has organized night schools, open during the six colder months of the
year. The boys, if able, pay from twenty-five to fifty cents a month.
A Catholic clergyman estimates that over two-thirds of the boys attend
these schools. As a general thing, the use of the public school buildings
has been granted them, but the rooms are often overcrowded. Though
principally organized by the Catholic Church, none are refused on account
of their belief. But after working all day, the boy cannot bring so much
animation to the night-school as if he were not fatigued. The girls have
better opportunities, but they are often put out to domestic service at
twelve or fourteen.
* * * * *
The fare of the miner is from necessity simple, not luxurious. He
breakfasts at about five or six o’clock on bread, butter, and tea. In
a little tin can he carries his dinner of bread and cheese, perhaps
with the addition of a bit of pie or cake, and in a tin bottle cold
tea without milk. Even this simple luxury is sometimes discarded, and
water taken in its place. The miner proper finishes his work about four
o’clock, and finds his best meal at home, often a “good cooked meal” of
meat, potatoes, etc. We may call this dinner, and the former meal lunch.
A miner tells me, however, that he has often brought his food uneaten
out of the mine from want of time; for he must have his car loaded when
the driver comes for it, or lose one of the seven car-loads which form
his daily work.
It is the Welshman who eats bread and cheese. His companion or laborer
is generally Irish. He is detained longer in the mine, and wants meat
for his noonday meal. Late in the fall, if the Irishman has not a pig,
he generally buys from the country farmer a part of a beef, which he
salts. Fresh meat from the stalls is too dear for him. When his beef runs
out, he buys mess pork from the store; but I fear that he is not always
able to take his bit of meat to the mine. Rather than cheese, he will
take a couple of boiled eggs, for he is very fond of what he calls “a
fresh egg.” He carries milk in preference to tea, and he loves to own a
cow. Cows are often seen pasturing upon the commons or the unfenced land
belonging to the companies, the surface of which is not yet sold for
building-lots. The Irishman is very fond of keeping geese and ducks. When
he has a lot, he raises potatoes and cabbage, for here, or at home, he
dearly loves cabbage with his boiled bacon.
The German takes for his lunch bread and butter, and perhaps a “chunk
of sausage,” and piece of pie or cake. His tin bottle holds coffee. The
miner’s dinner-kettle and bottle are slung on a rope over one shoulder,
and on entering the passages of the mine are hung on one of the props
that support the roof. The men often play jokes on each other by stealing
pie or cake. Of course, the German makes sauer-kraut. He keeps pigs, and
sometimes buys a quarter of beef, which he smokes.
Great simplicity in food seems to exist among the mining people in
Wales, where it is said that they never think of eating butter and cheese
at once; they would think it sinful. Mr. E⸺, of Scranton, says that he
offered cold meat to an old Welsh lady who was visiting him, and she
thanked him, but she had bread and butter. And Mr. J⸺, of Welsh birth, a
miner from fourteen years to forty-six, tells me that if the streets were
lined with meat, he could not eat it oftener than once a day, though he
admits that he sometimes takes an egg or two for breakfast.
The Welsh miners who come to this country almost invariably bring one or
two feather-beds. The German who can afford it sleeps in cold weather on
one feather-bed and under another; if he cannot, he sleeps on straw and
under feathers.
At his work the miner generally wears a woollen shirt, pantaloons of
bed-ticking or stout linen, and heavy boots. I have seen the sole studded
with iron lest the coal should cut the leather.
As to the number of miners who own their houses, I have heard various
estimates for Scranton, as from one-third upward, the highest estimate
being in one district seven out of ten of the married.
The German’s house is a good one, painted or whitewashed. Germans
cultivate flowers and vegetable gardens, principally worked by the women,
who carry produce in baskets for sale. The Welshman, too, when he has a
home, has a comfortable one, looking quite pretty with its surroundings.
But though the Irish often own their homes, these are of a ruder kind.
* * * * *
Has the miner aspirations? This question has been put, and I have been
tempted to reply by another, Is he a man? Mr. L⸺, of Scranton, came to
this country when about twenty. He worked a few months at Carbondale, in
this Lackawanna region, and afterward in Ohio, mining bituminous coal
by the bushel,—one hundred and twenty bushels a day, at two cents each.
Here he laid by one hundred and thirty dollars, which he sent to Wales to
bring his parents over. “I was,” said he, “the only son they ever ’ad.”
At twenty-five he married, and soon after took a contract in a mine in
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Here the failure of his employer threw
him into debt, from which he was not clear until about thirty. He took
contracts on coal slopes, working always as a miner himself, but hiring
hands to help him. For twenty years he was a foreman, a foreman’s salary
averaging twelve hundred dollars. He also went to California, and mined
gold to profit. He bought, too, a farm in Pennsylvania for three thousand
five hundred dollars, and tried farming himself for two years, but found
it harder work than mining.
“Some eight of us,” he says, “all miners, bought some years ago about
five and a half acres of ground here for eight thousand and fifty
dollars. We sold it out in building-lots, in about two months, for nearly
the cost, and retained the mineral, which we value at twenty thousand
dollars.” By mineral is meant, of course, the coal, of which several
valuable veins underlie Scranton at the point alluded to.
Mr. L⸺ continues: “Another company of us, all miners and all poor men
originally, have bought a tract of four thousand acres of coal lands near
the centre of Alabama. I have been down twice to see it.” He has now
retired from active business, and lives in a neat house surrounded by a
large garden, which he cultivates with pleasure and profit.
Another instance of success in a more intellectual field is Mr. ⸺, editor
of a Welsh paper. When he was eight years old his mother was left a
widow, with nine children, from three years of age to sixteen, and with
nothing but a few household goods. By putting her children to work early
at the mines she kept her family together. She herself spoke nothing
but Welsh. Mr. ⸺ was a precocious laborer, if I may use the expression,
he being well grown, and becoming a driver at ten years, and a miner
at sixteen. He never had but thirty-two days’ schooling; but having
great delight in books, he got a Daboll’s Arithmetic, and went through
it twice, and found some one to set him copies for writing, making use
afterward of copper-plates. One great advantage which he had was the
leisure which the miner often enjoys. He says, “When I was working at
Carbondale two years, I could generally get my day’s work done by noon.
When a miner, I wrote essays three times for the eisteddfod, and two of
them drew prizes. These were each twenty-five dollars; but the pecuniary
reward was not what we aimed at,—it was the honor. I gave up mining in
1869, and have been connected with a newspaper ever since.”
The miner occasionally attains to great wealth. Such, at least, was the
case of Richard Care, of Minersville, of whom I hear that he came to this
country a poor man, and died worth a million and a half.
* * * * *
But all these cases are exceptional. The chief ambition of the miners
in general is plenty of work and good wages. “They’re death on the
wages,” says one, “as the last suspension showed.” As to their desiring
to improve their condition, a German tells me that there is always such
a desire among his people. “I can take you up,” says he, “to Elmira,
New York, and show you, I guess, a whole township of farmers who have
been miners. The Germans who work here are very rarely from the mining
districts of Germany, but from the agricultural. The German will take his
boys into the mine to lay up a little capital, and having done this, he
will buy a farm, or go into merchandise, or open a saloon.”
What provision has the miner for times when he is out of work?
I might answer after the manner of another,—credit, credit, credit. The
miner is paid monthly, but by the smaller companies not always so often.
Could he once tide over the first month, and enter upon the cash system,
he might be pecuniarily benefited by the change, but he seems wedded to
the credit system. Should any trader advertise that he would sell goods
for cash twenty per cent. lower, I am told that the other store-keepers
would throw their influence against him, and also that several cash
stores have been tried in Scranton that did not succeed in the long-run.
One of the main provisions against misfortune is the Beneficial Society.
The miners do not, however, often join the Freemasons. Many of the Welsh
belong to the following societies: Odd-Fellows, Foresters (a secret
society of foreign origin), Ivorites (named for Ivor Hael, the Welsh
founder), Red Men, and the “Philanthropic Institution.” There are other
societies, Irish and German. As for the miner who does not belong to any
of these, and who has no other means, if he meets with a serious accident
or a protracted illness, he must go to the poor-house; but if I may
credit good authority, he very rarely goes there.
Father ⸺ says, “We need hardly use the word poor-house here, for I
never knew a miner to get there. The Irish have a horror of it; but
occasionally some aged, dependent person goes. The law here forbids
out-door support for the poor.” A young lawyer says, “No Welsh miner ever
goes to the poor-house. He has a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a
nephew or niece, who will not intrust him to the cold charities of the
public. If his wife is industrious, she and the children can take care
of him.” Mr. L⸺ says, “Very seldom does a miner get to the poor-house,
unless he be a drunkard; for if he be sober, his fellow-workmen in the
mine, in case of accident or long sickness, make a collection for him.”
And Dr. H⸺ says, “A kinder set of men never walked the earth. When one
of them meets with an accident in the mine, the men put in their hands
and raise a little purse for him. They will divide their last dollar with
a wounded comrade. The Irish extend their care to the widow of their
unfortunate companion, whom they frequently set up in a little saloon,
where she vends candy, pea-nuts, and various drinks.” Since, however, the
beneficial societies have become popular, there is not so much need of
resorting to succor by subscription.
When urged to insure his life, the reply of the Irishman almost
invariably is, “What do I want to insure my life for my wife for? When I
am dead, I don’t want another man to spend my money.”
In these dull times, when so many were out of work, I frequently saw
quoit-pitching, which seemed to be a favorite amusement; some leap and
some play marbles with the boys; but neither men nor boys spend their
time in play. Some work for farmers, some pick berries, some “fuss about
their gardens,” or one, perhaps, has a sickly wife, and will stay at home
and help. A young Cornish man whom I met was going to haul stone to build
an addition to his house. I visited a young Scotchman, a foreman, who was
employing himself in another manner. In the middle of his sitting-room
stood a surveyor’s compass upon its high tripod, and upon the table
lay a book,—_A Conversation on Mines_, by William Hopton: Manchester
and London. I said to him that he was differently situated from other
miners, because he was interested in books, and could study in an idle
time like the present. He replied that it was the fault of the others if
they did not want to read and study; he had never heard of any one in any
profession who could say that he had become perfect, and in his own case
the more he learned, the more he found that there was to learn.
* * * * *
Among the Welsh, however, I learn that there is considerable culture
besides that of which I have already spoken. In the Welsh Baptist church
at Hyde Park a society meets once a week for reading and debating. They
read the Bible and discuss its history and geography, for six months
reading the Old Testament, and for six the New. In reading the Book of
Samuel, the question arose, “Did the witch of Endor raise Samuel from
the dead?” After some discussion the debate was found to take up too much
time, and it was referred to disputants, two upon each side. The question
brought up spiritualism, in which very few of the Welsh believe, but they
love to discuss subjects of general interest. After an evening’s debate,
the chairman put the question, and it was decided that Samuel was not
raised. With this decision the preacher does not agree.
About six years ago the same society argued the question whether the
world was created in six days, and decided that the days were not periods
of twenty-four hours. After the decision, they had a lecture upon geology
from a former preacher, in which he took the same view.
The Welsh, without sectarian distinction, support the Philosophical
Society at Hyde Park, its proceedings being in the Welsh language,
and its meetings held every Saturday for eight months in the year. By
voluntary contribution they are establishing a free library. Some of the
Welsh miners also have considerable private libraries, of three hundred
volumes and over.
The miners in this region are generally peaceable. Order is preserved
in the mines by very strict rules. If one man strikes another, he is
immediately discharged. If one insults another, the latter is to complain
to the foreman, who acts as justice of the peace, and reports difficult
cases to the general superintendent. Properly speaking, however, there
are two foremen to a mine, one above and one below. On an average, there
are about one hundred and fifty hands employed at each mine.
Even in idle times there is very little disorderly conduct. “The men,”
says R⸺, “will sometimes get tight, two or three of them, but as for
getting up big rows, there is nothing of it. In the time of the great
suspension there were threats of burning some buildings belonging to the
Lackawanna Coal and Iron Company, and I went to guard one of them; but we
never saw anybody.”
To this general good order, however, there seems to be a notable
exception. One evening my landlady sent her son to escort me with a
lantern, the lamps along a principal street being “smashed.” They had
been broken, it appeared, for some time. I asked the boy why there was
not a reward offered for the discovery of the persons who had done it.
“Oh,” said he, “the Molly Maguires will kill men!”
The Molly Maguires are the “Ancient Order of Hibernians,” of whose doings
in the coal regions dreadful stories have been told. Although when I was
at Scranton it was said that the priests had broken up the society, yet
I saw, one Sunday, members of the “ancient order” in handsome green and
white or silver regalia, who seemed prepared to take part, with many
other persons, in laying the corner-stone of a church near Scranton.
Hence I inferred that the clergy had not broken up the society, but
might have obliged them to give up their pledge of secrecy. After I left
Scranton, however, a man was killed in that region, of whose murder I
understand that the Molly Maguires were suspected. But so great at one
time was the fear of the people at large of the Mollies, that two hundred
or more revolvers were sold in one day.
There remains to be considered a subject of more general public interest
than perhaps any other in which the miner is concerned, namely, strikes.
“Suspension” is the genteel name among the men. In 1870 a great strike
occurred here, which finally involved not only the whole of the
anthracite, but a part of the bituminous region of Pennsylvania, which
lasted near six months, bringing coal to an immense price in the market,
and seriously embarrassing business, and which deserves the name of the
great suspension. To make the matter perfectly clear, it is worth while
to revert to the opening of our civil war in the year 1861.
The standard price paid to the miner in July, 1874, was ninety-three
cents per car-load. At this rate he could make about three dollars and
fifty cents per day for himself, and pay his assistant or laborer about
two dollars and thirty-five cents. But before the breaking out of the
rebellion the price of mining was as low as forty-five cents per car, or
less than half the price in 1874.
During the war so great was the demand for iron, and consequently for
coal, that prices had risen by 1864 to one dollar and sixty-eight cents
per car, not very far from double the present price, but payable, as it
will be remembered, in greatly depreciated paper money. In spite of this
fact, this was the miners’ flush time. I have been told that many were
earning from one hundred and fifty to five hundred dollars a month, and
that some of these bought homes, and afterward increased their landed
property.
The manner in which this great advance in wages was obtained is
especially worthy of note. The Miners’ Union, or Working-Men’s Beneficial
Association,—the W. B. A.,—began here, during the war, among the
employés of the three great mining companies, the Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western Railroad Company; the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company; and
the Pennsylvania Coal Company. At the time the W. B. A. was organized,
coal was rising in price, but the companies were not raising the men’s
wages. The miners felt themselves entitled to a share, the tenth or
twelfth part of the advanced price, but they did not receive it until
they called a convention. This, as I understand, was thus organized: The
hands in each mine formed a branch of the W. B. A., and each branch was
entitled to send two delegates to local conventions, and these in their
turn appointed delegates to a general convention when one was held.
In order to obtain an advance in wages, the men appointed at their
conventions committees to wait upon the general agent of each company,
and to make the same demand upon the same day, and it was always granted,
until the price had risen, as I have already stated, in 1864, to one
dollar and sixty-eight cents, its greatest height. In September of that
year, when the war was drawing to a close, and the price of coal had
begun to decline, the wages of the miners were reduced eight and a half
per cent., without causing any disturbance. By July of 1865 gradual
reductions had brought wages down from one dollar and sixty-eight cents
per car-load to one dollar and nine cents. On this decline there was a
strike among the miners in the Scranton and Wilkesbarre region.
In the preceding May a convention had been called at Scranton to take
action on the fall in wages. Many were opposed to striking. But in July
another convention was called, and on the 15th the hands of the three
great companies struck, from Wilkesbarre to Carbondale, and “stayed out”
eleven weeks. The companies did not raise their wages before they resumed
work, but they began again with the understanding that their pay would be
raised, and an advance of five cents per car-load was made in a few days,
bringing the price up to one dollar and fourteen cents.
After this the men were quiet for over three years, but as wages
declined, by January, 1869, great discontent was felt among the miners.
There was no outbreak, however, until April, when the men of the two
greatest mining companies suspended. These companies, the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western; and the Delaware and Hudson, when in full
operation, sent at that time one hundred and eighteen thousand tons
of coal weekly to market. The withdrawal of a mass like this must, of
course, influence the price, and the Pennsylvania Coal Company (the third
in size here, and employing about one-sixth of the hands) profited by
the withdrawal of the other companies, and, figuratively speaking, made
hay while the sun shone. The Miners’ Union could not have been strong
then, or the men of this company would not have worked while the others
were out. It has been remarked that while prices continued to rise, the
miners were delighted with the Union, but when wages began to fall, their
interest in it fell too. However this may have been, the Pennsylvania
Coal Company, in the strike of 1869, continued to work, and raised the
men’s wages about once a month, until they amounted to one dollar and
thirty-one cents the car-load.
The two other companies probably tired, if corporations can be said to
tire, of seeing the Pennsylvania Coal Company carrying on business thus,
and it seems that hints were conveyed to the outstanding men by agents
of their employers that they had made no organized application to the
companies, informing them of their wishes. At length committees from the
men called upon the agents of the companies, and offered to go to work
at the rate at which the other men were working. To these the agents
answered, “We are always ready to pay what our neighbors are paying;” and
the men went to work at one dollar and thirty-one cents. This was not a
long-protracted strike, and the men were successful in obtaining nearly
all which they demanded.
These good prices continued for over a year, partly it seems, for a
reason to me unexplained, and in part because the price at which the
men went to work, although a high one, was actually not so high as the
companies could then afford to pay, so greatly was the stock of coal
reduced and the market-price raised.
Wages continued then at one dollar and thirty-one cents, when, in
November, 1870, the three companies united in notifying the men that in
one month there would be a reduction to eighty-six cents. This decline
was an immense one, over thirty per cent., and the news came upon the
miners like a thunderbolt. It would have been much better policy for the
employers to reduce the price gradually as coal declined in market.
This state of things may indicate that there is not much sympathy between
the miners and the corporations, and I am told that the men feel bitter
toward their employers from their showing so little respect for their
manhood as not to be willing to consult with them. These are tender
points with some in the Scranton region. You will find the foremen not
very anxious to talk about them, but you will be able to obtain the
admission from some here that the men feel their interest to be at
variance with their employers’.
When the end of the month of notification arrived, the men declined to
take the sum offered, and suspended. They claimed that the matter of
wages should be determined by a sliding-scale, adjusted to the price of
coal in the market, and this they called a basis. They also desired to
have an agent to examine the books of the companies, and to see what
their profits really were. The first demand is so reasonable that we
can scarcely see why it should be refused, and it is granted in the
Schuylkill County region.
This sliding-scale, or the basis, became a rallying-cry during the long
and trying conflict which followed. And they stuck to this until they
were starved out.
On their side, the companies thought that strikes were coming too often
(the interval having been about sixteen or eighteen months); and now, as
we have said, the three companies were united.
The miners, however, had not all been in favor of suspending work. Some
of the leading Welshmen would have preferred to compromise by offering to
go on at a reduction less than that demanded by the companies, but these
were overborne by others, who were very violent in the meetings of the W.
B. A., crying out, “Strike! strike!” until, I was told, it was as much
as a man’s life was worth to oppose them. So the pacific or conservative
Welshmen were outvoted by the more reckless of their own nation and
the rest. But once engaged, the Welsh were the most determined, being
unwilling to yield until they had effected something. Says one, “I
believe they would have held out to this day;” and another, “I believe
they would have emigrated: they had strong talk of going out West in
squads.” As it happened, if we may call it chance, the only blood shed in
the struggle was that of two Welshmen.
The Miners’ Union did not anticipate that the companies would hold out as
long as they did; but they seem to have been firmly banded, like the men,
and they had the power of capital on their side. “It was like a big war,”
says an acquaintance,—“a six months’ war.”