The Plight of the Bituminous Coal Miner [Reprint 2016 ed.] 9781512804621

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T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

A M I N E R W A N T S T O EARN HIS LIVING

THE PLIGHT OF THE BITUMINOUS COAL MINER BY H O M E R L A W R E N C E M O R R I S , PH.D. Professor

of Economics,

Fisk

University

With a FOREWORD BY

JOSEPH H. W I L L I T S , PH.D. Dean of Wharton School of Finance and University of Pennsylvania

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Commerce

PRESS

PHILADELPHIA 1934 London:

Humphrey

Milford:

Oxford

University

Press

Copyright 1934 U N I V E R S I T Y OF P E N N S Y L V A N I A PRESS Manufactured

in the United States of America

F O R E W O R D W E A K N E S S E S of our economic system seem to be more glaringly conspicuous in the soft coal industry than in any other. T h e conditions of living, of employment, and of business in large parts of the industry have for a long time, and especially during the devastating liquidation of the last ten years, been a blot upon a society which calls itself civilized. THE

There have been many books and many commission reports devoted to the problems of the coal industry. Many of them have been useful but most of them have been written by people who worked at long range. And there have been many books which concerned themselves with the human problems of coal. But D r . Morris in The Plight of the Bituminous Coal Miner brings two important assets to this subject, one or both of which have often been missing from other studies. First, D r . Morris speaks from an intimate personal knowledge and extended experience of the conditions in coal-mining communities. H e is not a transient investigator or journalist who paid fleeting visits to a few coal communities and then wrote of what he so hastily saw. For three years Dr. Morris was directly connected with the work of the American Friends Service Committee either as Field Director or in an advisory capacity. In September 1931, the American Friends Service Committee at the request of the President's Organization on Unemployment Relief undertook the feeding of miners' children through 690 schools. T h e supervision of this work took D r . Morris and his corps of able assistants into forty-one counties of six states and gave them an opportunity to study first hand and under the most favorable conditions the effects of unemployment among the miners. T o this favorable opportunity, D r . Morris brought not only an emotional interest in the human and social problems [v]

VI

FOREWORD

of the coal miner and his family but also a scholar's desire to understand the causes operating to produce unemployment and low wages for the miner (and red figures for the operator) and also the elements in the problems of readjustment and rehabilitation for the miner. As a result of his unusual opportunity and his care and thoroughness, Dr. Morris has presented us with a well-documented and scholarly discussion of the plight of the coal miner, of the human problems involved in the vast liquidation, and of the factors with which we must deal in seeking his individual and social rehabilitation. The book is most timely in view of the government's efforts to encourage social as well as economic organization and planning of industry. W e are the more deeply indebted to Professor Morris because he is content to go only as far as his facts and special competence permit. H e does not yield to the temptation of arguing for some one of the forty ways of reorganizing the soft coal industry—much needed though such reorganization is. The Plight of the Bituminous Coal Miner should make all of us more sympathetic with the miner and his family, and more understanding of his character and difficulties, and should make efforts to help him more realistic and practical. JOSEPH H . WILLITS

Wharton School of Finance and Commerce University of Pennsylvania

PREFACE IN THE spring of 1 9 3 1 the Children's Bureau of the Federal Government made a careful survey of conditions among the children in the bituminous coal fields. T h e need in many of the coal camps had been intensified by bitter labor disputes and prolonged strikes. T h e industrial situation was so tense and the extent of malnourishment among the children was so great that the Children's Bureau and the President's Organization on Unemployment Relief requested the American Friends Service Committee of Philadelphia to undertake the task of providing relief for the children of the unemployed miners. A fund was allocated by the American Relief A d ministration for this purpose. A child-feeding program was started in the schools in the mining camps the latter part of September 1 9 3 1 . T h e development of this program in 690 schools in fortyone counties in six states gave a corps of workers an unusual opportunity to study at first hand under the most friendly relationship the effects of unemployment in the bituminous coal industry. These contacts made the present study possible. T h e fieldwork for the study was financed by the Social Science Department of Fisk University and the American Friends Service Committee. T h e Social Science Research Council made a Grant-in-Aid to assist in the publication of the book. I am indebted to many miners, operators, local officials, and community leaders for the assistance given during the course of the study. T o mention the names of only a f e w people would be to ignore a great many others whose opinions and experiences have helped me to understand something of the human problems involved when a whole industry is going through the throes of a major deflation movement. I have been saved from many errors and pitfalls in the preparation of the manuscript by the helpful suggestions and [ vii ]

Vlll

PREFACE

criticisms of D r . Charles S. Johnson, Professor Paul K . E d wards, D e a n Joseph H . Willits, D r . W . E . Fisher, D r . A . D . Beittel, and D r . W . E . Armstrong, who have read either all or certain chapters of the manuscript. I am especially indebted to my wife, E d n a W r i g h t Morris, for encouragement and assistance at every step in the preparation of the manuscript. She has assumed the task of seeing the manuscript through the press while I am engaged in the more thrilling work of helping some of the unemployed miners obtain small homesteads — a rehabilitation program made possible by the Subsistence Homestead provision in the National Industrial Recovery Act. H. L. M. Nashville, Tennessee November /5, 1933.

CONTENTS CHAPTER

PACE

I

THE

P L I C H T OF T H E C O A L I N D U S T R Y

II

HOW

MANY

THE

UNEMPLOYED

III IV V VI

"ONCE THE

MINERS ARE

MINER

IN

AND E F F E C T S OF

VIII

WHAT'S

THE

X

THE

XI XII XIII

THE

MINER

FAMILY

MINING

ECONOMIC DO

BE

COMMUNITIES

UNEMPLOYMENT

OF

TO

115 140

TRANSFERS

HER

151

DO?

DISPLACED

FRONTIER

85 98

IMPROVED?

WANT

REHABILITATION

ENGLAND

74

STATUS OF M I N E R S

MINERS

35 56

THINKING?

REHABILITATION—A

APPENDIX: INDEX

CAN

WHAT

HIS

COMPANY-CONTROLLED

EXTENT

HOW

AND

19

AND S K I L L OF M I N E R S

VII

IX

NEEDED?

A MINER, ALWAYS A MINER"

TRAINING

LIVINC

Ι

181 MINERS

OF SOCIAL J U S T I C E SURPLUS

MINERS

193 214 230 249

ILLUSTRATIONS A M I N E R W A N T S TO E A R N H I S L I V I N C

frontisfiece

Courtesy of Bureau of Mines LOADINC COAL B Y H A N D COURTESY

OF BUREAU

FACING OF

-PAGE

26

MINES

D I C C I N C AND L O A D I N G C O A L B Y M A C H I N E R Y

FACING

FAGE

28

FACING

FAGE

106

FACING

FAGE

124

FAGE

160

P A Y C H E C K OF W E S T V I R G I N I A M I N E R

FAGE

161

P A Y C H E C K OF W E S T V I R G I N I A M I N E R

FAGE

162

PAY CHECK

FAGE

163

FACING

FAGE

197

FACING

FAGE

208

COURTESY THE

OF BUREAU

CHILDREN SUFFER

OF

MINES

MOST

E V I C T E D M I N E R S IN W E S T V I R C I N I A P A Y C H E C K OF W E S T

THE

VIRGINIA

OF K E N T U C K Y

MINER

MINER

M I N E R - F A R M E R P L A N IN O P E R A T I O N COURTESY OF CONSOLIDATION COAL COMFANY

MINERS CAN DO OTHER THINGS THE

UNEMPLOYED

MINER

AND

HIS

FAMILY

TURN

TO

HANDICRAFTS

facing

fage

21 о

TABLES NUMBER Ι Place

PACE of

Birth

of

956

Unemployed

Kentucky

and

West

Virginia

Miners

36

г D i s t a n c e of P l a c e o f B i r t h f r o m P r e s e n t R e s i d e n c e o f 9 5 6 K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a M i n e r s

Unemployed 37

j N a t i o n a l i t y of 9 5 6 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y a n d W e s t ginia

Vir-

4 A g e D i s t r i b u t i o n of 9 5 6 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y a n d Virginia

West

5 Age

Distribution of E m p l o y e d

and

Unemployed

Miners

and

38

39 Other

Industrial Workers

40

6 A g e 956 Unemployed Miners ( K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a ) to W o r k in M i n e s

Started

7 A g e 956 Unemployed M i n e r s ( K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a ) W a g e Earners

Became

43

43

8 M a r i t a l a n d D o m i c i l e Status of 9 5 6 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a

45

9 T o t a l N u m b e r of C h i l d r e n ( L i v i n g a n d D e a d ) in the F a m i l i e s o f 860 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y a n d W e s t V i r g i n i a

47

1 0 A g e o f C h i l d r e n at the T i m e of D e a t h in the F a m i l i e s o f e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y a n d W e s t V i r g i n i a 11

Size o f Households West Virginia

of

838

Unemployed

Miners

in

860

48

Kentucky

and 49

ι 2 P e r c e n t a g e of H o u s e h o l d s C o n t a i n i n g Specified N u m b e r o f

Members

ι 3 A v e r a g e N u m b e r of C h i l d r e n E v e r B o r n to M o t h e r s , L i s t e d i n g to O c c u p a t i o n o f F a t h e r s in U n i t e d States 1 9 2 0 14 Number of M a l e W a g e

Un-

Earners per Household

Accord52

in a G r o u p o f

838

U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y a n d W e s t V i r g i n i a 15

17

53

P e r c e n t a g e o f H o u s e h o l d s C o n t a i n i n g T h i s N u m b e r of W a g e - e a r n e r s

1 6 R e a s o n s f o r S t a r t i n g to W o r k in M i n e as G i v e n b y 9 5 6 M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y a n d W e s t V i r g i n i a

Unemployed

O c c u p a t i o n s of F a t h e r s o f 9 5 6 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y

54 57

and

West Virginia

58

18 N u m b e r of F u l l - T i m e J o b s O u t s i d e of M i n i n g H e l d b y 9 5 6 ployed M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a 1 9 Y e a r s 9 5 6 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y a n d W e s t V i r g i n i a Worked

51

in M i n e s

Unem63 Have 64

[xüi]

TABLES

XIV

NUMBER

PACE

20 If M i n i n g Picks U p , W o u l d Y o u R e t u r n to the Mines? A n s w e r s of 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a

70

21 A t t i t u d e of 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and W e s t V i r g i n i a Towards Mining

71

22 E d u c a t i o n of 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a

77

23 R e a d i n g Habits of 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West Virginia

78

2+ O t h e r T r a i n i n g of 9 J 6 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West Virginia

79

25 E d u c a t i o n 657 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a Desired f o r T h e i r C h i l d r e n

80

26 N u m b e r of D a y s W o r k e d P e r W e e k by K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a

99

321

Employed

M i n e r s in

27 L e n g t h of T i m e 635 M i n e r s W e r e U n e m p l o y e d in K e n t u c k y and West Virginia

100

28 C h u r c h M e m b e r s h i p o f 9 5 6 West V i r g i n i a

135

Unemployed

M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y

and

29 A v e r a g e E a r n i n g s ( W . V a . ) o f Pick M i n e r s f r o m 1897 to 1924 and P i c k and M a c h i n e M i n e r s f r o m 1925 to 1930

153

30 A v e r a g e T i m e 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s g i n i a ) W o r k e d on E a c h F u l l - t i m e Job

173

( K e n t u c k y and West

Vir-

31 Reasons 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a Remain in C o a l C a m p s

183

32 Occupations Entered b y Sons of 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a W h o H a v e L e f t H o m e

185

33 O c c u p a t i o n a l Preference of 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a

187

34 W o u l d 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s in K e n t u c k y Succeed in T h e i r P r e f e r e n t i a l Occupations

191

and

West

Virginia

3 j W o u l d A d d i t i o n a l T r a i n i n g be Required f o r 956 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s ( K e n t u c k y and West V i r g i n i a ) to Q u a l i f y f o r O t h e r Jobs?

192

I

THE

PLIGHT

OF

THE

COAL

INDUSTRY

THE d e m o r a l i z e d condition of the bituminous coal industry since 1930 cannot be explained entirely in terms of the depression. T h e industry has suffered loss of business by the cessation of industrial activities, but there are more f u n d a mental forces at work which must be taken into consideration in order to understand the present chaos. E v e n before 1929, the laissez faire policy and the unrestrained forces of competition had thrown the relationship between the productive capacity of the industry and the demand for coal out of balance to such an extent that retrenchment was inevitable. T h e rapid expansion of the coal industry which was in progress in the nineteenth century continued unabated until 1 9 1 0 . F r o m 1891 to 1900 the annual production increased f r o m 1 1 8 million net tons to 2 1 2 million net tons, or an increase of 79.6 per cent. 1 B y the end of the next decade annual production mounted to 4 1 7 million net tons, or an increase of 96.7 per cent. F o l l o w i n g 1 9 1 0 there was a much more gradual increase in the production of bituminous coal, except d u r i n g the war, w h e n production reached the peak of 5 7 9 million net tons in 1 9 1 8 . T h e f o l l o w i n g year there was a slump of almost 20 per cent in production, a l t h o u g h in 1920 production rebounded to 569 million net tons. T h i s high l e v e l was not reached again until 1 9 2 6 , w h e n there was an abnormal demand for bituminous coal caused by strikes in the anthracite fields and in E n g l a n d . E v e n in the boom year of 1 9 2 9 production reached only 535 million net tons, which was 6 per cent less than that of 1 9 2 0 ; 1 9 3 0 showed a decrease of 18 per cent f r o m the 1920 l e v e l . B y 1931 the coal industry was in the g r i p of the depression, and production f e l l to 382 mil1 F. G . T r y o n , L. Mann, and H. O. Rogers, Coal in i o, United States De93 partment of Commerce, Bureau of Mines, 1931, T a b l e 5, p. 620.

[ I ]

2

THE

BITUMINOUS

COAL

MINER

lion net tons, or a decrease of 18 per cent f r o m the previous year. In 1932 production dropped to 305 million net tons. 2 N o t since 1904 had the production of coal f a l l e n to so l o w a level. Regardless of the decreased demand for coal a f t e r 1 9 1 8 , the productive capacity of the industry continued to increase for the next five years even faster than before the w a r ; in W e s t Virginia and Kentucky the industry continued to expand until 1927. T h e productive capacity of the operating mines working f u l l time in 1 9 1 8 was 7 1 7 million net tons. 3 B y 1920 this increased to 796 million net tons, or an increase of 11 per cent; it climbed to 970 million net tons in 1 9 2 3 , an increase of nearly 22 per cent in three years. T h i s rapid expansion in the productive capacity of the industry was brought about on the one hand by i m p r o v e d methods, and on the other by the continued opening of new mines. T h e number of commercial mines increased f r o m 8 , 3 1 9 in 1 9 1 8 , to 9,331 in 1923, an addition of more than 1,000 new commercial mines during a five-year period w h e n the demand for coal was decreasing. D u r i n g this same period more than 3000 wagon 4 mines were opened. 5 F r o m the peak of 1923 the relentless forces of competition reduced the number of mines each year, except in 1926, until there survived in 1931 5,642 commercial mines. In the coal industry, as in many other lines of business, new production units were opened irrespective of the need for increased production. In 1 9 1 3 the average production available per commercial mine amounted to 82,756 net tons; by 1920, that was reduced to 63,782 net tons; and in 1923, the year of the greatest number of mines, only 60,551 net tons were available. 6 B y 1929 the average tonnage available per commercial mine was again slightly ' W e e k l y C o a l R e p o r t , N o . W . C . R . 808, D e p a r t m e n t of C o m m e r c e , Bureau of M i n e s , J a n u a r y 7, 1 9 3 3 . " T r y o n , M a n n , and R o g e r s , loc. cht. 4 T h e term " w a g o n m i n e " is applied to the small mines p r o d u c i n g less than 1,000 tons of coal per year. ' T r y o n , M a n n , and R o g e r s , of. cht., p. 639. ' F o r a discussion of the concentration of production in the l a r g e r mines, see C h a p t e r I I , pp. 25-26.

T H E COAL I N D U S T R Y

3

above the 1 9 1 3 level. N o accurate information is available as to the number of wagon mines in operation after 1 9 2 3 , but a trip through the coal fields will convince anyone that most of these fly-by-night mines enjoy, at best, only a short and precarious existence and soon disappear. T h e foregoing analysis of productive capacity and demand for coal indicates clearly that the bituminous coal industry was entirely overexpanded previous to 1929. Entirely too many mines had been opened, too much money had been invested in the industry, and as will be pointed out later, too many men had been drawn into the industry. Between 1 9 2 3 and 1 9 2 9 there was a decrease of 3 , 2 7 4 commercial mines. T h e gradual retrenchment in the industry, which had been in progress since 1 9 2 3 , was thrown into complete confusion by the debacle of 1929. T h e coal industry cannot expect, therefore, a return to the former prosperous times when the depression has spent its force and business is again on the road to recovery. A great many forces in our economic life have converged on the coal industry to produce this overdevelopment, and it is to an analysis of these forces that the remainder of this chapter will be devoted. T w o basic factors should be mentioned which underlie all of the other influences. T h e first of these factors is a desire for profits through speculative activity in the development of new coal lands; the second is the absence of effective regulation and control because of the lack of any definite coal conservation policy by either the federal 7 or state government. Railroads and Overdevelopment T h e problems centering around transportation have had an important influence in determining the overdevelopment of the coal industry. In 1 9 3 0 out of a total production of 467,526,299 tons only 3 0 , 1 2 7 , 7 3 0 tons were used locally; 2 1 , 1 7 2 , 6 0 3 tons were shipped by water, and the remaining ' R e p o r t of United States Coal Commission, 1925, Part I, p. 235.

4

THE

BITUMINOUS

COAL

MINER

4 1 6 , 2 2 5 , 9 6 6 tons, or 89 per cent of the total production, were shipped by railroads. 8 T h e coal business is so important to the railroads, constituting, in 1929, about 23 per cent of the revenue of Class I roads, that they compete as k e e n l y for coal transportation as the operators for coal sales. 9 Railroads have been extended to new coal fields, branch lines have been built, and freight rates have been adjusted, so that distant coal fields can compete with the nearer fields for the Eastern and the lake trade. T h i s competition of the railroads for business has stimulated the development of the Southern fields far beyond the real demands of the market. P r i o r to 1 9 1 6 no coal-car shortage had occurred on a national scale, although local coal-car shortages had been common. 10 Beginning with the autumn of 1 9 1 6 , and extending to midsummer, 1 9 1 8 , and then again in 1920, the mines had to restrict their output because they could not secure sufficient cars. T h e Coal Commission reported ( 1 9 2 3 ) that for the previous eight years the railroads had not provided sufficient transportation facilities adequately to handle coal shipments." Car shortage during this period of high prices and attractive profits led the coal companies and the large consumers of coal to try to safeguard themselves against its recurrence. D i f f e r e n t methods were used, but all of them tended to overdevelop the industry. Some of the larger users of coal, such as the public utilities, iron and steel industries, and railroads opened their own coal mines and produced their own supplies of coal. B y 1920 these "captive" 1 2 mines produced 25 per cent of the total output of bituminous coal. T h e s e industries in their effort to be assured a dependable supply of special quality coal tended to throw still further out of balance the already bad adjustment between supply and demand. * T r y o n , M a n n , and R o g e r s , of. cit., p. 684.. * A d d r e s s by С . E . B o c k u s , President of the N a t i o n a l C o a l Association, Proceedings of The Third International Conference on Bituminous Coal, N o v e m ber 1 9 3 1 , C a r n e g i e Institute of T e c h n o l o g y , P i t t s b u r g h , Pa., I, 4 1 . " R e p o r t of United States C o a l Commission, of. cit., p. 236. 11 R e p o r t of United States C o a l Commission, of. cit., p. 202. u T h e term " c a p t i v e " mine is applied by the trade to those mines w h i c h are o w n e d or controlled by the companies consuming their o w n output.

T H E COAL

5

INDUSTRY

In the j u d g m e n t of the Coal Commission, " T h e movement toward ownership of coal mines by consumers has been a factor of no small importance in adding to the overdevelopment of this industry, since the tendency has been to open virgin coal rather than to acquire old mines." 1 3 T h e Interstate Commerce Commission ruled that cars shall be allotted on a quota basis to each mine according to its capacity to produce coal. T h i s ruling encouraged each operator to open new mines and expand old operations, so that he could secure more cars in case of a shortage. T h e Coal C o m mission suggested that this principle be changed, and recommended ( 1 9 2 3 ) that, . . in determining the rating of a mine for the purpose of car distribution, consideration should be given to the commercial ability of the mine to sell its production as well as to its physical capacity to produce." 1 4 T h e C o a l Commission believed that the adoption of their recommendation would have a tendency to reduce the seasonal fluctuations of the market; would mitigate the effects of car shorta g e ; would prevent the opening of mines for speculation; w o u l d reduce the overdevelopment of the industry and deter unnecessary expansion; and would promote the consolidation of marketing facilities. A l t h o u g h the Interstate Commerce Commission held hearings on this recommendation, they declined to change the existing rule. T h e rule determining mine-car ratings, which was intended to solve one set of problems centering around shortage of transportation, has unwitt i n g l y created a worse evil—overproduction. Ineffectiveness

of Price as a Means

of

Control

In our system of free competition and aversion to governmental regulation, price is supposed to be the dictator which w i l l adequately adjust the forces of supply and demand. T h e theory is that if there is a shortage in the supply of any commodity the price will immediately rise, thereby stimulating production. T h a t is, the producer will try to increase his out" Report of United States Coal Commission, op. cit., p. 2 1 1 . "Ibid., p. 233.

6

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

put in order to take advantage of the higher profits. W h e n production has gone too far it will be indicated by lower prices. T h e producer will then reduce his production because he can no longer make the desired profit on account of the drop in prices. T h u s price, a magic wand, stimulates production in one commodity, retards it in another, and is supposed to be the guiding force of our whole complicated system of production and distribution. I n the long run price may be able to exert a regulatory influence over production in the coal industry, but from the short run point of view it has failed to perform the dual function of stimulating and retarding production. Price has performed half of its task admirably. In 1 9 1 6 , when the price of bituminous coal began to rise making higher profits possible, production responded immediately. M a n a gerial ability, labor, and capital rushed to the coal fields. A slight rise in the price of coal per ton was all that was necessary to turn the productive energies of the nation to digging more coal. T h e r e are certain features about the coal industry, perhaps more than in any other industry, which make it less amenable to the retarding influence of a fall in price than to the stimulating effects of a rise in price. T h e capital investment in mines is large and depreciation may be exceptionally rapid. When a mine is once opened a slight drop in the price of coal does not automatically reduce its coal production. A mine depreciates with increasing rapidity when it is not in operation, because there are no laborers present to report roof cracks, timber breaks, f a l l of slate, presence of gas, or the accumulation of water. As a result it is usually more profitable for the company to produce coal at a loss than to permit the mine to remain idle and suffer greater loss through rapid capital depreciation. In the case of one mine it was estimated that the company would lose $420,000 a year by depreciation if they closed the mine. 15 On the basis of productive capacity of 3,000,000 tons of coal a year, it would be more profitable f o r " A . T . Shurick, Coal Mining pp. 36-37.

Costs, McGraw-Hill Co., New York,

1912,

THE COAL INDUSTRY

7

the company to produce the coal at a loss, up to fourteen cents a ton, than to close the mine. M a n y operators since 1 9 3 1 have sold coal at a loss. T h e y insist, however, that they are losing less money than if they closed their mines, incurred rapid depreciation, lost customers, and advanced their workers scrip for subsistence. T h e dumping of this "distress" coal on the market at less than cost of production has a tendency to demoralize the whole price structure entirely out of proportion to the amount of coal sold. W h e n a company goes bankrupt it does not necessarily mean that the mine ceases to produce coal. T h e r e is something more speculative and alluring about mining coal than is the case in most other industries, something that causes one man to think that he can succeed where another has failed. T o o often bankruptcy, instead of closing a marginal mine, results only in lower capitalization, and has no influence upon the amount of coal produced. In the short run, price as a regulator of the production of coal has performed only half of its function effectively. Another reason that a drop in the price of coal does not automatically increase the demand for coal is that the demand for coal is rather inelastic. When the ordinary demands of the community are satisfied a drop in the price of coal does not appreciably increase demand, although only a slight overdevelopment of the coal industry may demoralize the whole price structure. This inelasticity of demand has a marked influence upon the price of different grades of coal mined at the same time. If an operator receives an order for 10,000 tons of domestic lump coal he takes out in the mining process not only lump coal, but a considerable amount of small-sized screenings which can be sold only as steam coal. If he is not fortunate enough to sell this steam coal at the time he is getting out the domestic coal, it becomes a drug on the market. A mine official reported that he sold steam coal in L o g a n , West Virginia, in October 1 9 3 1 for fifteen cents per ton because the company had a large order for lump coal, but no order for steam coal. Coal of the same grade was sold in 1 9 2 2

g

THE

BITUMINOUS

COAL

MINER

for $22.50 per ton. T h e inability of the operators always to secure orders for both domestic and steam coal in the same proportion as the two grades of coal are mined has a tendency to keep the market constantly oversupplied irrespective of price. A n oversupply of coal is fatal to financial stability. A l though price has been able to stimulate production of coal when needed, it has not been able to reduce production when the demand for coal has fallen off. A s a result, productive capacity and demand are thrown out of balance. T h e failure of the forces of free competition and price to adjust mine capacity to the demands of the market has caused the coal industry to be designated the worst functioning industry in the U n i t e d States. In fact, free competition, instead of being the life of this business, has produced such cutthroat methods of competition and fostered such ruthless labor practices that the industry since 1930 has been in a desperate struggle for survival. Competition

of

Substitutes

Increasing competition with coal substitutes—oil, natural gas, and water p o w e r — i s an important factor in the overdevelopment of the coal industry. A l t h o u g h coal still e n j o y s a position of preeminence as a source of heat, light, and energy, this preeminence has been greatly reduced since the beginning of the century. T h e advance in the science of the utilization of fuel means that one fuel is being substituted for another upon the basis of greater economy as w e l l as physical convenience. T h e amount of energy produced in the U n i t e d States in 1930 by coal, oil, natural gas, and water power was 23,842 trillion British thermal units, 16 an amount 28.4 per cent greater than was produced in 1921. 1 7 In spite of the business depression the production of energy was only 10 per cent less in 1930 than in the peak year of 1929. T h e total production ™ British thermal unit ( B . t . u . ) indicates the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one p o u n d of w a t e r one degree Fahrenheit. " T r y o n , M a n n , and R o g e r s , of. cit., T a b l e 7, p. 623.

T H E COAL I N D U S T R Y

9

of energy was 3 4 per cent greater in 1 9 3 0 than in 1 9 1 3 . T h e significant point is that this increase of energy came from other sources than coal. In 1 9 1 3 bituminous coal supplied 1 2 , 5 3 5 trillion B.t.u.; in 1 9 1 8 it rose to 1 5 , 1 8 0 trillion B.t.u.; but in 1 9 3 0 it dropped to 1 2 , 2 4 9 trillion B.t.u. F r o m the standpoint of the percentage of total energy produced, bituminous coal declined from 72.7 per cent, in 1 9 1 3 to 6 1 . 7 per cent in 1 9 2 1 ; increased to 63.3 per cent during 1 9 2 5 and 1 9 2 6 ; then decreased to 55.7 per cent in 1930. 1 8 A l l the increase in the use of oil, natural gas, and water power does not represent a direct displacement of coal, yet the rapid decrease in the percentage of coal used for the production of energy is significant. In 1 9 1 3 domestic oil supplied 1 , 4 9 1 trillion B.t.u. This increased annually, with the exception of the one year of 1 9 2 4 , until 1 9 2 9 , when oil supplied 6,044 trillion B.t.u. Domestic oil supplied 8.7 per cent of the energy produced by minerals in 1 9 1 3 j increased to 24.6 per cent in 1 9 2 9 ; and there was only an insignificant drop in 1 9 3 0 . T h e energy produced by both domestic and imported oil amounted to 26.2 per cent of the total energy produced in the United States in 1930. 1 9 Between 1 9 1 9 and 1 9 2 9 the consumption of coal by the Class I railroads as locomotive fuel decreased 4.8 percent; the fuel oil consumption by these same railroads increased 65.7 per cent during this period. T h e gains made by natural gas are no less striking. In 1 9 1 3 natural gas supplied 626 trillion B.t.u. This amount increased annually except in 1 9 2 1 , until 1 9 3 0 . T h e percentage of total energy utilized in the United States, produced by natural gas, increased from 3.6 per cent in 1 9 1 3 to 9.5 per cent in 1 9 3 0 . I n the iron and steel industry the consumption of coal increased only 9.8 per cent from 1 9 1 9 to 1 9 2 9 , while the consumption of natural gas increased 960 per cent.20 In the textile industry the consumption of coal decreased 14.6 per cent, yet "Ibid., Table 9, p. 625. " Ibid. ж Address by С. B. Huntress, Executive Secretary of the National Coal Association, The Black Diamond, Number 2, J u l y 9, 1 9 3 z , p. 29.

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL M I N E R

10

the demand for natural gas increased 1 5 9 per cent. By the end of this ten-year period there was an increase in the annual consumption of oil and natural gas equivalent to 1 0 5 million tons of coal. Water power has also gained at the expense of coal: in 1 9 1 3 water power supplied 588 trillion B.t.u.; this increased to the peak in 1 9 2 8 ; and was only slightly less in 1 9 3 0 . T h e percentage of energy supplied by water power increased from 3.4 per cent in 1 9 1 3 to a maximum of 8.5 per cent in 1 9 2 8 , and made only a slight drop to 8.4 per cent in 1 9 3 0 . 2 1 T h e increase in consumption of hydro-generated electricity in 1 9 2 9 over 1 9 1 9 amounted to an equivalent of 1 7 million tons of coal." A l l of the increased consumption of oil, natural gas, and water power does not represent a direct displacement of coal, yet there is a very large element of direct competition. T h e abundant supply of fuel oil in California has almost eliminated the coal market in that state. 23 In Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, N e w Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, coal has lost heavily to oil. T h e greatest loss has been in the displacement of Illinois and Indiana coal in the Chicago area; Appalachian coal has suffered heavy displacement along the Atlantic Seaboard. Natural gas in Texas, Oklahoma, and California competes with both coal and oil. 24 T h e extension of long-distance pipe lines through the South to Birmingham and Atlanta and in the middle west to St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Chicago will directly displace coal for both domestic and industrial uses. In 1 9 3 1 more than 5,000 miles of new natural-gas lines of major importance were completed. 25 T h e hydro-electric developments of the Southern Appalachian states, N e w Y o r k , and 21

Tryon, Mann, and Rogers, loc. cit., Table 9, p. 625. " Huntress, of. cit. n Natural Industrial Conference Board, Inc., The Competitive Position of Coal in the United States, New York, 1 9 3 1 , pp. 28-30. 14 Ibid., pp. 3 1 - 3 2 . * For a map showing the network of natural gas lines in the United States, see Coal Age, Vol. 37, No. 2, February 1 9 3 2 , p. 68.

T H E COAL INDUSTRY

11

N e w E n g l a n d come into direct competition with coal. Bituminous coal has been displaced by these competitive sources of power and energy by an equivalent of 122 million tons a year. 2 * T h e use of oil and natural gas is not apt to increase in the future with the same degree of rapidity that it has increased during the past fifteen years, although the development by the government of water-power projects may increase the use of water power. Coal must continue to reckon with other sources of energy, 2 7 and coal production must be limited accordingly.

Fuel

Economy

Efficiency experts have also been adding to the troubles of the coal industry by improvements in fuel utilization. T h e railroads consume 23.7 per cent of the total bituminous coal output f o r locomotive f u e l and an additional 2.5 per cent for other uses.28 Remarkable strides have been made by the railroads in connection with f u e l economy. I n 1 9 1 7 the consumption of coal per thousand gross ton-miles was 1 7 6 pounds as compared with 121 pounds in 1930, or a decrease of 31.3 per cent. 29 T h a t greater efficiency may be attained is shown by the report of the U n i o n Pacific Railroad of a locomotive that uses only 70 pounds of f u e l per thousand gross tonmiles. 3 " T h e fuel required to m o v e a passenger car one mile was decreased f r o m 19.4 pounds in 1 9 1 7 to 14.7 pounds in 19ЗО.

T h e economies achieved in coal utilization by the electric public utilities have been more spectacular. T h e average con" Huntress, of. cit. " Professor W. T . Thorn of Princeton University estimates that the minimum oil reserve in the United States, that is fully proved, amounts to more than 10,000,000,000 barrels, and the semi-proved and prospective reserves probably equal several times that amount. He estimates that the available natural gas reserves amount to not less than 100,000,000,000,000 cubic feet, and may exceed double that amount. See address, Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Bituminous Coal, November 1931, I, 84. " Tryon, Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., Table 60, p. 675. " Tryon, Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., Table 65, p. 680. " Eugene McAuliffe, Railway Fuel, Simmons-Boardman Publishing Co., New York, 1927, p. 323.

12

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL M I N E R

sumption of coal per kilowatt hour of electricity generated decreased from 6.6 pounds in 1 9 0 2 to 3.2 pounds in 1 9 1 9 , and declined to 1 . 6 2 pounds in 1 9 3 0 . 3 1 Within the past decade the consumption of coal per kilowatt hour has been reduced almost 50 per cent. T h e possibilities of greater economy in utilization of fuel in the future by electric utilities is shown by the report of the H a r t f o r d Electric L i g h t Company—electrical energy is being produced commercially by the consumption of only 0.7 pound of first-class bituminous coal per kilowatt hour. 32 T h e consumption of coking coal, in the iron and steel industry, decreased from 3 , 5 7 7 pounds per gross ton of pig iron produced in 1 9 1 8 to 2,979 pounds in 1 9 3 0 , a decrease of 16.7 per cent. 33 T h e physical volume of production of manufactured goods in 3 5 0 industries increased 74 per cent from 1909 to 1926. 3 4 During this same period the consumption of coal in these industries increased only 29 per cent, 35 and practically all of this increase in coal consumption occurred prior to 1 9 1 9 . Between 1 9 1 9 and 1 9 2 6 the volume of physical production of manufactured goods increased 29 per cent, although the increase in the consumption of coal by these industries was negligible. A n analysis of the data on coal consumption reveals the fact that the chief loss of the coal market has been in those industries where coal is used to produce power. T h e r e has been an increase in the consumption of coal in the industries using coal for direct application of heat, 3 ® and a slight increase in the tonnage used for heating houses and other buildings. 37 It is obvious that these gains in the consumption of coal are not sufficient to offset the much heavier losses. T h e increase in the efficiency of coal utilization will prob" Tryon, Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., Table 64, p. 680. n Electrical World, Vol. 96, No. I, July 5, 1 9 3 0 , p. 35. " T r y o n , Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., Table 67, p. 681. " F . G. Tryon, О. E. Kiessling, and L. Mann, Coal in 1927, United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Mines, 1929, Table 54, p. 4 2 1 . This includes both bituminous and anthracite coal. " T r y o n , Kiessling, and Mann, of. cit., pp. 4 2 0 - 1 . " Ibid., Table 55, p. 423.

T H E COAL I N D U S T R Y

13

ably not continue at the same rate of advance as during the past two decades. T h e less efficient plants will gradually adopt more efficient methods of fuel utilization, or be replaced by the more efficient plants. There is no reason to believe that efficiency engineers have as yet discovered all the possibilities of increasing the efficiency of coal consumption. In the future, as in the past, fuel economies will be a factor in determining the demand for coal. hack of Wage

Standards

T h e lack of minimum-wage standards and the absence of any organization including all of the mines have been contributory influences in the development of new coal fields— a development irrespective of actual need for an increased supply of coal. In 1 9 1 9 , about 70 per cent of the bituminous coal was produced under union-wage agreements. In 1 9 2 2 , the operators attempted to reduce the union wage scale, but the union was strong enough, after a strike of four months, to force a settlement upon the prevailing high wage scale. In 1 9 2 4 , the operators and miners in the central competitive field38 signed what is popularly known as the Jacksonville agreement. This extended the existing agreement for a period of three years, and continued the established wage scale of $ 7 . 5 0 for a basic eight-hour day and $ 1 . 0 8 a ton for piece workers. In the meantime the operators in the Southern fields began to take advantage of this high wage rate to extend their markets. M a n y operators terminated their agreements with the union at the first opportune moment, and others went on the nonunion basis as soon as their agreement expired. T h e N e w River field in West Virginia deserted the union in 1 9 2 1 , and Alabama for the second time rejected union control. In 1 9 2 4 , western Kentucky refused to be bound by the Jacksonville agreement. In 1 9 2 5 , the union movement was dealt " Includes the mining areas in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania.

14

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL

MINER

a severe blow in northern West Virginia when the Bethlehem Mines Corporation and the Consolidation Coal Company severed their union connections. T h e lack of union regulation and wage standards, leaving each operator free to determine his own wage scale upon the basis of individual bargaining, gave the new nonunion fields an advantage in the highly competitive market. This was soon reflected in production: in 1 9 2 2 , the nonunion fields produced about 22 per cent of the total bituminous coal output} by 1 9 2 5 this had increased to 60 per cent} and mounted to 80 per cent in 1930. In West Virginia, the most important unorganized field, production increased from 7 1 , 2 5 4 , 0 0 0 net tons in 1 9 1 3 , to 107,900,000 net tons in 1 9 2 3 ; mounted to 1 3 8 , 5 1 9 , 0 0 0 net tons in 1 9 2 9 , an increase of 94 per cent in sixteen years." In the nonunion territory of Kentucky the development was even more pronounced. Production increased from 1 9 , 6 1 7 , 0 0 0 net tons in 1 9 1 3 to 44,777,000 net tons in 1 9 2 3 , an increase of 128 per cent in the decade; reached to 60,463,000 net tons in 1 9 2 9 , an increase of 35 per cent in six years. Production in the union fields of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois decreased from 146,086,000 net tons in 1 9 2 3 , to 1 0 2 , 6 9 1 , 0 0 0 net tons in 1929, a loss of 30 per cent. Since the World W a r the center of the bituminous coal industry has shifted from the unionized fields of the North to the nonunion fields of the South. T h e payment of a lower wage scale hastened the development of the coal industry in the Southern territory, and brought new sources of coal on the market which were not needed to supply the demands of the country. Seasonal Fluctuations T h e demand for coal is seasonal. T h e increased demand in the winter and the slackened rate of consumption during the spring and summer present a definite seasonal rhythm. 40 T h e increased consumption of coal during the winter by the railroads, public utilities, great industrials, together with the " T r y o n , Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., Table 10, p. 626. " T r y o n , Kiessling, and Mann, Coal in гузй, United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Mines, 1930, Table 20, p. 463.

T H E COAL I N D U S T R Y

15

greater tonnage used for heating purposes in houses and offices, expands demand and raises prices.41 Each operator feels the necessity of being able to fill orders at the peak of the market. This means that productive capacity is geared up to meet the peak demand, which lasts only three or four months during the winter. During the remainder of the year there is a big surplus capacity. Seasonal demand and overdevelopment result in unemployment, reduced wages, high production costs, and cutthroat competition to secure orders in a buyers market. Diffusion of Responsibility T h e coal industry seems to have fallen heir to most of the difficulties that can overtake any business. T h e foregoing analysis indicates that neither to any one group, nor to any one cause can be attributed the whole responsibility for the plight of the coal industry. M a n y influences and circumstances have conspired to produce these conditions. T h e W o r l d W a r was a potent factor in disturbing the normal development of the industry by throwing out of balance the normal equilibrium of supply and demand. T h e abnormal demand of the war period created profits which attracted too much capital and too many laborers to the industry. Increased competition with coal substitutes and greater efficiency in fuel consumption have accentuated the overdevelopment of the industry. T h e depression has only precipitated a rout when otherwise the process of readjustment might have been a more orderly retreat. This confusion has increased the financial losses and greatly intensified the suffering of the miners caught in the grip of inevitable deflation. If the coal industry is to be stabilized, so that it can make normal profits, pay living wages, and provide regular employment, it must be reorganized and regulated in order to assure a closer correlation between the productive capacity of the industry and the demand for coal. " T r y o n , Kiessling, and Mann, Coal in if27,

Figure 9, p. 407.

16

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

Future Trend of Demand During the past ten years the demand for bituminous coal in the United States, including exports, has fluctuated from 4 1 5 million tons in 1 9 2 1 , to 568 million tons in 1 9 2 6 , an average of 502 million tons per year for the period.'*2 T h e demand for bituminous coal in 1 9 2 6 was abnormally high because of labor disturbances in other coal fields. T h e demand for coal dropped from 5 3 7 million tons in 1 9 2 9 , to 4 7 1 million tons in 1 9 3 0 . During the past fifteen years there has been no appreciable increase in the demand for coal except during the W o r l d W a r and at periods of labor disturbances. T h e demand in 1 9 2 9 was below the 1 9 2 0 and 1 9 2 3 level. T o the extent that our needs are not supplied by oil, natural gas, and water power, we shall depend upon coal. Coal, doubtless, will continue to be our primary source of fuel and energy. In considering the probable demand for coal in the future, proper weight must be given to the steady increase in the total demand for power and heat. Further experiments in the use of pulverized coal in steamships may help to regain some of the market which has been lost to oil in recent years. 43 In the past, technological improvements in the utilization of coal have reduced the demand; in the future, further developments will probably increase the demand for certain grades of by-product coal. On the other hand, increased efficiency in coal consumption will continue, even though at a slower rate. Competition with oil and natural gas will depend upon the continuance of the present rate of production and the discovery of new fields. T h e St. Lawrence Waterway project and the Tennessee Valley plans are only indicative of future possibilities for the development of water power. It would seem, therefore, that the consumption of coal in the United States during the next decade will not exceed that of the past. In an industry dominated by seasonal variations, u

Trvon, Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., Table 6 1 , p. 676. Address by Ch. M . Stein, "European Progress in the Use of Powdered Coal in Steamships," Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Bituminous Coal, November 1 9 3 1 , II, 159-186. α

THE

COAL

INDUSTRY

17

due allowance must be made to meet these fluctuations. T h e demand of the boom year of 1929 for 537 million tons will probably be a liberal estimate to cover the peak years during the next decade. If the coal industry is to be stabilized, it must be on the basis of adjusting its productive capacity to this demand l e v e l . T h e extent of the overdevelopment of the industry on the 1929 demand basis can be determined by an analysis of the productive capacity of the industry. In that year the mines produced 535 million net tons in 2 1 9 days by employing 503,000 miners. If they had worked potential f u l l time, or 308 days, they would have produced 752 million tons.44 Capacity operation would have produced a surplus of 2 1 7 million tons, or 41 per cent above the production for the year. D u e to seasonal demand a part of this surplus capacity was necessary. T h e peak demand in February was at a yearly rate of 6 1 6 million tons. O n this basis the productive capacity exceeded the peak requirements by 136 million tons, or 22 per cent; although this represents only the capacity of the mines that were in actual operation during the year. T h e r e were in addition 1,094 idle mines which were not reported as abandoned. In former years these mines had an operating capacity of 130 million tons. 45 If the capacity of the idle mines is added to the excess capacity of the active mines, the total surplus capacity over seasonal peak requirements amounts to 266 million tons, or 43 per cent. T h i s calculation is based on present methods of production and does not take into account increased production which w o u l d be made possible by the introduction of better machinery or more complete mechanization of the mines. It also does not take into consideration the possibility of increasing production by the e m p l o y ment of more men in the active mines. A f t e r a mine is once d e v e l o p e d , its operating capacity can be easily increased. B e y o n d this actual productive capacity there is, in the words of " T r y o n , M a n n , and R o g e r s , of. cit., T a b l e 5, p. 620. " T h e s e figures were compiled by F . G . T r y o n of the United States B u r e a u o f Mines.

18

THE

BITUMINOUS

COAL

MINER

the report of the National Industrial Conference Board " a potential capacity that can be converted into actual capacity far in excess of the existing productive equipment." 44 Assuming that the demand for coal during the next decade will be as great as it was in 1929, the industry has from 50 per cent to 75 per cent greater capacity than is necessary to meet the demands of the market. Stabilization can be achieved only by reducing capacity to a level with normal demand. " N a t i o n a l Industrial C o n f e r e n c e B o a r d , Inc., of.

cit., p. 238.

II

HOW M A N Y MINERS ARE NEEDED? A PERUSAL of the literature pertaining to the coal industry in the trade journals and government publications, and a review of the scientific discussions in coal conferences and conventions, gives one the distinct impression that the problems surrounding coal itself are the only problems of any consequence to the industry. In all this literature little attention is given to the problems centering around the lives of the half million men who spend most of their working hours in the bowels of the earth digging the coal. T h e wellbeing of the nearly 3,000,000 people whose lives concentrate around the tipple is given little consideration compared with that given the black diamonds loaded into the coal cars. In the words of the former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, " T h e only figure to be found in all the mass of numerals connected with the bituminous coal industry that is clear cut and means what it says without equivocation or evasion is the number of tons of coal produced." 1 It is the wellbeing of the human side of the coal industry—the laborers and their families—with which this study is primarily concerned. Assuming that the demand for coal during the next decade will not exceed the 1929 consumption of 537 million tons, how many miners are necessary to supply the bituminous coal demands of the nation? O n the basis of this demand, how many of the more than 500,000 miners, now dependent upon coal mining for a livelihood, will be able to maintain a decent standard of living throughout the year? W h a t will happen to the large number of miners who no longer can find em1 Ethelbert Stewart in Monthly p. ι j.

Labor Review, [19]

Vol. XX, No. j, May 1915,

20

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

ployment in the mines? These are pertinent questions of importance to the commonweal as well as to the mining camps. The Number

of

Miners

T h e r e have been just two m a j o r employment trends in the bituminous coal industry in the United States during the last half century. T h e first was the increase in the number of miners employed each year, almost without exception, between 1890 and 1923: the number increased from 192,000 in 1890 to 304,000 in 1900; during the next decade 252,000 more men were drawn into the industry; by the end of the war period the number mounted to 640,000; and in 1923 some 705,000 men, the record for all time, were at work in the mines. 2 T h e rate of increase in the employment of miners in W e s t Virginia and Kentucky, previous to 1923, was exceptionally rapid. In 1900 W e s t Virginia employed only 29,163 miners; by 1923 the number had increased to 117,300, but the point of highest e m p l o y m e n t — 1 1 9 , 7 9 9 miners—was not reached until 1927. T h e boom which the war years brought to the coal industry in the state is indicated by the increase in the number of miners in some of the counties. In 1916 there were only 508 miners in Monongalia County. By 1923 this number had increased to 7,034/ In L o g a n County the number of miners increased from 2,395 in 1 9 1 0 to 13,431 in 1923, but did not reach the peak until 1926. In M c D o w e l l County there was an increase from 9,456 miners in 1905 to 16,995 in 1923, although the number continued to increase up to 20,382 in 1926. T h e development of the coal industry in Kentucky was no less striking. T h e number of miners in the state increased from 9,680 in 1900 to 60,811 in 1923, and continued to increase until 1927, when there were 64,747 miners employed in the state. Eastern Kentucky rapidly became coal minded, ' T r y o n , Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., T a b l e 5, p. 620. * Data for the number of miners in the counties were obtained from the Bureau of Mines.

HOW M A N Y M I N E R S A R E N E E D E D ?

21

as shown by the increase in the number of miners in representative coal counties. In H a r l a n County there were 1 6 9 miners in 1 9 1 1 , and only 1,496 in 1 9 1 5 , but the number increased to 9,260 by 1 9 2 3 , yet the maximum number was not actually reached until 1 9 3 0 . In Pike County the number increased f r o m 1,094 in 1 9 1 0 to 7 , 2 1 2 in 1 9 2 3 . In Perry County in 1 9 1 3 there were only 1 1 3 miners, but in the next ten years the number increased to 5,908. T h e coal industry developed much earlier in the central competitive field than in West Virginia and Kentucky. A l though the older mines felt the stimulation of war demands, there was not the need for so great an increase in the number of miners as in the newer territory. T h e number of miners in Illinois, from 1 9 1 3 to 1 9 2 3 , increased from 79,529 to 9 9 , 7 1 4 ; in Indiana from 2 2 , 2 3 5 to 3 5 , 4 0 8 ; in Ohio from 4 5 , 8 1 5 to 5 4 , 5 5 5 ; and in Pennsylvania from 1 7 2 , 1 9 6 to 194,981. T h e second major employment trend in the coal industry has been a rapid decrease in the number of miners employed each year since 1 9 2 3 , with the exception of the years 1 9 2 6 and 1 9 2 7 . I n 1 9 3 1 there were only 450,000 miners at work, a drop of 36 per cent in eight years. Not since 1 9 0 4 had the employment of miners been rcduced to such small proportions as in 1 9 3 1 . In J u l y 1 9 3 2 the number dropped to 294,758. 4 T h e rapid decrease in the number employed during 1 9 3 1 and 1 9 3 2 was greatly influenced, of course, by the depression. Nevertheless it is significant that the employment trend since 1 9 2 3 has been downward; that the number employed in 1 9 3 1 was less than in any year since 1 9 0 4 ; and that the number employed in J u l y 1 9 3 2 was but slightly larger than the average for the year 1899. Between 1 9 2 3 and 1 9 2 9 , years in no way connected with the depression, 202,000 miners were pushed out of the industry; by 1 9 3 1 this number had been increased to 255,000. T h e decrease in the employment of miners has not fallen * Based upon estimates of Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Vol. 35, No. 3, September 1432, Table I, p. 698.

Review,

22

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

with equal force in all parts of the bituminous territory. Between 1 9 2 3 and 1 9 3 0 the ranks of the miners were decreased by 3 3 per cent in Pennsylvania, 46 per cent in Illinois, 5 3 per cent in Ohio and 61 per cent in Indiana.5 In the newer fields of Kentucky and West Virginia the employment trend between 1 9 2 3 and 1 9 2 7 did not conform to the trend in the industry as a whole. In fact, the number of miners in these states continued to increase until 1 9 2 7 , and the downward swing did not start until the next year. Production increased for four years in this territory after retrenchment began in other sections of the coal fields—this contributed largely to the overexpansion of the whole industry. Between 1 9 2 7 and 1 9 3 0 there was a decrease of 1 1 . 5 per cent in the number of miners employed in West Virginia and 1 2 . 5 per cent in Kentucky. In the central competitive field the reduction in the number of miners employed began in 1 9 2 3 . This was during a period of general upswing of business and many of the displaced miners were able to secure jobs in nearby industrial centers. In West Virginia and Kentucky the reduction in the number of miners employed did not begin until 1 9 2 8 . A l though the number of miners displaced in these states was not so great as in the Northern states their plight was worse. T h e y were located in rural sections far removed from industrial centers. Because the expansion of the coal industry continued longer in these states than in the Northern states the displaced miners had less time to gain a foothold in other industries before the crash of 1 9 2 9 . Human Effects of Em-ployment

Shifts

T h e cold data of employment trends have little meaning until they are visualized in terms of actual human experience. T h e development of the mines meant exciting days for the mountain folk of Kentucky and West Virginia. In the hitherto poverty-stricken areas, hillsides and valleys were the scenes of feverish activities in the exploitation of the newly discov' T r y o n , Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., Table 35, p. 6 5 1 .

HOW M A N Y

MINERS ARE

NEEDED?

23

ered riches. After the first adventurous mountaineers had experienced the thrill of making what seemed to them fabulous wages in the coal mines, the labor scouts employed by the coal companies had no further difficulty in securing sufficient labor to match Northern capital for the development of the rich coal deposits. T h e rapid exploitation of the natural resources in a community unleashes the speculative tendencies of a people and gives rise to high hopes and visions of easy wealth. These tendencies are not confined to the entrepreneur group j the common people also become obsessed with the same notions. T h e miners experienced a boom sensation during the war period. A complete disorganization of social life takes place when boom forces have spent their energy and the industrial structure begins to collapse. This is particularly true in the case of extractive industries—the industries which rob nature of her wealth and give nothing in return. Since the boom days the miners have been caught in the grip of forces which have stunned and overwhelmed them. In spite of agitation, organization, and protests against conditions, all the advancement made by the miners extending over a period of years seemed to be threatened with annihilation. T h e deflation movement in the lives of the miners meant idle days, loss of jobs, dissipation of savings, empty pantries, hungry children, ragged clothes, hunger marches, and dire poverty for old age. Increase in Outfut

Per Man

This decrease in the number of miners employed has been caused by the decreased demand for coal, and by an increase in the tonnage output per man. In 1890 each miner produced on the average 2.56 tons of coal per day.® This output per man had increased to 3.46 tons by 1910, and had reached 5.3 tons in 1931. In this forty-year period the output of coal per man had doubled. If the 1890 rate of production had prevailed in 1931 it would have required 932,000 miners rather than the 450,000 miners who were actually employed to pro* Ibid.у Table j , p. 620.

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

24

duce the demand of that year, assuming, of course, that both groups work the same number of days. E v e n in 1 9 2 0 it required two man-hours of labor to produce one ton of bituminous coal, whereas in 1 9 3 0 it required only 1.6 man-hours. Working Time T h e number of men required to produce coal for the nation depends upon the number of days they work per year quite as much as upon the per capita output. T h e coal industry has become notorious for the irregularity of its working days during the year. In the forty-year period, 1 8 9 0 to 1 9 3 0 , the mines operated, on the average, 208 days a year. In no one year during this period did the number of days exceed 2495 even in 1929 the average was 2 1 9 , dropping to 1 6 0 days in 1 9 3 1 . T h e miners did not average so many days of work during the year as the mines operated. Quite naturally, the miners were frequently absent from their work, either of their own volition or for reasons beyond their control. F u l l working time during a year, excluding Sundays and holidays, would be 308 days. Making due allowance for breakdowns, car shortages, miners' holidays, and other non-operating days, a reasonable full-time schedule would number 280 days. T h e average year between 1890 and 1 9 3 0 fell short of this number by seventy-two working days, which gives a fair idea of the stabilization problem which confronts the industry if it is to provide a living wage for the miner. How Many Miners Are Needed? Based upon the daily output per man in 1 9 3 1 , and assuming 280 days to be a reasonable operating schedule, 258,000 miners could have produced the coal supply of that year. Upon this same basis it would require 362,000 miners to produce 537 million tons, which has been estimated to be a reasonable annual demand for the next decade.7 In estimating the number of miners needed in the future in the bituminous coal industry it should be borne in mind that at least two de1

See Chapter I, p. 19.

HOW M A N Y MINERS ARE

NEEDED?

25

velopments are taking place within the industry which are bound to increase the rate of output. T h e first of these developments is the concentration of production in the more efficient companies; the second is the increased mechanization of the mines. Tendency Towards Concentration T h e number of bituminous coal mining companies decreased from 6,277 in 1920 to 4,612 in 1929,® or 26.5 per cent. 9 T h i s high rate of mortality was not distributed equally among the different sized companies. There was only a slight decrease in the number of companies in the smallest g r o u p — those producing less than 10,000 tons per year. This group constituted approximately 49 per cent of the total number of companies in 1929. T h e big decrease in the number of companies occurred in the case of those companies producing from 10,000 to 200,000 tons per year. Those producing between 10,000 and 50,000 tons decreased from 2,121 in 1920 to 1,043 ' n 1929. Those producing a tonnage between 50,000 and 100,000 decreased from 727 to 408. T h e companies producing from 100,000 to 200,000 tons decreased from 543 to 3 3 1 . Those producing between 200,000 and 500,000 tons seem to have reached a fair degree of stability, for there was little change in their number between 1920 and 1929. T h e larger companies, however, showed the greatest vitality, for they gained at the expense of the smaller ones. Those producing between 500,000 tons and 1,000,000 tons increased f r o m 109 in 1920 to 131 in 1929. Those producing between 1,000,000 tons and 3,000,000 tons increased from 64 to 70, and those producing over 3,000,000 tons increased from 16 in 1920 to 17 in 1929. Further indication of the tendency of the larger companies to crowd out the smaller ones is the fact that in 1920 the companies producing above 200,000 tons of coal per year supplied 66. ζ per cent of the market; " T h i s does not include the small companies producing less than ι,οοο tons a year. * F . G . T r y o n and L. Mann, Coal in igig, United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Mines, 1931, T a b l e 2 j , p. 718.

26

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

whereas in 1929 this same group produced 79.7 per cent, an increase of 19.8 per cent. T h e reason for the concentration of production in the large companies is evident when each group is tested from the standpoint of efficiency. T h e average production per man per day for the companies which produce 200,000 tons or less per year was 3.59 tons in 1929. 10 For the companies producing more than 200,000 tons per year, the average tonnage per man per day was 5.14 tons. This shows 43 per cent greater productivity by the larger companies. T h e average number of days worked by the large and the small companies is of equal significance. Those producing 200,000 tons or less per year worked, on an average, only 185 days; for certain ones of the smaller companies the number fell as low as 127 days. T h e more than 200,000 tonnage companies worked, on an average, 238 days a year, or 28.6 per cent more working time. If production had been restricted to the companies producing over 200,000 tons per year, working the above average time of 238 days, it would have required only 437,000 miners to produce the coal supply for 1929 rather than the 503,000 actually employed. T h i s would have thrown 66,000 miners out of jobs. In other words, the number of miners could have been reduced by 13 per cent in 1929 if the more efficient companies had produced the coal. T h e significant point is that the tendency is clearly in this direction. T h e forces of competition seem to make this outcome inevitable. In terms of employment this means that a smaller number of miners will be needed. T h i s tendency must be taken into consideration when estimating the number of miners needed in the future to supply the coal market. Mechanization

of

Mines

Mining is one of the industries which has stubbornly resisted the introduction of the machine. In the old-time miner " Ibid., Table 26, p. 720.

HOW M A N Y M I N E R S A R E

NEEDED?

27

there was the spirit of the craftsman. H e matched his strength almost single-handedly against the forces of nature. H e especially prided himself in his freedom and the fact that he was his " o w n boss." T h e miner and his buddy considered their place of work their castle. Slowly but surely the machine has been encroaching upon these traditional rights. Electrically driven locomotives have now displaced the mules in 85 per cent of the main-line haulage; in taking the cars from the face to the main line, electrical power has supplanted all animals for 33 per cent of the tonnage. 1 1 T w e n t y - f i v e per cent of the drilling which was formerly done entirely by hand is now done by power. Power-driven undercutting machines in 1 9 3 0 were responsible for 81 per cent of the total tonnage of underground mines. A majority of the mines have installed screens, and 70 per cent are equipped with mechanical shaker screens. Mechanical methods of cleaning coal are supplanting hand methods. A l l of these improvements are a part of the process of mechanization, although they have not fundamentally changed the character of mining. At the present time the interest in the mechanization of mines centers around the various mechanical loading machines used to reduce the amount of hand shoveling required to lift the coal from the floor into the mine cars. These loading machines bid fair to revolutionize the whole mining process. As yet, labor is by far the largest item in the cost of mining coal. E v e n in 1 9 3 1 with the very low wage scale the labor costs in 1 5 0 mines, located in seventeen states, ranged f r o m 52.46 per cent to 9 1 . 1 0 per cent of the total cost of production. 12 In only four of the 1 5 0 mines were labor costs under 60 per cent. In more than 60 per cent of the mines the labor costs ranged from 70.27 per cent to 79.95 per cent. T h e operators reported that the cost of loading the coal in these 1 5 0 mines constituted from 1 6 . 3 8 per cent to 56.50 per cent of the total production costs—the majority reported a range f r o m 26 per cent to 46 per cent. Hence, when the operator 11

G. B. Southward in The Mining Congress Journal, "Coal Age, April 1 9 3 2 , pp. 1 3 2 - 3 4 .

January 1 9 3 2 , p. 2 5 .

28

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

considers the reduction of costs, he usually thinks first of labor costs. Mechanical loaders were used first in the United States in 1888, 1 3 but they did not become important commercially until about 1 9 2 3 . I n that year there were 1 2 5 mechanical loading machines in operation producing 1,899,726 tons of coal. During the next five years the rate of increase was phenomenal, averaging about 80 per cent per year. In 1 9 3 0 , 46,982,000 tons were produced by different types of loading machines. 14 This was an increase of 24.1 per cent over the previous year, and rose to 10.5 per cent of the total production from underground mines. In 1 9 3 1 , when the volume of coal production fell off 2 1 . 5 per cent from 1 9 3 0 , production by mechanical loaders actually increased 1.3 per cent to a new high level of 47,584,000 tons, lä or 1 3 . 2 per cent of the total bituminous deep-mined output. This shows the extent and the rate of rapidity at which hand-mining methods are losing in the competitive struggle with mechanical methods. I n 1 9 3 1 Illinois produced by far the largest tonnage of any state by mechanical loaders, a total of 22,662,000 tons; Pennsylvania ranked a poor second with 8 , 8 2 1 , 0 0 0 tons; Indiana followed with 3,436,000 tons. On the basis of the percentage of deep-mined output of the states mined mechanically, Montana ranked first with 73.6 per cent; Illinois second with 60 per cent; W y o m i n g third with 56.6 per cent; and Indiana fourth with 40.5 per cent. 16 Alabama with 1 9 . 5 per cent is the only state in the Southern field that had made any great strides in the installation of mechanical loaders. This rapid increase in the mechanization of the mines has greatly augmented the problem of technological unemployment within the coal industry. " For a brief historical account of the introduction of the mechanical loaders see article by Dr. L. E. Young, "Coal Mine Mechanization," Year Book on Coal Mine Mechanization, /929, published by The American Mining Congress, pp. 2-6. 14 Tryon, Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., Table 59, p. 674. " Weekly Coal Report, No. W. C. R. 773, United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Mines, May 7, 1932. " Weekly Coal Report, No. W. C. R. 777, United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Mines, June 4, 1 9 3 2 .

HOW M A N Y M I N E R S A R E

NEEDED?

29

T h e effect which this mechanization will have upon the demand for labor is shown by a comparison of the output per man per day by hand-loading and machine-loading methods. T h e average output per man per day in 1 9 3 0 in the bituminous mines by the hand-loading method was 4.76 tons. In 1 9 3 0 the average output per man per day in eleven mechanized mines was 7 . 1 6 tons, 17 according to the findings of a study made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In four of these mines which were f u l l y mechanized, the output averaged 10.8 tons per man per day. E v e n among these four mines there was a great difference in the rate of the increase in output obtained by mechanization: in one of them the output per man was increased by 92.9 per cent; in another only 5 0 per cent; whereas the average weighted increase in output for all four mines was 65.7 per cent. 18 In Sheridan County, W y oming, 9 1 . 7 per cent of the total tonnage was produced in mechanized mines in 1 9 3 0 , the average output per man per day being 1 3 . 0 7 tons. In all open-pit mines, where mechanical stripping methods are used, the output per man per day in 1 9 3 0 was 16.2 tons. Production f o r the year by strip-mining methods amounted to 1 9 , 8 4 2 , 0 0 0 tons. 19 Although this represents only 4.3 per cent of the total bituminous output for the country, it is seven times the amount of coal produced by strip mining in 1 9 1 5 . J u d g i n g by the continuous improvements in other types of machinery, and also in view of the improvements made in mechanical loaders during the past ten years, mechanical loading of coal is only in its initial stage of development. On the basis of present performance the output per man per day in the mechanized mines is, even now, almost double that of mines where coal is loaded by hand. It took more than forty years for undercutting machines 20 " "Employment in Relation to Mechanization in the Bituminous Coal Industry," Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 36, No. 2, February 1 9 3 3 , Table 16, p. »77·

"Ibid., p. 268. " Tryon, Mann, and Rogers, of. cit., Table 5 1 , p. 667. K Dr. L. E. Young, Year Book on Coal Mine Mechanization by The American Mining Congress, pp. 9-10.

rgiS,

Published

30

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

to displace hand-undercutting methods in 81 per cent of the deep-mined tonnage. Changes take place within the coal industry today, however, far more rapidly than they did a generation ago—changes which formerly required a decade now take but a few years. T h e forces of competition, as indicated by the movement towards concentration, are rapidly driving the less efficient companies out of business. T h e argument forcing mechanical loading machines into the mines is decreased cost of production. One operator reports that his overall operating costs per ton were reduced 2 5 per cent by mechanization. 21 In a study of costs covering thirty-two bituminous coal companies in seventeen states, it was determined that the mechanization of mines reduced the cost of mining coal all the way from two cents to forty-three cents per ton. 22 T h e coal industry in the past, as stated by a prominent mechanization engineer, has depended upon making profits from abnormal markets caused by cessation of operation in competitive fields; car shortages or labor troubles; and profits derived from the company store. 28 T h e dependence upon these methods, according to M r . Southward, is "economically unsound and their elimination is now putting coal mining on a basis where profits have to be made in the mining operation itself and a mine must stand or fall on its ability to compete legitimately with other mines and other districts." T h e rapid increase in the use of loading machines during the past eight years, particularly in the face of a 2 1 . 5 per cent decrease in coal production in 1 9 3 1 , would indicate a much more rapid introduction of mechanical loaders than was true of undercutting machines. If present tendencies continue, it would seem that by the end of another decade mechanical loaders and strip mining will produce about one-half of the bituminous coal supply. On the basis of the present output by means of mechanical loaders and the possibility of increased efficiency it would seem, by that time, that 1 0 tons per man " J o h n Wynn in Coal Age, Vol. 36, January 1 9 3 1 , p. 12. " "How High the Loading Costs," Coal Age, Vol. 37, April 1932, pp. 139141. Southward, of. cit., pp. 24.-2J.

HOW M A N Y M I N E R S A R E N E E D E D ?

31

per day would be a conservative estimate for the productive capacity of mechanical loaders. On the basis of this output per man a 280-day year would require but 96,000 men to produce 268.5 million tons of coal, or one-half of the estimated demand. If the handloading mines produced at the present average output of 4.76 tons per man per day, it would require about 202,000 men working 280 days a year to produce the other half of the coal supply. On this basis of calculation it will require, by the end of the next decade, only 298,000 bituminous miners to produce the estimated ( 5 3 7 million tons) coal demand for the nation. If the coal supply of 5 3 5 million tons in 1929 had been produced by the mechanized mines on the basis of an average production of 7 . 1 6 tons per man per day working only 2 1 9 days (the number for that year) it would have required only 3 4 1 , 0 0 0 miners rather than the 503,000 actually employed. In other words, 67.8 per cent of miners employed in 1929, working on the basis of the above assumptions, could have produced the necessary tonnage. If the mines had operated full time, or 280 days, the same amount of coal could have been produced with 53 per cent of the miners actually employed. This gives some idea of the extent to which labor can be displaced at the present time by technological improvements in the mining process. Extent of Unemfloyment

A mong Miners

T h e foregoing analysis indicates the number of men needed to produce the coal supply at the present time working on a full-time basis, and the probable number of miners needed to meet the demands for coal during the next decade. It does not, however, indicate the number of miners unemployed at the present time, or the number who will have to find some method of making a living other than mining. I n the United States Census of 1 9 3 0 , 688,660 males are listed as miners. 24 Of this number 1 6 1 , 0 9 7 " were anthracite * Unemployment, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1 9 3 0 , Table 9, Vol. These figures were obtained from the Bureau of the Census.

32

T H E BITUMINOUS

COAL

MIXER

miners, leaving a total of 5 2 7 , 5 6 3 bituminous coal miners. At the time of the enumeration 5 2 , 1 7 5 miners reported that they were unemployed, and an additional 87,306 that they were on lay-off without pay. T h i s latter group included those who worked whenever the mines operated and those who considered that they had jobs in mines that were temporarily closed. This makes a total of 1 3 9 , 4 8 1 miners who were unemployed or at least not working when the census was taken. Of this number 4 5 , 2 3 2 ^ were f r o m the anthracite districts and 94,249 from bituminous coal districts. T h e r e were 4 3 3 , 3 1 4 bituminous miners employed as of April 1 9 3 0 , at the time of the census enumeration. If the mines had worked f u l l time, or 280 days in 1 9 3 0 , and had produced 5.06 tons per man per day, the actual average for the year, it would have required 3 3 0 , 3 2 2 miners to produce the year's coal supply. Consequently 102,992 more men were employed in the industry than would have been needed to produce the coal supply if the mines had worked f u l l time rather than 1 8 7 days. Adding the 94,249 unemployed miners to this excess number of men makes a total of 1 9 7 , 2 4 1 surplus miners over and above the number necessary to have produced the coal supply in 1 9 3 0 . T h e r e should be added to this surplus labor supply the large group of young men and boys who live in coal camps, but are not classified as miners because they have never been able to get jobs in the mines. On the basis of the present demand for coal and the output per man per day working f u l l time there are more than 200,000 surplus bituminous coal miners in the industry. 27 I n view of the prospects for the coal industry this represents a permanent, not temporary, surplus. These surplus miners need to be withdrawn from the industry, not only for their own well-being, but for the well-being of the miners remaining to dig the coal for the nation. " These figures were obtained f r o m the Bureau of the Census. " Operators may insist that a part of this surplus labor is neccssary in order to meet the peak demands of production during the winter, but as long as this vast surplus of labor remains around the tipple to pick up part-time work during the short rush season the miners w i l l be forced to accept low wages and will be constantly threatened with unemployment.

HOW M A N Y MINERS ARE NEEDED?

33

Displaced miners stranded in isolated coal camps present a challenge to social engineering. T h e s e extra miners were drawn into the coal mines by the high wages paid temporarily during the rapid expansion of the industry accompanying the war. T h e y are now caught in a situation from which they cannot lift themselves without some outside assistance. A Study of Unemployed

Miners

T h i s study was undertaken in order to determine something of the character, training, occupational experience, ability, and aptitude of unemployed miners. Nine hundred fiftysix unemployed or part-time employed miners, representing 838 households which included 4,554 people, were interviewed. These miners lived in Kentucky and W e s t Virginia in fifty-two communities scattered through nineteen counties. T h e interviews were confined to the miners of these two states because the problem of unemployment—-judged by the difficulties in securing other jobs, the need for organized relief, and the extent of undernourishment among the c h i l d r e n — was more acute in the mining communities of these two states than in similar communities in other bituminous coal producing states. L i m i t e d financial resources also restricted the scope of the study to this more homogeneous group of miners. T h e coal camps in which the study was made were selected in the principal coal fields of these two states because they were typical of the camps where unemployment was most prevalent. N o attempt was made to interview all of the unemployed miners in any camp. In each camp an effort was made to contact the miners who were not working so that those interviewed would represent, in proper proportion, the unemployed, the part-time employed, different ages, races, nationalities, economic levels, and residential parts of the camp. T h i s study was conducted in cooperation with local officials, operators, and prominent miners at a time when other "investigators" were being forcibly expelled from the communities and when there was considerable agitation against " f o r e i g n " interference. T h e child-feeding program conducted under the auspices of the American Friends Service Commit-

34

THE BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

tee afforded contacts in each community, established a basis of confidence, and dispelled suspicion of ulterior motives, so that both unemployed miners and coal operators discussed freely the problems of the coal industry and the plight of the unemployed. Although infallible conclusions cannot be based on so small a sample, yet it is believed that the 956 miners interviewed represent a true cross section of the unemployed miners in Kentucky and West Virginia in 1932. The findings of the study are analyzed in the following chapters.

III

T H E U N E M P L O Y E D MINER AND HIS F A M I L Y NATIVE WHITES did not enter mining in sufficient numbers in the industrial states of Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio, to provide an adequate labor supply. T h e y found more advantageous opportunities in the diversified industrial development of these states and in the better advantages offered in agriculture. T h e operators turned to immigrants for the necessary supply of labor to make up the shortage. In Ohio, in 1920, 30.5 per cent of the miners were foreign born; in Illinois, 38.3 per cent; while in Pennsylvania 55.4 per cent were drawn f r o m foreign countries. T h e operators of these central industrial states ignored almost completely the great reservoir of N e g r o labor. In Pennsylvania only 1.4 per cent of the bituminous coal miners were Negroes; in Illinois, 2.4 per cent; and in Ohio, 1.9 per cent. 1 In the coal mines, as in other industries of the South, foreign labor did not gain an important foothold. T h e Southern operator turned to the N e g r o to supply any shortage of native white labor. In Kentucky 13.6 per cent of the miners were Negroes; 84.2 per cent, native whites; and only 2.2 per cent, foreign born. 2 T h e same tendency is evident in W e s t Virginia with 21.8 per cent of the miners Negroes; 61.2 per cent, native whites; and 17 per cent, foreign born. 3 Source of Mine Labor in Kentucky

and West

Virginia

W h e n the mines were opened in Kentucky and W e s t Virginia the operators found cheap and unorganized labor near ' R e p o r t of the United States C o a l Commission, 1925, Part I I I , T a b l e 5, p. 1422. ' Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Occupation Statistics, K e n t u c k y , T a b l e 1 1 , p. 16. ' W e s t V i r g i n i a A n n u a l Report of the Department of Mines, 1930, pp. 112-

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

36

MINER

TABLE Ι PLACE o r BIRTH o r 956 UNEMPLOYED* KENTUCKY AND WEST VIRGINIA MINERS 1 ·

Number B o r n i n C o u n t y inVVhich T h e y Now Live Born in C o u n t y Adjacent to One in Which T h e y Now Live Alabama Arkansas California Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Kentucky Maryland Missouri New York N o r t h Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin Europe Mexico N o Answer TOTALS

W e s t Virginia

PercentNumber age

Totals

PercentPercentNumber age age

00

Kentucky Place of Birth

198

20.7

13-4 2.8

154 28 I I 2 13 5 I 142

16.1 2.9 0. I 0. I 0.2 1-4 0-5 0. I I4.9 0.9 0.4 0.2 1.8 2-7 0.2 2. I 0.2 7-5 0-3 9.2 10.3 0.1 6.9 O. I 0. I 100.0

86

24.0

112

74 II I

20.6 3-1 °·3

80 17

I 7 I

°·3 1.9 °·3

67

Ι8·7

0.2 0.2 I .0 θ·7 0.2 12.5

3

0.8

6 2 I 2 I 55 2 21 II I 6

1 ·7 ο.5 ο·3 ο·5 °·3 15 3 ο.5 5.8 3 ·1 °·3 ΐ·7

I I 6 4 I 75 9 I 2 II 24 I 18 I 16 I

359

100.0

67 87

ΐ·5 0.2 °·3 1.8 4.0 0.2 3·ο О. 2 2-7 0.2 II .2 I4.6

60 I I

10.0 0.2 0.2

9 4 2 17 26 2 20 2 71 3 88 98 I 66 I I

597

ΙΟΟ.О

956

• About one-third of the miners were not working at the time of the interviews, although they considered themselves employed. Since the economic status of these employed miners is as difficult as the unemployed miners (See C h a p t e r VII, p. 99) and there appears to be no clear-cut difference between the two groups, in this and the following chapters they are all referred to as unemployed. ь Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1931.

at hand. In Kentucky 2 4 per cent of the miners interviewed in connection with this study were born in the county in which they now live, 2 0 . 6 per cent in adjacent counties, and an ad-

UNEMPLOYED

MINER AND

FAMILY

37

ditional 1 8 . 7 per cent within the state. (See Table 1 . ) This makes a total of 63.3 per cent who were natives of the state in which they now live. A n additional 24.2 per cent were born in the adjoining states of Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. It is significant that in this group of miners only two were born in Ohio bordering on the north, none in Indiana, and only one in Illinois. I n West Virginia 46.7 per cent of T A B L E D I S T A N C E OF P L A C E o r PLOYED

BIRTH

KENTUCKY

AND

Kentucky Distance of Place of Birth from Present PercentNumber Residence age Place of Birth Under 25 Miles 25-99 Miles 100-199 Miles 200-299 Miles 300-499 Miles 500-999 Miles 1000 and Over Foreign Country No Answer TOTALS

79

6.4 22.0

123

34-3

23

J8

2

FROM P R E S E N T R E S I D E N C E OF 9 5 6

16.1

WEST

VIRGINIA

UNEM-

MINERS®

Totals

West Virginia

Percentage

Number

Percentage

19 «3° 163

3-2

42

4-4

21.8

209

21.9

27-3

286

29.9

135 74

14.1

77 52 53

12.9

Number

7-7

18

6.1 7·° ί·°

4

I . I

15

3-8 2-5

6

61

10.2

67

I

1-7 °·3

4

0.7

5

7 0 0.5

359

ΙΟΟ.Ο

597

100.0

956

100.0

22

25

23

8.7 8.9

78

8.2

41 19

4-3 2.0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

the miners interviewed are natives of the state—18.7 per cent born in the county in which they now reside, 1 3 . 4 per cent in adjacent counties. Table 2 gives further evidence of the extent to which these miners in Kentucky and West Virginia were drawn from the localities in which they now live. Slightly more than 26 per cent were born within twenty-five miles of their present residence, 56 per cent within 1 0 0 miles, and 70 per cent within 200 miles. T h e nationality of the miners interviewed, as shown in Table 3 , indicates that the problem of dealing with the unemployed miners in Kentucky and West Virginia is primarily

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

38

MINER

one of taking care of native Americans. If the locality in which the mine was situated did not furnish a sufficient supply of labor, the shortage was made up largely by attracting labor from farther South. O f those who came from Alabama 85.7 per cent were Negroes, from Georgia 61.5 per cent, from North Carolina 41.2 per cent, and from Virginia 37.5 per cent. Less than half of the N e g r o miners interviewed are natives of the states where they work. T A B L E NATIONALITY

o r

956

UNEMPLOYED

AND

Nationality Native White Colored Foreign Born TOTALS

WEST

3 MINERS

IN

KENTUCKY

VIRGINIA®

Number

Percentage

7S

81.2 I I .0 7.8

95 6

100.0

776

105

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

Age of Unemployed

Miners

T h e age distribution of the 956 unemployed miners interviewed in Kentucky and W e s t Virginia is shown in T a b l e 4. T h e r e is a noticeable similarity in the percentage of the unemployed miners in each age group in these two states ·, in Kentucky 40.4 per cent, and in W e s t Virginia 37.4 per cent were under thirty-five years of age. In both states slightly more than 32 per cent were forty-five years of age or over. Almost 58 per cent of the unemployed miners were in the age group between twenty-five and forty-four years. T h e average age of the unemployed miners was 39.5 years, and the median age 38.9 years. Table 5 shows the age distribution of all miners and other industrial workers in Kentucky and W e s t Virginia. T h e census report shows that the miners, as a whole, in these states were younger than laborers in manufacturing and mechanical industries, transportation, and communication. In the mining

UNEMPLOYED MINER AND

39

FAMILY

group 55.5 per cent were under thirty-five years of age in 1930 compared with 47.2 per cent of the industrial group. M o r e than 71 per cent of the miners were between twenty and forty-four years of age; 64 per cent of the industrial workers were in this age range. O n l y 20 per cent of the miners were forty-five years or more of age, whereas 29.4 per cent of other industrial workers were retained after this age. In these two states miners start to work at an earlier age than other industrial workers, yet a smaller percentage of the miners remain employed after forty-five years of age. T A B L E 4. ACE

DISTRIBUTION

or

956

UNEMPLOYED WEST

Kentucky Age Distribution Number Under 18 Years 18 and 19 Years 20 and Under 25 Years 25 and Under 35 Years 35 and Under 45 Years 45 and Under 55 Years 5 J and Under 65 Years 65 and Under 75 Years 75 years and over TOTALS

I I

23 120 98

78 31 7 0

359

MINERS

IN

KENTUCKY

VIRGINIA'

AND

•'VV

West Virginia

Totals

PercentPercentPercentNumber Number age age age °·3 ο·3 6.4

2

9 58 155 180

21.7

132

8.6

44 1З 4 597

33-4 27-3

2.0 О ΙΟΟ.Ο

°-3 1-5

3

°·3

10

I .0

81

8-5

2J.9

275

28.8

30.2

278

29. I

22.1

210

22.0

7-4

75

7.8

2.2

20

2. I

°·7

4

O.4

ΙΟΟ.Ο

956

IOO.О

9-7

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

Age as a Factor in

Unemployment

A g e is a factor in determining unemployment only for the younger and the older miners. In Kentucky and W e s t Virginia the percentage of miners unemployed under twentyfive years of age is less in proportion than the percentage of the miners employed in this age group. (See T a b l e 5.) In the age range between twenty-five and forty-five years the percentage of unemployed miners occurs in about the same proportion as the percentage of miners e m p l o y e d — 5 7 . 9 per

40

T H E

BITUMINOUS

c e n t of t h e u n e m p l o y e d

COAL

MINER

miners interviewed

and

54.6

per

c e n t o f a l l m i n e r s in t h e s e t w o states f e l l w i t h i n this a g e r a n g e . A g e p l a y s a n i m p o r t a n t p a r t in d e t e r m i n i n g

unemployment

o f m i n e r s o v e r f o r t y - f i v e y e a r s of a g e . M o r e t h a n 3 2 p e r c e n t TABLE

S

A G E D I S T R I B U T I O N OF E M P L O Y E D A N D U N E M P L O Y E D M I N E R S A N D O T H E R INDUSTRIAL WORKERS

Percentage in Specific Age Group

Age Distribution

Under 18 Years 18 and 19 Years 20 and Under 25 Years ΐ ζ and Under 35 Years 35 and Under 45 Years 4 J and Under 5 5 Years J J and Under 6 j Years 65 and Under 75 Years 75 Years and Over Unknown TOTALS

956 Unemployed miners*

•3 ι .0 β.ί 28.8 29. I 22.0 7-8 2. J •4 О IOO.0

Male Workers in Manufacturing, Mechanical AH Miners AH Industries, in Kentucky Transportation Coal Miners and West in U.S. in and CommuniVirginia 6 I93° d cation in Kentucky and West Virginia 0 2.8 5-6 16.9 30.2 24.4 14.1 4.8 I .0 .I .I 100.0

2.1 4-1 •3-9 27.1 »3-3 16.8 9.0 3-2 .4 .I

2-3 4-5 12.8 24.8 26.1 18.9 8.2 2.1

100.0

100.0

.1

.I

• Field Investigations in Kentucky and West Virginia, Winter and Spring, 1931. Based upon figures taken from Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Occupation Statistics, Kentucky, Table 11, p. 16, and West Virginia, Table 11, p. 15. • Ibid. л Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Occupation Statistics, Gainful Workers by Industry and Occupation (Reprint of Chapter 7, Vol. V), Table 2, pp. 12-13. ь

o f t h e u n e m p l o y e d m i n e r s a r e f o r t y - f i v e y e a r s of a g e o r o v e r , w h e r e a s o n l y 2 0 p e r c e n t of a l l m i n e r s in K e n t u c k y a n d W e s t V i r g i n i a c o m e w i t h i n this o l d e r a g e g r o u p . T h e

percentage

o f t h e u n e m p l o y e d m i n e r s b e t w e e n t h e a g e s of f o r t y - f i v e a n d fifty-five

y e a r s is 6 0 p e r cent g r e a t e r t h a n t h e p e r c e n t a g e of

UNEMPLOYED MINER AND FAMILY

41

employed miners in the same age group. T h e percentage of unemployed miners fifty-five years and over is almost double that of the employed miners. M i n i n g coal is hard work. It calls for strong healthy men. T h e r e is not enough diversity in the industry to provide sufficient work for the old, injured, or decrepit miners. T h e y cannot look forward with any degree of assurance to the continuance of employment during old age, because the older miners will be squeezed out of the industry first. T h e y will be the first to be discharged and the last to be hired. W h e n a miner reaches the age of forty-five years he may not be automaticall y dropped, but if he does lose his j o b because the mine closes or because of slack work he will have greater difficulty finding a new j o b than will a younger man. T h e discrimination against the older miners will become greater as the safety laws of the states are made more exacting. W h e n the operator has the opportunity to make a selection between a younger and an older miner he naturally hires the one w h o he thinks will produce the greater amount of coal and will involve the lesser risk. In K e n t u c k y and W e s t Virginia the miners were younger on the average than all miners (anthracite and bituminous) in the United States. (See T a b l e 5.) In 1930 more than 55 per cent of the miners in these two states were under thirtyfive years, although only 44 per cent of all miners came within this age range. T w e n t y per cent of the miners in these states were over f o r t y - f o u r years old, whereas 29 per cent of all miners were in this age group. In the United States, as a whole, there is probably a larger percentage of unemployed miners over f o r t y - f o u r years of age than in Kentucky and W e s t Virginia. If this assumption is correct, it follows that more than one-third of the 200,000 surplus bituminous coal miners are o v e r f o r t y - f o u r years of age, constituting a real superannuation problem. It is certain that in the readjustment of the industry to the present demand for coal, the old and inefficient miners w i l l be crowded out of the industry first. T h e industry has made no provision to care for these superannu-

42

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

ated workers. T h e y are cast upon society to be supported after having spent their best years d i g g i n g coal. D u r i n g t h e interviews many of the old miners complained of their plight. I don't w a n t to stay in a mining camp, but w h e n a feller has done nothin' else all his l i f e — a n d is old at forty, he doesn't k n o w w h a t to do. I gets nervous w h e n I think about m y condition. *

*

*

C o m e to this country w h e n I was a y o u n g m a n — w o r k all my life h e r e — l o s t m y e y e — n o w old man at

fifty-five.

N o work.

Nobody

give me job. Boss say I ' m too old. N o t h i n ' to do but go h u n g r y . *

#

*

T h e last time I got a job I lied about my age. I told Boss I was only forty-five w h e n I ' m a man has to eat.

fifty-two *

years old. I never liked t o lie but *

*

A man w h o has w o r k e d all of his life can't stand to quit. Herod passed a 'cree to kill all of the y o u n g children and all the people was a weepin' 'bout i t — n o w they has passed a 'cree to kill all of us old miner people and no one's weepin' 'bout it.

Age of

Beginners

T a b l e 6 shows that a majority of the miners interviewed started mining v e r y young. Forty-three per cent began mining before they were seventeen years of age, and only 19 per cent entered the industry after twenty-four years of a g e ; the median age being 17.7 years. A l m o s t 71 per cent were wage earners before their seventeenth year and 87.5 per cent under twenty years of a g e ; the median age being 15.09 years. (See T a b l e 7 . ) T h e y really started to work at an earlier age than the median indicates, as all but two of those who became wage earners after twenty years of age previously lived on farms and worked with other members of the family, although not in the status of wage earners. F r o m the age distribution of the present miners it is evident that when the mines were first opened in Kentucky and W e s t Virginia boys started to work in the mines at a much younger age than they do at present. T h e result is the same as in most industries where y o u n g boys are permitted to work

UNEMPLOYED MINER AND T A B L E AGE

956

UNEMPLOYED

MINERS

6

(KENTUCKY

S T A R T E D TO W O R K IN

Kentucky Age Number Under 10 Y e a r s 10 and Under 14 14 and Under 17 17 and Under 20 20 and Under 25 25 and Under 3 5 35 and Under 45 45 and Under 55 55 and Over No Answer TOTALS

AND W E S T

VIRCINIA)

MINES"

Totals

West Virginia

PercentPercentPercentNumber Number age age age

5 66 107 46 60 46 16

Years Years Years Years Years Years Years

43

FAMILY

1-4

16

29.8 12.8 .6.7 12.8

85 133 I 10 98 80 29

18.4

5 0 8

4·5 1-4 o.o 2.2

359

IOO.0

2-7

14.2

22.3 18.4 16.4

40

13-4 4-9 0.8 0.2 6.7

597

100.0

5 I

151 240 156 158 126

21

2.2 15.8 25.1 16.4 16.5 13.2

45 10

4-7 I .0

I

O. I

48

5.0

956

100.0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1931.

— a n early start does not mean advancement nor security of tenure during old age. T h e coal industry offers another illustration of the damaging social consequences of child labor. T A B L E AGE

956

UNEMPLOYED

MINERS

CAME W A G E

Kentucky Age Number Under 1 0 Years 10 and Under 14 14 and Under 17 17 and Under 20 20 and Under 25 25 and Under 35 3 5 and Under 45 45 and Over No Answer TOTALS

Years Years Years Years Years Years

8 101

AND

WEST

VIRGINIA)

BE-

EARNERS"

West Virginia

Totals

PercentPercentPercentNumber Number age age age

1.1

15

28.1 40.4 10.8 6.7 5-3 ΐ·7 0.6 4.2

359

100.0

145 39 24 19 6 2

7

(KENTUCKY

34 166 224 119 26

5-7 27.8

42 267

37-5 19.9 4-4 0.6 0.0 0.2

369 158 50 13 6

4.4 27.9 386 16.6

23

3-9

3 38

5-г 2.4 0.6 0.3 4.0

597

100.0

956

IOO.O

4 О I

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

4+

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

F a t h e r w a s a f a r m e r until I w a s nine years old w h e n w e w e n t to w o r k in the m i n e t o g e t h e r . I never got to go to school m u c h . I t w a s pick m i n i n g in those days a n d I learned h o w to u n d e r c u t as it should be d o n e . *

*

*

I never done any w o r k outside of the mine 'cept a little t i m b e r w o r k . F a t h e r was a m i n e r a n d I was raised in a m i n i n g c a m p . I w e n t to w o r k in a m i n i n g c a m p w h e n I w a s twelve years old, a n d lost these t w o fingers at the second joint. I d o n ' t k n o w any w o r k I get to do outside of the mines. I ain't never gone to school at all. *

*

*

I started to w o r k in the mines w i t h m y f a t h e r w h e n I w a s t e n years old. L a t e r I got a job as a t r a p boy. I w o r k e d in the s u m m e r a n d w e n t to school some in the w i n t e r . I ' v e lived all my life in a m i n i n g c a m p , d o n ' t k n o w a n y t h i n g else. M y g r a n d p a p a n d g r e a t - g r a n d p a p come f r o m I r e l a n d . M y people have been in W e s t Virginia for eighty years. I started to w o r k in the mines w h e n I was n i n e years old doing outside w o r k , a n d w o r k e d ten hours a day just d u r i n g the w i n t e r . W h e n time come f o r p l o w i n ' I w e n t back to the f a r m . F a r m i n g was very poor. W e g o t t e n a l o n g better a f t e r w e come to the public w o r k s .

Marital and Domicile

Status

O f the 9 5 6 u n e m p l o y e d miners interviewed, 9 0 p e r cent w e r e married and 8 4 . 8 per cent either supported families, or had dependents. A s shown in T a b l e 8, a larger percentage of the native white w e r e married than of the other nationality groups—91.2

per cent of the native white, 8 5 . 7 p e r cent

of the N e g r o , and 8 2 . 7 per cent of the foreign born. T h e m a r ried men l i v e d with their families in 9 3 per cent of the cases. T h e white families s h o w e d considerable more p e r m a n e n c y than either the colored or foreign families. T h e r e w a s a l a r g e r percentage of single miners a m o n g the foreign born than a m o n g either the native white or the colored. F a m i l y responsibilities of the single men show a w i d e variation. O n l y 7 . 7 per cent of the foreign born w e r e l i v i n g at home, compared with 4 0 per cent of the N e g r o e s , and 7 2 per cent of the native

UNEMPLOYED MINER AND

FAMILY

45

white. N o n e of the single foreigners had dependents, while 20 per cent of the colored had f a m i l y obligations. Boarders with no f a m i l y obligations ranged f r o m 1 6 . 2 per cent among the unmarried white miners, to 9 2 . 3 per cent among the f o r eign born. T A B L E

8

M A R I T A L A N D D O M I C I L E S T A T U S OF 9 5 6 U N E M P L O Y E D M I N E R S IN TUCKY

AND W E S T

Total Native and Foreign

Native White

Colored

Num-

Percentage

Number

Percentage

Number

956 860 96

100.0 90.0 10.0

776 708 68

81.2 91.2 8.8

Married Living with Wife Widowed or Divorced N o t Living with F a m ily

860 800

100.0

4»

708 679 21

100.0

93° 4-9

18

2. I

Single L i v i n g at Home with or without Responsibility N o t Living at Home but Having Dependents Boarding or Lodging

96

56

Domicile Status

Total Number viewed 1 · Married Single

KEN-

VIRGINIA*

foreign

Percentage

Number

Percentage

105 90

I I .0 85.7

75 62

Π

14-3

13

7.8 82.7 17-3

90 70 13

100.0 77-8 14.4

62

95-9 3-0

5i 8

100.0 82.3 12.9

8

I . I

7

7.8

3

4.8

100.0

68

100.0

IS

100.0

13

100.0

58.3

49

72.0

6

40.0

I

7-7

8

II.8

3 6

20.0 40.0

0 12

92-3

Inter-

II

II. J

19

30.2

11

16.2

0.0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932. ь Nationality percentages are calculated on the basis of the total number of miners (956); the marital percentages are calculated on the basis of the number within each racial group.

T h e s e statistics suggest a greater degree of domestic tranquillity in the family life of the miner than actually exists. T h e miners' houses with their bleak, u g l y surroundings and lack of conveniences, the drudgery and constant care of the ever-increasing f a m i l y , the monotonous life in a mining camp, irregular work, and insecure existence do not provide the

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

46 right

kind of environment to sustain wholesome f a m i l y life.

M a n y of these miners h a v e experienced a series of separation, desertion, divorce, and remarriage that w o u l d make h a r m o n i ous f a m i l y life appear as a dream. I married a coal miner's daughter in 1 9 1 2 and we moved to the coal camp where her father worked. I started to load coal at 2 8 ^ a ton and got better pay every year until I made $ 3 , 0 0 0 in 1 9 1 9 . A t one time I had $ 6 0 0 in the bank. D u r i n g the 1 9 2 2 strike I spent all of my savings and run up a store bill of about $ 6 0 0 . W h e n I got to work again everything I made for four years went to pay it back. W e moved to another camp in 1 9 2 6 . Here's where my wife left me. H e r clothes got shabby and thin. She would go to the store and get turned down for orders because I couldn't get enough work. She said, " E m , I like y o u — w h e n you had work you got me nice clothes." She left while I was in the mine at work. She came back several times to see the children and said she was working in a hotel in Charleston. I heard that she had gone with another fellow, but I never knew. T h e life in a mining camp has surely ruined my family. *

*

*

M e and wife separated and I left. She ran off with another fellow. While she was away I sold everything for a hundred dollars and left. W e had a lot of house furniture, paid $ 1 , 5 0 0 for it. She had one kid with that fellow, that's w h y I left her. T h e y had planned to get me the night they left. M y w i f e insisted that I stay by myself in the house that night but I didn't. M y buddy saw this other fellow go in there that night with a shotgun. Until the mines closed I always made good money, but I have had terrible luck—been married three times. *

*

*

M y first wife and I lived together for about two years—then we separated, caught her laying out with another man. Y o u don't see as many women who are not fittin' in other parts of the country as you do in a mining camp. A mining camp is not fit to raise a dog in. I have four children by my second wife and I am going to move as soon as I can get anything to move on.

Children Per Family T h e 8 6 0 married miners interviewed had a total of 4 , 1 6 5 children, or an a v e r a g e of 4 . 8 children per f a m i l y . T h e r e

UNEMPLOYED MINER AND F A M I L Y

47

was a wide range in the number of children per family, as shown in T a b l e 9. Sixty families, or 7 per cent, had no children; 1 1 . 9 per cent had three children; 4 1 . 3 per cent had between five and ten children; 6.6 per cent had eleven or more T A B L E TOTAL NUMBER

OF C H I L D R E N

860 UNEMPLOYED MINERS

N u m b e r of Children per F a m i l y

(LIVING

9 AND

DEAD)

IN K E N T U C K Y

IN T H E

AND W E S T

FAMILIES

OF

VIRGINIA'

Number and Percentage of Families with this Number of Children

TOTALS

100.0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

children; and two families had eighteen children. T h e twochildren-family group contained the largest number of families, but the number of families in the three- and four-children-family groups was only slightly less. Of the total number of children 76.1 per cent were in families with five or more children.

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL

48

MINER

Table 9 gives the total number of children, whether living or dead, born to the 860 families. N o death occurred in 45 per cent of the families with children, although the other families lost 851 children, or 20.4 per cent of the total number of children. In the families where death occurred the average death rate was 1.9 children per family. Table 1 0 indicates the very high infant mortality rate of unemployed miners' children; 6 1 . 5 per cent of all children were under one year of age; and 86.2 per cent under five years of age at the time of death. In contrast, the infant mortality rate in the T A B L E

10

A C E OF C H I L D R E N A T T H E T I M E OF D E A T H IN T H E F A M I L I E S OF 8 6 0 U N E M PLOYED M I N E R S

Age of Children at Time of Death

Under ι Year 1 Year and Under $ Years J Years and Under 10 Years 10 Years and Under 15 Years ι J Years and Over TOTALS

IN K E N T U C K Y

Number of Males

AND W E S T

Number of Females

VIRGINIA*

Total Number of Males and Females

Percentage of Deaths in Age Group

310

213

118

92

523 210

61.5 24.7

18

18

36

4.2

>4

4 28

18

2. I

64

7-5

85I

100.0

Зб 496

3SS

* Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

registration areas of the United States in 1 9 2 5 was 1 7 . 7 per cent for children under one year of age and 2 2 . 1 per cent for children under five years of age. 4 T h e great disparity in the death rate of children among unemployed miners' families indicates a lack of proper medical attention, as well as the absence of knowledge by the family of how to care for children. This high infant mortality rate has caused not only an incalculable amount of suffering and sorrow, but also has been a heavy financial burden on the family. * Based upon data given in Mortality Statistics, 1925, Part I I , Bureau of Census, T a b l e F , p. 13, and Birth, Stillbirth, and Infant Mortality Statistics: 1925, Part I I , Bureau of Census, T a b l e Z, p. 38.

UNEMPLOYED MINER AND

49

FAMILY

Size of Households T h e miner's household as indicated in Table 1 1 includes not only the children at home, but all other persons living with the family as dependents, not including boarders and lodgers. T h e unemployed miners interviewed represent 838 households including 4 , 5 5 4 people, an average of 5.4 persons TABLE

11

S I Z E OF H O U S E H O L D S " OF 8 3 8 U N E M P L O Y E D WEST

N u m b e r of P e r s o n s per Household

2 3 4 5

6

7 8 9 10 11 1 2 and o v e r TOTALS

MINERS

IN K E N T U C K Y

AND

VIRGINIA1"

N u m b e r and P e r c e n t a g e of Households with this N u m b e r of P e r s o n s Number

Percentage

79 115 145 131 113 92

9 13 17 15 13 11

63 49 23 17 11

7 5 2 2 I

838

4 7 3 6 5 0 5 9 8 0 3

100 0

• The term household in this table includes children living at home, all other persons who live with the family as dependents, but does not include boarders and lodgers. ь Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

per household. Forty and four-tenths per cent of the households consisted of four or fewer persons; 1 5 . 6 per cent of five persons j and 44 per cent of six or more persons. T h e largest number of households f e l l within the four-family group, although 76.2 per cent of the total number of persons belonged to households with five or more members. T h e size of the unemployed miner's household becomes significant when it is compared with the size of the household

so

THE

BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

of the employed miner and with other occupational groups. T h e average sized family in West Virginia in 1 9 3 0 , including only related persons, was composed of 4.36 persons; 5 in Kentucky 4 . 1 1 persons; 6 and in the United States as a whole 4.1 persons. T h e percentage of families which fell in each family-sized group, as shown in T a b l e 1 2 , is more illuminating than is the average number of persons per family. According to the investigation made by the Coal Commission, 55.4 per cent of the families of bituminous coal miners had four or less persons per family in 1 9 2 0 as compared with 40.4 per cent of the unemployed miners in the present study. There was a d i f ference of only ι per cent in the number of families in the five-member-family group in these two studies, but 44 per cent of the unemployed miners had six or more members in their families as compared with 3 0 per cent of the employed miners. This shows a decided increase in the size of families of unemployed miners in 1 9 3 2 as compared with bituminous miners in 1 9 2 0 . T h e age distribution of the unemployed miners is probably responsible for the larger families. A comparison of the size of the unemployed miners' families with the size of all families in Kentucky, as reported in the census, is even more conspicuous. In Kentucky 64 per cent of all families had four members or less; 12.4 per cent of the families f e l l within the five-person-family group, and only 2 3 . 5 per cent had families composed of six or more members. A comparison with a study of the working-class families in Chicago, made by the Illinois Health Insurance Commission in 1 9 1 8 , shows a still greater tendency towards smaller families; 65.2 per cent of these urban families had four or fewer members; 1 3 . 2 per cent f e l l in the five-person-family group; and only 2 1 . 5 per cent of the families had six or more members. (See Table 1 2 . ) According to a study of all families in N e w H a v e n , Connecticut, there was a slight increase in the ' F i f t e e n t h Census of the United States, 1 9 3 0 , Population Bulletin, Families, West Virginia, T a b l e 6, p. 7. ' Ibid., Kentucky, T a b l e 6, p. 7.

51

UNEMPLOYED MINER AND FAMILY

size as compared with families in the Chicago study, but the N e w Haven families were far below the unemployed-miner group in size. Even the cotton-mill families in the cottonmill towns of North Carolina are less prolific than the bitumiT A B L E PERCENTAGE

OF

HOUSEHOLDS

NUMBER

838 Unemployed Number Miners of Persons Interper viewed Household Supporting Families* I 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 and over TOTALS

OF

ΊΑ CONTAINING

SPECIFIED

MEMBERS

All FamiAll FamiFamilies of 3048 Work- lies in New 500 Cotton lies in Bitumiing Class Mill FamiHaven, Kentucky nous Coa Families in Connecti- liesinN.C.' Census d Miners' Chicago cut" I93° b

None 9-4 13-7 17-3 15.6 13-5 I I .0 7-5 5-9 2.8 2.0 ΐ·3

5 21 19 16 12 8 6 3 2

100.0

100 0

9 4 9 8 4 8 0 9 4 I 3 0 6 0 5

3 16 17 17 14

11 8 5 3

9 5 7 3 6 3 0 3 0

2 4

100 0

3-3 18.3 23.6 20.0 13.2 9.6 5.8 3-2 1.8 •5 •4 .2

None 21 6 21 6 19 4 13 7 9 4 6 2

100.0

99 9

8 0

None 13.2 19.4

19.2 16.8 10.8 10.6 4.8 3-2 1-4 0.4

0.2

100.0

• Field Investigations, Kentucky and West Virginia, Winter and Spring, 1932. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Population Bulletin, Families, Kentucky, Table 5, p. 6. 0 Report of United States Coal Commission 1915, Part III, Table 10, p. 1425. л Paul H . Douglas, Wages and the Family, University of Chicago Press, Second Edition, 1927, Table XIV, p. 36. • Mildred Parten, The Annals 0} the American Academy 0} Political and Social Science, Vol. 160, March 1932, Table I, p. 31. ' J e n n i n g s J. Rhyne, Some Southern Cotton Mill Workers and Their Villages University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1930, Table VI, p. 79. b

nous coal miners. The reasons for the large families among the unemployed miners are to be found in the high birth rate among miners, and the age distribution of the unemployed group. T h e occupational composition of a population has a decided influence upon the birth rate. As shown in Table

52

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

1 3 , miners head the list of all occupations for the large number of children per family. This is true not only in the United States, but holds true in England and Wales as well. The number of children under seven per 1000 women eighteen to forty-four years of age, in twenty-five selected coal counties scattered throughout twelve states, is 52 per cent above the average for the United States.7 In the isolated coal communities there are few diversions and almost no economic T A B L E A V E R A G E N U M B E R OF C H I L D R E N E V E R C O R D I N G TO O C C U P A T I O N

13 B O R N TO M O T H E R S , L I S T E D

OF F A T H E R S

IN

UNITED

STATES

Miners (Foreman, overseers and inspectors) Mine operatives Farmers Laborers (Manufacturing) Laborers (Railroad) Clergy Retail dealers Machinists Managers (Manufacturing) Lawyers Teachers Bookkeepers Soldiers and Sailors Average all occupations • Warren S. Thompson, Ratio oj Children to Women 1920, X I , Table 9, p. 13.

AC-

1920*

4.6 4.3 3.8 3.7 3.6 3.3 3.1 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.0 1.8 3.3 Census Monograph

opportunities for women. They remain at home, marry young, and rear large families. The wife of one miner accomplished the rare and difficult feat of being the mother of eleven children and had one grandchild before she was thirty-two years of age. A social worker inquired of the women in a camp as to the number of their children. One quiet little woman said: " I ' v e got seven but I ' m ashamed to say i t . " W h e r e u p o n a bolder one exclaimed, " O h , g o on w i t h y o u , I ' v e got ten but I ' m not ashamed of i t . " * Warren S. Thompson, Ratio of Children graph X I , p. 1 3 7 .

to Women

1910,

Census Mono-

UNEMPLOYED MINER AND FAMILY

53

" W h e n P r e a c h e r G r e e n m a r r i e d u s , " explained a thirty-year-old miner w h o w a s m a r r i e d at

fifteen

t o a g i r l thirteen years old, " H e

give us just t w o w e e k s to live t o g e t h e r . W e l l , w e ' r e still at it!

You

don't find m a n y couples m a r r i e d as y o u n g as w e w a s that stick it out. W e have eight children a n d hain't lost any y e t . "

The group of unemployed miners contains a larger proportion of old men than the group of employed miners. In Kentucky and West Virginia 61.4 per cent of the unemployed miners are thirty-five years of age or over, as compared with T A B L E

14

N U M B E R OF M A L E W A G E E A R N E R S PER H O U S E H O L D IN A G R O U P OF 8 3 8 U N E M P L O Y E D M I N E R S IN K E N T U C K Y AND W E S T V I R G I N I A *

N u m b e r of M a l e Workers

N u m b e r and Percentage of Households with this N u m b e r of Male Workers Number

Percentage

710

84.7

95

11 -3

I

г 3 4 5 TOTALS

28

3-4

4 I

0. I

838

100.0

O.J

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

44.4 per cent of all employed miners in this same age group in these states. (See Table 5.) This means that a larger percentage of the unemployed miners are at an age when their families are more nearly complete. Miners not only have larger families than any other occupational groups, but unemployed miners with their large families are in the vanguard to lead the miners' procession. Wage-Earners

per

Household

T h e unemployed miners have large families, yet there are few wage-earners per household. In 84.7 per cent of the families the husband was the sole male breadwinner. There was

THE

54

BITUMINOUS

COAL

MINER

one additional male worker in 1 1 . 3 per cent of the families, and two or more additional male workers in 4 per cent of the families. (See Table 1 4 . ) Of the 167 wage-earners in the 838 households, in addition to the father, only thirty-four had even irregular work at the time of the interviews. A lack of economic opportunities for women in the coal camps is shown by the fact that in the families interviewed there were only TABLE

15

P E R C E N T A G E OF HOUSEHOLDS CONTAINING T H I S N U M B E R OF W A G E - E A R N E R S

N u m b e r of Wage Earners per F a m i l y

838 U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s Interviewed S u p p o r t ing Families*

None I 2

0.0 82.8 12. I

3 4 And Over TOTALS

All Families in K e n t u c k y C e n s u s 1930''

500 Cotton Mill Families in N o r t h Carolina*

3-7 1-4

5-i 653 20.2 6.6 2.8

0.0 48.6 27.6 II.6 12.2

100.0

100.0

IOO.0

* Field Investigations of unemployed miners in K e n t u c k y and West Virginia, Winter and Spring, 1 9 3 2 . b F i f t e e n t h Census of the United States, 1 9 3 0 , Population Bulletin, Families, K e n t u c k y , T a b l e 1 1 , p. 1 1 . c R h y n e , op. cit., T a b l e X I , p. 84.

thirty-five female wage-earners. Counting both male and female wage-earners there was an average of 1.24 workers per family. Only 17.2 per cent of the unemployed miners had two or more wage-earners per family. In all of the families in Kentucky there were 29.6 per cent with two or more wage-earners, whereas among the cotton mill workers of North Carolina as high as 5 1 . 4 per cent of the families had two or more wageearners. (See Table 1 5 . ) The small number of wage-earners in the miner's family is due to the character of the one-industry community in which the miner lives. There are few opportunities for the females to secure work. The boys marry young, establish their own

UNEMPLOYED MINER AND F A M I L Y

55

homes, and do not continue parental support. T h e old and inefficient members of the family are unable to secure work to supplement the family income. T h i s means than any savings which the miner has accumulated are soon exhausted during periods of unemployment. T h e unemployed miner and his family are soon reduced to dependency because the wages of the father are seldom supplemented by the wages of other members of the family.

IV " O N C E

A

MINER,

A L W A Y S

A

MINER"

THE SUGGESTION that something should be done to rehabilitate the unemployed miners usually elicits some such reply as, " M i n e r s are miners" 5 " A miner will do nothing else but mine coal"} or "Once a miner, always a miner." T h e r e is a popular impression that a miner is a peculiar kind of a genus homo who because of certain inherent peculiarities has chosen to work underground. Once in this environment he will refuse to work elsewhere outside of his natural habitat. If this assumption were correct it would be useless to attempt to help the displaced miners find other occupations. If, on the other hand, miners are guided primarily by economic considerations the same as other workers, and select their occupations because of circumstances, wages, and work opportunities, then the popular conception should have little influence in handling this problem of occupational unemployment. T h e very limited industrial contacts and experiences of the miner may make it more difficult for him than for other workers to find a new job or to enter other occupations. His comparative isolation from other industrial workers may cause him to be more diffident about venturing into the industrial field to find work, but it does not make the miner inherently different from other workers. It places him in a position of greater helplessness in the face of necessary industrial readjustment, and increases his need for industrial guidance and assistance in the present emergency. Why Have Men Become

Miners?

T h e interviews with unemployed miners show that there was nothing unusual or unique that induced them to start to work in the mines. A s indicated in Table 16 the dominant [56]

ONCE A MINER, A L W A Y S A

MINER

57

reason in 4 3 . 3 per cent of the cases was that either the father, a relative, or a friend was a miner. E i g h t e e n per cent of these miners started to work in the mines at thirteen years of age or younger, and 4 3 . 1

per cent started their mining career

before they were seventeen years old. 1 It is probable that in most cases these miners, as boys, were given slight choice as to whether or not they w o u l d enter the mines. T h e y T A B L E

simply

16

R E A S O N S FOR S T A R T I N G TO W O R K IN M I N E AS G I V E N BY 9 5 6 U N E M P L O Y E D MINERS

IN

KENTUCKY

AND W E S T

Kentucky Reasons Number Father or Relative a Miner Could Make Better Wages Nothing Else to Do Mine Near Home Influence of Friends Wanted to Mine Coal Had to Support Family Wanted to Leave Home Other Reasons Unknown Totals

VIRGINIA*

West Virginia

Totals

PercentPercentPercentNumber Number age age age

I45

40.4

210

35-1

355

37·"

105 29 19 13 16 10 4

29.2

130 52 56 46 26 19 7 33 18

21.8 8.7 9-4 7-7 4-4 3-2 1.2 5-5 3-0

235 81 75 59 42 29 11 47

24.6 8-5 7.8 6.2

597

100.0

956

Η

4 3S9

8.1 5-3 3-6 4-5 2.8

I.I 3-9 I.I 100.0

22

4-4

3-0 1.2 4-9 3

-3

loo.o

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

obeyed the behest of their fathers. I n the relatively nonindustrialized states of Kentucky and W e s t Virginia, w h e r e there were f e w opportunities to get a j o b , it was only natural that boys should f o l l o w in the footsteps of their fathers and relatives in seeking work. H i g h wages were responsible for attracting 2 4 . 6 per cent of the miners into the industry. T h e part that local circumstances p l a y e d in occupational selection is evident;

1 6 . 3 per cent of the miners entered the mines

either because the mines were near their homes, or because 1

See Chapter I I I , Table 6.

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

58

there was nothing else to do. O n l y 4.4 per cent of the unemployed miners interviewed admitted that they started to mine coal because they really wanted to become coal miners. In both Kentucky and West Virginia the miners gave very simiT A B L E OCCUPATIONS

o r

FATHERS

OF

AND

Occupations of Fathers

956

17

UNEMPLOYED

WEST

MINERS

IN

KENTUCKY

VIRGINIA1

Number and Percentage of Fathers With This Occupation Number

Percentage

Full-Time Part-Time b

448

46.9

Fanner

33

3-5

Miner

Full-Time Part-Time"

230

24.0

122

12.8

31 22

3-1 2-3

»5

1.6

14 10

>•5 I .0 •7 •3

Common Labor Building Trades Blacksmith and Other Trades Lumberman Business Man Skilled Labor Teacher or Preacher Army Service or Law Enforcement Fisherman Surveyor or Telegraph Operator No Answer TOTALS

7 3 3

•3

1

.2

1

.2

14

ΐ·5

956

100.0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932. ь Part-time butcher, lumberman, carpenter, etc. • Part-time blacksmith, railroad worker, engineer, etc.

lar reasons for entering mining; in only two of the reasons— " M i n e near home," and "Influence of friends"—is there a noticeable discrepancy. (a) Occupation of Father Further light is thrown on the reasons which induced these unemployed miners to enter the mines by an analysis of the

ONCE A MINER, A L W A Y S A MINER

59

occupations of their fathers. S l i g h t l y more than one-half of the fathers were either farmers or part-time farmers, supplementing farming by such activities as butchering, lumbering, or carpentering. (See T a b l e 1 7 . ) M i n i n g , or at least parttime mining, which included 36.8 per cent of the fathers, ranked next in importance to farming in the occupations of the fathers. O n l y 12.8 per cent of the fathers of the unemp l o y e d miners were from occupational groups other than f a r m i n g and mining. A l m o s t one-half of these men were either common laborers, or were connected with the building trades. It is apparent that the occupation and the situation of the fathers of the unemployed miners afforded slight opportunity f o r the economic advancement of their sons, and mining was about the only j o b open to them. F a t h e r was a miner, and I started to w o r k with him as a helper w h e n I w a s eleven years old. *

*

*

M y mother died and my father was a f a r m e r and kept house. I had to g o out and bring in some money to help support the family. M i n i n g w a s the only thing I could get to do.

•

*

*

I got run down in health w o r k i n g in a blacksmith shop and quit. I w a s living with my father w h e n a friend of mine, w h o was w o r k i n g in the mine, came and said there was w o r k there for me, and I w e n t with him and got a job.

+

+

+

I just picked it up, lived near the mine and boys w e r e employed. T h e boss took me on.

*

*

*

T h e r e w a s a big bunch of us children at home on the f a r m , and father needed w h a t money I could make in the mine. *

*

*

F a t h e r died w h e n I was four years old, and I had to start to w o r k in the mine at twelve to help support the family. *

*

*

D i d n ' t have no more sense than to g o in.

60

THE

BITUMINOUS

COAL

MINER

W h e n I w a s of a g e a n d r e a d y to leave h o m e , m i n i n g w a s t h e only w o r k in the c o u n t y . *

*

*

M y f a t h e r a n d m o t h e r both died, and I w e n t in to the m i n e s w i t h m y brother.

•

*

*

I w a s living w i t h m y parents in a camp, and there w a s n o t h i n g else to do but g o in the mines. *

*

*

M y father is a miner and all his brothers and his sisters' husbands and his uncles are miners. I ' v e lived w i t h i n one mile of w h e r e I live n o w all of m y life, and m y f a t h e r has been here all of the time too.

(b) A ctivity of Labor A gents Labor agents played an important part in inducing men to enter the mines during the rapid expansion of the coal industry during the W o r l d W a r . T h i s was particularly true in the case of the Negroes. Labor agents circulated among the colored people in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, and painted alluring pictures of the great possibilities in the coal mines. M e n were offered good jobs at high wages, short hours, houses to live in, and transportation to the coal fields. T h i s offered not only the occasion to escape from the restricted conditions of tenant farming, but also an opportunity to get into industry and share in the " b i g w a g e s " of the industrial worker. It is little wonder that the number of N e groes who had been gradually entering the mines for more than twenty-five years was rapidly augmented. 2 Sometimes the Negroes were brought into the coal fields as strike breakers, and at other times simply to increase the supply of labor. So great was this influx of colored labor that by 1930, as pointed out above, 13.6 per cent of the total number of miners in Kentucky and 21.8 per cent in West Virginia were Negroes. T w o colored m e n c a m e d o w n into our c o u n t r y in G e o r g i a looking for m e n to w o r k in the coal mines in W e s t V i r g i n i a . T h e y promised * S. D . Spero and A . L . H a r r i s , The Black Worker, C o l u m b i a University Press, N e w Y o r k , 1 9 3 1 , C h a p t e r X , " T h e N e g r o in the C o a l M i n e s . "

ONCE A MINER, A L W A Y S A MINER

61

m e a job a n d g a v e m e transportation. T h e y brought a w h o l e carload of us f r o m G e o r g i a to W e s t

Virginia. *

*

•

T r a n s p o r t a t i o n w a s furnished m e by a labor a g e n t to come to the coal fields. L i k e all other boys I w a n t e d to leave home. I c a m e to W e s t Virginia w i t h a b u n c h of other fellows. *

*

*

I heard they w a s r a k i n ' up m o n e y in cars in the coal mines in W e s t Virginia.

*

*

*

A labor a g e n t persuaded m e to leave home a n d come to K e n t u c k y . I w a s promised high w a g e s a n d an easy life.

(c) Lure of High Wages T h e lure of high wages in the coal industry was most effective in pulling workers off the hillside farms and drawing them into the mines. W h e n the mines were first opened in the hill country the natives were somewhat reluctant to relinquish their freedom f o r industrial life. But when the first adventurous workers returned home, after a few weeks in the mines, with new clothes and their pockets f u l l of money, the die was cast. T h e farmer folk abandoned their land and began to flock to the mines. T h e operators discovered a supply of labor near the tipple which was not contaminated with union labor ideas and for which there was little competition. T h e low standard of living on the farms and the absence of ready cash made the wages paid in the mines appear as exorbitant sums. I had to help m a k e a l i v i n g for the f a m i l y and there w a s

more

m o n e y in m i n i n g than there w a s on the f a r m or any place else. *

*

*

T h e r e w a s n o m o n e y on the f a r m f o r a boy, so I left and started in the mines. *

*

*

I n e v e r m a d e big m o n e y on the f a r m , but I a l w a y s had a good l i v i n g . I rented 3 0 0 acres belonging to an old man w h o let m e m a n a g e

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

62

it as I pleased. He furnished everything and I got one-third of everything we raised. T h e f a r m was well stocked and I had a good team. One year I sold $ 2 0 0 worth of turkeys, and one winter I sold $ 2 0 0 worth of polecat pelts. W h e n I left the f a r m I had enough feed on the farm to last a year. H a d corn, hay, chickens, and turkeys. I sold them all to come to the coal fields. I got the fever to leave the f a r m and to go to the coal mines where I could make big money. M y w i f e objected and thought we were making a mistake, but I wanted to have more money coming in than I had on the f a r m . M y wife had been sick a great deal and I had big hospital and doctor bills to meet. It w a s hard to raise this money on the f a r m . It looked like it would be easier to do this in the mines. So I pulled up stakes on the f a r m and started to mine coal when I was thirty-two years old. *

*

*

I was dissatisfied with things on the f a r m and wanted to get in the mines where I could make some money. I just walked off and left a mule worth $ 1 2 5 , $ 5 0 0 worth of furniture, and seventeen head of hogs. I know now I was a fool but I didn't know it then.

(d) Few Jobs Except

Mining

T h e restricted industrial opportunities of the u n e m p l o y e d miners interviewed is shown by the f e w f u l l - t i m e j o b s they e v e r had except in the mines. A s indicated in T a b l e

18,

s l i g h t l y more than one-fourth of the miners n e v e r h a d a f u l l time j o b outside of the mines, and 6 3 . 9 per cent n e v e r had more than t w o jobs. T h i s m i g h t be interpreted as evidence that almost two-thirds of the miners had r e f u s e d rather consistently to do a n y t h i n g else but mine coal, and taken as confirmation

of the p o p u l a r conception of " O n c e a miner, a l w a y s

a m i n e r . " T h e interviews indicate c l e a r l y , h o w e v e r , that w h i l e some of the miners c l u n g tenaciously to the one occupation, a m a j o r i t y continued to mine coal because they w e r e able to make more m o n e y in the mines than in a n y other j o b . M o n e tary considerations h a v e been of p a r a m o u n t importance in inducing miners to remain in the coal industry.

Freedom and Independence of the Job T h e u n e m p l o y e d miners are a g r o u p of w o r k e r s w i t h l o n g mining experience. O n l y 1 per cent of the u n e m p l o y e d miners

ONCE A M I N E R , A L W A Y S A M I N E R

63

had less than one year's experience in the mines; 8.3 per cent less than five years' experience; one-half had been miners from ten to twenty-four years; and 2 1 per cent had worked in the mines for twenty-five years or more. (See Table 1 9 . ) These unemployed miners had worked in the mines on an average of 1 7 . 3 years. T h i s long work record is partially accounted for by some special features about mining which apT A B L E

18

N U M B E R OF F U L L - T I M E J O B S O U T S I D E OF M I N I N G H E L D PLOYED M I N E R S

N u m b e r of J o b s O u t s i d e of M i n e s

IN K E N T U C K Y AND W E S T

1 2

3 4 5

Percentage

245

25 .6

19З 17З 99 72

20.2 18.1 10.3

7-5

54

S.6

6

33

3-5

7

23

2 4

8

13

I -4

14

ΐ·5 3-5

9 1 0 a n d over Unknown TOTALS

UNEM-

N u m b e r a n d P e r c e n t a g e of U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s w i t h this N u m b e r of J o b s H e l d O u t s i d e of Mining Number

None

BY 9 5 6

VIRGINIA"

33 4

0.4

956

100.0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

peal to the workers. T h e attractive features of mining are not primarily responsible for the men entering the mines, although they help to explain the long work record of the miners. T h e miners, of all industrial workers, have retained the largest degree of independence and freedom from control by the boss. T h e mining industry is still very largely in the "cott a g e " stage of industrial development. T h e position of the miners is very different from that of other industrial workers.

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL M I N E R

64

T h e miners are not regimented as men are in large factories working elbow to elbow under the strict supervision of the boss. Neither do they punch time clocks, nor have their pace set by the speed of the machine. T h e i r quitting time is not even regulated by the whistle. T h e physical layout of a mine is the important fact which makes mining entirely different from factory work. I t will T A B L E YEARS

956

UNEMPLOYED

MINERS

IN

19 KENTUCKY

H A V E W O R K E D IN

Number of Years Worked in Mines

AND

WEST

VIRGINIA

MINES®

Number and Percentage of Unemployed Miners Working this Number of Years

Under ι Y e a r ι to 4 Years 5 to 9 Years 10 to 14 Years 15 to 19 Years 10 to 24 Years 25 to 29 Years 30 to 39 Years 40 Years and Over No Answer TOTALS

100.0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

not be far amiss, for illustration, to compare the main plan of a coal mine to the street system of a city. T h e main entry way which is developed first may be compared with the main street. T h e transportation system centers in this main entry way. As the mine develops, other entries or tunnels are made parallel to this at regular intervals. These parallel entries are connected at right angles with cross entries or intersecting tunnels somewhat like cross streets. Rooms about twenty-four feet wide are made at regular intervals at right angles off of these cross entries. T h e side walls of the rooms are known as pillars, and are left unmined in order to support the roof un-

ONCE A MINER, A L W A Y S A

MINER

65

til the rooms are w o r k e d out. T h e height of the room is usually determined by the thickness of the coal seam which varies f r o m two to forty feet. 3 T h e rooms are usually, however, scarcely high enough for a man to stand erect. T h e coal miner and his b u d d y w o r k at the end of this room, known as the " f a c e " of the coal. T h e room is advanced a few feet each working day into the solid coal in the direction of the next cross entry. W h e n a miner and his b u d d y are given this room, or place in which to work, they consider that they have a proprietary right to it. T h e y are seldom transferred to another room until this one is worked out, unless they ask for another room because of water, poor coal, or other bad working conditions. E v e n if a miner is absent for a considerable time, his room will ordinarily be held for him. It is in this isolated room, removed f r o m contacts with other workers, that the miner and his buddy work. T h i s seclusion is occasionally interrupted by the driver, as he brings empty cars or removes the loaded cars; by the boss on his rounds; or, perhaps, by a visit f r o m miners in nearby rooms w h o may be waiting for cars, or wanting to see how the coal has fallen after a particular shot. T h e pair of miners are l e f t in this isolated room to work very largely in their own w a y and at their own rate of speed. T h e coal is usually broken down at the face, preparatory to loading, by t w o methods. T h e least important is "shooting f r o m the solid." B y this process the coal is blasted f r o m the solid face by h e a v y charges of powder. T h e more common method is to undercut the coal the entire length of the face before shooting. T h i s undercut is at the bottom of the seam and extends f r o m three to six feet into the solid coal. Before the introduction of the undercutting machine this work was done entirely by hand. T h e miner l y i n g on his side with a short pick digs his w a y in under the coal. Props of timber are placed under the edge of the coal to protect the worker f r o m the projecting mass. A f t e r the undercutting is completed either by hand or by machines, long augers are used to ' R e p o r t of the United States Coal Commission, 1925, Part III, p. 1054.

бб

T H E B I T U M I N O U S C O A L MINER

bore holes into the coal, into which the powder is packed for shooting. T h e placing of these holes, determining depth, angle, and proper amount of powder needed to break the coal down without i n j u r i n g the r o o f — l e a v i n g the face so it can be worked to advantage for the next shooting—requires considerable skill and experience. A f t e r the coal is broken down it is ready to be shoveled into the mine cars. T h i s shoveling requires, according to rather extensive time studies, a little more than one-half of the working time of the loaders. 4 T h e miners are supposed to remove all large pieces of rock, slate, and other foreign material f r o m the coal. I n addition to drilling, shooting, and loading, the miner must perform a variety of other tasks in his room which are usually referred to as " d e a d w o r k . " T h e track must be laid in order that cars can be pushed up to the face. T i m b e r must be unloaded and props set to support the roof. If the roof caves in, the rock must be removed. W r e c k e d cars must be put back on the track. If there is water in the room, it must be bailed or pumped out. If there is gas in the room, brattice work may be required. B y special agreement the miner may be paid for some of this " d e a d w o r k , " or it may be done by " c o m p a n y m e n . " But in the main, the miner is responsible for the work in his room. Such in brief is the round of the work of the coal loader. T h e independent position of the miner is emphasized from the moment he enters the mine. T h e boss assumes little, if any, responsibility in training the miner for his job. A new man starts in as a helper, and picks up the trade almost entirely f r o m his buddy or f r o m other miners. T h e rate of pay is based entirely upon piece work, further emphasizing the miner's independence. " T h e thing I like about mining is that I can work just as I feel like it. I can lay off when I don't feel like working. W h e n I want to, I can get my cars by two or three o'clock and then come out." T h e right to g o home when the miner wants to g o is a tradition which is generally recognized in the industry. " H e l l ! don't you think I know when 'Carter Goodrich, The Miner's Freedom, Marshall Jones Co., Boston, 1925, p. 28.

ONCE A

MINER, A L W A Y S A

MINER

67

I ' m t i r e d , and r e a d y to q u i t ? " expresses the g e n e r a l philosop h y as to the l e n g t h of the w o r k i n g d a y . T h i s absence of control is f u r t h e r illustrated by the fact that most companies k e e p no record of the time w h e n t h e coal loaders enter or l e a v e the mine. 5 T h e investigators f o r the C o a l C o m m i s s i o n e v e n had g r e a t difficulty in d e t e r m i n i n g the n u m b e r of miners at w o r k each d a y because u s u a l l y no record was kept in the office. T h e nearest approach to a record of the n u m b e r of miners w o r k i n g each d a y was the record of the cars credited to each m i n e r , yet the cars w e r e not a l w a y s w e i g h e d the same day they were loaded. W i t h such lax m e t h o d s of control the boss must l e a v e the m i n e r v e r y l a r g e l y to his own devices in his own r o o m . T h e tradition of f r e e d o m f r o m boss dictation is h e l d to tenaciously b y t h e miner. " A n y t h i n g that makes m e m a d is a boss t r y i n g to b u l l d o z e m e a r o u n d — t h a t ' s the w o r s t t h i n g I hate in the d a m n m i n e — a n d t h e y d o n ' t g e t a w a y with it either. I quit ' e m a n d g e t the h e l l out of there. I k n o w how to mine coal, the boss can't tell me n o t h i n ' . " T h i s o p p o r t u n i t y to w o r k in a r e l a t i v e l y i n d e p e n d e n t position appeals especially to the N e g r o . It enables h i m to escape some of the handicaps of discrimination. " A c o l o r e d m a n has a better chance in m i n i n g than in a n y t h i n g else. H e can be his own boss and w o r k j u s t as he pleases. I d o n ' t like someone back of m e sayin' ' H u r r y u p ! ' a l l of the t i m e . " T h e coal loaders, or tonnage m e n , w h o in 1 9 3 0 constituted 6 3 . 6 per cent of the labor force in connection with the miners, are in a f a r m o r e i n d e p e n d e n t position than the " c o m p a n y m e n . " 6 T h e s e " c o m p a n y m e n , " or " d a y m e n , " are not on a p i e c e - w o r k or contract basis, but are paid b y the d a y and w o r k d i r e c t l y f o r the c o m p a n y . T h e inside " c o m p a n y m e n , " c o m p r i s i n g 2 2 . 9 per cent of the total labor force, are e n g a g e d in s e r v i n g t h e coal loaders in some capacity. T h e

"company

m e n " i n c l u d e : the transportation c r e w , consisting of m o t o r m e n , b r a k e m e n , and d r i v e r s ; the m a i n t e n a n c e - o f - w a y - w o r k 5 R e p o r t of the United States C o a l Commission, 1 9 2 5 , Part I I I , p. ' T r y o n , M a n n , and R o g e r s , of. ctt., p. 6 5 2 .

1143.

68

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

ers, including trackmen, timbermen, electricians, machinists, and pipemen; those in charge of the ventilative system, brattice men, and trappers or door boys. Although these men are employees of the company, their supervision is necessarily lax, as they usually work singly or in pairs scattered throughout the whole mine. T h e system of control used in the mines has been aptly described as "knocking." T h e motorman gets "knocked" if the coal does not come out fast enough, and . . . he in turn "knocks" the tracklayer if a bad rail had wrecked his car. O r at the other end the miner gets the boss to "knock" the driver if the cars are slow or the tracklayer if a n e w switch is not laid. A n d the foreman finds other things to " k n o c k " — wires down, timber badly set, and the like—as he makes his rounds. Supervision by "knocking" is in fact a shrewd and accurate summary of the methods of bossing in the mines. 7

Only in the case of the outside "company men"—including the blacksmith, carpenters, engineers, laborers, and tipplemen—is there the semblance of control and supervision to be found in the average industrial plant. T h e relation of the miner to his job is not so much that "mining gets into his blood" as that nothing else gets there. It is a blind-alley occupation which does not lead to other industrial contacts. T h e miner not only works in an isolated room, but the whole camp in which he lives is isolated from the industrial world. T h e miner is in an occupational rut from which he can extricate himself, even in normal times, only with the greatest difficulty. H i s mining experience is no asset to him as an industrial worker. In fact, his work habits in the mine tend to be a definite handicap. H e does not fit easily into this rigorous, lock-step, boss-controlled factory organization. T h e expression, "Once a miner, always a miner," does not signify so much the passionate devotion a miner feels towards his job, as it expresses the limited occupational opportunities open to a man once he has become a miner. The miner in trying to get a new job experiences somewhat the same difficulties ' Goodrich, o f . cit., pp. jo-51.

ONCE A MINER, ALWAYS A MINER

69

as an ex-convict. T h e miner's attitude of independence and non-coöperativeness have been so thoroughly advertised that employers discriminate against him when hiring new men.® One of the unemployed miners interviewed said bitterly, " I had a good job promised me until the boss found out I'd been a coal digger and then he wouldn't take me on." It is little wonder, therefore, that the miner clings tenaciously to his trade, and does not often venture far from the tipple to find a new job. His experience has led him to believe that he can make a better living in the mines than in any other place. Changing A ttitude of the Miner Towards Mining T h e interviews with the unemployed miners indicate clearly that they have a keen appreciation of the precarious position of the whole coal industry. In fact, they take a more realistic attitude towards the changes which have come over the coal industry than many of the operators. T h e miners have stuck with their jobs in the past because they could make more money in the mines than anywhere else, but now many of them are convinced that this will not continue. Many of them realize that they must find other jobs in order to make a living. T h e y do not refuse to do other work simply because they are miners. Miners are only behaving as other economic groups when they hesitate to leave a trade in which they have acquired skill and training for untried occupations in which they have no special preparation. In order to determine the willingness of the miners to accept other jobs, each unemployed miner interviewed was asked the question, " I f mining picks up would you return to the mines?" Almost 59 per cent replied that if mining picked up they would return to the mines; 32.1 per cent said they would not return to the mines even though the mining industry improved; 7 per cent were undecided. (See Table 20.) These answers must, of course, be interpreted in the light of " H. A . Haring, " T h r e e Classes of Labor to A v o i d , " Industrial V o l . 62, December 1921, pp. 372-3.

Management,

70

THE

BITUMINOUS

COAL

MINER

the p r e d i c a m e n t in w h i c h the u n e m p l o y e d miners are c a u g h t . T o an u n e m p l o y e d m a n a j o b is the t h i n g desired a b o v e a l l else. H i s o l d j o b appears far m o r e attractive to him w h e n u n e m p l o y e d than w h e n at w o r k . It is not surprising, t h e r e f o r e , that 5 8 . 9 p e r cent of t h e miners r e p l i e d that they w o u l d return to their o l d j o b s if m i n i n g i m p r o v e d . T h e c o m m e n t s indicate that these miners b e l i e v e that w h e n times become prosperous, t h e y w i l l m a k e more m o n e y in the mines than at any TABLE

20

IF M I N I N G P I C K S UP, W O U L D Y O U R E T U R N TO THE M I N E S ? ANSWERS o r 9 5 6 UNEMPLOYED M I N E R S IN K E N T U C K Y AND W E S T VIRGINIA" N u m b e r and P e r c e n t a g e с f U n e m p l o y e d M i n e r s G i v i n g this A n s w e r

Answer

Number

Percentage

307

58.9 32.1

Undecided

67

7.0

Can't Work Again

17 2

1.8 0.2

956

100.0

Yes No

563

D e p e n d s on T i m e s TOTALS

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

other j o b . H e n c e t h e y are p r e p a r e d to stick with their trade, h o p i n g f o r the return of better days. The

response

of

almost

one-third

of

the

unemployed

miners indicates that t h e y think that e v e n if m i n i n g i m p r o v e s it w i l l be t e m p o r a r y . T h e y b e l i e v e that in the f u t u r e t h e y cannot m a k e a l i v i n g in the mines, and are prepared to find other j o b s if possible. T h e r e m a r k s of these miners indicate that t h e y are not indissolubly w e d d e d to mining, but w i l l w o r k at other jobs. T h e i r reactions are similar to those of any other restricted economic g r o u p . W h e n no l o n g e r able to make a l i v i n g at their o l d j o b s , t h e y are e a g e r to find other jobs. T h e a t t e m p t was also m a d e to determine the attitude of

ONCE A MINER, A L W A Y S A MINER

71

the unemployed miners towards their mining jobs. A l m o s t one-half of the miners interviewed may be classified as f a v o r ably inclined towards their mining jobs. (See T a b l e

21.)

Slightly less than 8 per cent were indifferent towards mining, T A B L E A T T I T U D E OF 9 5 6

UNEMPLOYED

MINERS

GINIA T O W A R D S

Attitude of Miners Towards Their Jobs Slightly Favorable Favorable Highly Favorable

Not Favorable Dislike Mining Intense Dislike For Mining

IN K E N T U C K Y

AND W E S T

VIR-

MINING*

Number and Percentage of Miners With This Attitude Number

Percentage

170

17.8

185

19.4

US

12.0

Total Number Favorable Indifferent

21

49.2

470

74 .

74

:6 S

7-7

7-7

174

164

17.1

31 3-2

Total Number Unfavorable Have Not Worked Long Enough to Form Opinion Attitude N o t Given TOTALS

360

37-7

3 49

3 49

°·3 S ·1

0-3 5 •1

956

956

100.0

100.0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

and 3 7 . 7 per cent expressed themselves as having a repugnance f o r mining, which ranged all the w a y f r o m a slight aversion to an intense dislike for the industry. I ' v e done been whipped in the mines and I'll never go back in t h e m again if I can make it on the f a r m .

72

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

I ' d rather be back on the old farm in Georgia, naked and one-eyed, than a miner in Kentucky with fifty dollars. *

*

*

I've liked mining, but I ' m disgusted with it left in it. T h e operator takes all we can make W e pay the same rent we paid in 1921. T h e my two boys couldn't work because they had der. *

*

now. There's no living for rent and other cuts. last time the mine run, no money to buy pow-

*

I don't like mining and I don't expect to go back if I can help it. *

*

*

If I had a job where I could make a living on the outside, I'd never go back in the mines. I don't want my kids to grow up in a coal camp. *

*

*

I've had all of the mining I want. I'll stay on a farm if I can get there. If mining would pick up to six days a week I wouldn't go back. You couldn't be sure it would last. *

*

*

I wish I ' d never got started in the mines. I ' m sick and tired of mining—I've had too much of it. I'll never stick my head in a mine again if I can help it. *

*

*

There's no future for coal mining for fifteen years. So much gas, electricity, and oil is used that no matter how good business gets there's not much chance for a comeback now. I watched the depression hit the coal business in 1921, and there has been a gradual decrease ever since. All the coal mining industry is in a bad condition, and a move from one mining camp to another is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. T o assume, therefore, that coal miners w i l l refuse to d o anything else but m i n e coal is a failure to recognize t h e change that has taken place in the attitude of the miners towards their jobs. If the expression, " O n c e a miner, always a miner," e v e r expressed the attitude of the miner towards his work it cer-

ONCE A MINER, ALWAYS A MINER

7J

tainly cannot be taken as literally true of all miners at the present time. Miners know that there are too many men in the industry. They recognize that part of them will be squeezed out of mining, and will have to find work elsewhere. Unemployed miners remain in the coal camps and around the tipple not because they refuse to do any other work, but simply because there is nothing else for them to do under present industrial conditions.

Ν T H E

TRAINING

A N D

SKILL

OF

MINERS

MINERS ARE to an unusual degree, as pointed out in Chapter III, the product of the small isolated communities in which they live, and should be judged by the standards of those communities. This is particularly true of their education and training. Their educational standards and advancement have been conditioned by the opportunities afforded in the schools of their communities. It should also be borne in mind that 87.2 per cent of the unemployed miners interviewed were reared either in rural homes or in mining camps, receiving only the advantage of the meager educational opportunities in these rural districts. T h e y did not have the benefit of the better educational programs provided for the children in the urban centers. Meager Advantages in Rural

Schools

T h e inequalities of educational opportunities afforded rural and urban children have been for years a subject of discussion among educators. In the rural districts of Kentucky the average cost per pupil for elementary instruction per year was $25.72 as contrasted with $96.04 for cities.1 In recent years the consolidation of rural schools has brought about considerable improvement, but as yet the physical equipment and the preparation of the teachers are wholly inadequate. Even the improvements which have taken place have been so recent that most of the adult miners have not had the advantages of the better consolidated schools. Although most of the schools in the coal camps are superior to the schools in the strictly rural districts in the same coun' Biennial R e p o r t of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 1 9 2 7 , p. 38. [74]

Kentucky,

TRAINING AND SKILL

75

ties, in the main they are far below the standards of the urban centers. This applies not only to the physical equipment, but especially to the course of study. T h e curriculum is confined largely to the traditional three R subjects, and fails to hold the interest of the pupils in the upper grades. T h e lower grades in a coal-camp school are usually crowded; it is not uncommon to see two or three pupils in a seat. There is a distinct dropping off in the enrollment after the fifth grade, and comparatively few pupils remain through the eighth grade. This decrease in school attendance should be attributed: to the lack of intelligent interest manifested by both the parents and the people of the community; to the lax enforcement of the school attendance laws; and also to the poverty of the school curriculum. T h e school systems of Kentucky and West Virginia rank rather low when compared with those of the other states of the union on the basis of ten different items including such facts as percentage of school population attending school, percentage of enrollment in high school, daily average of school attendance, expenditure per pupil, and salary of teachers. According to one system of grading, West Virginia ranked thirty-seventh and Kentucky forty-second; according to a slightly different scale, West Virginia ranked thirty-fifth and Kentucky fortieth among the other states. 2 These states have shown no appreciable change in rank or improvement in relative position among the other states during the past decade. 3 Kentucky spends for education on the average $ 1 7 . 8 1 per child of school age, and West Virginia $ 3 1 . 7 2 ; the average amount spent in the United States is $43.09 per child of school age. 4 T h e amount expended per child by Kentucky ranks forty-fourth among the other states, and West Virginia ranks thirty-sixth. 5 T h e educational problem is especially diffi* Frank M . Phillips, "Educational Ranking of States, 1 9 3 0 , " The American School Board Journal, February 1932, Table III, p. 29, and March 1 9 3 2 , Table IV, p. 37. ' Ibid., March 1 9 3 2 , Table VI, p. 38. * Ibid., February 1 9 3 2 , Table III, p. 29. "Phillips, of. cit., March 1932, Table IV, p. 37.

76

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

cult in both of these states because about 70 per cent of the population is rural. T h e wealth per child six to thirteen years of age is relatively low as compared with other states—Kentucky ranking forty-third and West Virginia thirty-third.® T h e low educational standards are reflected in the percentage of illiteracy in these states. In Kentucky 6.6 per cent of the population, ten years of age and over, are illiterate as compared with 4.3 per cent for the United States. T h e inequality of educational opportunities between the urban and the rural centers is evident in the percentage of illiteracy between the city and country people. Of the urban male population twenty-one years of age and over, only 4.3 per cent were illiterate according to the census report in 1 9 3 0 as compared with 1 1 per cent of the rural non-farm male population of the same age group. 7 West Virginia made a much better showing for the population of the state as a whole, since only 4.8 per cent of those ten years of age and over were unable to read and write. But the same disparity between educational opportunities in urban and rural districts was evident. T h e percentage of illiteracy among the adult rural non-farm population was almost three times as great (9.2 per cent) as it was among the adult male urban population (3.2 per cent). 8 Education of the Miners T h e education of the miners in Kentucky and West Virginia should be considered in relation to the educational opportunities and advantages in the rural communities in which almost nine-tenths of the unemployed miners were reared. Of the unemployed miners interviewed, 7.8 per cent were illiterate and an additional 7.3 per cent had no formal education, although they were literate. (See Table 22.) F o r those who had formal schooling 43.2 per cent did not go beyond the ' John K. Norton, The Ability of the States to Support Education, Research Bulletin, Vol. 4, Nos. 1-2, National Education Assn., Washington, 19x6, Table X , p . 30. Fifteenth Census of the United Statea, 1930, Population Bulletin, Second Series, Kentucky, Table 7, p. 10. " Ibid., Wert Virginia, Table 7, p. 10.

T R A I N I N G A N D SKILL TABLE

77

22

E D U C A T I O N o r 9 5 6 U N E M P L O Y E D M I N E R S IN K E N T U C K Y A N D WEST

VIRGINIA"

Kentucky

Education

Totals for Kentucky and West Virginia

N u m b e r and Per- N u m b e r and Per- Number and Percentage of Miners centage of Miners centage of Miners with this Educa- with this Educa- with this Education tion tion Number

Illiterate b Literate b u t no formal education First Grade Second Grade Third Grade F o u r t h Grade F i f t h Grade Sixth G r a d e Seventh Grade Eighth G r a d e G r a m m a r School— Grade not given Ninth Grade Tenth Grade Eleventh Grade T w e l f t h Grade High School—Grade not given One Year college T w o years college College—year not given Normal School N o t given

West Virginia

PercentPercentPercentNumber Number age age age

30

8.4

45

7-5

75

7.8

26 10 16 39 45 53 28 19 67

7·2 2.8 7.2

7-4 2-3 4-4 9.0

70

II.2

7-8 5-3 18-7

44 14 26 54 67 80 74 55 91

7-3 2-5 5-4 9-7 11.7 13-9 10.7 7.8 16.5

ΐ·7 •5 .8

11 >3 9

1.8 2.2 ΐ·5

17 15

TOTALS

6 1

IO-9

12.5 4.8

13-4 12.4

9.2 15.2

24 52

93 112 133 102 74 158

1-9 1.6 ΐ·3

0 2

•О

I

.1

12 I

•5

3

•5

5

•5

I I I

•3 •3 •3 .0 .0 .0

3 3

•5 •5 .2 .2 .2

4

•4

•4

.2

4 2 I I I

100.0

597

100.0

956

100.0

3

0 0 0 359

I I I I

.I

.2 .I .I .I

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932. ь One who is unable to read and write.

fifth grade; 78.2 per grade; only 3.9 per less than 1 per cent grade. In Kentucky

cent did not progress beyond the eighth cent had some high-school work; and had any work of collegiate or normal the illiteracy among the unemployed

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

78

miners was 8.4 per cent as compared with 1 1 per cent f o r the males twenty-one years of age and over of the rural non-farm population of the state, while the illiteracy among the miners of West Virginia was 7.5 per cent as compared with 9.2 per cent among the adult male rural non-farm population. It will be observed that the percentage of illiteracy is greater in K e n T A B L E 23 READING

HABITS

OF

956

UNEMPLOYED WEST

List of Reading Material b

MINERS

TOTALS

KENTUCKY

AND

Number and Percentage of Miners Read ing this Material Number

None One Newspaper Papers, Magazines, and Books Newspaper and Magazines Newspaper and Books Magazines and Books Bible T w o or More Newspapers Magazines (Only) Labor Papers Other Material Not Given

IN

VIRGINIA"

Percentage

256 186 171

26.8 19.4

I 10

11.5

67 40

4.2

39

4-1

21

2.2

18 5 20

0 5 2.1

23

2.4

956

100.0

I

7-9 7·°

!-9

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1931. The answers do not mean that the miners were subscribers to papers and magazines, but that they read them more or less regularly—whenever they could secure them. b

tucky than in West Virginia among both the miners and the male rural non-farm population. T h e miners show a less percentage of illiteracy in both states than that of the comparable group of the state in which they reside. T h e extent to which the miners who were interviewed continue their education and keep in touch with the world of affairs through reading is shown in Table 23. T h e largest group, composed of 26.8 per cent, did no reading; 2 1 . 6 per

TRAINING

AND

79

SKILL

cent read only newspapers; 1 1 . 5 per cent read both newspapers and magazines; 17.9 per cent included books in their reading; 4.1 per cent read only the Bible; and barely .5 per cent reported reading labor papers. T o some extent these figures underestimate the reading habits of the miners, as many of those interviewed reported that they were compelled to cancel their subscriptions to papers and magazines because of unemployment. Slightly more than 10 per cent of the T A B L E OTHER

TRAINING

OF 9 5 6

24

UNEMPLOYED

AND W E S T

MINERS

KENTUCKY

N u m b e r and Percentage of Miners with this T r a i n i n g

O t h e r Training

Number None Technical Building T r a d e s Agricultural Blacksmithing and Other Trades Police and Government Service Professional Business Training O t h e r Training N o t Given TOTALS

IN

VIRGINIA"

821

Percentage 85.9

39

41

26

2-7

'S

1.6

'3

ι -4

12

1

.2

8

.8

6

.6

5 I 1

•S I .2

956

IOO .O

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

miners have a radio. Undoubtedly this percentage was much higher when wages were good, as many miners reported having defaulted on installment payments. Other

Training of

Miners

T h e limited industrial experience of the unemployed miners is clearly shown by the paucity of training in any occupation or trade other than mining. A s indicated in T a b l e 24, 85.9 per cent of the unemployed miners'have had no other

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

so

training which would assist them in getting other jobs; only 4.1 per cent, some technical training; and 2.7 per cent, training in some of the building trades. The great lack of any other training except mining emphasizes the reason why a miner sticks to his trade and finds it hard to secure a new job. Ambition of Miners for Their Children Probably the best way to judge the educational standards of the miners is not by their own educational attainments, because of their limited opportunities, but by the plans and T A B L E

25

E D U C A T I O N 6 5 7 U N E M P L O Y E D M I N E R S IN K E N T U C K Y AND W E S T V I R O I N I A D E S I R E D FOR T H E I R

Education Desired for Children

CHILDREN"

Number and Percentage of Unemployed Miners Desiring this Kind of Training for Their Children Number

High School All that Parents Can Provide Grammar School College All Children Will Take None Normal and Business TOTALS

Percentage

276

42.0

133

20.3

127

72

35 10

193

I I .0

5-3 ΐ·5

4

.6

657

100.0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

aspirations which they have for their children. In response to the question, " W h a t education do you want for your children?," 19.4 per cent of the miners with children of school age or younger replied that they wanted grammar-school training; 42 per cent desired a high-school education; 1 1 per cent were ambitious for their children to go to college; 20.3 per cent were eager for the best education they could provide for their children; and only 1 . 5 per cent were indifferent about their children having adequate educational opportuni-

TRAINING AND SKILL

«1

ties. (See T a b l e 2 5 . ) T h e r e seemed to be no definite correlation between the educational attainments of these miners and the ambition and plans they had for the education for their children. T h e illiterate miners were just as eager for their children to have the advantage of a good education as were the miners who had finished the eighth grade or even those who had gone to high school. T h e chief objection of many of the miners to coal mining was that coal camps are not fit places in which to rear children. T h e comments of the miners concerning their plans for their children are illuminating: I don't like to live in a mining camp. It's not a good place for children. M y boy is never goin' in a mine if I can help it. W e ' r e goin' to get him away f r o m here just as quick as we can. *

*

*

I've played a crazy trick. I've trained three of my boys to work in the mines. But I've been lucky. T w o of them are out now—if they will only stay out. *

*

*

I want to give my girls enough schoolin' so they can teach and the boys so they can get good jobs, and not to have to go through what I have so they won't always be "robbed with a pencil." *

•

*

Education is a great thing. I wish I had more. T h e r e has been lots of times I've had chances to get all kinds of jobs if I had an education. T h e mines is sunk and I don't w a n t my children in them. *

*

*

O n e thing I hold against my parents is that I didn't get no education. M y boys are goin' to get all the education I missed. *

*

*

A mining camp is no place to bring up a family. T h e r e are always a lot of boys round a mining camp w h o have nothin' to do but get into trouble. I w a n t to get my boys on a f a r m .

82

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER I h a d t w o girls in h i g h school. W h e n times g o t so bad I s a w I w a s

g o i n ' t o h a v e to take o n e out of school, a n d m y married d a u g h t e r in C i n c i n n a t i o f f e r e d to take care of one of t h e m there, so she is in high school in C i n c i n n a t i . T h e other one w e n t to h i g h school here the first t e r m , but t h e n I had to take her out because I c o u l d n ' t a f f o r d it. *

*

*

M y d a u g h t e r has finished high school a n d w a s the best typist in her class. She is very a n x i o u s t o g o to c o l l e g e but unless she finds w o r k this s u m m e r she w o n ' t be able to g o because I can't a f f o r d to send h e r . She is o n l y s e v e n t e e n years old.

Spirit of Craftsmanship

A mong

Miners

T h e older men who entered the industry in the days of pick-and-shovel mining have quite a different attitude towards mining than the younger men who began as coal loaders since the introduction of machines. T h e older miners have something of the spirit and the pride of craftsmen in their work. T h e y were taught to measure their skill and the strength of their arms against the combined forces of nature. T h e miner and his buddy were left almost alone to work out their problems of winning the coal. They had to know the condition and structure of the roof to guard against cave-ins. T h e y had to use their j u d g m e n t in boring holes and in placing each shot, so that just the right amount of force would be exerted to break down the proper amount of coal without injury to the roof. T h e y placed the timber supports, disposed of the water, and always had to be alert to detect the presence of gas. All of this work required the exercise of a certain amount of skill, the use of a degree of judgment, and often the ability to make quick decisions which gave to the miner a feeling of independence and pride in his job. A new miner started as a helper to an experienced miner and worked as a kind of apprentice. This helped to dignify the position of the older miners, and gave to them a position of prestige which developed a feeling of superiority. T h e mechanization of the mines which is proceeding apace

TRAINING AND

SKILL

83

is changing all of this. Independence and isolation are yielding to factory methods and to supervision. T h e undercutting is being done by company machine-cutters. Company men are performing more and more of the tasks which formerly called for the decision and the judgment of the miner. Mechanization is thus reducing the miner to a mere coal loader, whose chief qualification is a strong back. This changes the position of the miner from that of a craftsman to an unskilled workman. 9 T h e older miners resent this demotion, and talk of the early days when a coal miner was not merely a loader of coal: I started m i n i n g — y e s , m i n i n g c o a ] — p i c k i n g , l o a d i n g , a n d all. I n them which

d a y s w e d i d n ' t use p o w d e r or c u t t e r . M i n i n g took experience

a n d skill. O n e

h a d to l e a r n

w a s a business the t r a d e

and

c o u l d n ' t j u s t c o m e r i g h t i n t o the m i n e . I n t h e m d a y s the f a r m e r c o u l d n o t s t a n d it a n d w e n t b a c k on the f a r m . W h e n the W o r l d W a r c o m e on t h e c o a l - c u t t i n g m a c h i n e h a d been b r o u g h t in the m i n e s a n d it w a s t h e n possible t o use m o r e u n s k i l l e d l a b o r . T h i s m a d e it easier f o r t h e f a r m e r to c o m e i n . A n o t h e r t h i n g w a s the W a r b r o u g h t h i g h p r i c e s , a n d m a n y f a r m e r s c o m e in w h o k n e w n o t h i n g a b o u t the coal i n d u s try. *

*

*

I h a v e been o n this o n e j o b sincc the c a m p w a s o p e n e d in 1 8 9 7 . h e l p e d d r i v e the e n t r y a n d l a y the t r a c k . I ' v e o n l y b e e n a w a y

I

from

h e r e t w o times s i n c e . T h e y say I ' m t o o o l d n o w a n d t h e y w o n ' t g i v e m e a j o b , but if I h a d a c h a n c e I c o u l d l o a d m o r e c o a l t h a n

these

y o u n g f e l l e r s in t h e m i n e s w h o d o n ' t k n o w n o t h i n ' a b o u t m i n i n ' c o a l . I t t a k e s f i v e y e a r s f o r a m a n to l e a r n t o be a r e a l c o a l m i n e r , a n d s o m e m e n n e v e r l e a r n it. I w o u l d r a t h e r use the pick a n d s h o v e l t h a n t o load machine coal. A n y o n e with a w e a k head and a strong back can l o a d m a c h i n e c o a l . B u t a m a n has to t h i n k a n d s t u d y e v e r y d a y like y o u w a s s t u d y i n g a b o o k if he is g o i n g t o g e t the best of the c o a l w h e n he uses o n l y a p i c k . A m a n e v e n has to t h i n k b e f o r e he g e t s u p a m o r n i n g h o w he is g o i n g t o b o r e the holes a n d put the shots if he is a s u c cessful miner. * F o r an excellent discussion of " T h e New Technique" and the influence upon the position of the miner, see Goodrich, op. cit., Chapter V.

s*

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

W h e n I started in the mines w e used a pick and shovel a n d you really had to be skilled to be a good miner. Just anybody couldn't rush into the mines and get coal out. But then later where they started puttin' these machines in the mines and they fixed everything for you, then they used to bring m e n off the farms into the mines by the truckload and the trainload and put them in the mines the next day. If there were only real miners here n o w there wouldn't be any depression in the coal fields. T h e y wouldn't have so many people to take care of and wouldn't have to spread the work so thin. T h e r e are too many sons of farmers that have come in and displaced the real miners that were already here. *

*

*

Tain't everyone w h o can handle a pick and take care of himself in a mine. Most of the miners today won't know nuthin' about minin'.

Conclusion The foregoing discussion indicates that the unemployed miners are to an extraordinary degree the product of the communities in which they were reared. Their limited education and their lack of training or skill makes it exceedingly difficult for them to enter any other industry. These unemployed miners representing a group of permanently displaced laborers are in special need of a kind of adult education, which will help them to regain their self-respect and enable them to make a transition to some other occupation. This problem of adult training cannot be handled adequately by the local communities in which these miners are stranded. One reason for the helpless position of these miners is that, in the past, communities, because of poverty and lack of leadership, have not provided adequate educational opportunities for children. The maladjustment is not entirely of their own making, but a product of industrial changes in the whole nation. T h e profits made by feverish activities in the coal mines have been drained largely into the coffers of foreign companies located in distant cities. The communities have been deprived of their natural resources, and now they have the task of demobilizing a vast unskilled supply of labor.

VI LIVING

IN

C O M P A N Y - C O N T R O L L E D COMMUNITIES

THE MINING CAMP is a one-industry community, usually isolated—cut off from the main currents of industrial life. The coal industry has no choice in location. The tipple must be built where the coal is. Nature has not always deposited the rich coal seams in the most accessible places. In Illinois the coal lies under the fertile soil of the prairie. At the time the first mines were opened villages and towns were already established and much of the territory was rather thickly populated, having established lines of communication for travel and trade. As a result the coal industry fitted more naturally and normally into the life of the community. Under these favorable conditions 53 per cent of the miners of the State in 1920 lived in rural communities, most of which were mining camps, and only 47 per cent lived in urban centers of as much as 2,500 inhabitants.1 In West Virginia and eastern Kentucky the coal industry in the beginning fitted into a very different pattern. In these states the coal is tucked away in narrow creek valleys, up steep hillsides, and in inaccessible ravines. The coal operator was a pioneer as well as a prospector. This hilly and mountainous territory was either sparsely populated or inhabited by primitive mountaineer farmers. There were few roads except the creek beds and the wagon trails. The coal companies did not start in well-established industrial centers, but had to develop their own organization and community plan. The Coal Commission found that more than 93 per cent of the miners in West Virginia in 1920 lived in rural communities.2 Of the 1 Report of the United States Coal Commission, J92J, Part III, Table 2, p. 1420. 'Ibid.

[И]

86

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

708 c o m p a n y - c o n t r o l l e d communities on which the C o m m i s sion had data, o n l y 5 per cent of the miners l i v e d w i t h i n two miles of a town of at least 2,500 inhabitants; almost 75 per cent of the miners l i v e d t w o or more miles f r o m any t o w n ; 4 0 per cent l i v e d five miles or m o r e ; and 18 per cent l i v e d ten miles or more f r o m any town. 3 T h e contacts of these miners with the life of an independent normal c o m m u n i t y dep e n d upon train service, the condition of the roads, and w h e t h e r or not they h a v e automobiles. E v e n under the most f a v o r a b l e conditions their primary contacts must necessarily be in the one-industry, company-controlled mining camp. T h i s immediate environment shapes and molds their social customs, and to a l a r g e extent fixes and limits their economic opportunities. T h e w h o l e organization of the m i n i n g comm u n i t y isolates it far more f r o m the outside w o r l d than the m e r e matter of distance w o u l d suggest. T h i s isolation is in part d u e to the inherent character of a mining camp, and in part, to a v e r y c a r e f u l l y d e v e l o p e d plan for labor c o n t r o l — a control assiduously fostered and safeguarded against outside interference. Com-pany-Owned

Houses

A p p r o x i m a t e l y one-half of all the bituminous coal miners in the U n i t e d States in 1 9 2 2 - 2 3 lived in c o m p a n y - o w n e d houses. 4 T h i s percentage varied g r e a t l y in different coal fields, r a n g i n g all the w a y f r o m less than 9 per cent in Illinois and Indiana, 64 per cent in K e n t u c k y , to almost 80 per cent in W e s t Virginia. T h e location of the coal seams in W e s t Virginia and in eastern K e n t u c k y , far f r o m centers of population and off g o o d roads, made it almost necessary w h e n the mines were opened for the coal companies to construct d w e l l i n g s f o r the workers. T o induce outside capital to build houses f o r miners located on the c o m p a n y - o w n e d land of an extractive industry w o u l d h a v e been e x c e e d i n g l y difficult if not impossible. E v e n * Ibid., Table i6,p. 1469. ' Ibid., T a b l e 14, p. 1467.

COMPANY-CONTROLLED

COMMUNITIES

87

if the miners had possessed sufficient capital to construct their own dwellings they would have been deterred by these same considerations. T h e precarious tenure of their jobs would likewise have prevented them from building their homes. Hence, company-owned communities were the logical development of an industry requiring a large labor supply in an undeveloped territory. T h e dwellings and camps in which four-fifths of the miners in West Virginia live neither represent their ideas of what they would like to have for a home, nor reflect their conception of community planning. As would be expected, companies vary greatly in the social vision they exhibit by the kind of dwellings they build and the type of community they plan. T o a large extent coal companies determine the standards of living for the community. T h e camps stand as monuments symbolizing the conception of the social responsibility which the coal companies have to the communities where they make their profits. T h e camps were built during boom days j they are not the product of the years of depression since 1 9 3 0 . T h e y give mute testimony to the ideals of the companies in the heyday of their prosperity. T h e Coal Commission made a special study of 7 1 3 company-owned communities. M o r e than two-thirds of all of the houses were finished outside with weatherboard, usually nailed directly on the frame, with only paper for sheeting, and even this was often missing. T h e houses were built without a cellar and usually perched on post foundations. Only 38 per cent of the houses were plastered; 2.4 per cent had bath tubs or showers·, 3 per cent had inside flush toilets; and 1 3 . 8 per cent had running water. 5 T h e Commission scored these communities on the basis of eight different factors, and then rated each community upon a basis of 100. Only sixtysix communities received a score of seventy-five or above. T h i r t y - t w o of these communities were in West Virginia and only six in Kentucky. 6 Of the eighty-two communities receiv3

Ibid., p. 1430. * Ibid., Table 12a, p. 1 4 3 5 .

88

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

ing scores of less than fifty, twenty-six were in West Viriginia and twenty-three in Kentucky. Nothing needs to be added to the indictment made by the Commission after their exhaustive investigation and report: I n the worst of the company-controlled communities the state of disrepair at times runs beyond the power of verbal description or even photographic illustration, since neither words nor pictures can portray the atmosphere of abandoned dejection or reproduce the smells. O l d , unpainted board and batten houses—batten going or gone and boards fast following, roofs broken, porches staggering, steps sagging, a riot of rubbish, and a medley of odors—such are the worst camps. T h e y are not by any means in the majority; but wherever they exist they are a reproach to the industry and a serious matter to such mine workers and mine workers' families as are dependent upon the companies for living facilities. 7

E v e n the approaching exhaustion of a mine cannot be held entirely responsible for the dilapidated condition of a camp. Of the eighty-two communities receiving a score of less than fifty, it was estimated that four of the mines would probably not be worked out for 100 years, and on the average these mines would probably not be exhausted for about thirty-one years. 8 It should be noted that these conditions described by the Coal Commission were not caused by a long period of depression in the industry, but were conditions as they existed in 1922 shortly after the war-boom period. During the past ten years, few companies have made improvements in the housing facilities for their workers. W h e n a company is compelled to adopt a policy of retrenchment, repair bills on the camp dwellings are usually among the first items to be eliminated. T h e years of deterioration since 1922, added to the bad conditions existing then, make housing facilities intolerable in many camps. This is particularly true in the camps where the companies have gone bankrupt, or where the mines have been abandoned. * Ibid., p. 14.31. 'Ibid., Table l i b , pp. 1436-7.

COMPANY-CONTROLLED COMMUNITIES

89

It should be emphasized that many companies have planned their communities carefully and have gone to great expense to provide their workers with good houses. W h e r e this policy has been adopted the dwellings usually have running water and electric lights, and are kept in a good state of repair. In some communities there are paved streets and concrete sidewalks. A few camps are pointed to with pride by the operators as model communities. Limitations

on Freedom

T h e desirability of company-controlled communities does not rest primarily upon the kind of houses or number of bath tubs—important as these conveniences are. If all coal camps were model communities as far as physical equipment is concerned there still would be fundamental questions to be answered. Are company-owned communities desirable in view of the control they give the mining company over the life of the community? Are they compatible with a free labor market? Are they inimical to our free institutions? Do they tend to develop a worthy type of citizenship among the workers? T h e ultimate verdict of society in regard to companycontrolled communities will depend upon these more fundamental issues rather than the type of plumbing in the camps. T h e company-owned camps were built to provide living accommodations for the workers, although a system of control has been established and carefully developed in order to dominate the workers. It was probably inevitable that such a policy should have developed, since the primary purpose of the camp is to provide dwellings for the workers only so long as they remain in the employment of the company. T h e miner living in a company-owned house is far less independent than the miner living in an outside community. In the latter situation he is entitled to the protection of the tenancy laws of the state which give him security of tenure, and guarantee him a certain number of days of grace before he can be evicted. This makes his home his castle during the period of its occupancy.

90

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

T h e leases which the miner is required to sign before he moves into company property differ in phraseology from camp to camp, but they all have the common purpose of depriving the miner of protection under the tenancy laws. These leases usually specify that the miner forfeits his right to occupy the house as soon as he ceases to work for the company, whether this termination of employment is brought about by voluntary withdrawal, or by discharge. T h e lease frequently requires the miner, at the termination of his employment and without further notice, immediately to remove his furniture and family from company property. In some cases the company is given the right immediately to enter the dwelling and remove all goods and possessions with the specific provision that it is relieved of all responsibility f o r the care of these goods, and of all liability for damage to them during their removal. T h e company is usually authorized by the lease to deduct the rent for the property from the miner's wages semi-monthly. T h e provision is frequently added that if the premises are not vacated at the termination of the lease the company has the right to deduct from any wages it owes the miner $2.00 per day for each day of delinquency. One lease has been noted which specifies that if the renter moves or attempts to move his furniture from the property when the rent is unpaid, such act shall be deemed fraudulent and clandestine, entitling the landlord to seize the goods at any time within thirty days. Some leases specify that the renter shall neither harbor any person objectionable to the company, nor permit him to use, occupy, or be on the premises; furthermore, the renter must agree to remove any such objectionable person upon the request of the company. Some leases grant only to the miner and his immediate family the right to ingress and egress to and from the house. Frequently the family is prohibited from keeping boarders who are not in the employment of the company. Some leases stipulate that all streets, alleys, lanes, or highways about the premises are private property subject to any police regulation which the company may make. Again, the company frequently reserves

COMPANY-CONTROLLED

COMMUNITIES

91

the right to keep from the premises any person they may deem undesirable. T h e companies not only reserve the right to exercise all police power, but in some leases they retain the right to enter the premises at any time, to enforce the provisions of the lease. Some leases go so far as to state that the lessee expressly waives any benefit or protection to which he might otherwise be entitled by law. It is true that the provisions of these leases are not always strictly enforced. In many instances the miner is permitted to occupy a company house after ceasing to work for the company on account of an accident, illness, prolonged period of unemployment, or incompetency caused by old age. This privilege is also frequently given to the miner's family after his death, especially if he was in the employment of the company for any considerable length of time. But these are all privileges apart f r o m the letter of the lease and continue only by sufferance. T h e y may be terminated at any time, depending upon the whim of the company. T h e y are not rights to which the miner is entitled, or upon which he may depend with any degree of assurance. Most companies, when they have houses to rent, require the workers to move into the camp. If men live outside because of a shortage of houses in the camp, they are usually the first to be laid off during the slack season, and the last to be taken on when production is stepped up. T h e real import of these regulations is apparent during periods of labor difficulties. At such times the evidence is overwhelming and indisputable that the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right of assembly are abrogated. These restrictions apply not only to the residents on company-owned property but to any outsider who attempts to enter the community, especially if he is suspected of being connected with a labor organization. T h e significance of all of this lies in the fact that it is in just such times of stress and conflict, when the laborer is attempting to protect his standard of living, that he needs most the protection of the tenancy laws of the state and the security to which a domicile is sup-

92

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

posed to entitle him. But the lease, in the company-owned community, gives to the operator the power and the right to restrict the miner's movements and to evict him and his family without any possibility of redress. It is significant that in the coal camps the sheriff and his deputies are referred to as the " L a w . " I n a very real sense they are the " L a w . " T h e outcome of many a labor conflict gives evidence of the completeness of their control. Social

Control

T h e operator in the company-owned community controls not only the man, his job, and his home, but also directs and controls the whole social life of the community. In what is reported to be one of the best company-owned camps in the bituminous fields, the streets and sidewalks are paved, the houses well built and in good repair. There are beautifully kept lawns and flower gardens, running water in the houses, excellent school facilities, a modern hotel, a thoroughly equipped hospital, and a well stocked general store. T h e tipple is the only outward suggestion to a visitor that it is a coal camp. I n a conversation with a colored miner on the street the question was asked rather facetiously, " W h o owns the general store?" " T h e company," replied the miner. " W h o owns the hotel?" " T h e company," was the reply. " W h o owns the restaurant?" " T h e company, sir." " W h o owns the bank?" This question displayed too great ignorance of local conditions and the colored miner replied, "Look here stranger, as far as I knows the company owns everything in this camp but two." " W h a t are the exceptions?" Pointing down the railroad tracks, he said, " D o you see that station? T h e company don't own it." And then with a broad sweep of the arms, he exclaimed, " T h e company don't own G o d ! " There are people in the camp who insist that even God is usually on the side of the company. T h e other worldly type of religion which prevails in most of the coal regions of West Virginia and Kentucky fits perfectly into the pattern of control of the coal camps. T h e min-

COMPANY-CONTROLLED COMMUNITIES

93

isters u s u a l l y are not interested in the message of a social gospel that touches the mundane affairs of social justice and human brotherhood. Such an emphasis w o u l d lead inevitably to a consideration of w o r k i n g conditions, wages, and all phases of an industrial system which are incompatible w i t h the f u l l d e v e l o p m e n t of human personality. I f a minister should become imbued with a passion for social justice it is d o u b t f u l if he could remain in a c o m p a n y - o w n e d parish. T h e o l d fashioned g o s p e l is less disturbing to the status quo, and is much more adaptable to the purposes of control. T h e interviews with the miners in W e s t Virginia and K e n tucky h a v e r e v e a l e d little evidence of revolt against the attitude of the church. I n fact there has been a surprisingly l o y a l support to the church in most sections. T h e church in the c o m p a n y - o w n e d c o m m u n i t y , therefore, tends to be a part of a system of control rather than to be a constant c h a l l e n g e to greater social justice. T h e schools in m i n i n g communities likewise are not free, liberalizing agencies, but are also a part of this same system of control. I n m a n y counties in K e n t u c k y and W e s t Virginia the school authorities p r o v i d e only seven months of school, which is f r e q u e n t l y extended to eight or nine months because of contributions f r o m the coal companies. O n e county superintendent reports that the operators are the most enthusiastic supporters of the schools of the county and that they contribute about $50,000 a year to the school budget. It is not w i t h out significance that this particular superintendent is caref u l not to m a k e a decision r e g a r d i n g a n y school or educational matter until he has an opportunity to consult the secretary of the operators' association. Some companies deduct f r o m 50c to $1.00 per month f r o m the miners' wages f o r this e d u cational f u n d . T h e teachers are likewise usually v e r y g u a r d e d in their statements and hesitant about m a k i n g a decision on school matters until the operators are consulted. T h e r e is no question about the propriety of this procedure f r o m the standpoint of g o o d educational policy. I t is j u s t the customary m e t h o d of procedure.

9+

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

It should be stated that many of the schools in the company-owned camps employ teachers with superior training, and the schools are better equipped than those in the independent towns in the same district. T h e point to be emphasized is that the school system, good as it may be in a company-owned community, is also a means of control, and is in no real sense an unfettered, free, and independent institution. Paucity of Diverston Coal camps are singularly lacking in facilities for recreation and amusement. A f e w of the larger camps have ball fields, pool rooms, moving picture houses, Y . M . C . A . or club houses, but these provisions are almost negligible in the smaller communities. Safety clubs are active in many of the larger camps and provide a certain amount of group activity for the community. Such organizations as the 4 - H Clubs, Boy Scouts, and G i r l Reserves, organized extensively in many country districts and in smaller towns, are seldom found in coal communities. Part of this lack of social organization is caused by the isolation of the camps, and part of it is the result of the indifference of the county agencies to the welfare of the people in the coal camps. T h e natural isolation of the coal camps, together with their lack of recreational facilities, group activities, and intercourse with other normal communities, reduces camp life to a monotonous sort of existence which is most deadening. T h i s is true especially for the women and girls of the community. T h e miner's w i f e has an unusual amount of leisure time because her housekeeping duties are rather simple. T h e food is obtained largely from the commissary and requires little preparation. Most of the expenditures of the family are made in the company store. Rent, light, heat, doctor's fees, and hospital charges are all deducted from the pay envelope. T h a t which remains of the wages may be spent for groceries and clothing. T h e children do a surprisingly large amount of the buying. It is easy to send them to the store to get food for the next meal. T h e housewife places on the store manager

COMPANY-CONTROLLED

COMMUNITIES

95

the responsibility of seeing that the charge account does not exceed the miner's wages. T h e whole system makes it possible for the wife to be relieved of the necessity of planning carefully the household expenditures and living within a budget. T h i s practice thwarts not only habits of economy and individual responsibility, but also leaves a disproportionate amount of time for leisure which the community is not organized to utilize constructively. One woman voiced the plight of the women in camp when she said, " W e never have any fun in camp. W e never laugh. T h e r e is nothing to do. W e only just set and talk about our troubles, our neighbors, and the company." T h e r e are few diversions to break this deadening monotony of camp life. A l l the women in a oneindustry community are controlled by the same set of circumstances. Bearing and rearing children under the conditions of camp life, the women become discouraged and cease to battle against the dirt, coal dust, and grime that surrounds the tipple. For them the charm of youth soon disappears. Instead of condemning the women for their passive and listless attitude, one social worker remarked: T h e m o r e I see of t h e W e s t V i r g i n i a coal d u s t , t h e m o r e I r e s p e c t t h e w o m e n in t h e c o a l c a m p s f o r k e e p i n g t h e m s e l v e s a n d t h e i r c h i l d r e n as c l e a n as t h e y d o . I t h i n k m o s t of u s — i n their p l a c c — w o u l d g o i n t o d e e p m o u r n i n g a n d stay t h e r e . H o w a n y o n e keeps w h i t e c l o t h e s w h i t e , or e v e n g r a y , is past m y

comprehension. *

*

*

I suppose m o s t of the p e o p l e in this c o a l district w o u l d be r a t e d as " p o w h i t e t r a s h , " b u t it s e e m s t o m e t h a t the w o m e n a r e r e a l h e r o i n e s t o l i v e a n d t o k e e p a n y s e m b l a n c e of d e c e n c y u n d e r s u c h c o n d i t i o n s . A n y c i v i l i z e d or C h r i s t i a n o r d e r of s o c i e t y w o u l d c o n d e m n t h i s w h o l e lot of d w e l l i n g s as u n f i t f o r h u m a n

Unprepared

for

habitation.

Readjustment

T h e whole organization of the company-owned communities, where 80 per cent of the miners in W e s t Virginia and 64 per cent in Kentucky live, tends to unfit the miner and his family for meeting the problems of readjustment which

96

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

must take place in the coal industry. T h e miners are r e m o v e d from the main stream of life pulsating through a normal diversified industrial community. T h e y are deprived of the stimulation coming f r o m contacts with other industrial groups. T h e i r limited social experiences and opportunities do not accustom them to meet new social situations, or make a d j u s t ments easily or successfully. T h e i r initiative is thwarted by the impossibility of owning their homes. Self-esteem and pride which come f r o m permanent residence in a community do not develop. T h e y can feel no sense of security in the community. T h e i r utter dependence upon the company for both employment and continuance of residence in the community develops an attitude of submission and servitude which undermines their confidence and self-reliance. T h e fight which the operators in W e s t Virginia and Kentucky have made against any organization of the miners has prevented the development of a consciousness of labor solidarity. T h e r e is now no feeling of group strength or group accomplishment which helps to buoy and support the individual miner in facing his problem of readjustment. T h e unemployed miners are w h o l l y unprepared by both training and experience to make the transition f r o m mining to other occupations without some initial assistance. T h e situation is f u r ther complicated by the fact that many of the companies upon which these miners have depended are now bankrupt. I n other camps the mines are worked out or abandoned because of an inferior grade of coal, or the inability to meet competition. In these camps the most desperate conditions are prevalent. T h e period of inevitable readjustment ahead of the coal industry, and the prolonged period of depression since 1930 have caused many operators to reappraise the whole system of camp organization. M a n y companies have extended credit to their employees up to $1.00 per day and more, in some cases, for large families. Some of these companies have exhausted their resources and are unable to continue this maintenance which they feel constitutes a partial obligation.

COMPANY-CONTROLLED COMMUNITIES

97

Many operators in interviews have expressed the opinion that the company-owned community is now a liability rather than an asset. As explained by one operator: If I were opening a new mine I would invest no money in houses except a few around the tipple to guard the property. A camp increases the investment, does not give commensurate returns, and adds greatly to the difficulties of administration. A n operator should specialize in mining coal with free labor, and not attempt to do a real estate and general store business on the side.

In the past the states have allowed these semi-feudal communities to develop with a minimum of regulation and control. They now constitute sore spots which will become sources of pauperism and crime unless they are dealt with wisely.

VII E X T E N T

A N D

EFFECTS

OF

U N E M P L O Y M E N T

THE COMPLACENT attitude which Americans have traditionally taken towards unemployment has been rudely shaken since 1929. In March 1933, 44.9 per cent of the workers in the manufacturing industries in the United States were unemployed, according to the estimate of the Bureau of Labor Statistics based upon the 1926 employment average. 1 It can no longer be assumed that unemployment is simply an individual matter largely caused by the laziness, indifference, and inefficiency of laborers. Unemployment is far more apt to be the result of unstable economic conditions brought about by seasonal and cyclical changes and rapid unregulated technological improvements. T h e workers in the coal industry are among those who have suffered long both from irregular employment and unemployment. T h e industry has felt the full impact of stimulation from rush orders and discouragement resulting from the shortage of orders during the dull seasons. T h e miner lives, therefore, on the verge of unemployment. As indicated in the previous chapter, the mines on an average operate only about two-thirds of the time. T h e difference between an employed and an unemployed miner is often only a matter of terminology. If a miner has been discharged and has secured no other job, or if he was employed in a mine which is worked out, then he is clearly unemployed. But if he is subject to call whenever the mine operates, even though it is only one day a month, he is considered an employed miner. Of the 956 miners interviewed in making this study, 321 were not working on the day of the interview, yet they considered 1

Monthly

Labor

Review,

V o l . 36, No. 5, M a y 1 9 3 3 , p. 1 1 6 2 . [98]

E X T E N T OF U N E M P L O Y M E N T

99

themselves employed. Of these employed miners almost 16 per cent were working on an average of only one day a week; 41 per cent, two days; and 29 per cent, three days a week. (See Table 26.) This means that 86 per cent of those employed were working one-half time or less. As a result of irregular employment many of these part-time workers were in a more unfortunate situation than those entirely unemployed. The relief agencies would ordinarily help only those who were wholly unemployed. T A B L E NUMBER

OF D A Y S

WORKED

PER

26

WEEK

BY 3 2 1

K E N T U C K Y AND W E S T

Number of D a y s Worked per Week

EMPLOYED

TOTALS

IN

Number and Percentage Working this Number of Days per Week Number

ι Day 2 Days 3 Days 4 Days and Over Temporarily in Other Jobs N o Answer

MINERS

VIRGINIA"

Si 133 93 31 8

5 321

Percentage 15.89

41 -43 28.97 9.66 2.49 I.56 100.00

* Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

Length of Time Unemployed Of the 635 unemployed miners interviewed, 5 per cent had been out of work for less than a month; 19.3 per cent, two months or less; 54.6 per cent, more than six months; 28.2 per cent, more than a year; and 6.8 per cent, more than two years. (See Table 27.) These miners had been unemployed for a much longer time by the spring of 1932 than all unemployed workers had been out of job by April 1930, as shown by the unemployment census. According to this report, 28.6 per cent of the unemployed had been out of work for one month or less; 13.7 per cent had been unemployed for

100

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MIXER

more than six months; and only 3.3 per cent for more than a year. 2 T h e 6 3 5 miners had already been unemployed on an average of 1 1 . 3 3 months at the time of the interviews, between January and J u l y 1 9 3 2 . Coal production during the latter half of 1 9 3 2 was no greater than during the period when the interviews were made, and during the first half of 1 9 3 3 it did not equal that of 1 9 3 2 . T h e probabilities are that few of these unemployed miners have yet been able to secure any T A B L E 27 LENGTH OF TIME 635 MINERS W E R E UNEMPLOYED IN KENTUCKY AND WEST VIRGINIA 11

Time Unemployed

N u m b e r a n d P e r c e n t a g e U n e m p l o y e d for this Time Number Under ι Month 1-2 Months 3-6 Months 7-9 Months 10-12 Months 13-18 Months 19-24 Months 25-48 Months 5 Y e a r s and O v e r К о Answer TOTALS

32 91 49 69 98 68 68

Percentage S-O 14-3 25 . 0 10.9 155 10.7 10.7

7

5-5 ι -3 I .I

635

100.0

35 8

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

work in the mines; if so by midsummer 1 9 3 3 these miners had each been unemployed an average of two years. In view of the retrenchment which must take place in the coal industry it would seem that a considerable percentage of these men are out of the coal mines for good. T h e hopelessness of finding any kind of a job is attested to by the following experiences of the men as given in their own words: ! Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1 9 3 0 , Unemployment, Vol. I, Table 4, p. 1 0 .

101

E X T E N T OF UNEMPLOYMENT

F o r t h i r t y - s e v e n days, f r o m D e c e m b e r first until J a n u a r y n i n t h , I t r a m p e d t h r o u g h E a s t e r n K e n t u c k y , Virginia, a n d W e s t Virginia t r y ing to find a job a n d c o u l d n ' t git a t h i n g . I had plenty of c o m p a n y . I d i d n ' t lay out a n y n i g h t by myself. I had n o trouble *

*

finding

buddies.

*

I have just c o m e back f r o m h u n t i n g a job t h r o u g h E a s t e r n K e n tucky, B i g S a n d y , a n d W e s t V i r g i n i a a n d c o u l d n ' t find any w o r k . M e t hoboes w h o said t h e r e w a s n o use to go f a r t h e r so I t u r n e d back. *

*

*

I ' v e w o r n o u t m y shoes w a l k i n g , looking for a job. T h e r e ' s no living out of this rocky g r o u n d r o u n d here, hits scratch f a r m i n g . I d o n ' t k n o w w h a t I ' m g o i n g to d o this w i n t e r . *

*

*

I have m a d e t w o r o u n d s out of here looking f o r w o r k since last fall — i n the first of D e c e m b e r a n d again in J a n u a r y . I w e n t t o H u n t i n g t o n , W e s t V i r g i n i a ; A s h l a n d , a n d Russell, K e n t u c k y ; C i n c i n n a t i , D a y t o n , T o l e d o , a n d S p r i n g f i e l d , O h i o ; a n d back by C h a r l e s t o n , W e s t Virginia. I m a d e t h e same r o u n d on each t r i p . I w a s h u n t i n g f o r a n y kind of a j o b — c o o k i n g p r e f e r a b l y , or c o m m o n labor in the city, a n d in t h e c o u n t r y , f a r m jobs. E v e r y m o r n i n g w h e n I w a s in a city I got u p early a n d m a d e a r o u n d of the r e s t a u r a n t s to see if some cook h a d n ' t failed to s h o w up. I got eight or n i n e days w o r k in the t w o m o n t h s . I w o r k e d f o r a w e e k in the place of a fellow w h o got d r u n k a n d got in jail.

Unemployment

in One-Industry

Communities

U n e m p l o y m e n t is the greatest misfortune that can befall a strong man. F o r him to have energy and initiative, to want to sell his labor and skill in exchange for food and clothing, yet be unable to find a buyer, is a blow to his self-respect and morale. T o be turned down at the employment window as useless and not wanted, to be a d r u g on the market is an experience which undermines a man's confidence in himself— throwing him upon a slag pile as worthless human material. T h i s is a tragic experience for any individual; it is nothing short of a catastrophe when it happens to a whole community.

102

THE BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

E v e n in cities, with all of their diversification of industry and their provision f o r recreation, amusement, and education, unemployed men degenerate. I n urban centers the unemployed are usually in the minority. Stores, shops, and factories continue to do business even though at a reduced tempo. I n cities the unemployed have contacts with other people engaged in different occupations. T h e r e is always a possibility that a new j o b m a y be f o u n d in some other business. T h e morale of the community is sustained by the continuance of diversified social, religious, and business activities. T h e whole situation is different in a coal camp. I t is a oneindustry community. A l l of the business of the camp, whatever its nature, centers around the tipple, and is dependent upon it. W h e n the mine closes, practically all of the men in the community are thrown out of work. In December 1 9 3 1 , only eight men who had jobs could be f o u n d in a camp of 7 0 0 p e o p l e — t w o of the eight were grocerymen and one a barber. T h e miner has no contact with men in other occupations who can put him in touch with other jobs. N o r m a l community activities do not exist, except in the largest coal camps. T o see large groups of men and boys in almost e v e r y camp congregated along the railroad track playing marbles symbolizes the paucity of community activities f o r unemployed energy.

Refutation

for

. Laziness

M i n e r s have the reputation of being lazy and indolent. A visitor to the coal camps sees enough dirt, debris, rickety shacks, and idle men to j u s t i f y the reputation. One is tempted to indict the whole group because so f e w of them attempt to keep their homes and surroundings clean. Unemployment provides men with leisure time, yet it undermines their incentive to use it constructively. T h e miner seldom owns his home. T h e pride which with home ownership has not been developed. H i s job uncertain that he may need to m o v e at any time; more this, he may be evicted at the whim of the operator. H e

goes is so than rare-

EXTENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT

103

ly becomes rooted and attached to the camp as a person does living in a normal community. This affects his whole attitude towards his home and the community. Irregular work and prolonged unemployment tends to make the miner even less interested in the improvement of his surroundings. H e becomes discouraged and hopes to move to some other place where he can find work. T h e morale of the individual and of the group is broken by the seemingly hopeless economic tangle in which they are caught. T o the superficial observer this is indisputable evidence of laziness and incompetency. T o the student who is aware of the interaction which takes place between a man and his environment it becomes a symptom of bad social and economic conditions. The longer the period of unemployment the more complete becomes the degeneracy and pauperization of the individual. It will require an aggressive constructive policy on the part of society to grapple with this problem of unemployment and prevent wholesale degeneracy taking place in mining communities. A miner who had been out of work for five months, sitting on the porch of his home—a rather neat appearing hillside cottage surrounded by a fence overrun with rambler roses— remarked to a visitor: W e used to keep things clcan around the house and yard and had a cleanup every spring, but it's no use n o w — w e can't put our hearts in it. There ain't no future here now and it ain't worth while to do any work in the yard.

Mike was a strong, sturdy Hungarian, formerly the best coal loader in the camp. W h e n he first lost his job, two years ago, he went to the company office almost every morning and begged for any kind of work. W h e n his savings were exhausted and he was forced to apply for help he protested, saying, " I want work, no charity." When he was given an opportunity recently to learn the cobbler's trade he shrugged his shoulders and said, " I can no repair shoes, my fingers stiff, I can no learn that. I live two years without work} county feed me."

104

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

T h e children of a camp school selected a comedy f o r an evening's entertainment. T h e parents protested against this, saying: W h y should our children

participate in such foolishness?

should w e be exposed to the unrealities of a c o m e d y ?

Why

W e live in a

w o r l d of hard and strange facts. O u r savings have all been used d u r ing the past t w o years since the mine closed. W e don't k n o w h o w w e are g o i n g to g e t food for our next meal. O u r lives are full of t r a g e d y , pain, s u f f e r i n g , and w a n t . W e have no desire for the make believe of c o m e d y . T h e w o r r i e s of u n e m p l o y m e n t have driven all prospects of pleasure out of o u r lives. *

*

*

T h i s here just l a y i n g a r o u n d — h i t ' s killing me. I hain't n e v e r done it a f o r e . *

*

*

I ' d like to g o on a f a r m . W h e n a m a n goes on a f a r m , he's g o t s o m e t h i n g to eat. B u t a miner never k n o w s w h e n he's goin' to eat and w h e n he a i n ' t . B u t h o w ' s a m a n like me to get on a f a r m ?

Unless

somebody carries me o v e r for a season I can't get started. *

*

*

I ain't had a regular job for four years and I ' v e only been able to pick up odd jobs on the road. I ' v e only had eleven days' w o r k , and that on the road, d u r i n g the past year. I o w n a f o u r - r o o m house and lot but I gotta pay $ 9 . 0 0 taxes on it and I ain't got the money t o pay it. W h e n a m a n has been out of w o r k as l o n g as I have he loses his heart to try to do any t h i n g .

The Children

A Iways Suffer

T h e burden of any bad economic or industrial situation usually falls heavily upon the children, who are in no way responsible. T h e family life is so shaped and molded by economic influences that children become the innocent victims, quickly adjusting themselves to the social pattern of the community. T h e y tend almost invariably to perpetuate the low living standards of their parents. This is particularly true in a one-industry community such as a coal camp. T h e children in a camp have little opportunity for the sort of stimulation

E X T E N T OF UNEMPLOYMENT

105

which w o u l d come to them in normal community life. T h e standards, habits, and customs of the parents tend to be adopted by the children with slight change or modification. T h e conditions of dire poverty through which many of the coal camps are passing at present are of unusual significance because it tends to establish these conditions as standards for the children. T h e smaller coal companies have not been able to meet the problems of the depression as successfully as have many of the larger companies. T h e latter have been able to provide more regular employment because of their superior marketing facilities. T h e y have had, in the main, larger reserves and better facilities for taking care of their unemployed. C h i l dren were found to be in the worst condition in the abandoned camps, or in the camps where the companies had gone bankrupt. In these camps there were no agencies financially responsible for the care of the stranded miners and their families.

Undernourishment Among

Children

I r r e g u l a r employment, insecurity of job, lack of home ownership, frequent moving, payment in scrip, and high prices in the company store have discouraged frugality and the habit of saving. T h e miner has always been very poorly prepared to meet a severe depression. H i s reserve, if any, is quickly exhausted, and hard times soon find him in need of the physical necessities of food and clothing. T h e seriousness of the situation among the miners can be measured roughly by the number of children w h o were pronounced undernourished d u r i n g the winter of 1 9 3 1 - 3 2 , an undernourished child being one w h o is 10 per cent or more underweight for height and age. B y A p r i l the American Friends Service Committee was serving school lunches to a maximum of 33,227 undernourished children of miners in the bituminous coal fields. In addition milk was served to 7,697 pre-school children and 1,071 nursing and expectant mothers. T h e children were selected by the county health doctors or nurses where there was a health unit, or by the company doctors. In camps where medi-

106

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

cal assistance was not available, the selection was made by public health nurses. Widespread undernourishment of the children made it necessary to provide one substantial meal a day in 690 schools scattered through forty-one counties in six states. 3 These schools represented a total enrollment of approximately 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 children. About one-third of the children were placed on the feeding lists as undernourished. This number does not reveal the f u l l extent of undernourishment among the children in the camps. According to the teachers, the children from the poorest homes were not in school, because of the need of clothes, or the lax enforcement of the schoolattendance laws. In the various schools the medical examinations revealed great differences in the proportion of the children undernourished, ranging from 1 5 per cent to 1 0 0 per cent. As the winter progressed the number of children undernourished increased rapidly until the month of April. This school feeding program was continued again during the winter of 1 9 3 2 - 3 in 3 0 4 communities in twelve coal counties in Kentucky and West Virginia. In these schools, on an average, 47.7 per cent of the children were placed on the feeding lists as undernourished on the basis of being ten per cent or more underweight for height and age. T h e physical examinations uncovered a number of maladies caused by improper and insufficient diet and a lack of proper medical care. In one school of 198 pupils the doctor reported thirty active and incipient cases of pellagra. Rickets were not uncommon. Defective teeth, ulcerated gums, and badly diseased tonsils were quite prevalent. Tuberculosis in various stages of development was discovered in many of the children. M i l k , which was an important part of the school lunches, was an entirely new food to the children in many schools; ' T h i s feeding program included only those schools in the camps which could not be cared f o r by the companies or by local charity or other relief agencies. T h e r e are no available data to determine the number of miners' children who were assisted during this period by coal companies and other organizations.

T H E CHILDREN SUFFER MOST

EXTENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT

107

they often declared that they had never tasted milk before. W h e n th*·. lunches were served in a school, during the first few days there were usually children who became nauseated because they were unaccustomed to wholesome food, or those who could consume only a portion of their food and yet were hungry. Their little stomachs could not hold enough to satisfy their hunger. During the preparation to start the lunches in one school a tall unkempt miner approached the teacher and asked if it were really true that lunches were to be served in the school. W h e n he was told that the children would be served on the following Monday he said quite solemnly, " W e l l , God knows my children need i t — t h e y haven't had a square meal for four months." In another school the teacher asked a little girl if she were sick. " N o , " was the reply, " I ' m all right, only I'm hungry." W h e n the teacher suggested that she go home to get something to eat she replied, ' 4 t won't do me any good to go home because this is sister's day to eat." These pitiable conditions among the children in the coal camps were due not only to unemployment and irregular employment but also to ignorance, and to families too large for even the employed miner's income. In one school of 224 pupils a detailed study was made of the children and their families. This study showed that 46 per cent of the children were 10 per cent or more underweight for their height and age, and 54 per cent were of normal weight. Seventy-six per cent of those of normal weight and 61 per cent of the malnourished group were children of employed fathers. F r o m the other side of the picture, 24 per cent of the healthy children and 39 per cent of the undernourished group had unemployed or absent fathers. Undernourishment was found in homes where the father was employed as well as in the homes where he was unemployed. As stated above the difference between the employed and the unemployed miner was often only a matter of terminology. T h e employed miner frequently worked only three or four days a month, and seldom got more than three days' work a week. W i t h his low wages

10S

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

he could not support a family. T h e unemployed miner who received help from the local relief agency often had more food than the employed miner could buy at the company store with his wages. I n this particular school the study seems to indicate that when a family is reduced to a very low standard of living, or is supported by public charity, even the size of the family has little to do with the extent of undernourishment. T w e n t y five per cent of the normal children came from families consisting of five persons or less; 62 per cent from families of six to ten person; and 1 3 per cent from large families of eleven persons or more. Of the malnourished children 23 per cent came from families of five persons or less; 59 per cent from families of six to ten persons; and 18 per cent f r o m families of eleven persons or more. This analysis indicates that in this camp, where almost 50 per cent of the children were undernourished, there was little difference in the kind, quality, and amount of food received by the children, irrespective of the size of the family or the employment of the father. T h e girls were less able to thrive on their restricted diet than the boys. Thirty-five per cent of the boys and 56 per cent of the girls were undernourished. T h e preponderance of malnourished girls over boys held true in all classes of the school except in two where the percentage was the same. It is apparent that the undernourishment of the children was caused not only by insufficient food, but also by improper preparation of food and by an unbalanced diet. I n the home of one miner there was a very rickety two-year old baby who had not yet begun to walk. " H e has been pindling since he took the whoopin' cough. H e eats whatever I eats," said his mother, " a n d I eats mos' anything I can find." I n December 1 9 3 1 , the Department of Health in West Virginia made a survey of the nutritional conditions of school children which revealed the extent of undernourishment among children of all classes in the state.4 T h e survey covered * Report of Dr. R. H. Paden, Director, Division of Child Hygiene, West Virginia, State Health Department, December 1 9 3 1 .

EXTENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT

109

7 1 7 schools with an enrollment of 45,364 children in thirtyfour counties. It was found that 23.12 per cent of the children were 10 per cent or more underweight for their height and age. In the agricultural areas 25.24 per cent of the children were malnourished j in the mining camps 24.02 per cent; in the industrial centers 20.74 per cent; and in the diversified communities 15.56 per cent. In the rural sections undernourishment was caused not so much by an insufficient amount of food as by ignorance concerning diet, improper preparation of foods, and a lack of medical attention. In the coal camps there was better medical care, but a serious shortage of food. T h e elimination of undernourishment among the children of W e s t Virginia will require not only direct relief, but more fundamentally an extensive health and dietetic program in both the home and the school. Need for

Clothing

Clothes, for children especially, are as urgently needed in the coal camps and even more difficult to get than food. A l o n g period of unemployment exhausts the meager supply of clothing in the miner's household. E v e r y cent above deductions that the miner can earn has to be spent at the commissary for food. T h e r e is nothing left for shoes and clothing. T h e relief agencies and the counties provide food, but make little provision for clothing. Shoes, shoes, shoes, clothing, and more clothing are the requests sent back by all investigators in the camps. "Conditions," said the workers with European relief experience, "can be compared only with those in Poland and Russia following the w a r . " In one school with an enrollment of 250, fifty children were absent, and in another school 50 per cent were absent, for want of clothing. I n still another camp a social worker visited twenty-five families and found twenty-three boys and six girls who did not have enough clothing to attend school. In one family she found nine children, most of whom were naked. Another social worker reports:

110

THE BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

I have seen a good many Russian waifs, but I can't remember having seen a choicer collection of rags than those that this American family had on. A t least the European rags were good strong linen to begin with, but there is a diaphanous quality about the rags of cheap factory-made stuff that makes them rather bad for cold-weather wear. In the course of half an hour I found ten children w h o were unable to attend school because of lack of clothing. I met Mrs. B. coming down a steep hill in her stocking feet. She carried an old ragged pair of boy's shoes in one hand. " T h e s e here is Johnny's," she explained. "They're all he has to g o to school in, w h e n it gits cold. A n d I just wears 'em over the rocky places."

Hopelessness

and Despair

When the people in a coal camp, speaking out of their bitter experience discuss chiefly unemployment, sickness, need of food and clothing, and the sins of the operator, the morale of the group soon goes to pieces. This is reflected in every phase of camp life. Hopelessness and despair settle down on the camp as a dense smoke-laden fog. When men are caught in the grip of circumstances over which they have no control, they become despondent and tend to give up in despair. They lose their morale. But as these forces begin to close in on the group and they are in the position of having their backs against the wall, then hopelessness gives way to reckless desperation. At first men prefer to suffer in secret. They hesitate to let neighbors know of their weakness and poverty. W h e n they once discover that neighbors and friends are going through similar experiences they become more aggressive. T h e primitive impulse of selfpreservation begins to assert itself. They become conscious of the strength of the group. They are convinced that inactivity means certain destruction, and nothing can be lost by drastic action. In such a tense atmosphere a slight incident may change an apparently docile group into an angry, aggressive mob. Under these circumstances the sacredness of human life and the security of private property are given slight consideration. T h e people in a coal camp are particularly suscepti-

E X T E N T OF UNEMPLOYMENT

111

ble to these changing moods during times of hardship and dire need. In the autumn of 1 9 3 1 , the unemployed miners were dazed by their plight. T h e approaching winter worried them. T h e y tightened their belts and assumed a stoical attitude. A gaunt miner in ragged overalls and worn white rubber boots stopped at the grocery store on his way home. H e bought four loaves of bread and one-half pound of coffee. H e stood long and looked at the shelves filled with food, the counters of meat, vegetables, and fruits, and then slowly turning away said, " W e l l , I guess that's about all I need tonight." As the months passed and more mines closed and unemployment increased, the miners became more militant in their attitude. T h e expression used most frequently was, " I ' m not going to let my children starve as long as there is food in the commissary. I ' l l not steal, I'll just take it." T h e situation was more serious and complicated where there had been strikes and labor disturbances. In these camps there was an ugly spirit of suspicion, fear, and hatred not only between the men and the operator, but also among the miners themselves. In one camp conditions had become critical by the middle of October. T h e men had gone out on a strike in M a y . T h e conflict had torn the camp into bitter factional groups. In addition to the union and nonunion antagonists there were racial, national, religious, and family feuds which kept the community in constant strife. In the meantime the operating company against which the strike was called went bankrupt, and the property reverted to the original owners, located in another state. T h e owners took no steps to open the mine and there were only vague rumors as to when operation would start. Most of the men were ready to sign up with the company on a nonunion basis. There was intense bitterness between the men continuing to support the union cause, and those utterly disgusted with it for calling a strike when the union did not have sufficient funds to provide relief. T h e county funds were exhausted, and its warrants were not accepted by the local merchants. A l l the local relief agencies

112

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

had lost their remaining money in the last bank failure. T h e food supply in the camp was exhausted, and twenty-five families and ten unmarried men were on the verge of starvation. In the middle of October a social worker reported her visit to one section of the camp: A dozen rickety little cabins are perched on the edge of the hillside at the top of a path that would be most convenient for mountain goats. T h e filth and squalor of this settlement are absolutely indescribable. I found nine children in one two-room cabin, and six in another. A s w e came up the path a dozen children were playing in the mud before one of the huts. T h e i r clothing seemed to be for decorative rather than covering purposes. O n e boy had on a baby's shirt that reached h a l f w a y down his little stomach, and nothing more. Another had a sort of openwork shirt with more holes than cloth.

T h e food shortage in the camp was so acute that immediate action was necessary to prevent starvation and violent attacks upon property. W h e n a truck load of potatoes was sent to the camp a colored woman exclaimed, " L o r d y , I hain't seen a potato for so long that it looks just like chicken to m e ! " By the middle of April in another camp, where the county relief agencies had not come to the assistance of the group, a deputation of sixteen miners walked thirteen miles to the office of the county j u d g e and announced that they would break into the commissary that night and take what they needed unless given immediate assistance. These men had been working on an average of two days a week during the month past. T h e pay slip of the spokesman of the group, for the half month ending April I , 1 9 3 2 , shows that he loaded eighteen tons of coal @ 22j/^ cents a ton, thus earning $4.05. In addition to this he received $ 1 . 1 3 for cleanup work, making a total of $ 5 . 1 8 for the half month. For this same period the company deducted $ 3 . 0 0 for rent, $ 1 . 0 0 for light, 7 5 cents for coal, 50 cents for doctor's fees, and 25 cents for smithing charges, making $ 5 . 5 0 total deductions. At the end of the two-week period the total fixed-charge deductions amounted to 32 cents more than his earnings. H e had nothing left with which to buy groceries for himself and his family.

EXTENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT

113

T h e c o m p a n y a d v a n c e d h i m $ 2 . 0 0 in scrip w h i c h m a d e a n o v e r d r a f t of $ 2 . 3 2 f o r t h e p e r i o d . I n c i d e n t a l l y t h e r e is a n e r r o r on this p a r t i c u l a r p a y s l i p w h i c h a m o u n t s to an a d d i t i o n a l 2 5 cents d e b i t . I n t h i s d e p u t a t i o n of sixteen

miners

o n l y o n e h a d b e e n a b l e to d r a w a n y scrip f r o m t h e c o m p a n y since t h e last p a y d a y . T h e s e m e n w e r e e s p e c i a l l y b i t t e r in t h e i r d e n u n c i a t i o n of t h e c o m p a n y because of t h e h i g h prices c h a r g e d in the c o m p a n y store. T h e prices of s o m e c o m m o d i t i e s w e r e d o u b l e t h o s e c h a r g e d in t h e i n d e p e n d e n t stores. W h e n t h e l e a d e r w a s a s k e d w h y m e n in his c a m p w e r e so m u c h m o r e insistent in t h e i r d e m a n d s t h a n t h e m i n e r s in o t h e r c a m p s , h e r e p l i e d , " W e l l , I t o l d t h e b o y s that w h e n t h e o l d w o m a n a n d t h e k i d s d i d n ' t h a v e n o t h i n ' to eat, it w a s t i m e to d o s o m e t h i n g e l s e besides d i g coal o n e or t w o d a y s a w e e k a n d t h e n j u s t set a r o u n d . W e

h a v e decided to d o s o m e t h i n g

else."

T h e j u d g e w a s o b v i o u s l y m o v e d b y t h e p l i g h t of these m i n e r s , a n d a l s o b y t h e p o t e n t i a l d a n g e r to t h e security of t h e c o m m u n i t y . S h o r t w o r k w a s m a d e of official r e d tape. T h e s i x t e e n m i n e r s w e r e s e r v e d h o t m e a l s in a n e a r b y r e s t a u r a n t

and

sent h o m e w i t h a t r u c k l o a d of f o o d . I n a neighboring county twenty

women

f r o m an a b a n -

d o n e d c a m p w e n t to t h e k i t c h e n w h e r e t h e A m e r i c a n F r i e n d s S e r v i c e C o m m i t t e e w a s p r e p a r i n g f o o d f o r school They

lunches.

e n t e r e d t h e k i t c h e n a n d p o u r e d t h e f o o d into

their

b u c k e t s j s o m e of t h e w o m e n e v e n t o o k t h e f o o d f r o m t h e c h i l d r e n a f t e r it h a d b e e n s e r v e d to t h e m . I n d e f e n d i n g t h e i r act t h e y said that t h e y w e r e as h u n g r y as t h e u n d e r n o u r i s h e d c h i l d r e n . T h i s c h a n g e in a t t i t u d e in t h e m i n i n g c o m m u n i t i e s w a s v e r y m a r k e d as t h e w i n t e r p r o g r e s s e d a n d t h e f o o d s h o r t a g e b e c a m e acute. N o , I haven't done any b o o t l e g g i n g — h a v e n ' t gotten that low d o w n yet, but I will do it before I see my children starve. I will go up there and break through the store w i n d o w before I see my four children starve.

*

*

*

M e n w o n ' t starve. T h e y ' l l take food first, and I w o u l d be the first one to help them. I ' v e gotten along all right so far and haven't had t o ask for any aid, but w e can't hold out very much longer.

114

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

I hear the Red Cross is going to stop giving our relief. If it quits, men are going to steal. It's all that's kept them still so far. M e n aren't goin' to let the womenfolk and the young'uns starve. T h e y ' l l take what they need first. If I saw my w o m a n wantin' bread, I'd just take my gun and g o to Pineville and break the windows of one of those stores and take whatever I needed. I wasn't raised to steal and I don't believe in it, but I'll steal before I'll starve.

Increase in Crime and

Delinquency

Petty thievery undoubtedly increased as conditions became worse in the coal camps. Miners faced with hunger resorted to stealing calves, pigs, chickens, and any other available food. There was a special temptation to try bootlegging as long as there was a market for the product. Commissaries were frequently broken into and food occasionally taken from the school storeroom. In one county the judge had before him two boys in their late teens who had been found guilty of breaking into a store to obtain food. It developed during the trial that these boys had never had a job. Since the mine closed more than a year ago, their fathers had been out of work. There was no food at homej they were hungry. The judge sentencing the boys to two years in prison gave a lecture upon the virtue of honesty and the wickedness of the younger generation. H e waxed eloquent upon the theme of the sacredness of private property, and the necessity of the court upholding the dignity of the law. H e bewailed the fact that twenty times during that session of the court he had been compelled to sentence boys to prison for similar offenses. In many camps people were hungry and in need of clothing. That there was not more stealing is a testimony to the patience and the law-abiding habits of the miners.

VIII WHAT'S

T H E

MINER

THINKING?

D U R I N G T H I S period of widespread unemployment in the coal camps, with a prospect of retrenchment which will result in permanent displacement of more than 200,000 miners, what is the miner thinking? What is the miner's attitude towards the vortex of circumstances in which he is caught? What mental adjustment is he making to the bewildering forces which swept away the economic security which he thought he possessed? Attitude of the Miner Towards the Boss

Opulence and poverty existing side by side in the same community, create barriers between individuals and groups which separate the members of society into antagonistic factions. In this soil the class struggle germinates and the way is prepared for violent revolutionary action. In the presence of luxury and destitution, it is easy for the agitator to find plenty of fuel to fire the smoldering flames of discontent and class hatred. It is difficult for human sympathy and understanding to bridge the chasm caused by suspicion, rivalry, jealousy, and hatred. But when a catastrophe overwhelms a whole community—one in which all members of the community are reduced to a basis of penury—common suffering often has a mellowing influence. T h e financial predicament in which the operator finds himself has solved many of his labor problems. In the boom days of expanding markets, labor shortage, and high profits the laborers were restless and dissatisfied in spite of high wages. T h e y felt that their wages were not increasing as rapidly as the profits of the operator warranted. Besides there was an element of security in the thought that another job could always be found at the next mine up the hollow or just over [in]

116

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

the mountain. T h e whole scene has shifted now. T h e miner is a member of a vast army of unemployed. H e spends hours in the long queues outside of the public welfare office waiting for his allowance or the order which entitles him to a sack of R e d Cross flour. H i s children are fed at the school lunches and clothed out of the charity bales. T h e important thing from the standpoint of social understanding is that the operators have not gone unscathed. H u n dreds of operators have gone bankrupt and hundreds more are on the verge of complete financial collapse. T h e whole industry is fighting for its life against insolvency. M r . S — was once a successful operator. In addition to owning his mine property and his fine home in Huntington, he had saved $75,000 in cash. When the price of coal dropped and orders could not be secured he was forced into bankruptcy. H i s home and furniture were sold. H e is now living in an abandoned camp where the mine has been wrecked. In the capacity as caretaker of the property he has gained the esteem and the respect of his fellows. One of them was heard to remark, " G o d never put breath in a finer man than Old M a n S — . Everybody likes h i m . " Operator J — realized, on account of loss of orders, that retrenchment and wage cuts were inevitable. H e began the retrenchment program by reducing his personal budget. In his home all maid service was dispensed with. H i s son was taken out of college and put to work in the mine. A l l of this was done before the men were asked to take a wage cut. T h e r e is little employment in his camp and very low wages are paid, but there is no harsh criticism against the operator. T h e miners feel that he has played square with them. As one moved about the coal camps during 1 9 3 1 - 3 2 and the first half of 1 9 3 3 , he was impressed by the lack of bitterness and resentment against the operators. At times the miners assumed a fatalistic attitude towards their plight. It was apparent that the common difficulties of both operators and miners had introduced a conciliatory element in the employeremployee relationship in many of the camps. It would be a

WHAT'S T H E MINER THINKING?

117

mistake to convey the impression that the mutual misfortunes of both operators and miners had produced a love feast in the camps. It should be emphasized that operators are normal human beings. T h e y are not always free to act as they please, inasmuch as they have created a vicious system—a system of which they are now the victims. There are " h a r d boiled" operators who take advantage of every opportunity to increase profits irrespective of fair wages to the miners. T h e r e are operators who are goaded to drive hard bargains with their men in order to pay regular royalties to absentee landowners and dividends to the stockholders. T h e r e are other operators whose first concern is the well-being of their employees. In a Kentucky town the president of three coal companies discussed the pitiful conditions in his camps and said with tears in his eyes, " I don't know how I am going to carry my men through the winter. Some of our mines are being operated now solely for the purpose of enabling the miners to earn even a meager w a g e . " Miners, likewise, react the same as other normal human beings to the treatment they receive from their employers. T h e y are as quick as any other group of laborers to resent and to resist any oppression, injustice, or unfair treatment by the operator. T h e y arc just as ready to respond loyally to fair dealings as any other laborers. T h e attitude of the miners towards the operator is a pretty fair test of the labor policy of the company. On Saturday, November 28, 1 9 3 1 , a large coal company in West Virginia posted a notice at the office ordering the men to remove all of their tools from the mine the following M o n d a y , as the mine would be closed on that day. On the last day of operation 3,000 tons of coal were mined— one of the largest production days in the history of the mine. T h e decision to close the mine had been guarded with great secrecy. Not even the operating officials had any intimation of the impending doom. T h e reasons for this drastic action were shrouded in considerable mystery. T h e workers knew nothing of the trouble except that it grew out of a dispute

IIS

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

between the operating company and the owners of the land. By the first of April 1 9 3 2 , four months after the mine closed, it had been literally gutted of every thing of value. Some of the machinery was purchased by other operators, yet much of it was sold for junk. When the pumps were taken out the mine was soon flooded ·, it was estimated that there was from fifty-five to sixty feet of water in the shaft. There were 501 men on the pay roll when the mine closed. This number included the men who lived outside of the camp as well as those who lived in the 220 company houses in the camp. B y the first of April about fifty families had left the camp, and probably fifty men had secured some irregular work in other mines in the county. During almost two weeks spent in this camp interviewing the stranded miners, the most surprising discovery was the attitude of the miners towards the company. A majority of these miners had lived in the camp long before the operating company leased the property in 1923. The average length of residence in the camp of those interviewed was fifteen years. One old colored man had even helped lay the railroad track to the mine and had helped to drive the main entry in 1897. The mine was closed without advance notice or warning. The lights were turned off and the wiring sold for junk. The pumping station was demolished; there were no wells in the community. The only source of water supply was a few springs which usually ran dry by midsummer. The local post office was removed. The miners, deprived of their jobs, were without any means of making a living. The company in withdrawing salvaged everything of value from the mine, but cast the workers aside and pushed them adrift upon the mercies of the surrounding community. In spite of all these reversals in their economic status caused by the closing of the mine, the miners, with few exceptions, remained loyal to the company. Only two miners even so much as raised a question concerning any moral or ethical obligation which the company should have towards the men who had spent most of their productive years working in this mine. The miners were

WHAT'S THE MINER THINKING?

119

as thoroughly indoctrinated with the respect for property rights and the sense of the company's lack of responsibility for the well-being of its discharged laborers as were the operators themselves. T h e secret of the miners' loyalty to this company lay in the labor policy which the company had followed. N o union had been tolerated in the camp since the strike of 1 9 2 2 , although higher wages had been paid than by most other companies. At times the wages had been considerably above the union wage scale. Rents had been reasonable and the houses had been kept in good repair. There had been neither pressure nor attempt to compel the employees to trade at the company store. T h e manager of the store had been required to compete with independent store prices. This had been done successfully. Not a miner interviewed had a word of criticism against the management or the policy of this company store. This liberal store policy probably had more to do with the attitude of the miners towards the coal company than any thing else. T h e miners repeatedly made the statement, " T h i s was the best place to work along the creek. . . . T h e company never robbed us of our money at the store. When a man became dissatisfied and left this camp you could always expect him back." (a) Bitterness

Engendered

by Industrial

Strife

T h e day-to-day reports in the newspapers indicate the breakdown in the attempts of the miners and the operators to settle their differences amicably. T h e following are typical: Lexington, Mo., Nov. 11, 1931 • A r r e s t s y e s t e r d a y w i t h the taking of nine m e n

w e r e brought to eighteen

into custody on charges of

feloniously assaulting seventy nonunion miners of the F a r m e r s ' Company

and

the

Collett

and

Hartwig

mine

near

Coal

Higginsville,

N o v e m b e r 5 . S e v e n of the r e m a i n i n g nine face similar charges.

Two

others, H a r r y R o g e r s and E v e r e t t B r a m l e t t , the latter said by authorities to be a paroled c o n v i c t , are held on c h a r g e s of bombing the home of D a v e J o h n s o n , a N e g r o m i n e r , here last F r i d a y night. T h r e e homes of m i n e r s have been bombed in this vicinity within the past t w o w e e k s .

120

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

Barbourville, Ky., February 14, 1932. Fifty special policemen were sworn in today, a detachment of National Guardsmen will arrive tonight from Harlan, and the Barbourville National G u a r d Unit will Stand by for use if needed in halting a scheduled National Miners' Union demonstration here tomorrow. T h e state troops were requested by County J u d g e F r a n k Baker after the town was flooded with circulars calling upon union members to make a mass protest here tomorrow against the killing of Harry Simms, who was fatally wounded by a mine guard last week. Cadiz, Ohio, April 20, 1932. Fresh disturbances broke out today in the eastern Ohio coal fields where miners are on strike against wage reductions. A mysterious explosion shook the village of J e w e t t , ten miles north of here, but apparently did no damage. Sixty miles to the south, in Noble county, nearly 2 0 0 strike sympathizers who attempted unsuccessfully to prevent 2 0 0 non-strikers from working were dispersed by Sheriff Clayton M c K e e and six deputies with a machine gun, although no shots were fired. A group of strikers was reported marching in Guernsey county, but authorities there were unable to find them. Six shots were fired near T a s a mine, a short distance from J e w e t t , but national guardsmen at the shaft reported no one was hit. T h e y were unable to discover who did the shooting. . . . T h e National guard troops had anti-aircraft guns in position in the Cadiz section to prevent any attempt of an airplane bombing of the mines. These weapons were set up after an unidentified plane flew low over the Somers mine, scene of recent rioting, and dropped an object near the tipple. Terre Haute, Indiana, Aug. 3, 1932. A detachment of 2 5 0 N a tional Guardsmen late tonight marched on the Dixie Bee Mine, twelve miles south of here, determined to remove from the coal shaft four wounded among the seventy-five miners imprisoned there by the thousands of picketing unemployed union miners. Bomb-laden National G u a r d planes roared over the inky blackness of Pimento village tonight, where flash of rifle and shotgun fire provided the only illumination, ready to drop tear gas upon some 3 , 5 0 0 strikers beseiging the Dixie Bee Coal Mine. Wilder, Tennessee, Nov. 18, 1932. T h e unsuccessful ambushing of a mine watchman was added today to the dynamiting of the T e n -

W H A T ' S T H E MINER THINKING?

121

nessee C e n t r a l R a i l w a y line in the list of events in W i l d e r ' s mine "warfare." G e n e r a l W . C . B o y d , State A d j u t a n t - G e n e r a l , and C h a r l e s

H.

L o v e , State Commissioner of L a b o r , a n n o u n c e d that a squad of N a tional G u a r d s m e n f r o m Cookeville w o u l d join them here t o m o r r o w as " o b s e r v e r s . " . . . J o h n S . G r e g g , f o r t y - f i v e , w a t c h m a n at the T w i n t o n mine, t w o miles f r o m here, w a l k e d into W i l d e r this morning with a shotgun over his shoulder, accompanied by his son, and told G e n e r a l B o y d of escaping t w e n t y - s i x rifle bullets which pierced his w a t c h m a n ' s hut in which he sat last night. . . . G r e g g w a s a r m e d w i t h an automatic pistol, but w h e n attacked, fell to the floor and did not return the

fire.

His hut stands less than t w e n t y feet f r o m the T w i n t o n mine tipple. T w o w e e k s ago, the tipple at D a v i d s o n , a mile a w a y , w a s burned.

A t almost any time during the past fifteen years similar reports were coming from some part of the coal fields—Cabin Creek, Scott's R u n , Blair Mountain, Matewan, Herrin, H a r lan, Pineville—the names differ but the essential facts are the same. Back of these press dispathes are scenes of industrial warfare which tear coal camps into the most bitter partisan factions. T h e initial struggle is between the miners and the operator, but it does not stop there. T h e striking miners, in order to gain their demands, must prevent other miners from taking their jobs. T h e operator is thus able to play one group of laborers off against another group. Gunmen and thugs are often imported as strike breakers. M i n e employees are sworn as deputies to assist the " L a w . " T h e National Guard is called to the scene to protect mine property and also the " l i b e r t y " of the strike breakers in their right to work where and when they please. T h e miners in a camp are huddled physically close together, although every vestige of social cohesion is broken by industrial conflict. Fear, jealousy, suspicion, intimidation, and acts of violence are all mobilized by conflicting groups. T h e battle of Evarts, Kentucky, M a y 5, 1 9 3 1 , in which four men were killed and several wounded, was only one phase

122

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

of the civil w a r f a r e in the c o m m u n i t y . T h e notes f r o m the report of a social w o r k e r six months later under date of O c tober 1 6 , g i v e a g l i m p s e of the continued bitterness in the community: So bitter is the partisan strife in Evarts that eleven injunctions and l a w suits had been started by the rival factions in order to gain control of the school system before the schools opened this autumn. . . . T h i s morning we called upon the President of the School Board. He is a kindly, oldish man apparently dazed by his recent rough experiences. W h e n miners were evicted last spring after the strike he let some families live in some of his empty cottages in the town. A soup kitchen was opened in one of them. D u r i n g the summer this kitchen was blown up by a bomb and M r . Middleton was arrested on a charge of " C r i m i n a l syndicalism," which is a phrase whose meaning he has never been able to fathom. He was finally released but another member of the school board who also let strikers move into some empty houses, is still under $ 2 0 , 0 0 0 bond for the same offense. A merchant of the town whose w i f e fed forty school children for about six weeks last spring has been hounded out of town. He was in hiding about four months and has only recently returned home. T w o local men w h o had a shack from which they distributed relief funds for some radical out-of-town organization, were shot and killed one night a couple of months ago. A man was hustled into prison on a charge of drunkenness last Saturday night and shot while in his cell about ten P.M. A day or two later a deputy sheiff was "shot through" and is now in the Harlan hospital, but is expected to recover. N o one knows if violence is on the wane or not. " T h e r e alius is a lot of shootin's around here." I t is unbelievable that such ruthless tactics w o u l d be tolerated in a civilized country. B u t mining camps in K e n t u c k y a n d W e s t V i r g i n i a h a v e been the scene of bitter civil w a r d i rected b y outside capitalists using the mountaineer with his f a m i l y - f e u d background as the tool. I f a strike is officially settled and the miners w i n some concessions, it is usually at the expense of their total savings a f t e r t h e y h a v e l i v e d on strike relief f o r months. T h e animosities e n g e n d e r e d b y the s t r u g g l e d o not subside easily, but they continue to p l a g u e the c o m m u n i t y l o n g a f t e r the strike is called off. A l m o s t e v e r y coal field in the bituminous coal in-

WHAT'S T H E MINER THINKING?

123

dustry has been the scene of these disastrous labor struggles. S o m e mines h a v e become notorious f o r this b y - p r o d u c t of the industry. A m a j o r i t y of the miners interviewed had been reduced, at some time, to a position of p e n u r y b y labor disputes. I f the industry is to be stabilized and the miners are to become self-supporting workers-—not a l w a y s on the v e r g e of c h a r i t y — s o m e amicable means must be f o u n d of settling e m p l o y e r - e m p l o y e e difficulties without resorting to violence. T h e social costs are entirely too great. I ' v e been through mine strikes and lockouts and this one is the tightest, completest lockout I ' v e ever seen. I ' v e went through hell this last year. Hit's got so I think I ' m goin' crazy. *

*

*

W h i l e I lived at Proctor they had the union fight on Blair M o u n tain. A deputy come to me and asken me to go fight the union men. I told him I wouldn't fight agin' 'em. I never belong to no union, but I didn't want to kill no man, maybe had a family. He come back the third time. T h e n the fourth time he said that D o n Chafin, the high sheriff, said I could either go fight or leave the county in four days. I said, " Y o u tell Don Chafin he can have two of his days back. I can move in two days. If I want to fight, I can join the army, but I won't go fight agin' another miner, who might have a family or be a fellow member of the O d d F e l l o w s . " I had a two-hundred-pound hog and a good cow, and a washing machine I had just paid $ 3 5 for. I sold them all for $ 1 0 0 and moved. W e went to W a y n e County for maybe three or four months till the trouble blew over. W h e n we come back I couldn't hardly get no job for a month. T h e y wouldn't take us back w h o wouldn't fight. But finally I got back on again at Proctor.

(b) Labor Strife Terminating in Evictions W h e n a strike is lost, as has been true in most instances d u r i n g the past ten years, the results are apt to be disastrous f o r the miners. Sometimes they are permitted to return to their old jobs. T h e leaders are u s u a l l y blacklisted—a p r o c e d u r e which makes it practically impossible f o r t h e m to sec u r e a j o b again w h e r e their identity is known. M a n y mining controversies terminate in the eviction of the miners. A com-

12+

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

pany-controlled camp places in the hands of the operator not only the right to discharge the miners, but also the power to deprive them of their homes and to forcibly move them out of the community by legal procedure. As stated by one operator, " I t is a nasty business and I hate to do it—but I can see no other way of dealing with the problem. I must have these houses for other employees who will work under my conditions, accept my wage scale and pay their rent." This eviction procedure is an inherent part of the system. Following the collapse of the strike called by the W e s t Virginia Mine Workers in the summer of 1 9 3 1 , there were wholesale evictions in many camps in the Kanawha field. According to the statement of Frank Keeney, president of the union, 439 families in the Cabin Creek District were evicted from company houses by the middle of October. T h i s number does not include the judgments which had been granted but not executed. These evictions continued for many months after the strike was over. T o load the household goods of a miner in a county truck and dump them off at the side of the road just beyond the property line of the coal company is "nasty business." T h e furniture of an evicted miner was being stacked on the side of the road at W a r d , West Virginia, during a heavy downpour of rain. T h e owner, looking on with sullen expression and clenched fist, muttered, " M y daddy was born on this creek, and I was born on this creek and have lived here for forty years. These damned foreign operators can't treat me like this and get away with it. This thing haint over with. I ' l l get 'em y e t . " T h e union in Kanawha County, being depleted of funds, could not supply the families with tents as fast as they were evicted. Scrap tin, boxes, old lumber, oilcloth, and anything else that could be pillaged from the neighborhood were thrown together to provide temporary shelter. These eviction colonies, scattered throughout the Cabin Creek District during the winter of 1 9 3 1 - 3 2 , reminded one of the refugee camps in war-torn Poland and Russia a decade earlier.

Λ few minutes after being dum

G e t t i n g · e s t a b l i s h e d in a t e n t c o l o n y .

E V I C T E D M I N E R S IN W E S T

VIRGINIA

W H A T ' S T H E MINER T H I N K I N G ?

125

These colonies became an embarrassment to the county authorities. M a n y of them were located on the public highway with some of the tents and shacks within two feet of the concrete pavement. T h e county road supervisor was eager to have them moved. H e feared that they might be the cause of an automobile accident for which the county would be held liable. Appeals for food and clothing for the evicted families were made to the local welfare and charity agencies, but responses were slow and meager. These agencies did not want the strikers to starve. T h e y wanted neither to incur the ill will of the operators nor to encourage the strikers. If the people in the tent colonies were fed the agencies feared that they would become squatters contented to remain indefinitely. T h e union leaders foraged the countryside for food and made appeals for clothing. T h e y held mass meetings to foster class consciousness and to keep up the courage of the evicted families. These eviction camps along the main highways were the most effective weapon in the hands of the union, in their fight against the operators, to arouse the sympathy of the public. T h u s these evicted miners, their women and children, became the pawns in the strategy of these conflicting industrial forces. These evicted miners are squeezed out of the industry. These industrial casualties are pushed aside to sink to lower levels of dependency and pauperism. T h e y are the untouchables of modern industrialism. Eviction procedure is not confined to any one section of the coal field, but is a characteristic of labor conflicts in company-controlled camps. T h e diary of a social worker in B e l l County, Kentucky, February 5, 1 9 3 2 , records the following experience: A t one c a m p the operator has an injunction to m o v e thirty-eight of a total of f o r t y - o n e families out of his c a m p . W e arrived in c a m p as the s h e r i f f ' s van w a s m o v i n g the sixth f a m i l y . A b o u t a w e e k a g o f o u r families w e r e m o v e d out and that night the d r u m of the m i n e w a s burned by persons so f a r u n k n o w n

(but suspected). T h e

teacher

t h o u g h t this bit of violence w o u l d slow up other " m o v i n g s . " T h e n the flood intervened, but today (the first day trucks could reach the p l a c e )

126

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

the deputies returned. I visited several houses and found the families entirely without plans for a place to go. O n e family thought they would go to relatives in K n o x C o u n t y , K y . , but others had no plans. W h e n the truck returned from putting one family's possessions off of the company ground, everyone came out on their porches to see whose house would be emptied next. O n e w o m a n , to w h o m w e had been sent by the teacher as one of the most intelligent and cooperative in the camp, w h o has five children and is expecting another one within t w o months, does not know at all when or where they will be moved. . . . T h e situation of these evicted families is serious and would seem likely to brew more violence.

A ttitude of the Miner Towards Unions The peak of union strength was reached in the Southern fields in 1920. About one-half of the 100,000 miners in West Virginia were reported to be members of the United Mine Workers, and in Kentucky their membership was more than 18,000. This foothold of unionism in the Southern territory was temporary. The operators were determined to defeat the unions at any cost. The leadership provided by the miner's organization was neither clever nor aggressive enough to hold the ground which they had gained during prosperous years. They were hopelessly defeated in their attempts to organize new territory. The names of Mingo, Logan, Kanawha, Harlan, and Bell counties are all associated with lost causes in the history of the United Mine Workers' attempts at organization. By 1929, the membership in Kentucky had dwindled to 1,500, and in West Virginia the paid-up membership was alleged to be barely 600. 1 As conditions in the Southern fields continued to get worse the miners revived their interest in any movement which promised better circumstances. Unemployment, repeated wage-cuts, and hunger made them desperate. The United Mine Workers had fought a losing battle for the past ten years, showing no sign of ability to improve conditions. The more aggressive left-wing labor leaders seized this oppor1 " T h e United Mine Workers as a matter of policy do not divulge their membership list"—statement made in letter from John L. Lewis, February 1 4 , 1 9 3 3 .

WHAT'S THE MINER THINKING?

127

tunity to organize the discouraged and disillusioned miners into a militant union. In West Virginia, Frank Keeney, with the newly organized West Virginia M i n e Workers, felt strong enough by the summer of 1 9 3 1 again to challenge the operators. A f t e r a two-months struggle in the Kanawha field the funds of the union were exhausted and the strike was broken. T h e National Miners Union, affiliated with the Communist party, attempted to gain a foothold in Harlan and Bell counties in Kentucky in the summer of 1 9 3 1 . This movement followed the collapse of the strike in the spring conducted by the United M i n e Workers. A f t e r six months of intensive organization effort, accompanied by considerable violence, a general strike was called by the National Miners Union for J a n u a r y 1 , 1 9 3 2 . T h i s strike was as abortive as the other strikes of the depression had been. T h i s long succession of unsuccessful strikes in the Southern fields left the miners discouraged and disillusioned. T h e y felt that they had borne the brunt of the industrial struggle. T h e y were awarded only rough treatment by the " L a w , " jail sentences, evictions, wage-cuts, and loss of jobs. As a result they faced actual destitution. R i g h t l y or wrongly, the miners had a tendency to place the blame for the failure of their efforts upon the leaders of the unions. " W e were sold out," expresses the common conviction. Whatever the shortcomings of the leadership may have been, there were more fundamental difficulties which the miners did not always analyze. T h e union was trying to maintain a high wage level in an industry which was in the throes of a deflation movement. T h e union leaders, disregarding the large surplus of miners, were attempting to do this with workers who were more individualistic and less accustomed to cooperation than any other group of wageearners in America. O n l y 1 5 per cent of the miners interviewed in this study were members of a union; 1 1 per cent had been members, but had withdrawn or allowed their membership to lapse; 63 per cent had no union affiliation. Most of the miners professed

128

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL MINER

to believe in the principle of unionism, yet were no longer willing to fight for what they consider to be a hopeless cause. T h e union principle is all right. But they never seem to get the right kind of leaders down here. I didn't fool with them at all last year. A t first w h e n the organizer came in a year ago it looked like they were the real United Mine W o r k e r s men. But it turned out later on that they w e r e n ' t . T h e n the I. W . W . and the C o m m u n i s t s and the National Miners Union all tried to come in. T h e unions have made conditions in H a r l a n County a whole lot worse than they were. *

*

*

A miner is no good without a union. But the union couldn't get any place in this depression—I'm done with the organization—the men won't stick. * * * W h e n the union men came in here they wasn't honest. T h e y were fakes. M e n just traded one another. T h e union men collected all our money and k n e w all along that the national organization w o u l d n ' t back 'em up. T h e n after they got us all out and blacklisted, they left us flat. I believe in unions, but you can't always trust union officials. T h e y are just as apt to be crooked as the operators. *

*

*

T h e r e ain't no use in the world for the poor men to fight the men w h o have money. W e never gain by this. It's all right if it's carried on right. But one poor man will beat another. T h e poor man gets his hands on money and then goes wild. T h e union always goes crooked. T h e union was strong here in 1921 but they were crooked. T h e union was all the time in trouble. W h y should one poor man shoot up another because he wants to work? *

*

*

I would rather work in a union than a nonunion mine. T h e job goes better and men are treated better by the boss. T h i s was especially true of the United M i n e W o r k e r s . I am agin' the Reds. T h e y are agin' G o d and I am agin' them. T h e y caused a lot of trouble through here. T h e y got men out and tore up the mines. *

*

*

I think the National Miners Union stands a better chance to do something than the United Mine W o r k e r s . T h e United Mine W o r k -

WHAT'S T H E MINER THINKING?

129

ers is good but the leaders are r o t t e n — w h e n a thing is new it is good, but w h e n it gets old it is rotten. I don't think the United M i n e W o r k ers Union will ever get goin' a g i n ' — i f a thing is busted it don't get goin' a g i n ' .

^

I used to belong to the union. A f t e r the w a r I had $ 1 , 6 0 0 saved up. It all went in the strike—helping people in suffering. I ' v e had plenty of the union. I ' m in sympathy with them but I don't expect to stay with them any more. Y o u ' v e got to work for a capitalist, you might as well be satisfied.

*

*

*

T h e United Mine W o r k e r s will never be any good till they get a new head. T h e principle of the union is all right. But it's been misused till its a disgrace and a nuisance. It's an order of g r a f t and greed now.

*

*

*

I joined the National Miners Union and later tore up my card. I won't have any thing to do with them any more. T h e r e were about 8 5 0 miners joined on Bush Creek. T h e men were told they didn't have to pay any dues when they signed up and would not until they got some benefit from the organization. W e never got any benefit so we never rpaid.

*

*

*

T h i s union here wasn't any good. I belonged to it, hut I never will again. T h e y just got the men's money and then caused a fight. Some unions are all right and are good things but the United M i n e W o r k e r s w e r e n ' t . I ' d never belong to the I . W . W . or N . M . U . T h e y ' r e no good. T h e y just cause trouble.

I ' m through with unions. I went out down here last year, now every time I go to get a job they think I ' m an agitator and won't take me on. T h e boss won't give any of us fellers w h o come out a recommendation at any other mine so no one will take us on and w e ' r e just hanging·. ь 6

*

*

*

A s m a l l minority still have confidence in the union. I have worked in both union and nonunion mines but prefer union mines every time. Conditions are better in union mines. Regulations

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T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

are enforced better. State laws are lived up to better. In union mines there are representatives who check up on things all of the time. *

*

*

I ' m a union man and I don't care who knows it. T h e union ought to require three years of experience before giving a man a permit to mine, at least until the surplus of miners is taken off. This would keep the farmers, foreigners, and niggers from coming into the mines and driving out real miners. If there was a union, you'd get pay for dead work or else they'd have someone else do the work. If the boss knew you wanted a union, he'd fire you right away. But the way things are now you wouldn't lose much. ^ I was a member of the United Mine Workers until they threw us down and wouldn't help us. T h e n I joined the National Mine W o r k ers. T h e y stood by as long as we could get money, food, and clothes into the county. T h e food and clothes were seized and the men carried out by the " L a w " and beaten. *

*

*

Conditions would be better now if the union had been here. If we had had a union, they couldn't have cut wages and so they wouldn't have cut prices. T h e n the union would have made the operators treat every man the same and it would have stopped all of this favoritism. Some men get cars and others can't get half what they could load. *

*

*

T h e operators h a v e accomplished their purpose. T h e y h a v e smashed t h e union b y the most ruthless methods. T h e y h a v e stimulated suspicion and dissension a m o n g the miners to such an extent that the union leaders are t h o r o u g h l y discredited a m o n g the miners in the Southern field. A f e w of t h e operators are b e g i n n i n g to realize that their worst e n e m y is not the union with its standardizing influence, but their o w n f e l l o w operators. T h e operators in the Southern field have f o u g h t for a free labor market, so that they c o u l d secure contracts b y underbidding the union w a g e scale in t h e central competitive field. T h i s wage-cutting practice did not

WHAT'S T H E MINER THINKING?

131

stop with the first wage cut, nor was it restricted to intersectional competition. As the competition for orders became keener one wage cut after another was made until the most unscrupulous operators and those in the most desperate financial straits set the wage standards for the industry. T h e operators who wanted to maintain a higher wage scale were forced to lower their wages in order to meet competition. W h i l e these wage cuts neither increased the demand f o r coal, nor offered any solution for the ills of the coal industry, this cutthroat competition reduced wages to as low as 1 2 ^ 2 cents per ton. It was only a senseless process which threatened to plunge the whole industry into bankruptcy and to force the workers to a starvation wage. One operator was bold enough to announce in a public meeting, " T h e industry will never be stabilized until we recognize the voice of the miners. T h e y have as much right to organize as the operators. T h e organization of the miners is necessary to help the operator protect himself against his fellows. This must be done in order to balance the forces in the industry." Another representative of one of the largest coal companies of West Virginia admitted that the operators alone could not solve the problems of the industry. " W e must have a dictator, or a Sidney H i l l m a n to do for the miners what he has done for the clothing indust r y . " These two operators do not represent the majority sentiment among operators. T h e i r opinions are only indicative of the possibility of a more rational attitude towards labor organizations.

(a) Union Cause Strengthened, by Federal

Law

T h e National Industrial Recovery Act passed in J u n e 1 9 3 3 marks the beginning of an entirely new phase in the development of employer-employee relationship in the coal industry. T h e right to organize for which the miners have been waging a losing fight in the coal fields for the past ten years was suddenly, without any mass pressure on the part of the workers, written into the federal law as a part of the national recovery plan. B y the law the miners

132

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

. . . shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection;

[and] . . .

no employee and n o one

seeking employment shall be required as a condition of employment to join any company union or to refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization of his own choosing.

This provides all the statutory protection that labor could desire. I f this law is actually enforced according to the clear intent of the legislation, it may well become the Magna Charta of the American labor movement. But labor leaders have been taught by bitter experience that their battles are not won when a law to protect their rights has been passed. T h e lines of battle are being drawn as this is written. T h e union leaders are again exerting every effort to organize the miners under the aegis of federal protection. T h e operators are attempting to induce the miners to enter company unions. T h e success of the miners to organize an independent union will depend upon the extent to which the federal government is prepared to protect the rights of labor unions under the law. T h e union, without federal protection, has neither the leadership, the funds, nor the prestige among the miners to organize a strong union against the opposition of the operators. T h e operators, because of the bitter experience through which they have passed, may accept the principles of the law as the best way out of the present impasse. T h e y may, under the leadership of the federal government, adopt a code for the industry which will restrict the unfair and ruinous methods of competition and recognize the right of collective bargaining. O r the operators may accept only as much of the letter of the law as is necessary to avoid federal prosecution, and adopt old tactics to defeat, by fair or foul means, the right of the men to organize. T h e y may bide their time until the expiration of the emergency legislation and again wage the old battle to crush the union completely.

W H A T ' S THE MINER THINKING?

133

Attitude of the Miner Towards Religion T h e miners of Kentucky and W e s t Virginia do not share the hostile attitude in respect to the church that is usually associated with the labor movement—especially with the left wing of the labor group. T h e miners of these states have not had their religious faith shaken by a welter of theological controversies nor have they been exposed to all the cross currents of socialistic doctrines which have swept over the labor movement. T h e r e are probably few sections in the United States where religion is called upon to bear so many of the burdens of life. T h e r e is a fatalism about the simple faith of the miners which makes it possible for them to endure their lot with passive courage. I tell you, these hard times was prophesied in the Bible, and they are going to be worse than they are n o w before they are finished. A c cording to the Bible these hard times had to come. M a n has wandered from the path of G o d , and H e has brought these hard times on him just as H e said H e would. W e have had three years already, and we will have four years m o r e , and these next four years will be pestilence and famine in the land of plenty. *

*

*

People have g r o w n so wicked n o w that times are hard. I f you turn to G o d , G o d will turn to you. I believe Jesus will make a way and open the heart of some whose hearts are closed n o w . I have this confidence,

I believe a way will be made some way to care for these folk.

I laid down and prayed all one Sunday night after I come back from church that people here would get some food. M o n d a y evening I went down to the store a n d a m a n which had gone to Harlan was there and he said, " S i m s , w h e n are you going to get your sack of

flour?"

I

asked, " W h a t flour are you talking a b o u t ? " T h e n he said, " I went to H a r l a n today and brought back a loan of flour from the R e d Cross for you m e n . " A n d I thanked G o d . *

*

*

People wonders w h a t cause this depression and trouble. I

don't

w o n d e r — h i t ' s s i n ! T h e Bible's bein' fulfilled. T h e L o r d said there'd be a famine in the land of plenty. H e said H e ' d destroy this nation and raise up a n o t h e r that would serve H i m . T h e y had famine in the

134-

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

days of old and we hain't no better'n they was then. People is got so wicked somethin's had to happen. T h e L o r d ' s givin' us a whippin', but H e hain't give us no hard licks yet, but we'll get 'em if we don't live His way. '

*

*

*

Everybody's been tryin' to live just for themselves. God's way is to live and let live. If you get somethin' for yourself, and for somebody else, too, that person helps another and everybody comes up together. But if you just look out for yourself and don't give any help to no one, the first thing you know, you'll be down just like other poor folks is. *

*

*

T h e r e ' s only one way out of this trouble. T h a t ' s to pray. Hit don't do no good just to sit down and do nothin'. People ought to get to work and pray. God will take care of us. Sometimes I don't know where nothin's comin' f r o m , but I pray, and we always eat. *

*

*

I ' m not a Christian, but I believe in the Baptist faith. I read the Bible right smart. W h e n I get too mean or onery, I read the scriptures and it cools me temper off. *

*

*

T a b l e 28 indicates that almost 5 9 per cent of the unemployed miners interviewed were not affiliated with any church, although this should not be interpreted to mean that they are anti-religious or opposed to the prevailing religious convictions of the community. T h e failure of the National Miners Union to reckon with the strong religious and patriotic sentiment among the miners kept that organization from gaining a foothold in Kentucky during 1 9 3 1 and 1 9 3 2 . Findley Donaldson, a native of Knox County, Kentucky, adjoining Bell County, was chairman of the local National Miners Union. H e started to work in the mines when he was eleven years old and has been a miner for thirty-three years. H e has been badly smashed by slate falls and is unable to do full-time work in the mines. H e is an active member of the Holiness Church and boasts of having read the Bible through at least twenty times. In speaking of the way in

WHAT'S T H E MINER THINKING?

135

which the National Miners Union got started in Bell County, he said, " T h e miners were looking for anything that would help us hold up wages which were being slashed all of the time. The National Miners Union promised to take care of the men and to prevent further wage cuts. They promised food and support in case of a strike." At a convention of the T A B L E

28

C H U R C H M E M B E R S H I P OF 9 5 6 U N E M P L O Y E D M I N E R S WEST

Denomination

None Baptist Roman Catholic Methodist Church of God Holiness Christian Greek Orthodox Catholic Others Unknown TOTALS

IN K E N T U C K Y

AND

VIRGINIA®

N u m b e r and Percentage of Miners with this Church Affiliation Number

Percentage

563 153 57

58 9 16 0 6 0 4 3 3 9

41

37 25 10

2 6 I

0

8

8

33 29

3 5 3 0

956

100 0

• Field Investigations, Winter and Spring, 1932.

Union at Wallins Creek in August 1 9 3 1 , Donaldson made a fervent appeal to the miners to support the new organization: T h e National Miners Union stands for the principles that our forefathers fought for us. . . . I know sometime men will have to make a complete sacrifice; hundreds of men's lives will be sacrificed but nothing good ever comes without somebody making a sacrifice. . . . T h e National Miners Union is the only thing that has not failed us.

The organizers of the union, in order that they might more thoroughly indoctrinate some of the local leaders, sent Donaldson and a few others to different northern cities for an intensive training course. This plan proved to be a fatal error,

136

THE BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

showing how little the organizers really understand the psychology of the southern miners. W h e n these emissaries returned, instead of being ardent apostles for the new faith, they were arch enemies of the union cause. They were horrified that they had been induced to join a union connected with the Communist party, whose members denounced the government and disbelieved in God. The local officials and operators were not slow to make use of the new weapon placed in their hands. They knew that no organization could survive in Bell County which was not one hundred per cent American and simon-pure fundamentalist in religion. These disillusioned leaders were induced to make public confession of their error and to expose the true nature of the National Miners Union, as they had observed it in the northern headquarters. The confessions were published in the local papers and spread broadcast throughout the county in handbills under the caption, "Miners Expose Reds." The statement of Donaldson is typical: T h i s is to c e r t i f y t h a t I do at t h i s t i m e d e n o u n c e the N a t i o n a l M i n e r s U n i o n a n d its activities as the d r i v i n g p o w e r is f r o m R u s s i a . W h i l e on m y trip to C h i c a g o , I f o u n d out that w e a s A m e r i c a n citiz e n s n e v e r w a n t A m e r i c a to g e t into the condition or fall in the h a n d s of the R u s s i a n D i c t a t o r s . F e l l o w w o r k e r s a n d c i t i z e n s , the t e a c h i n g s of the C o m m u n i s t p a r t y w o u l d destroy our religious beliefs, o u r g o v e r n m e n t a n d o u r homes. I n the t e a c h i n g s they d e m a n d e d their m e m b e r s to t e a c h their c h i l d r e n t h e r e is no G o d ; no J e s u s ; n o H e r e a f t e r ; no r e s u r r e c t i o n of the d e a d ; all there is for a n y b o d y is w h a t they g e t in this w o r l d . I h e a r d t h e m in a mass m e e t i n g a n d a big d e m o n s t r a t i o n w h i l e in C h i c a g o d e n o u n c e o u r g o v e r n m e n t a n d o u r flag a n d o u r r e l i g i o n . I s a w t h e m w h o w e r e believers in the C o m m u n i s t P a r t y w i t h g r e a t applause g i v e honor to Soviet Russia by h o n o r i n g a n d s a l u t i n g the R e d f l a g . . . . I h e a r d seve r a l m e n w h o w a s active in this c o m m u n i s t w o r k m a k e t h e r e m a r k , " D a m n the stars a n d stripes of our A m e r i c a n flag. . . . " H a d I k n o w n the t e a c h i n g s of this p a r t y , I w o u l d have n e v e r affiliated myself w i t h the N a t i o n a l M i n e r s U n i o n or C o m m u n i s t P a r t y in a n y w a y at a l l . M a n y of m y f r i e n d s as w e l l as m y s e l f have been misled in the s a m e w a y a n d I c o n d e m n the activities of the C o m m u n i s t P a r t y a n d the activities of the N a t i o n a l M i n e r s U n i o n as I f u l l y believe

WHAT'S T H E MINER THINKING?

137

in God and the United States. I cannot succumb to the teachings of the Party, "Banish G o d from the Skies and Capitalists from the E a r t h . " T h e y say they " C a n make Jesus and sell Him for a d i m e . "

Donaldson may have overestimated his influence, but he claimed that " m o r e than a thousand members in Bell and Harlan counties quit the union after I made my statement." These broadsides against the infidelity of the Reds by the emissaries who visited the radical headquarters were a deathblow to the National M i n e r s Union in Kentucky. T h e y were far more effective in smashing the union than the National Guard ever could have been. A ttitude of the Miner

Towards

Machinery

I t is inevitable that the individual laborer, who depends upon his daily wage for his bread, looks upon the introduction of machinery into his trade from the short-run standpoint of the effect which it will have upon his wage rather than from the long-run effect which it will have upon his earning power. F r o m the beginning of the Industrial Revolution laborers have at times violently, and more recently with greater restraint, opposed the introduction of machinery into particular trades. T h i s opposition has not been effective. I t has not retarded the onward sweep of the machine. A more effective method of procedure has been for the workers to attempt to regulate the introduction of the machine, in order that the laborers might be displaced more gradually. Agreements have been sought entitling the displaced workers to preference as operators of the new machines at a wage scale which would guarantee to them some of the benefits of the increase in efficiency. M r . J o h n L . Lewis has stated the policy of the United M i n e W o r k e r s in reference to the introduction of machinery into the mines as follows: T h e miners face the future of mine mechanization in the same spirit of willingness to cooperate in the introduction of loading machinery and every other mechanical aid that has characterized their past policy. . . . B u t the mine worker insists, and will continue to insist, that the

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

138

introduction of loading m a c h i n e r y and other devices which will revolutionize the industry on its mechanical side, make no difference in the f u n d a m e n t a l h u m a n side of the industry as now expressed in w a g e scales, w o r k i n g conditions, a n d union relationship, and therefore the mechanical changes to be i n a u g u r a t e d cannot be taken a d v a n t a g e of by m a n a g e m e n t to impair those standards. I n the period of development, and experimentation, w h e n the n e w devices are receiving their tryout, the mine worker should not be called upon to finance indirectly by any sacrifice of his pay or w o r k i n g conditions, this n e w departure which w i l l ultimately redound to the benefit of ownership. P a y m e n t for such innovation and experiment, by all the economic canons, is the capitalist's role. T h e profits of capital are partly the r e w a r d s of the risks in such experiment. Labor cannot be called upon to finance it by money deducted f r o m its pay envelope for which there w o u l d be no return by w a y of interest or dividends, if success is achieved. F o r that reason mine labor demands and will enforce the right to such consultation in the period of mechanization, as will prevent the sacrifice of its standards in the process. 2 T h e m i n e r s u n i o n h a s n o t o p p o s e d t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n of m a c h i n e r y , b u t it h a s insisted t h a t t h e w a g e scale f o r t h e o p e r a t i o n of t h e n e w m a c h i n e be d e t e r m i n e d b y j o i n t a g r e e m e n t , a f t e r a p r e l i m i n a r y t r y o u t p e r i o d , on a basis . . equivalent to t h e contract rates f o r t h e class of w o r k displaced p l u s a f a i r p r o p o r t i o n of t h e l a b o r - s a v i n g e f f e c t e d . " B y this p o l i c y t h e u n i o n s a t t e m p t e d : t o protect t h e w a g e scale of t h e pick m i n e r 5 t o r e g u l a t e t h e r a t e of the i n t r o d u c t i o n of t h e m a c h i n e ; a n d to s h a r e w i t h t h e o p e r a t o r t h e p r o f i t s arising f r o m t h e g r e a t e r p r o d u c t i v i t y of t h e machine. 3 T h e p i c k - m i n i n g w a g e , in practice, b e c a m e t h e basic w a g e - r a t e , a n d a d i f f e r e n t i a l w a s established b e t w e e n it a n d t h e m a c h i n e w a g e - r a t e . 4 T h i s p o l i c y e n a b l e d t h e u n i o n s to p r o t e c t t h e i r w a g e - r a t e s t r u c t u r e as l o n g as t h e i r m e m b e r s h i p c o n t r o l l e d t h e o u t p u t of t h e i n d u s t r y . I t 1

John L. Lewis, The Miners'

Fight

for American

Standards,

Bell Publishing

Co., Indianapolis, 1925, pp. и 6 - 1 1 7 . * For examples of joint agreements, see Louis Bloch, Labor A greements Coal Mines, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, i 9 3 i , p p . 187-204.

* Isador Lubin, Miners'

Wages

in

and the Cost of Coal, McGraw-Hill Co., New

York, 1924, Chapter VI, " H o w Machine Rates are Made."

WHAT'S THE MINER THINKING?

139

did not necessarily safeguard the interests of the consumer nor pass on to h i m , in terms of l o w e r prices, some of the benefits of increased efficiency of production. H a v i n g crushed the union in the Southern fields the operators w e r e f r e e to fix a l o w w a g e scale by means of individual bargaining. T h e y w e r e no l o n g e r restricted b y collective bargaining. T h i s p r e v e n t e d any semblance of u n i f o r m i t y of w a g e s in nonunion mines, and threatened to tear d o w n the w h o l e w a g e structure of the union fields. It also placed in check the control which the unions had exercised o v e r the introduction of machines and the r e g u l a tion of the w a g e - r a t e of machine operators. I n the absence of a strong union the miner is in a helpless position in his competition w i t h the machine. T h e machine m a y take a w a y his j o b . It m a y undercut his wages. I t most certainly w i l l d e p r i v e h i m of his traditional f r e e d o m and reduce h i m to the position of an u n s k i l l e d loader of coal. T h e r e ' s too much machinery in the mines and it produces too much coal. T h e operators under-bid each other to sell it. T h e n they turn round and make the miners pay for the low price with a cut in wages. T h e y can cut as much coal with an electric machine as it used to take 150 men to cut. T h e y don't need all of that equipment and coal now. D u r i n g the war they needed everything they could use and it was all right, but it isn't right now.

•

*

*

T h e machines have thrown miners out of work. I don't like to work with machines and would rather dig coal with pick and shovel by hand. *

*

*

If electricity were taken out of the mines everybody could work. Machinery has bettered the operators in one way, but in another it has worsened them. It's got out too much coal and now they can't sell none. *

*

*

T h e r e ' s one thing that would give more work right away and that's to get rid of all the machinery in the mines and go back to solid work. T h a t would give employment to thousands of miners. But the company will put in a machine whenever it can save money and maybe every machine takes the place of fifty men.

IX HOW

CAN

MINING

BE

IMPROVED?

THE NOTION that all the ideas and brains are in the business office of an industry has been abandoned by modern progressive employers. T h e man who is working on a job is far more familiar with the processes pertaining to that particular job than anybody else. Constant repetition of a task may dull his sensibilities as to the possibilities of better methods of operation, or his suggestion may be very impracticable, yet where the worker has been given an opportunity and encouraged to make suggestions the results have been surprising. T h e Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in 1 9 2 3 , adopted a plan of unionmanagement cooperation with the employees. In the first five years after this plan was inaugurated the employees in the shops alone made about 18,000 suggestions for the improvement of operationsj of this total 83 per cent were accepted.1 During the interviews with the unemployed miners the attempt was made to get their suggestions, if any, as to how mining could be improved by the operators, the miners, and the government. What the Operators Can Do Almost 1 5 per cent of the miners admitted that the situation is so hopeless that even the operators can do little or nothing to improve conditions; almost one-third acknowledged having no suggestions to make whereby the operator can ameliorate the situation. T h e crux of the difficulty, according to most of the miners, is the excessive competition among the operators. Conditions, they averred, cannot be improved materially until this situa1 Gordon S. Watkins, Labor Problems, Thomas Y . Crowell, New York, Revised Editon, 1929, pp. 488-90.

[ HO]

HOW CAN MINING BE IMPROVED?

141

tion is remedied. T h e miners contended that the worst features of this excessive competition can be eliminated without additional legislation if the operators would recognize the unions. This, they argued, would remove the cutthroat methods of competition and enable the operators to sell their coal at a fair price. T h e recognition of the union will not increase the demand for coal, yet it will establish a uniform minimum of labor costs. In the absence of the union, standardization of wages has disappeared, and a premium has been placed upon wage cuts as a means of securing orders. T h e miners also assert that the operators would have more resources with which to pay higher wages if they would quit spending so much money on fighting unions: T h e operators spent enough money in Harlan County the past year fighting the union to pay a living w a g e . T h e y had 4 0 0 deputies on the rpay 1 roll.

*

*

*

If operators wouldn't pay so much money to gunmen and pay it to the miners it would be a big help. One company in Bell County pays $ 8 0 0 a month to gunmen. Miners have no chance against these men. *

*

*

T h e operators hire these gunmen to do their shooting for them. O n e time when they were fighting at Blair Mountain I was walking along the road and a man comes up to me and says, " S a y , do you w a n t to make $ 1 0 a d a y ? " A n d I says, " T e n dollars a day doin' w h a t ? " " F i g h t i n g at Blair M o u n t a i n ; you'll get $ 1 0 a day and all your expenses." T h e y were looking for men everywhere.

•

*

*

T h e miners may have an exaggerated idea as to the amount of money which is habitually spent by the operators for such purposes, but undoubtedly it amounts at times to a considerable sum. A n official of the Logan County operators' association admitted that the labor trouble culminating in the battle of Blair Mountain cost the operators of the county a million dollars. T h e miners suggested that the operators could reduce un-

142

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

employment by: restricting the introduction of machinery; prohibiting the hiring of farmers during the winter, consequently depriving the "real miner" of his job; shortening the hours of employment, and spreading the work. T h e miners made a number of suggestions—more properly classified as grievances against the operators—which if accepted would materially improve the plight of the workers. T h e high prices charged at the company store and the requirement that all purchases be made from the company were grievances most frequently mentioned by the miners. T h e y ' r e just try in' to make slaves out of us. W h e n a man works hard for his money he ought to have a right to spend it where he wants to. W h y just lately w e have been cut from 35^ a ton for loading to

and the prices at the store hain't come down a bit. If w e could

trade at the A . & P . store w e could get along much better on these low wages.

*

*

*

W h e n I got my last pay slip for the first half of June, I had had so little work that just with my cuts taken off, I owed the company $ 3 . 1 1 and I still had my powder and carbide to buy. I don't see how the operator can be losin' money. T h e y are gettin' their coal out for nothin' because w e don't get nothin'. *

*

*

Another special grievance of the miners was that they are given short weights. Many a labor struggle has been fought over this issue. T h e state law grants the miners the right to have a check weighman, although without a union this law becomes a dead letter. T h i s thing of cutting our weights is the worst thing I know of. W e used to get 7>5 0 0

to

8,000 pounds on a car and now we're lucky if

w e get from 3,500 to 4,000 pounds. E v e r y time the price of coal has been cut our weights have been cut. T h e y ' r e stealin' enough from the men now to pay the freight costs. *

*

* I

T h e y steal our coal at the tipple. O u r cars are eleven feet long, six feet wide, and eighteen inches deep, and I know they'll hold three and a half tons. But w e never get over 3,500 to 4,000 pounds on a car.

H O W CAN M I N I N G BE

IMPROVED?

143

O u r weights aren't right. B a c k in 1 9 2 3 I ' d load five cars and I ' d have eighteen tons of coal. N o w with the very same cars and w o r k i n g in the same coal I get less than fourteen tons f r o m five cars. *

*

*

Some of the men here ought to load cleaner coal. O n e man loads so much rock that every time a car of his comes out, they have to stop the tipple, so the pickers can get out the rock. I k n o w the company has the scales set back, but I think the men are to blame for that because they started loading dirty coal. *

*

*

The men may exaggerate the extent to which their weights are reduced, nevertheless this is one of the most common causes of complaint against the operators. For their own protection the operators should periodically, at least, have their weights checked by a representative of the miners. If the weights are properly reported this checking would allay suspicion—if not, this kind of petty graft should not be tolerated in a legitimate industry. T h e "Yellow Dog Contract" also was severely criticized by the miners. 2 One miner voiced the sentiment of all when he said: T h i s " Y e l l o w D o g C o n t r a c t , " hit knocks a man out of his citizenship rights. A

man hain't got no protection under hit. H e can be

kicked out any time like a yellow dog. U n d e r the contract which I had to sign if I get fired I can be forced to move out of m y house inside of an hour.

T h e casual visitor to a coal camp, who has not become inured to the grime and dirt of the tipple, can sympathize with the coal miner when he demands that the operator provide a bath house for the workers. Certainly if the wives, having so few conveniences in their homes such as running water and bath tubs, had a voice in the matter, the law in every state would require a bath house in connection with every mine. ' T h e " Y e l l o w D o g C o n t r a c t " is an affidavit which an employee is required to sign stating that he is not a member of a union and agreeing not to become a m e m b e r of a union d u r i n g the continuance of employment without the written consent of the employer.

14+

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

A c o a l m i n e r t a k e s m o r e c l o t h e s t h a n a n y o t h e r m a n in t h e w o r l d . H e s w e a t s so m u c h a n d his c l o t h e s g e t so dirty t h a t t h e y r o t . shoes r o t a n d his c l o t h e s have t o be w a s h e d so h a r d to g e t ' e m

His clean

t h a t it w e a r s ' e m o u t . A m i n e r ' s j o b is only h a l f d o n e w h e n h e c o m e s out o f t h e m i n e . H e has a n o t h e r h a l f day's w o r k c l e a n i n ' up.

What

the Miners

Can

Do

T h e miners had few suggestions to make when they were asked what they could do to improve the mining situation. Almost 25 per cent replied that there was nothing that they could do, and an additional 30 per cent had no suggestions. T h e m i n e r s c a n ' t d o a n y t h i n g . I f t h e o p e r a t o r c a n ' t sell t h e c o a l , it a i n ' t n o use f o r us to m i n e it. W e c a n ' t d o a n y t h i n g as l o n g as t h e r e a r e so m a n y m e n u n e m p l o y e d a n d h u n g r y .

About 40 per cent of the miners said the only helpful thing the miners could hope to do was to organize a union, although most of them agreed that under the present circumstances there was no possibility of union organization: A union w o u l d help the m i n e r s , but I ' m a f r a i d to speak to a n y o n e a b o u t an o r g a n i z a t i o n . I t a i n ' t safe, the place is full of spies a n d I ' d g e t fired i m m e d i a t e l y .

*

*

*

T h i n g s have g o t t e n so l o w t h a t t h e r e ' s n o hope for o r g a n i z e d l a b o r . When r l 'gbts·

m e n a i n ' t g o t e n o u g h to eat t h e y c a n ' t h a n g out f o r *

*

their

*

T h e r e ' s absolutely n o hope f o r a union n o w ;

n o n e of t h e people

t r u s t each o t h e r ; l e a d e r s have played false in the past a n d m e n

are

t o o h a r d up n o w to be able to stick t o g e t h e r w i t h o u t b a c k i n g . *

*

*

T h e constructive suggestions from the miners centered around the ways in which the miners could cooperate more effectively with the operators. M a n y of the miners who were interviewed admitted that the men should be more faithful in the observance of the safety regulations, and that they should be more careful in the use of material, mine equipment, and property.

HOW CAN MINING BE IMPROVED?

145

What the Government Can Do Seven per cent of the miners interviewed said that even the government was helpless to do any thing to improve the coal industry, and an additional 38 per cent had no suggestions to make as to how conditions could be improved. T h e interviews indicate clearly that the miners of Kentucky and West Virginia are not very thoroughly indoctrinated with the principles of socialism, nor are they strong advocates of government ownership. T h e y are highly individualistic and have given slight thought to theoretical considerations of collectivism. But they are concerned with the hard practical problems which they face. T h e y are thoroughly convinced that the operators, if left alone, will be unable to improve conditions. T h e y also agree that the miners are completely helpless to make any material contribution to a solution of the problems of the coal industry. T h e miners who have not entirely lost hope look to the government as the only source from which assistance can come. T h e operators, according to the miners, are in as difficult a predicament in their attempts to stabilize the industry, as the workers are in their attempts to organize unions: Operators are scabbing one another just the same as the men are scabbing—then they have to cut wages. *

*

*

T h e operators' association tried to agree on a price, but before they finished one operator sneaked out and sold thirty cars at 4 0 per cent under the agreed price, so the agreement was ruined. N o w they're just at each other's throats and not selling any more coal. *

*

*

If all operators would have a standard price and not undercut each other it would help, but it's harder f o r the operators to get together than the miners. T h e operators are pulling, quarreling, and

fight-

ing even more than the miners. *

*

*

T h e operators are trying to starve out the miners. T h e y are cutting each other's throat with price-cutting on coal, and then they

146

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

turn it right back and make the miner pay for it. Everytime they cut the price of coal the miner has to take the full loss. Something's got to be done to bring prices up again. *

*

*

Four suggestions were made most frequently by the miners: the government should take over the mines, stop cutthroat competition, fix a standard price for coal, and set a minimum wage scale for the miners. T h e phrase, " t h e government should take over the mines," usually did not imply that the government should own and operate the mines, but that it should exercise strict control and supervision over them. T h e Davis-Kelly bill was under consideration in Congress during the time the miners were being interviewed. Practically all of them, who were familiar with the provisions of this bill, favored this legislation. 3 T h e miners felt that this bill would enable the government to close a part of the mines, restrict competition, and permit the operators to fix prices at a point where living wages could be paid. It would also protect the miners in their rights to organize and to bargain collectively with the operators over the basic wage scale. T h e miners did not share the qualms of the operators that this legislation would place too much power in the hands of the Coal Commission. T o the miners this bill was the promise of a better day in the industry. T h e miners showed a surprising interest in the international aspects of the coal problem. Their international program, as a prerequisite to the restoration of prosperity in the coal industry, included the recognition of Russia, the cancellation of war debts, and the reduction of the tariff. Opinions like the following were often heard: *

*

*

If the government doesn't do somethin' to get back our foreign trade, prosperity never will come back. They've got to fix it so that the foreign countries can consume some of our things and start our factories running and then we can buy some of their things. It wouldn't do any good for the government to take over the mines if they don't lower the tariff. T h e y won't run the ships unless they can "Senate Bill 2 9 3 5 , 72nd Congress, ist Session.

HOW CAN MINING BE IMPROVED?

147

carry things both ways, and our tariff keeps them from shipping things here. * φ φ T h e government tried to make America independent, and fenced us off by a high tariff wall. This tariff ought to be taken off and we ought to turn up trade with Russia. W e need Russia's trade and they need ours. Everybody is just boycotting everybody else. Things won't get any better until we change our policy. *

*

*

W e are foolish to turn down so much trade from Russia. T h e y won't buy from us until we recognize them. W e don't care what kind of religion they have, but we do need their trade. *

*

*

T h e freight differential for t h e Southern coal fields was g i v e n its f u l l share of criticism b y the miners. T h e d e m a n d also w a s v o i c e d that a special tax s h o u l d be l e v i e d u p o n gas and oil in order t o protect t h e interests of the coal mines. E v e n advocates of inflation as a cure-all for the ills of t h e coal industry w e r e f o u n d a m o n g the miners. Considerable criticism was expressed by the miners against the lax enforcem e n t of the safety l a w s by t h e inspectors: T h e government needs to enforce strictly the safety and sanitary laws to protect the miners against their own carelessness. Miners become accustomed to conditions and take too many chances. *

*

*

Never see the inspectors as often as they're supposed to come—and then sometimes the boss rides them in on a bank car and out again without seeing the working places. *

*

*

T h e state mine inspector never comes no further than the commissary—and he just comes there in order to get his cigar. *

*

#

T h i s inspection doesn't mean a thing. T a k e down here at this little mine. W e ' d all be working in there and a man would come through saying, "Clean up. T h e inspector is waitin' to come in." T h e n we would all hustle round and get everything just so and then the inspector would come through. T h e inspectors ought to slip up

148

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

on 'em. T h e operators take 'em out to dinner and tip 'em a little and we risk our lives at their expense. W e never had but one inspector who was any good while I was down there, and he c o m e through one day and fired six men and left saying he would be back in about two weeks to see if things was cleaned up. But he came back that very night and went in on the night shift and he was madder'n hell at the things he saw. * * * T h e miners ought to be required to take out the " b u g d u s t " and to sprinkle before shooting. These two things would prevent a great many accidents. T h e r e ' s not enough gas in any mine around here to blow it up if the " b u g d u s t " was cleaned up. But a high velocity of air stirs up the coal dust and with a little gas it becomes highly explosive. * * * T h e fire bosses should be hired and placed under the control of the department of mines and not be subject to discharge by the coal companies as they are now. T h e fire bosses can't do their duty now and hold their jobs. T h i s is the cause of nine-tenths of the mine explosions. * * * S o m e of t h e m i n e r s , e s p e c i a l l y f o r e i g n e r s w h o h a d w o r k e d in B r i t i s h a n d G e r m a n m i n e s , i n s i s t e d t h a t strict r e g u l a t i o n s s h o u l d b e a d o p t e d g o v e r n i n g a p p r e n t i c e s h i p of m i n e r s . T h i s t h e y b e l i e v e d w o u l d restrict t h e l a b o r s u p p l y a n d a l s o r e d u c e t h e n u m b e r of a c c i d e n t s . T h e i r s u g g e s t i o n s w e r e t h a t t h e a g e l i m i t s h o u l d b e i n c r e a s e d to e i g h t e e n y e a r s — p r e f e r a b l y t w e n t y y e a r s — a n d t h a t r e g a r d l e s s of a g e a m a n s h o u l d b e r e q u i r e d t o w o r k as a n a p p r e n t i c e w i t h an e x p e r i e n c e d m i n e r f o r t w o o r t h r e e y e a r s b e f o r e h e w o u l d be p e r m i t t e d to w o r k a l o n e . A n o l d S c o t c h m a n w h o s t a r t e d to w o r k in t h e m i n e s in E n g l a n d w h e n h e w a s e l e v e n y e a r s o l d a n d h a d w o r k e d in t h e m i n e s f o r s i x t y - o n e y e a r s , v o i c e d t h e s e n t i m e n t of t h e o l d e r m i n e r s w h o r e t a i n s o m e t h i n g of t h e p r i d e of t h e c r a f t s man: T h e government ought to require a period of apprenticeship before they permit men to start mining. At the present time they are increasing the physical requirements and making medical examination much more strict. It is as hard to get into the mines as it is to get

HOW CAN MINING BE IMPROVED?

149

into the a r m y . T h e y do not inquire as to w h e t h e r a m a n has had e x p e r i e n c e — t h e y only ask if he is physically fit. T h e y will turn d o w n an experienced miner with a very slight physical defect that does not impair his efficiency and take on a m a n w h o has had n o experience at all. T h i s causes m o r e accidents and is far more dangerous for the other m e n . T h i s also draws men off of the farms and into the m i n e s w h o ought never to be permitted to take the jobs of the miners. T h e r e ought to be a period of apprenticeship which would prevent this rapid influx of men into the mines. T h i s would g o a long ways towards the stabilization of the labor supply. I t would also greatly reduce

the

n u m b e r of injuries a m o n g the n e w m e n . I t is usually the inexperienced m i n e r w h o gets hurt, or the m a n w h o does not have an instinct for mining and w h o can never make a real m i n e r .

T h e older miners who were finding it increasingly difficult to get a job in the mines were especially insistent that the government make some provision to take care of the old men in the industry, so that they would not be thrown out of their homes and cast upon charity for support. T h e suggestion made most frequently was that either old-age insurance or old-age pension should be made a definite charge upon the industry in order to care for the superannuated workers. Some of the miners harked back to the high wages during the war and longed for the return of an international conflict to bring prosperity again to the country. T h e only thing the g o v e r n m e n t can do is to have another w a r . I tell you I ' d r a t h e r be

fightin'

than settin' here doin' n o t h i n ' .

If

it w e r e n ' t for the w o m e n and children I ' d w a n t a w a r right n o w . B u t I d o n ' t w a n t to see t h e m hurt.

Conclusion T h e miners admit freely that there are entirely too many men in the industry. T h e y realize that the best way to improve the labor conditions in the mines is to reduce the number of miners. T h e y know that as long as the unemployed miners continue to glut the labor labor market at every coal camp, starvation wages are inevitable and industrial peace will remain a forlorn hope. But there is no place these sur-

ISO

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

plus miners can go to find other jobs. They are helpless to alter the situation. The group of unemployed miners are not apt to sacrifice themselves vicariously in the interest of higher wages for the employed group. Until this impasse is broken, labor conditions for the miner cannot be permanently improved.

Χ T H E

ECONOMIC

STATUS

OF

MINERS

THE PRICE of coal during the W o r l d W a r and immediately afterwards, tonnage rates, labor disturbances, and strikes gave to the public an exaggerated idea of the annual earnings of the miners. " I f the miners had saved their money and had not spent so much on silk shirts they would be all right now," expresses the popular conception of extravagance and waste indulged in by the workers during the boom period. U n doubtedly the miners did enjoy higher wages during the war than at any previous period. T h e rate paid per ton for pick mining in Western Kentucky is typical of these wage increases, advancing from $.573 in January 1917 to $.673 in April; another increase was made to $.773 per ton in August 1918; two additional increases occurred in 1920, the first in April to $1.013 and the second in August to $i.053· 1 T h e day rate for track-layers in the central competitive field increased from $2.98 in 1916 to $5.00 in November 1917. In 1920 the rate was increased to $6.00 in April and finally boosted to $7.50 in August. 2 This sudden increase in wages, far beyond anything which the miners had experienced before, placed within their possession a purchasing power which they were not prepared to use judiciously. For the first time in their lives they were able to satisfy some of their suppressed desires for luxuries. T h e y bought some of the things which heretofore they had been able only to gaze at in the store windows. T h e y experienced something of the thrill which comes to children with new toys. W h o can say that the miners were more profligate in their spending than the rest of the 1 Report of the United States Coal Commission, 1925, Part III, T a b l e 4, p. 1062. ' Lubin, of. cit., Appendix E, p. 197.

[151]

152

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

population, including the operators, during the orgy of the boom days? The Wages of Miners Neither the tonnage rate nor the wage per day paid to miners throws much light upon their annual income. T h e wage-rate should always be considered in connection with the number of days worked per year in order to obtain an accurate idea of the yearly earnings. T h e lack of organization and the cutthroat methods of competition to gain and to hold markets during the nineties reduced the average yearly income of pick miners in West Virginia in 1897 to $ 2 7 5 . (See T a b l e 29.) This low wage level which prevailed throughout the bituminous industry drove both miners and operators to such desperate straits that a joint agreement was entered into the following year in the central competitive field. This agreement established the basic eight-hour day and fixed the mining prices and rates in the basing districts of western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. E v e n though this agreement did not include all of the bituminous industry it had a salutary effect upon wages. In 1898, the average earnings of pick miners in West Virginia increased by 1 5 per cent and continued to rise with only slight interruptions until they reached a new high level of $643 in 1907. This rate was not exceeded until 1 9 1 3 , but in 1 9 1 5 it fell to $ 6 3 2 . T h e excessive war-time demand for coal and the expansion of the industry in West Virginia were reflected almost immediately in the increase in the annual income of the miners. Beginning in 1 9 1 6 an annual rise in the earnings of the pick miners continued, except during the strike of 1 9 1 9 , until in 1 9 2 0 it reached the highest level of $ 1 , 4 5 1 . There was a drop in income the next two years, declining to $ 1 , 0 9 9 ' n r 9 2 2 > which was followed by another advance in yearly earnings reaching $ 1 , 4 4 2 in 1 9 2 4 . T h e average income for pick and machine miners in West Virginia in 1 9 2 6 was $ 1 , 3 3 2 . This level was not attained again even during the bull-market boom. There was a slight

ECONOMIC STATUS OF MINERS T A B L E AVERAGE EARNINGS

(W.

VA.)

Α9

OF P I C K M I N E R S

P I C K A N D M A C H I N E M I N E R S FROM

Year

Average Earnings of Pick Miners per Year

1897 1898 18 99 1900 1901 1902 190З 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 , 1 9 3 1924

*275 316 367 451 459 533 499 484 J08 599 643 5°3 481 573 570 618 737 726 632 883 "37 1335 1135 i4ji 1166 1099 "99 >442

ИЗ

FROM 1 8 9 7 т о

1924

AND

1925 то 1930·

Average Price per Ton Received by Pick Miners I-35 1 '« • 32 9 10 , 3 6> 8 •4I 1 'is •441 J •471 » •491 2 •491 '1 •47 1 .« .48 •49 .46 •43 •44 •44 1 ' 1 •47 .48 •49 .48 •52 .69 .78 .80 •91 •95 •95 •97 •97

Average Price per Ton Received by Machine Miners

.68 .68

Average Earnings of Pick and Machine Miners per Year 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 J 930

1223 1332 »315 1227 1304 1065

.81 .80 .80 •79 •77 .76

•51 •51 •Si •So •49 •47

• The income of pick miners from 1897-1924 taken from The Annual Report of the West Virginia D e p a r t m e n t of Mines, 1924, p. 248. The income of pick and machine miners from 1925-1930 was computed on the data given in the Annual Reports of the West Virginia Department of Mines, 1925, pp. 140 and 206; 1926, pp. 137, 193, and 198; 1927, pp. 133 and 191; 1928, pp. 123 and 177; 1929, PP· m and i a j ; 1930, PP- " 3 ™ d 127.

154

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

decline the next two years, although in 1929 the average earnings rebounded to $ 1 , 3 0 4 , followed by a decided slump to $ 1 , 0 6 5 i n 1930. The investigation made by the Coal Commission in 1 9 2 1 of the wages of 47,284 full-time tonnage men in the bituminous industry showed that the median wage for the union workers was $ 1 , 4 2 5 and for the nonunion miners was $ 1 , 2 9 0 . ' A l l the miners who worked part time and those from the mines which were closed part of the year were excluded from this computation. The yearly earnings of the full-time tonnage men were considerably in excess of the earnings for all of the miners. The investigation showed that higher wages were received by the union than by the nonunion miners. Their wage-rates were not only higher, but the union mines operated sixteen days more during the year than the nonunion mines. The union mines also maintained a greater stability in the tonnage rate than did the nonunion mines. In the union fields there were only five changes in rates from April 1 9 1 2 to January 1 9 2 3 ; with minor exceptions these represented increases.4 During the same period in the nonunion mines of West Virginia there were from eight to twelve changes. There were no changes in rates in the union mines from 1 9 2 0 to 1923. In the nonunion mines of West Virginia there were two changes in 1920, one in 1 9 2 1 , and from two to four changes in 1922. Most of the changes during the second half of 1 9 2 1 and the first half of 1922 were decreases, although some increases were granted during the latter part of 1922. Though the details differ, the trend of rates was the same in the Kentucky fields. The variation in the tonnage rates paid by union and nonunion mines applies with equal force to the wage scale of the daymen. 5 This flexibility of both tonnage and wage-rates made it possible for the nonunion operators to lower rates during 'Report of United States Coal Commission, 1925, Part III, Table 6, pp. 479-81. * Ibid., pp. 1080-1. 'Ibid., p. 1098.

ECONOMIC STATUS OF MINERS

ISS

slack seasons, enabling them to underbid the union operators. The wage contract was advantageous to the union miners because it protected their standards of living, but it was a serious handicap to the union operators in securing orders in competition with nonunion operators. Although the annual income of the miners up to 1926 represented a phenomenal advance over the extremely low wage level of the nineties, it can be considered large only in the light of such a comparison. Even the highest earnings ( $ 1 , 4 5 1 ) of the pick miners in West Virginia were not exorbitant considering the high cost of living in 1920. The bituminous coal miners made greater relative gains in earnings above their average earnings during the nineties than were made by wage-earners in manufacturing. Yet the wages received in 1926 by pick and machine miners in West Virginia were only slightly in excess of the average income of all wage-earners in manufacturing—$1,309 for the manufacturers" as compared with $ 1 , 3 3 2 for the miners. The wageearners in manufacturing were able to continue to increase their yearly income through 1 9 2 9 / The miners, on the other hand, were unable to retain the gains they made previous to 1926 because of the decreased demand for coal and the overexpansion of the industry. The decrease in earnings occurred not only in West Virginia, but also throughout the whole bituminous industry. A study made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the average daily wages of miners and loaders decreased from $6.46 in 1926 to $5.50 in 1929, and dropped to $4.82 in 1 9 3 1 . s The last two-year period represents a decline of 12.4 per cent. The decline in earnings per half-month pay period is even more pronounced, dropping from $ 6 1 . 6 1 in 1926 to $49.85 in 1929 and then slipping to $33.82 in 1 9 3 1 . On this basis the average yearly income of miners and loaders in 1 9 3 1 ' Paul H. Douglas, Real Wages in the United States, 1890-1916, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1930, Table 88, p. 246. ' Paul H. Douglas, and Charles J. Сое, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 35, M a y 1930, pp. 935-9*6" Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 33, No. 4, October 1931, pp. 162-164.

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T H E BITUMINOUS COAL

MINER

was $ 8 1 1 . 6 8 , or a decline of 45 per cent from 1 9 2 9 . T h i s decline was due not only to a decrease in the rate of pay, but also to a reduction in the number of working days per half-month f r o m 9.1 in 1 9 2 9 to 7.0 in 1 9 3 1 . T h e earnings of all employees other than miners and loaders showed a similar tendency. T h e i r average earnings per half month decreased from $60.87 in 1 9 2 6 to $ 5 2 . 5 7 in 1 9 2 9 , and declined to $ 4 1 . 5 8 in 1 9 3 1 . " T h e orderly reduction of wages in the nonunion fields which took place in 1 9 3 0 assumed the proportions of a rout by 1 9 3 1 , and by 1 9 3 3 there seemed to be no absolute minimum below which wages would not sink. T h e methods of cutthroat competition which characterized the nineties were again resorted to by the operators in order to obtain contracts. In this desperate struggle the wage structure which had been built up over a period of thirty years was completely destroyed. T h e extent to which cheap coal flooded the market is illustrated by the bids for locomotive coal opened February 29, 1 9 3 2 , by the N e w Y o r k , N e w H a v e n , and H a r t f o r d Railroad Company. There were thirty-six bids which offered almost four million tons of locomotive coal for 80 cents and less per ton. T h e railroad company awarded the contract to the lowest bidder at the rate of 61 cents for 50,000 tons and 64 cents for 200,000 tons. A f t e r the coal for the early part of 1 9 3 2 was purchased the N e w Y o r k , N e w H a v e n , and H a r t f o r d Railroad Company sent the following letter to the unsuccessful bidders. 10 G e n t l e m e n : F o r your information there is attached a tabulation in the order of price, of bids for locomotive coal at 80 cents and less per ton received F e b r u a r y 2 9 , 1 9 3 2 , which shows, after eliminating duplications, that several times our annual requirements have been offered us at 8 0 cents and less, as follows: 1 , 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 tons offered at 7 0 cents and less; 1 , 6 4 5 , 0 0 0 tons offered at 75 cents down to 7 0 cents; ' Ibid., p. 1 6 5 . M The Fairmont Times, Fairmont, West Virginia, March 14, 1 9 3 2 .

ECONOMIC S T A T U S OF MINERS

157

1,080,000 tons offered at 80 cents d o w n to 75 cents; 3 , 9 7 5 , 0 0 0 tons offered at 80 cents and less. . . . T h e most favorable bid having been accepted, w e are n o w ready to discuss the purchase of the remainder of our locomotive coal for the period April I, 1 9 3 2 , to M a r c h 3 1 , 1 9 3 3 . A s there is so much coal available at the prices quoted on the attached tabulation, I hope you are in position to o f f e r coal at c o m petitive prices. W o u l d like to have your bid promptly, if you are interested, or a w o r d that you are not interested at this time in business at these prices, if that is the case, in w h i c h case will consider you in future purchases w h e n , w e all hope, conditions will be more favorable.

W h e n this letter was published the editor of the Fairmont Times (West Virginia) remarked that the prospects are that the railroad company "will buy their 1932 requirements at 20 cents to 30 cents less than last year, all at the expense of the miner." Competition became so keen that even the United Mine Workers Union in Northern West Virginia in district 31 joined in the process of wage-cutting. In order to save the union and to meet competition the organization entered into an agreement with the union operators to accept a 25 per cent wage cut, as of October 1, 1931, which reduced the basic loading rate to 22]/2 cents per ton. T h e nonunion operators charged that this agreement was only a clever trick to "outscab the scabs." At the time the agreement was made, 67.5 per cent of the coal in that region was being produced by nonunion operators, and only about 5 per cent of them were paying less than the prevailing union rate of 30 cents per ton. Most of the operators were paying from 30 cents to 40 cents per ton. T h e editor (Fairmont Times) asserted that " . . . as a result of this [agreement] the entire wage structure of the Northern W e s t Virginia crumbled into ruin. T h e big companies reduced their scales to the 30 cents level and the smaller companies have been forced to come down to a point where they can meet the price-cutting competition of the

15S

T H E B I T U M I N O U S COAL M I N E R

Union." 1 1 Following the agreement the Montfair Gas and Coal Company, operating the Francis Mine in Harrison County on a nonunion basis, announced a 25 per cent wage cut—making a basic loading rate of 11 cents per ton." The operators in Northern West Virginia tried to place the onus for this wage cut on the unions, yet similar wage reductions were talcing place in every nonunion section of the Southern field. In some of the so-called "outlaw" mines the loading rates were reduced to as low as 12 Уг cents per ton. The miners suffered not only a reduction of wages, but also further irregular employment and unemployment. In West Virginia the mines operated on an average of only 176 days in 1 9 3 1 , and the number of miners employed was reduced from 105,988 in 1930 to 97,787 in 1 9 3 1 . " In Kentucky the retrenchment was even more pronounced. The mines operated on an average of only 159 days during 1 9 3 1 , and the number of miners employed was reduced to 48,204 in 1 9 3 1 , a decrease of 8,470 from the previous year.14 Typical pay checks of the miners during the spring of 1932, which show both the earnings and the deductions from the miners' wages, will convey the best idea of the miners' problem of supporting their families. These pay checks, of course, represent the income of the partially employed miners and not the economic status of the unemployed group. The miners speak in revealing terms of their low wages and company deductions: I ' v e been making only $ 1 . 5 0 a day and working two days a week. T h a t ' s only $ 1 2 . 0 0

a month and our cuts are over $ 1 1 . 0 0

not

counting carbide and powder. " Ibid. " Clarksburg Exponent (West Virginia), October 3, 1 9 3 1 . u F. G. Tryon, and L. Mann, Bituminous Coal Tables, 1 9 3 1 , United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Mines, Table for West Virginia. (Mimeographed) . {t Ibid., Table for Kentucky.

ECONOMIC S T A T U S OF M I N E R S

159

I've worked here for two years and have drawn only $ . 5 0 in cash during all of that time. It's lucky I only have my wife and myself to support. + m I cut coal for sixteen hours Monday night. I had to spend most of the time replacing bits—and came out with 55 cents to my credit. I worked Tuesday night for sixteen hours and earned $ 1 . 2 5 . I went to the office to get scrip so I could get carbide for another night and also some food—and I was refused. M y earnings are being held for rent. We've had no food for four days. *

*

#

T h e past year I have been able to make enough to pay rent, light, and deductions. I have been getting from $2.00 to $ 4 . 0 0 worth of groceries from the company per half. T h e company will not advance scrip unless I am clear with them. I must first pay all overdrafts and back rent before I get any advance in scrip. *

*

*

T h e operator owns the house in which I live and takes out $ 1 . 5 0 for the rent each pay. When my pay won't cover it he takes out one-third. W e have to trade in the company store. I haven't drawed a nickel since I've been working here. I was living in the house across the road from me before I got this job. It is a much better house but the boss wanted me to move over in his house. I didn't have to pay any rent in the other one. He told the feller working on the machine with me that he would let me go if I didn't move. I knew I would have to move if I wanted to hold my job. *

*

*

Since April 22 (one month ago) I've only had $2 in scrip. T h e stoppages took all the rest. In the eight months I've been here I've only had $ 1 . 2 9 in cash. * * * A n examination of the yearly income of the miners from 1 9 1 5 to 1 9 2 6 shows that the rate paid per d a y and the tonnage rate have given to the public an exaggerated idea of the average annual earnings of the miners. T h e gains in wages, inadequate as they were, made laboriously over a period of more than thirty years were soon shattered by widespread unemployment.

T H E BITUMINOUS COAL MINER

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