As a matter of fact the men do not care to leave the region. They are engaged in a fight to unionize it and are as anxious to succeed as are the operators to prevent them from doing so. "Stay where you are and unionize your district but do not crowd into organized operations," is the advice given by the union organizers. That is why the unions in the other districts are supporting the strikers and have been doing so for a year.
The Glasscock Commission
Last summer after the mine companies refused point blank to be a party to the appointment of a commission by the governor for the investigation of the situation in the mines, Governor Glasscock appointed one anyway. Bishop Donahue, the Catholic bishop of Wheeling, S. L. Walker, and Fred O. Blue were appointed as commissioners. Extracts from the report of this commission are interesting:
"From the cloud of witnesses and mass of testimony figuring in the hearings, there emerges clearly and unmistakably the fact that these guards [the mine guards referred to heretofore] recklessly and flagrantly violated in respect to the miners on Paint Creek and Cabin Creek, the rights guaranteed by natural justice and the constitution to every citizen howsoever lowly his condition and state.... Many crimes and outrages laid to their charge were found upon careful sifting to have no foundation in fact, but the denial of the right of peaceable assembly and of freedom of speech, many and grievous assaults on unarmed miners show that their main purpose was to overawe the miners and their adherents and, if necessary to beat and cudgel them into submission. We find that the system employed was vicious, strife prompting and un-American. No man, worthy of the name, likes to be guarded by others, armed with black jacks, revolvers and Winchesters whilst he is endeavoring to earn his daily bread.... We are unanimously of the opinion that the guard system as at present constituted should be abolished forthwith."
The commission also found that the company stores overcharged the miners, that the system of docking was unfair to the miner, and that a system of blacklisting of miners prevailed.
On the other hand the commission found that in a general way, the miners in the Paint and Cabin Creek districts were fairly well off, that their wages were above the average prevailing in the organized fields, that their cabins were above the average, and that the rent, while "slightly excessive" was not exorbitant, and that the sanitation was "as good as can be expected." On the question of wages, the commission found that the annual wage of miners in West Virginia for the years 1905-1911 was $554.26 while the average annual wage of miners on Paint and Cabin Creeks "is from $600 to $700." It will be noticed that in the first instance a definite, fixed figure is given for the average. In the other the statement is a general one "between $600 and $700."
The statement is also made that "a minute examination of the pay rolls discloses the fact that 16 or 17 days' work a month constitutes a high average and that many engaged in the mines decline (the italics are mine) to labor more than 12 or 14 days."
There are two sides to this. The "unwillingness" of the miners to work more than a certain number of days a month is proved to the satisfaction of the commission by an "examination of the pay roll." As a matter of fact in most instances the reason the men do not work more days in a month is due to the system of "crowding" which prevails all over the non-union districts of West Virginia. This is one of the things the miner complains about most bitterly. It is worked in this way: An operation has, say a capacity of 200 men. On the pay roll of that operation may be anywhere from 300 to 400 men. All these men cannot work in the mine at one time, but the company always wants to have plenty of men on hand. So the men are allowed to make but little more than half time. The advantage to the operators is that the more men they have the more cottages they will rent, the more mouths there will be to feed from the company stores, and the more money collected for physicians' fees, insurance and other things for which the miners have to pay. It is absolutely true that the men do not work more than from 12 to 17 days a month, but the pay roll will never tell you the real reason. The men want to work, but they are not permitted to do so.
As to the cabins being above the average—they may be. I went into some of them. I would want a more comfortable stable for my horses. The greater number of the cabins contain four rooms each and are absolutely without any sanitary or other arrangements for the convenience of the occupants. Some few are larger and some are smaller but the four room cabin is the type. They are nearly all alike, built of rough lumber and roofed with a composition roofing such as is bought by the roll. The rental is on the basis of $1.50 per room per month. A four room cabin costs $6 a month, a six room cabin costs $8 or $9. But take the average four room cabin at $6, the yearly rate is $72. That is interest at 6 per cent on $1,200. The labor cost on these houses was not more than $40 each on the average. Including the land on which the houses stand they did not cost the companies more than $300 each. Six per cent on $300 is $18.