WELFARE WORK.

For the most part there is no organized or concerted welfare work by the mining companies, though there are occasional exceptions. Here and there a company furnishes free coal to its workers and pays the funeral expenses of its fatally injured employees. Taken as a whole, however, there is almost a total lack of any organized effort along these lines. One company which is doing welfare work is a remarkable example of what might be done. The general aim of the company is to improve, so to speak, its human machinery. It wants the most orderly, efficient, and faithful workmen it can get, and is trying to secure a permanent body of employees as distinguished from the usual shifting labor force of the mining regions. It is attaining these ends by the following measures: Its wage scale exceeds that of its competitors, in some instances its rate being 25 per cent higher. It maintains a company store, but patronage is not required, and the people are distinctly told that they are free to trade anywhere they wish, and are asked, in case their wants are not met at the store, to explain what seems wrong to them, and if the grievance is real it is promptly remedied. Farmers and hucksters and others with legitimate business are free to enter the company village and sell their wares. Pack peddlers and beer and whisky agents alone are excluded. Good houses are also provided. Undesirable buildings are being replaced by six-room, single-story cottages, with comfortable porches, large grounds, water in the houses, and electric lights. The standard two-story, double, frame, eightroom houses are being repaired and fitted with electric lights and water connections. It is the policy to encourage the better workmen by putting them in the better houses. Fruit trees are planted in the yards, which will eventually furnish fruit as well as shade, and will be cared for by the miner. Water is supplied by a 300-foot well and is filtered before being used. The toilets, at some distance from the houses, are fitted with removable boxes in place of the ordinary ground vaults, and are cleaned each week. In addition to the better physical conditions, the company is trying to maintain a decent and orderly village. To this end several rather remarkable plans have been adopted. No workman is called a "dago" or a "hunkie," but on the contrary all are treated with consideration and respect. A deputy sheriff is employed at a regular salary to maintain order and supervise the sanitary conditions and general welfare of the village. He arrests offenders against the law, but does not receive the fees. These go into a charitable fund. This policy prevents any tendency on the part of the officer to "arrest for reve

," and encourages him to have as little disorder as possible, since he is paid no more in troublesome than in peaceful times, and the retention of his position depends on his ability to prevent disorder. He sees in detail to the sanitary conditions of the town, reports a drain that needs repair or a house and yard that need cleaning, and the company furnishes him a team and the laborers and supplies needed for this purpose. He sees that the houses and grounds are kept clean and orderly and reports those that are not. In order to secure better order and higher efficiency and to reduce the number of accidents, the company controls the sale of intoxicating liquors in the village. A committee composed of the superintendent, the

deputy sheriff, and some of the more intelligent foreign workmen, handles the entire beer and whisky business of the town. This committee employs a "beer agent" and pays him a fixed salary per month. He receives no commissions. He is permitted to sell several recognized brands of beer and whisky and is not permitted to favor one brewing or distilling company over another. No other beer or whisky agent is allowed on the premises of the company. It is the policy of this committee systematically to cut down the amount of beer and whisky consumed. To this end the agent takes orders on Tuesday morning after the men have gone into the mine, so that he receives the order from the housewife, not from the husband or from some irresponsible boarder. Then the superintendent and the police officer go over these orders and reduce those that seem too large. The efficiency of the agent is based on his ability to keep the amount ordered at a low figure. Each week a statement is prepared showing the amount of liquor each family and boarding group has purchased, the prices paid, the total receipts, total expenses, and total profits. These profits are turned over to the charity fund of the committee and are used for the aid of needy families in the village. The books of the committee are open to anyone at any time and show how the money has been spent. The company has adopted the policy of systematically eliminating the largest consumers of beer and whisky, and the whole campaign has resulted in reducing the consumption of the working force about 40 per cent. This has greatly improved the good order of the village and the general efficiency of the employees.

No cows or chickens are permitted in the yards. This is in the interest of the general cleanliness of the town. The company furnishes pure milk from inspected cows at 5 cents per quart. The company is also limiting the number of boarders that may be kept by any one family to four. This is done because there is a tendency to greater uncleanliness, disorder, and immorality where a larger number of boarders are kept. Children reared in a house of four rooms, with perhaps from 8 to 12 boarders, are considered to have little chance of becoming good citizens. All children in this village attend school if they are of school age. If the family is too poor to purchase books and other needed articles, the company furnishes them free, and the children may go to either the public or the parochial school as their parents choose. The village officer enforces attendance.

A benefit system is conducted for the company employees. In this the dues are 50 cents per month, with death and accident benefits of no absolutely fixed amount. If the family is large, the amount paid is often higher than the usual $5 or $6 per week. In case of death, a benefit of $100 is paid, together with free transportation for the widow and children wherever they may wish to go, even to their original home in Europe. An employee permanently injured in the company's service is given work about the plant so that he may support himself and family, or is furnished free transportation to any point he may specify, together with $100 in cash. The results of this system have been very gratifying to the operators. When other

a Just how widely this handling of the beer and whisky business differs from the usual situation can be seen by referring to the chapter on industrial progress and efficiency, pp. 419 to 422.

companies have been handicapped by a shortage of labor supply, this company has turned men away. It sells its product for more money, and is able to pay higher wages. As a result, more and better work is done, greater care is taken of the company property, and much better order and general living conditions prevail in its village than in those of its competitors.

THE IMMIGRANT AND ORGANIZED LABOR.

The following table is suggestive as regards the extent of membership in labor organizations of representatives of immigrant races, though it does not give a complete showing because most of the men included in the tabulation were working in nonunion districts: TABLE 198.-Affiliation with trade unions of males 21 years of age or over who are working for wages, by general nativity and race of individual.

The greater part of the persons represented in the foregoing table were employed in regions where they had no opportunity to become affiliated with labor unions. This is true of all the races enumerated except the North Italian, Lithuanian, Magyar, Russian, and Ruthenian. Most of the individuals of these races were in a unionized locality, and this accounts, in part at least, for the seemingly greater tendency to join the unions.

The table immediately following shows the number of foreign-born males in the households studied who are members of labor organizations, according to period of residence in the United States:

TABLE 199.-Affiliation with trade unions of foreign-born males 21 years of age or over who are working for wages, by years in the United States and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 50 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.]

The first effectual organization among the bituminous coal operatives of Pennsylvania was that of the Knights of Labor. In the early seventies this body grew rapidly and by the latter part of the decade had attained a strong position in the bituminous region. Its decline was almost equally rapid, and by 1885 it was no longer powerful enough to bargain successfully with the operators, though it continued in existence until 1890. In the year 1885 the Miners' National Progressive Union was formed and quickly spread through the mining regions of the western part of the State until it was finally equal in strength among the miners to the Knights of Labor. Constant friction between the two organizations, however, so hampered the activities of each as to make it evident that neither would long survive if the struggle continued. This resulted in 1890 in the union of Lodge No. 135 of the Knights of Labor with the National Progressive Union to form the present United Mine Workers of America, which took over the local unions of both the older organizations throughout the western part of Pennsylvania. Since that time it has been the predominant organization among the mine operatives in that section.

As Slovaks, Poles, Lithuanians, Magyars, Croatians, Italians, and other immigrants of different race and speech began to enter the industry in great numbers, the union quickly found that if it was to live it must organize these newcomers. This was a difficult task. The new workers were coming from lands where labor organizations were considered revolutionary. They were, therefore, naturally suspicious and slow to join them here. Very few could understand the English language, and agitation among them had to be conducted through interpreters. Most of them were new to the industry, and it is said did not know what hours, wages, and conditions of employment they should expect, but arrived with practically no funds and were obliged to accept work immediately. Moreover, the operators were opposing organization among these new workmen, and, it is claimed, were using one race or faction against another, and other means to prevent their organization. In spite of these hindrances, however, the unions were successful in enrolling many of the immigrants, and at present in those districts where the unions still exist many members are from races of recent immigration.

In some respects the members from races of recent immigration are considered less satisfactory than the native-born or the members from races of older immigration. The presence of different races and nationalities, some of which may be more or less hostile to each other, such as the North and South Italians, and most of which differ in language and customs, not only from one another but from the older employees, prevents the formation of a compact homogeneous union and gives rise to some troublesome problems of organization and administration. In strikes the recent immigrant members are generally faithful and loyal, but are often inclined to resort to violence and other methods that bring the union and its cause into disrepute, while in peaceful times it is often difficult to make the immigrant worker see the need of contributing steadily to the union. He is prone to save the amount of his dues by letting his membership lapse. This undermines the organization not only numerically and financially, but morally as well, and requires constant work to offset its weakening effects.

It is claimed by some of the older operatives and labor leaders, and apparently with good reason, that the unions are the best means of effecting general improvement in working and living conditions. among the coal-mine employees. They are able, it is argued, to effect this improvement through securing shorter hours, better.wages, safer mines, and safer methods of mining. They are further able in some degree, it is also asserted, to prevent exploitation of workmen through store, rent, and other deductions, and, by insisting on proper living conditions, to improve the surroundings and housing of the company villages. In addition to these specific forms of betterment they purport to serve another excellent purpose in accustoming the immigrant at the outset to American standards on these subjects, so that he learns quickly to measure his own condition, not by what he has been accustomed to abroad, but by what is taught him he should expect here. It is urged that this makes his competition with the American and other older operatives less disastrous to them, and therefore improves conditions not only for the immigrant, but for the older operatives as well. The older employees further claim that in general the immigration of southern and eastern Europeans has been very disastrous to the labor unions in the coal-mining industry. In some districts the unions have been entirely disrupted, and old operatives assert that this was directly due to the coming of the later immigrants. They contend that some of the operators consciously and deliberately displaced their American, British, and German workers with the later immigrants in order to break down the unions, and that, after succeeding in this endeavor, they have kept their workers of several different races so as to make organization difficult among them.

A fair illustration of the disruption of the unions following the arrival of the recent immigrants is seen in the case of the Connellsville coke region. In that section the earlier employees, as already pointed out, were Americans, Irish, German, English, and Scotch, who proved themselves apt at organization and prompt to strike for better wages and conditions. Expansion of the industry created a demand for many more workmen, and Slovaks, Magyars,

a See p. 256.