Coal and the coal mines

by Homer Greene

CHAPTER XVI.
MINERS AND THEIR WAGES.

A good miner may be called a “skilled workman,” and, as such, he is entitled to greater compensation for his labor than an ordinary workman. He expects it and gets it. There are two principal systems by which payments are made to miners. The first is according to the number of cubic yards of coal cut, and the second is according to the number of tons of coal mined and sent out. The first, which is prevalent in the regions of steep-pitching seams, is followed because the coal may remain in the chamber for an indefinite time after being cut. The second, which in the Wyoming region is almost universal, is somewhat more complicated. A chamber is taken by two miners, but the account on the books of the coal company is usually kept in the name of only one of them, who is held to be the responsible member of the firm. For instance, “Patrick Collins & Co.” work a chamber in Law Shaft, and the firm is so designated. The first thing they do is to adopt some distinctive mark which may be chalked on the sides of their loaded cars to distinguish them from the loaded cars from other chambers. The letters of the alphabet are frequently used by miners, but, in default of these, some simple design that cannot readily be mistaken for any other is put into service. The triangle ∆ is a very common symbol with them, so is the long, horizontal line, crossed by short vertical ones, thus: —|—|——|—. The miners call this a candle. When a car has been loaded the symbol is chalked on the side of it, together with a number which tells how many cars have been sent from the chamber during the day. For instance, when a mine car appears at the surface marked “∆ 5” it means that the car is from a certain chamber designated by that symbol, and that this is the fifth car which has been sent from that chamber during the day. On its way from the head of the breaker to the dumping cradle, the loaded car passes over the platform of the weighing scales and registers its weight on the scale beam. This weight is quickly read by the weigh-master, is transferred to his book, and goes to make up the daily report. In some districts a system in which tickets are used instead of chalk marks is in vogue, and in other districts duplicate checks are employed, but everywhere the general features remain the same.

In order to get a chamber from any of the large mining corporations, a miner must apply in person to the mining superintendent. He must come well recommended, or he must be known as a skillful, industrious, and temperate workman. The responsibility of driving a chamber properly is not a small one, and mining companies choose to take as little risk as possible in the selection of their men. Having accepted an applicant for a chamber, the company makes a contract with him, usually a verbal one, to pay him at a certain rate per ton or yard for the coal mined by him. The rate, though not wholly uniform, on account of the greater or less difficulty of cutting coal at the different collieries, is practically the same throughout an entire district.

A miner working at full time and in a good seam will send out enough coal each month to amount, at the contract price, to $150. But his expenses for laborers’ wages, powder, oil, fuse, etc., will amount to $75 per month, leaving him a net income of $75 per month. The laborer is also paid according to the number of tons of coal sent out, and his wages will probably average $2 per day. It is not often in these days of thin seams that these rates of income are exceeded. And when the mines are in operation only a portion of the time, as is now often the case, these figures are seriously reduced.

The subject of wages frequently has been under discussion between miners and operators, and the differences of opinion on it have been prolific of many strikes. By some corporations and at some collieries a sliding scale has been adopted. That is, the miner has been paid, not at a fixed rate, but at a rate which constantly adjusts itself to the market price of coal. The objection to this method is said to be that the great companies who practically control the anthracite coal business form syndicates, fix the market price of their coal for a certain period of time, and then limit the output of each member of the syndicate to a certain number of tons during that period.

It is certain that no scheme of payment has yet been devised which is perfectly satisfactory to the great body of workers in the mines. But it is true also that employer and employee are working together more harmoniously now than they have worked at any time in the past, and that long and stubborn strikes of miners are growing, year by year, less frequent. It is to be hoped that the time will come when even the strike will not be considered necessary as a weapon of defense for the workman. As a rule strikes result in loss, and in loss only, to both capital and labor; and, as a rule also, labor suffers from them more than does capital, and this is the saddest feature of the case. Hon. Carroll D. Wright, the National Commissioner of Labor, has compiled the statistics of miners’ strikes in Pennsylvania for the years 1881 to 1886 inclusive. His tables show that of 880 such strikes, which was the total number that occurred during the period named, 186 succeeded, 52 partly succeeded, and 642 failed. The loss to employers resulting from these strikes was $1,549,219; the loss to employees was $5,850,382; and the assistance given to the strikers during the periods of suspension amounted to $101,053. These figures form the best commentary to be had on the subject of strikes; they are eloquent with tales of hardship, of suffering, and of despair.

In those regions which have had long immunity from strikes, and in which work at full time has been the rule, the mine-workers are not only comfortable, but frequently are prosperous. They rarely occupy rooms in the cheap tenement houses of the towns, even if such occupancy would be to their convenience. They prefer to live in the outlying districts, where they can have homes of their own and gardens that they may cultivate. In the colliery villages the lots are usually laid out and sold or rented by the mining company to its workmen. Rent is not high, and, in case of sale, a long term contract is given, so that payments are in easy installments. The miner prefers to own his house and lot. Such ownership has a tendency to impress any man with the importance and responsibility of his duty as a citizen, and the miner is no exception to the rule. He is apt to waste neither his time nor his money when he has property and a family to care for. He tries, too, to lay by something for a rainy day; he knows that the probabilities are that either he or his family will eventually need it. As his hours of labor are comparatively short he has considerable leisure which he may spend profitably or foolishly as he will. Many of the men spend this leisure working in their gardens or about their premises. It is seldom that any of them go so far as to have regular extra employment to occupy their time while out of the mines. Indeed the prevailing tendency among miners is to do as little work as possible outside of the mines. The opinion seems to be prevalent among them that when a miner has cut his coal he has done his full duty for the day, and is entitled then to rest and recreation. He does not take kindly to other kinds of work. He rarely deserts his occupation of mining to take up any other calling, and it may be said that after he has passed middle age he never does. There is a fascination to the old miner about the dark chambers, the black walls, the tap of the drill, the crash of falling coal, the smell of powder smoke in the air, a fascination that is irresistible. He would almost rather die in the familiar gloom of the mine than live and toil in the sunlight on the surface. Years of walking under the low mine roofs have bent his back, have thrown his head and shoulders forward, have given him that long swinging stride characteristic of old miners. His face is always pale; this is due, no doubt, to the absence of sunlight in his working place; but, as a rule, his general health is good; except when he has worked for a long time in dry and dusty mines. In that case he is apt to find himself, sooner or later, a victim to the disease known as “miner’s consumption.” The miner’s appearance, as he passes along the street or road on his way home from his work, is, to eyes unaccustomed to the sight, anything but favorable. He wears heavy, hobnailed shoes or boots, flannel shirt, coarse jacket and pantaloons, all of them black with coal dirt and saturated with oil. He has a habit, when he comes from his work, of throwing his coat loosely about his shoulders, and wearing it so as he goes to his home. He usually wears a cap on his head, sometimes a slouch hat, rarely the helmet or fireman’s hat with which artists are accustomed to picture him. This latter is too heavy and clumsy for common use; he only puts it on when working in places where water comes down freely on his head. Hooked to the front of his cap is the little tin lamp already described. When he goes to or comes from his work in the dark he allows it to burn and light him on his way. His face and hands are also black with coal dirt and powder smoke, and his features are hardly recognizable. The predominating race among the mine workers is the Irish, next in point of numbers comes the Welsh, then follow the Scotch and English, and, finally, the German. Of late years, however, Hungarian, Italian, and Russian laborers have come to the mines in large numbers, especially in the southern districts. These people can hardly be compared with the English or German speaking races; they do not become citizens of the country, have in the main no family life, and are, in a certain sense, slaves whose masters are their own countrymen.

In speaking of the characteristics of the mine workers as a class, it may be well, and it certainly is just, to correct a misapprehension concerning them which has become prevalent. From reading the descriptions given by newspaper correspondents and by certain writers of fiction, many people have come to think that all miners are little less than outlaws, that they are rude, ignorant, brutal in their instincts, and blind in their passions and animosities. This is very far indeed from the truth. Mine workers, as a class, are peaceful, law-abiding, intelligent citizens. That they are economical and industrious is well attested by the comfortable appearance of their homes, and the modest deposits that are made, in large numbers, in the numerous miner’s savings banks of the different districts. There are, indeed, among them those who are intemperate, those who are coarse and violent, a disgrace to themselves and a menace to society. These are always the ones who come to the surface at a time when strained relations exist between employers and employees, and by their harsh language and unlawful conduct in the name of oppressed labor call down just retribution on themselves, but unjust condemnation on the true mine workers, who compose ninety-nine one hundredths of the class, but who do not go about drinking, ranting, destroying property, and inciting to crime. The proportion of “good-for-naughts” among the miners, however, is no greater than it is among any other class of workmen having the same numbers, and the same advantages and disadvantages. With the exception of the Hungarians, Russians, Italians, and Poles, of whom mention has already been made, the miners and their families compare favorably with any class of workers in the same grade of labor in America. Many of them indeed attain to prominent and responsible positions in business and society. Not a few of the clerks, merchants, contractors, mining engineers, bankers, lawyers, preachers, of the coal regions of to-day have stepped into those positions from the chambers of the mines, and have filled them admirably. The miner is fond of his family; his children are dear to him, and, whenever the grim necessities of life permit, he sends them to the schools instead of to the mines or breakers. He wishes to prepare them for a larger enjoyment of life than he himself has had, even though that life should be spent in the occupation which he himself has followed. And, indeed, there are few other occupations in which the possibilities of advancement are so great and so favorable. There must be mine bosses, mine inspectors, mine superintendents, and many of them, and they are, as a rule, promoted from the ranks. Young men of character, skill, and judgment are almost sure to step into the higher places.

If it were not for two evils that constantly menace and hamper him, the coal miner of to-day would be the most favored of workmen. These twin evils are strikes and lockouts. Abolish them and there would be no more comfortable, happy, and generally prosperous class of people in America than the workers in the coal mines.