DISPLACEMENT OF OLD EMPLOYEES BY RECENT IMMIGRANTS.

After the mine workers had been organized into unions and had succeeded in securing a readjustment of wages, the tendency toward the displacement of old employees still continued, in a less marked degree, for several reasons: (1) Recent immigrants, largely because of ignorance and inexperience, seemed willing to work under insanitary conditions and in wet places and under imperfectly timbered roofs, and to submit to such extra work as clearing away falling slate and timbering dangerous places without compensation; (2) by their tractability, their submission to being driven, and by consenting to be used as strike breakers they often continued in control of the mines at the conclusion of a strike, and tended to lessen the amount of consideration shown to employees, both in general treatment and in matters of discipline; and (3) recent immigrants at first accepted the labor organization of the miners as a necessary preliminary to securing work and did not manifest any interest in its tenets or display any enthusiasm in adhering to, or securing adherence to, its principles. The result was a deterioration of conditions under which all underground employees worked. A part of the old employees, after a change from hand to machine mining had been made, were enabled to secure some of the proportionately smaller numbers of skilled places resulting from the change and remained in the mines. Other pick miners, being unwilling to work under the conditions brought about by the introduction of the immigrant, entered the positions not invaded by the immigrant, being known as shift or day men, and compensated at a fixed rate by the day or month. The earnings from these occupations in the majority of cases were not as large as from digging coal, but those engaged in them were removed from contact and competition with the immigrant. The larger part of the old employees, however, left the communities where they first felt the competition of the immigrant and sought work in other localities where hand mining was still followed, or where there was an active demand for experienced miners because of the rapid development of the coal industry. The changes of racial distribution in this respect are evident from a comparison of the present composition of the mines of southern and northern Illinois with the racial make-up of the operating forces ten or fifteen years ago. The same movement may also be observed by comparing the present racial composition of the old mining localities with the population of past periods, or by comparing the older localities with mining communities which have come into existence during the past five or ten years.

The same tendencies in a constantly diminishing importance obtain at the present day. The complaint is made in all sections of the Middle West that the recent immigrant, by his willingness to work in dangerous places and to increase the danger of accidents to himself and his fellow-workmen, by his acceptance without protest of extra work without compensation, by his importunity in securing work for himself and his fellow-countrymen, by his evasion of and failure to adhere to the regulations of the labor organizations, and by consenting to the so-called company-store system and the occupancy of

undesirable company houses, tends to bring about working conditions which are unsatisfactory to the native or old employee and to develop a standard of living with which the old employee can not compete. These complaints come from all sections of Illinois and Indiana. In southern Illinois especially they are strong and general. In Indiana and northern Illinois they are less intense, though quite marked and general. In Ohio the situation is even more marked because of the strength of the competition arising from the decreasing amount of employment available due to the exhaustion of the coal in certain localities.

Another fact worthy of notice in this connection is that the old employee has not only had to suffer the maladjustment of industry arising from a change of methods and bad and often dangerous working conditions, resulting from the employment of ignorant and inexperienced miners, but he has also had to meet the competition of trained and experienced miners from foreign countries and from other sections of the United States. A considerable number of recent immigrants employed in the Middle West, notably Germans, North Italians, and English, have had previous experience in the mines of their home countries. Moreover, as the result of labor disturbances in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, especially during and since the Pennsylvania anthracite strike of 1902, many native and foreign miners with experience in coal mining have migrated to the Middle West in search of work and better conditions of employment. The result has been an increasing pressure upon the old employee in the Middle West and a tendency toward his displacement. The practice among recent immigrants, especially in Illinois, of transferring union cards fraudulently or of obtaining certificates as miners by misrepresentations has had the effect of displacing the old employee.

The general result of all these forces and conditions which are still operative, though in a less degree than formerly, is the displacement of the former miners and a deterioration of their conditions of employment. Many of the older employees, it is true, have ascended in the industrial scale because of the greater range of opportunities opened by the expansion of the industry. The majority, however, have been forced into day or shift work at a lower rate of pay than in digging coal, have been compelled to migrate to other localities, or have yielded to the existing conditions under penalty of being eliminated from the industry. There is a well-marked tendency in Illinois of the older employees to retreat from the North to the South and to the Southwest in the face of the increasing number of immigrants. The saving factor in the situation from the standpoint of the native and original employees has been the counteracting influence exerted by the labor organizations. The labor leaders have recognized the potency of this factor and have at all times sought to impress the recent immigrant with the tenets of trade unionism while they have constantly endeavored to arouse in him an enthusiastic adherence to its regulations. As their period of residence has lengthened, the immigrant workers have to a greater and greater extent learned the use of English and familiarized themselves with the requirements and regulations of the unions and have taken a more active interest in the affairs of the organization until the situation, from the view

point of the trade-unionist, has become more encouraging. This change is especially marked among the North and South Italians, who were formerly considered the worst offenders. In some localities in Illinois the North Italian is now regarded as having practically no bad effects upon the conditions under which mine employees work. In other localities, the South Italian is considered to be making fair progress in the same direction. The Lithuanian is usually considered in the same light as the North Italian. Some employers even assert that the North Italian and Lithuanian are more difficult to deal with and more insistent upon their rights than the immigrants of past periods, such as the English and Irish. The general feeling among the older immigrants and employees is one of dissatisfaction with conditions produced by the races of recent immigration and the constant effort is being made to bring them up to the standards put forward by the labor organization.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF OLD EMPLOYEES.

No extensive data are available as to the subsequent history of the pioneer miners in the Middle West who were displaced by the recent immigrant. It is well known, and has already been pointed out, that many of them advanced in the industrial scale, becoming foremen and attaining other responsible positions. It has also been mentioned that a large number abandoned the occupation of miner for positions as day or shift men. Many also migrated and located in other sections of the Middle West where hand mining continued to be followed, and many also moved to other coal fields, principally to Kansas and Oklahoma, in the Southwest. The reports from several communities also show that many of the former miners who left the industry entirely because of change in methods or the employment of immigrants entered mercantile, clerical, mechanical, and other lines of work. The reports further unite in the statement, however, that the displaced employees did not better their economic condition.

SURPLUS LABOR SUPPLY OF RECENT IMMIGRANTS AND ITS EFFECTS.

Another effect of recent immigration, which seems to be well established, is the decrease of the average number of working days annually available to the older employee. The fluctuating demand for coal, as is well known, produces recurrent periods of idleness in coal mining. This fact, considered in connection with the rapid expansion of coal mining in the Middle West, is significant, because the remarkably rapid increase in the coal output of this area brought to its mines an unusually large force of men. Consequently, in times of slackness of demand or industrial depression, there is a large surplus of unemployed men. As a result, the natives and older immigrants assert, they are subject to unfriendly discrimination in the selection of men for employment, and consequently their aggregate working time is reduced.

During times of slackness of work this condition of affairs often reaches an acute stage. Many instances of this kind were observable during the recent industrial depression.

In the southern Illinois mining communities it seems to be the general consensus of opinion among the older workers that, during the early years of the past decade, the sinking of new shafts and the expansion of the coal industry went on far too rapidly to be permanent or to render steady work possible for the numbers of men that were then employed in the mines. The older miners allege that a condition has now been reached in and throughout Illinois where, even under normal industrial conditions, there are two miners for every place that offers steady work for one miner. When the mines are at work the crowding of men in the mines renders it impossible for each man to get the number of cars to load which will give him steady employment for the day, and the aggregate yearly earnings for all miners in the State do not constitute more than enough to fairly compensate one-half of the miners for steady work.

Under such conditions, the presence of immigrants where it is thus felt that they are not needed, together with the conviction on the part of natives that a preference is shown for the immigrants in the distribution of work and that the immigrants do not always obtain their work by fair means, as well as the noisiness of immigrants in their celebrations and festivities and their low standards of living, served to stir up a feeling of antagonism against recent comers in general.

In this same connection, another complaint against the recent immigrant is made by the older employee to the effect that the recent immigrants being largely unmarried and, at the same time, migratory in their habits, move readily from one locality to another, always seeking the community where there is a demand for labor and thus cause, in numerous instances, an oversupply of labor, which reacts to the injury of the employees permanently working and living in the locality affected.

INCREASE IN THE CHANCES OF ACCIDENTS.

Mention has already been made of the increased liability to accident because of the employment of immigrant workmen." The older miners assert that injudiciousness on the part of recent immigrants, and the ignorance of those who are suspected of having obtained their places without having had the required experience as miners, have tended to increase the accidents resulting from explosions and in this way render the mines less safe.

DETERIORATION OF WORKING CONDITIONS AND METHODS CAUSED BY EMPLOYMENT OF RECENT IMMIGRANTS.

In many localities of Indiana and Illinois, it is asserted that the employment of immigrants has lowered the general standard of workmanship in the mines. Coal is "shot off the solid" instead of being "undercut" as formerly, and the complaint is made that too much powder is used and too much slack coal produced. The operators contend that this situation is due to the action of the unions in upholding their members in careless methods of work. On the other hand,

a See Chap. IV, p 651.

the miners and union officials assert that the condition is attributable to the operators, who, to fill abnormal demands for coal, employed inexperienced immigrants in such large numbers that it was impossible to teach them to mine by approved methods; that they were permitted to shoot the coal instead of mining it; and that powder has been allowed to do the work that formerly required skill. The statement is then made by the old employee that this state of affairs not only increases accidents but leads to the introduction of machines for the purpose of undercutting the coal and lessening the slack coal in the output.

This state of opinion is especially noticeable in southern Illinois. In the thick coal seams in this section, when machines are not used the coal is shot off the solid and not undercut by picks before the shooting is done. The old methods are becoming largely obsolete. Whether due, as the operators claim, to the disposition of the unions to uphold their members in disputes arising out of poor methods of work, or, as the unions claim, to the operators in employing immigrants in such large numbers that they could not be taught proper mining methods and resorted to excessive use of powder, the condition is generally conceded to exist and to be a cause for the multiplication of mining accidents and for the production of coal containing a much larger percentage of "slack" than formerly. All mining in the State is paid for on the "mine run" basis and no restraining influence in the use of powder is exerted by the use of screens. To lessen the loss of life in mine accidents the State enacted laws requiring "shot firers" to be employed in mines where large charges of powder were used. The operators urge, however, that the miners grew less careful in preparing their charges when they realized that they were not to do the firing for themselves, that the accidents arising from excessive use of powder were not eliminated, and that the proportion of slack coal in the output has continued to increase. Except where local conditions, such as frail roofs, prevent the use of machines and where mining superintendents are averse to using machines on the ground that they deteriorate standards of workmanship, the general tendency, therefore, is to introduce machines in order to prevent the excessive use of powder and decrease the amount of slack coal produced.

A situation unusual, as compared with other sections of the Middle West, obtains in the Hocking Valley district in Ohio. In this region the presence of the alien races has resulted in some Americans leaving the mines, but not to such an extent as in districts where the percentage of the foreigners is considerably larger. In this field probably 70 to 80 per cent of the miners are American or Englishspeaking, and it seems likely that this percentage will not change greatly in the near future, because as production in this region declines the foreign laborers are dismissed, providing there are sufficient Americans available for the work, and at present the tendency of the Americans and their sons to remain in the mines indicates that they will hold their own. The same situation is found in the Massillon district in Ohio. This is noteworthy, since in almost all other coal districts the second generation of natives and English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh seek other kinds of work than mining.