy for the operator in the event of grievances to play one race against another. In Community B, where the miners are organized, there is no reason for mingling the various races unless the operators should wish to break the union organization, and consequently the most natural policy of securing the greatest efficiency is followed that of confining one race to one mine or to one special line

of work."

ORGANIZED LABOR.

Community B, as pointed out in the opening paragraph, is a "union town," possessing in this respect a unique distinction, so far as its geographical situation is concerned, for all the surrounding mining territory is without labor organizations. The local organization of the United Mine Workers of America has a membership of about 1,400, and includes under its jurisdiction not only the mines lying within the borough limits but also those in the outlying districts. All the recent immigrants employed as laborers or miners belong to the organization and constitute a considerable percentage of its membership, but owing to their inability to speak English their influence is small. The control of the organization is

a In this connection it should be noted that the organized mines in other sections of the country bear the same relation as Community B does to Pennsylvania. See sections dealing with Middle West and Southwest.

in the hands of the Americans and the older English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh immigrants. They instruct the recent immigrants in the tenets of the union and enforce obedience to its rules and policy. The new arrival must join the union if he wishes to secure work in the mines of the community, and after affiliating himself with the organization, whether he wishes to do so or not, he is compelled to work under the conditions enforced by the union. The recent immigrant, therefore, because of his inexperience, is inclined at first to consider the union initiation fee as a sort of charge for his employment, but after a period of residence he is inclined to regard the organization as beneficial and to support its policy. The older members of the union look upon the recent immigrant as a necessary evil, and so long as he abides by the rules of the organization they treat him with indifference, but any infraction is promptly met by a demand for conformity. The union scale of wages prevails in all mines. The dues to the organization, which range from 22 to 66 cents every two weeks, according to the character of work done, are deducted from the pay roll by the employer and paid to the treasurer of the organization. The amount thus secured is used by the union partly for benefits to individual workmen and partly as a defense fund.

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