CHAPTER V.

INDUSTRIAL EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION.

Recent immigrants have made possible the development of the industry-Effect of machine methods of mining upon wages-Displacement of old employees by recent immigrants-Subsequent history of old employees-Surplus labor supply of recent immigrants and its effects-Increase in the chances of accidents-Deterioration of working conditions and methods caused by employment of recent immigrants[Text Tables 345 to 351].

RECENT IMMIGRANTS HAVE MADE POSSIBLE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDUSTRY.

In considering the effects of immigration, the conclusion is irresistible that the employment of immigrant labor has made possible the remarkable expansion of coal mining in the Middle West. Whatever may have been the other effects of the coming of the recent immigrant to the bituminous fields of the Middle West, it is clear that the increase in the output of coal within a comparatively short period would not have been possible without resort to this source of labor supply. The operators would not have been able to secure miners or laborers to develop the territory, and to the employment of recent immigrants the rapid growth of the industry is to be attributed. This fact is at once made evident by a comparison of the increase in output and in number of employees in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois during recent years.

By referring to figures already given, it will be noted that the output of coal in Ohio has increased from 2,527,285 tons in 1870 to 32,142,419 in 1907, while the number of employees has increased from 7,567 in 1870 to 46,833 in 1907. In Illinois the annual production has increased from 2,624,163 tons in 1870 to 51,317,146 tons in 1907, and the operating force from 6,301 in 1870 to 65,581 in 1907. In Indiana the annual output in 1870 was 437,870 tons, while in 1907 it was 13,985,713 tons, and the number of wage-earners in 1870 was 1,369 as compared with 21,022 in 1907. This remarkable increase in production in the Middle West, and the resultant increase in operating force, is principally due to the availability of the immigrant labor supply.

EFFECT OF MACHINE METHODS OF MINING UPON WAGES.

As regards the general effects of the employment of recent immigrants upon the former mine workers in the Middle West, the situation may be explained within a brief compass. The introduction of machinery in the mines opened the way for the employment of unskilled and inexperienced labor and brought about conditions. necessitating the elimination of a large number of skilled or trained a See pp. 4 and 5.

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pick miners. As cheap laborers in machine mines, negroes and recent immigrants lowered the wages paid to miners and tended to displace former employees, especially in the occupations of mining. The decade 1880 to 1890 was marked by many strikes and labor disturbances in the Middle West, which were largely the result of the maladjustments arising from the use of machinery, and which were usually followed by an exodus of old employees from the localities affected and the employment of large numbers of recent immigrants or negroes in their place. The extent to which the introduction of machines lowered wages may be seen from the following tables and the remarks thereon, taken from the report of the United States Industrial Commission: "

TABLE 345.-Average daily earnings, establishment X,a Macoupin County, Ill., by occupation.

[From report of the Industrial Commission, vol. 15, p. 400, quoting Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1890. Percentages shown by report of Industrial Commission have been recomputed.]

a Conditions: Depth of shaft, 420 feet; thickness of coal, 8 feet; working places, dry; system of working, pillar-and-room; mining done by hand; price of mining, 50 cents a ton for screened coal; seam level and uniform.

TABLE 346.-Average daily earnings, establishment XI,a Madison County, Ill., by

occupation.

[From report of the Industrial Commission, vol. 15, p. 400, quoting Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1890. Percentages shown by report of Industrial Commission have been recomputed.]

a Conditions: Depth of shaft, 168 feet; thickness of coal, 7 feet; working places, dry; system of working pillar-and-room; mining done with machines; operatives paid from $1.25 to $2.50 a day; seam level and

uniform.

An examination of the foregoing table shows that the average wages of all employees in the hand mine are $1.81 per day and of all employees in the machine mine are $1.77. It also shows that the wages of loaders, laborers, helpers, and all others are about equal in both mines, viz, $1.63 to $1.75 in the hand mine and $1.63 to $1.77 in

a Report of U. S. Industrial Commission, vol. 15, pp. 400, 401.

the machine mine. On the other hand, it shows that the miners or skilled laborers who received $1.83 per day in the hand mine are displaced by cutters and blasters, who receive $2.22 to $2.25 per day, an increase of about 22 per cent in wages. But the cutters and blasters who take the places of the miners are only 8 per cent of the total number employed in the machine mine, whereas the displaced miners were 60 per cent of the total number employed in the hand mine.

Similar results follow in comparing hand and machine mines in Lasalle County under similar conditions.

Table 347.—Average daily earnings, establishments IV, VI, and V, Lasalle County, Ill., by occupation.

ESTABLISHMENT IV.a

[From report of the Industrial Commission, vol. 15, pp. 400, 401, quoting Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1890. Percentages shown by report of Industrial Commission have been recomputed.]

a Conditions: Depth of shaft, 110 feet; thickness of coal, 5 feet; workings, wet; system of working, pillar-and-room; mining done by hand; price of mining, 80 cents a ton for screened coal.

Conditions: Depth of shaft, 74 feet; thickness of coal, 5 feet; working places, wet; system of working pillar-and-room; mining done by hand; price of mining, 80 cents a ton for screened coal.

c Conditions: Depth of shaft, 85 feet; thickness of coal, 54 feet; working places, wet; system of working, pillar-and-room; mining done chiefly with machines; operatives paid $1.75 to $2.50 a day; hand miners employed at entry and other work October, November, and December; price of hand mining, 80 cents a ton, with extras for driving entries.

d Average daily earnings for these three occupations is $2.28.

In examining the above tables it is seen that the average earnings per day in the hand mines are $2.37 and $3, but in the machine mines are only $1.97. In Establishment No. IV (hand mining) the miners were 71.2 per cent of the men, with wages at $3.21 per day, and in No. VI (hand mining) they were 70.04 per cent, with an average wage of $2.72 per day. On the other hand, in Establishment No. V (machine mining) the cutters, blasters, and timbermen were 9.39 per cent of the employees and received an average of $2.28 per day. In other words, the hand miners in Establishment No. IV

received 40.8 per cent more than the average wage of cutters, blasters, and timbermen, and 33.2 per cent more than the cutters alone in the machine mine. Establishment No. VI also shows wages 19.3 per cent higher for the hand miners than for the cutters and blasters in the fifth, or a higher wage by 12.9 per cent than for the cutters alone. Even the hand miners in the same mine where machinery was used showed an average wage of $2.53 per day as against $2.41 for the cutters, or a wage of 5 per cent higher in favor of the hand method.

This state of affairs continued until the organization of the United Mine Workers of America became established in the field and exerted a powerful influence in the prices paid for machine mining. The remarkable increase in wages in the Illinois mines is discussed by the Industrial Commission as follows:

TABLE 348.-Earnings of Illinois coal miners before and after organization, by district. [From report of the Industrial Commission, vol. 15, p. 408, quoting Illinois Coal Report, 1896 and 1899.]

Going a step further and comparing the prices on hand mining for 1897 with the scale of prices agreed upon by conference of miners and operators in 1900 and 1901 we have the following increase:

TABLE 349.-Increase in wages of coal miners in Illinois as result of strikes of 1897, by city.

It will be seen in examining the two preceding tables that, whereas before the strike of 1897 the average daily earnings in the southern districts were less than in the northern districts, yet since the strike the earnings in the southern districts are 35 to 40 cents per day above those in the northern districts, and that the increase in prices in such southern districts as Pana, Belleville, and Duquoin, for 1900, have been 76.5 to 96 per cent above the prices of 1896, but the increases in northern districts are 20 to 40 per cent.

The greatest average gain over former prices was secured in the southern part of the State, where prices had been less; the least, in the region of Rock Island, where there had been less complaint of prices. This average for the Rock Island field is the average for all the men involved, including those who received no advance. Those who really obtained a gain received about 5 per cent over former prices. The men in the Springfield, Danville, and Streator fields fared about equally well in an advance of substantially 20 per cent, The Belleville and Duquoin miners are credited with an advance

in round numbers of 50 per cent, and the Pana, Mount Olive, and Virden men with a gain of 25 per cent. In a more general way it may be said that the advance in the Peoria field was 10 per cent, and in the Braidwood-La Salle field 15 per cent. For the State at large, reducing all percentages to 1, the gain was 26.42 per cent. (Illinois Coal Report, 1897, p. 184.)

The figures referred to in the last paragraph quoted are presented in the table next submitted, which shows, by district, the number of Illinois coal miners involved in the strike of 1897, the average duration of the strike, the prices paid per ton mined, before and after the strike, and the increase in wages. It will be noticed that the average gain for machine miners was 36.3 per cent, whereas that for all miners, including machine, was 26.4 per cent.

TABLE 350.-Increase in wages of coal miners in Illinois as result of the strike of 1897, in each specified coal field.

To quote the Industrial Commission further:

The effect of labor organization on the prices and earnings of machine miners is shown in even more striking form by the following table. This gives the scale of prices for hand mining and machine mining as agreed upon in the interstate conferences of 1900 and 1901 for the basing districts of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. It will be seen that in Illinois, where the union is especially strong, the machine price for the basing district, Danville, which is fixed by the interstate conferences, is 10 cents below the hand price, but for the other districts of the State, where the prices are fixed by the state organization, the differential is only 7 cents. On the other hand, for the State of Ohio and Pennsylvania, where the unions have developed less strength, the differential is 19.2 cents. These discriminations in the differentials against Illinois account for the fact * * * that the adoption of mining machinery in Illinois has not progressed as rapidly as in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

TABLE 351.-Comparative prices for pick and machine mining (per ton), 1900 and 1901. [From report of the Industrial Commission, vol. 15, p. 404.]