Full text of The Welfare of Children in Bituminous Coal Mining Communities in West Virginia, Bureau Publication No. 117

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U . S. D E P A R TM E N T OF LA B O R
JA M E S J . D A V IS, Secretary

CHILDREN’S BUREAU
GRACE ABBOTT. Chief

THE W ELFARE
OF CHILDREN IN BITUMINOUS
COAL MINING COMMUNITIES
IN WEST VIRGINIA
By

N ETTIE P. McGILL

Bureau Publication N o. 117

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1923

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S fe s » . 1
Ll Ç-'S c

C O N T E N T S.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page.
Letter of transm ittal............................ ................. ............................................... .....................
y
Introduction...... ..................................... .............................. ..................................... .....................

T h e homes of the children.................................................................................. ........................

6-1 7

T h e m ining tow n................................................................i ............ .....................................

H ousing.......................................................... ......................... ..................................................

Sanitation.............. ............................................................................... !.................. .................

LF-17

T h e water s u p p ly .................. ................... ............v.................. . ^. . . . . . .

T oilets....................

Disposal of refuse........................................... i ..................................... ........................

Children in sch o ol.............................7 ...................................................... .................................: 18-31
School attendance...... ............................................................................................................

School facilities...........................7 ..... .................................................................................... 2 0-25
T h e schoolhouse and its equ ip m en t....................................... ................... ........ ..
20
Teachers...........................

The curriculum.......................: ........ .............................. ..............................................

School progress........ .................................. ......................................................... ...................

School leaving............................... ..................................................................... ....................

Children at work..................................................... ................................................ .......... ."...........3 2-46
Vacation and after-school workers...............................

Regular workers........................................................

M edical care and h ealth .............................................................................................

47-57

General health conditions.....................................................................................

Medical care and nursing.....................; .............................................................................

Maternity care.............................................................................. 1........ .......................... ..

Infant m ortality................................................. ................................... .................................

F am ily d ie t .............................................................................................................................

Children’s health conferences....................

Social life and recreation....................... ...........................................................................

Industrial conditions affecting child welfare.......... ........................................................... 61-73
A nnual earnings of chief breadwinners.........................................................................

F am ily earnings..................

Cost of liv in g ............ ...... ...........- . . . .......................................................................................

F am ily savin gs.......................; ........................................................................... ............... 72
Miners’ families livin g outside com pany towns.............. ........................' . .............. ........
TABLES.

74
Page.

Table I .— Occupation of chief "breadwinner, b y type of e m p lo y m e n t.. . . . . ____

Table I I .— Length of residence of fam ily in present com m unity, b y color and
nationality of chief breadwinner........ ................................................................................

Table I I I .— Average number of removals since marriage, b y color and n ativity
of chief breadwinner....................................................................................................

Table I V .— Num ber of persons in household, b y num ber of rooms in house____
Table V .— School attendance of children between 7 and 18 years of age, b y s e x ..
Table V I .— Retardation of children between 8 and 18 years of age still in school,
b y age of ch ild —

........................... ................. ............................ ...........................................

14
19
26

Table V I I .— Retardation of children betw een 8 and 18 years of age still in
school, b y color and n a tiv ity of

chief breadwinner...............................................

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CONTENTS.

Table V I I I .— Age at leaving school, b y annual earnings of chief breadw inner..

Page.
28

Table I X . — Reason for leaving school, b y annual earnings of chief breadwinner
and sex of ch ild ..................................................... .............: .......................................................

Table X . — Retardation of children between 12 and 18 years of age who had
left school, b y age at leaving school............................................. .....................................

Table X I . — Reason for going to work given b y vacation and after-school work
ers, b y earnings of chief breadwinner................................................................................

T able X I I . — Occupation in first regular position, b y age at beginning regular
w o r k .............. ......... ..............................>.......................... . ........................ ................................. .

Table X I I I . — Reason for going to work given b y regular workers, b y age at
beginning regular work............................. . .............................................................................

'Table X I V .— School grade completed b y regular workers, b y age at beginning
regular work............................................................ ............................................................. ..
T a b le X V .— Infant m ortality rates in urban and rural areas, U n ited States
birth-registration area, 1 915-1920....................................................................... ............. ..

43
51

'Table X V I .— Defects found in children given physical exam inations, b y age of
ch ild .................. .............. .......................... ................... ..................................................................

'Table X V I I .— A nnual earnings of chief breadwinner, b y occupation............. :/. . .

'Table X V I I I .— M axim um d a y ’s earnings of chief breadwinner, b y occu p ation ..

'Table X I X . — Duration of total unem ploym ent of chief breadwinner during
selected year, b y occupation.................................... : .........................................................

T a b le X X . — Duration of industrial unem ploym ent of chief breadwinner dur
ing selected year, b y occupation......................................................................... ...............

T ab le X X I . — A nnual earnings of fam ily, b y number of breadwinners.................

IL L U S T R A T IO N S .

A coal-mining camp in Raleigh County, W . V a ................................................ Frontispiece.
Page.
One of the most inaccessible and prim itive of the m ining settlem ents.................
6
7
Houses located along railroad tracks.................. .......................... .........................................
The most attractive of the m ining cam ps.............................................................................

A negro section of one se ttle m e n t................................................. ................. .......... .............

A common type of h o u se...................................................................... .......... .........................

N e w ly bu ilt houses.......................... ...............................................................................................

T he type of schoolhouse frequently provid ed .......................... ................... ......................

One of the most attractive sehoolhouses................................................................................

A school privy— dry, open-back ty p e ....................................................................................

Privies which drain into a stream running through the settlem ent.................. ..

Lack of p lay space............................................................................................j ............................

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LETTER OF T R A N SM IT T A L .

U . S. D e p a r tm e n t

L abor,

Ch il d r e n ’ s B u r e a u ,

Washington D ecem ber 5 , 1 922 .

Si r : There is transmitted herewith a report entitled “ The Welfare
of Children in Bituminous Coal Mining Communities in West
Virginia.”
.
The investigation upon which this report is based was made under
the direction of Ellen Nathalie Matthews, director of the industrial
division of the Children’s Bureau. The field work was directed by
Ethel M. Springer and the report written by Nettie P. McGill, both
of the staff of the industrial division of the bureau.
Respectfully submitted.
G r a c e A b b o t t , Chief.

Hon.

J a m e s J. D a v i s ,
Secretary o f Labor.

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* ..

THE W EFARE OF CHILDREN IN BITUMINOUS COAL MINING
COMMUNITIES IN WEST VIRGINIA.
IN T R O D U C TIO N .

The present inquiry into the welfare of children in bituminous coal
mining communities 1 was made with the purpose of studying con
ditions incident to life in a mining town which might in any way
affect the child, in order to ascertain, if possible, what it means to
a child to be brought up in such a community so far as his health,
his opportunities, and his general well-being are concerned. The
basic character of the industry lends significance, from an industrial
as well as a social point o f view, to any study of conditions the im
provement of which might be expected to make coal mining more
attractive to the miner and the miner’s family.
The study was made in Raleigh County, W. Va., a State second
only to Pennsylvania in the amount of bituminous coal mined. In
1918, of the total number of men in the United States engaged in the
production of bituminous coal 15 per cent— 89,530 men— were em
ployed in the mines of West Virginia; of the total value of coal
mined, that of the West Virginia product was 15 per cent, or $200,659,368.2 Raleigh County is among the larger producing counties,
being surpassed in the amount of coal mined by only three other
counties—McDowell, Logan, and Fayette. It was selected for study
as typical, on the whole, of many of the bituminous coal mining dis
tricts of the Appalachian Mountain system, which are found in seven
States— Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia,
Tennessee, and Alabama. Moreover, at the time of the survey, in
the summer of 1920, it was free from serious labor disturbances, such
as were taking place in certain sections of the State. Some of the
coal fields in the county were unionized, others were not; and com
munities in both union and nonunion territory were included in the
survey.
Ealeigh County lies in the southern part of the State, wholly within
the Allegheny Plateau. It is extremely rough country, the valleys
being narrow, hemmed in by steep slopes, which range in height from
1This is the second study of conditions surrounding children in mining distficts made by the Children’s
Bureau. The results of the first study were published in Child Labor and the Welfare of Children in an
Anthracite Coal-Mining District, U. S. Children’s Bureau Publication No. 106, Washington, 1922.
aLesher, C. E.: Coal in 1918. Part A, Production, pp. 699, 701,708, and 810. TJ. S. Geological Survey,
Washington, 1920.

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VlRGiNlA.

2,000 to more than 3,500 feet above sea level; areas of flat or undu
lating plateau with rolling upland and broad valleys, which are about
the only areas of the county under cultivation, are small. Drainage
is into the Guyandot, Coal, and New Rivers through numerous small
streams or creeks, along which the mining settlements have sprung
u p ..
Agriculture and lumbering are the only industries besides coal
mining, and neither is of great importance in the county.
Prior to the opening of the coal mines, settlement was slow. Most
of the population lived on rough mountain farms, and consisted of
the descendants of the hunters and trappers from Virginia, North
Carolina, and Maryland who had made the first settlements at the
end of the eighteenth century. It was not until about 1900, with
the construction of a branch line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad,
followed in 1907 by the building of the Virginian Railroad, that the
industrial development of the county began. The Cabin Creek
branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio offered an outlet to the coal mines
of the northwestern part of the county, while the Winding Gulf
branch of the Virginian Railroad opened important fields in the
southern part. A considerable portion of the county, however, is
still without adequate transportation facilities.
The only town of any size is Beckley, the county seat, with a
population of 4,149.3 It is located in the north-central part of the
county and is the trading center of the farming districts and the coal
fields. The only other settlements are small mining villages, the
largest with probably not more than 1,200 inhabitants. The popu
lation, even in the mining communities where foreigners have begun
to come in, is still predominantly native, 15 per qent, as compared
with 6 per cent of that of the State as a whole, being colored.4
The present study included 11 representative mining villages, of
which some were typical of the smallest and most backward settle
ments, others of the larger, older, and better-developed communities.
The largest had a population of approximately 1,200, the smallest
about 200 inhabitants. All were within 15 miles of Beckley, prin
cipally in the eastern half of the county, the most inaccessible of the
settlements being excluded for practical reasons. Every home in
which there was a child under 18 years of age was visited. Wherever
possible the mother or the father, or both, were interviewed, otherwise
the nearest relative. In addition to the schedule study, certain
phases of child welfare were covered by supplementary interviews
and surveys. These included an inquiry into community conditions; 5
3 Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. Vol. I ll, Population, p. 1111.
4 Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. Vol. I ll, Population, pp. 1100,1108.
3 Including a survey of a mining [community which was in many respects a model one and which would
have been included in the schedule study had it been more easily accessible from Beckley, the headquar
ters of the Children’s Bureau agents.

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IN T R O D U C T IO N .

a brief survey of school facilities in the school districts in which were
situated the mining settlements visited; and an inquiry into con
ditions among miners’ families living outside mining communities,
either in the open country or in some small settlement not owned by
a mining company. The information gathered from the families
scheduled and by personal observation was supplemented through
interviews with superintendents and physicians o f the mining com
panies, union officials, school authorities, and other prominent local
persons.
In all, 645 families, with 1,965 children, were interviewed. The
great majority (59.4 per cent) of the families were native white, and
a large proportion (25 per cent) were colored. Unlike the anthracite
and the older bituminous fields, the West Virginia coal mines are
worked mainly by natives, many of whom are also natives of the
State. Less than one-fourth of the men employed in 1920 at the
mines and coke ovens of the State, and an even sifialler proportion of
those working in Raleigh County mines, were of foreign birth— chiefly
Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Greek, and Spanish.6 Of the families
visited, 93 (15 per cent) had foreign-born fathers. Of these fathers,
17 were natives of the British Isles— recalling the early days of mining
in this country, when the workers were mainly English, Welsh, and
Irish. But the majority represented the newer immigrations from
southern and eastern Europe. The greatest number (34) were Poles
by birth; others were chiefly Hungarian, Lithuanian, Italian, and
Spanish. Practically all the foreign-born fathers were able to speak
English.
As might be expected in communities whose reason for being is the
coal industry, almost nine-tenths of the fathers or other chief bread
winners were employed by mining companies. Those who were
not lived in the community either by virtue of the fact that some
other member of the family worked in the mines or because their
callings were useful or necessary to the mining population. Thus,
among heads of households not working for the mining companies were
a storekeeper or two, a teacher, a barber, and a telegraph operator.
Not quite three-fourths of all the fathers were engaged in the mining
industry itself, practically all in underground occupations. Among
those who were employed by mining companies but not in executive
positions or in occupations peculiar to mining were electricians,
carpenters, blacksmiths, clerks, physicians, and deputy sheriffs. ,
6Annual Report, West Virginia Department of Mines, 1920, pp. 12, 254, 255.

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C H IL D R E N I N COAL M IN IN G C O M M U N IT IE S , W E S T VIKGINIA..
T a b l e I .— Occupation o f chief breadwinner, by type o f em ploym ent.

Chief breadwinners, June 30, 1920.
Employed by mining companies.
Occupation.

On surface.

Total.
Total.

Num
ber.

Per
cent.1

Underground.
Num
ber.

Per
cent.1

639

567

157

27.7

410

72.3

470

14.3

403

85.7

3
4
26
3

2
4
23

4
42
26
V 16
248
32
11
3
4
26
7
5
169
Other occupations.............................................
10
8
27
72
11
16
18
9
5
13
7
10
10
25

4
42
26
16
248
32
11
3
4
26
7
5
97
7
7
1
62
11
13
17
7
4
10
6
5
6
3

Superintendent, assistant superintendent,
Bosses and foremen:

Operatives:

3
3

4
42

92.8

26
16
248
28
11
3
3
24
7
1
7

90.3

4
1
2
4
90
7
7
1
56
fit
13
11
7
4
10
6
4
6
3

Notemployed
fey
mining
com
panies.

•
100.0

7.2

72
3
1
26
10

9.7

1
'

3
1
2
1
3
1
5
4
22

1 Not shown where base is less than 50.

The population of these developing bituminous coal mining com
munities, unlike that of the typical anthracite district, is a floating
one. The average life of the mine is short, and a miner after living
but a few years in one place may be compelled to move on to another
because the mine in which he has been employed is worked out.
Furthermore, production varies from year to year, expanding or
contracting with industrial prosperity or depression, and during
periods of nonproduction the workers drift from mine to mine wher
ever work can be found. Comparatively few of the fathers in the
families interviewed were found to have been working for the same
mining company for any considerable length of time— only 28 per
cent had been employed b y the same mining company five years or
more, and almost one-third (30.7 per cent) had been less than one year
with the company employing them at the time of the interview.

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INTRODUCTION'.

Whereas in the anthracite district studied by the Children’s Bureau
92 per cent of the families interviewed had lived in the district for
five years or more,7 only about one-fourth (26 per cent) of the chief
breadwinners in the present study had been living in the same
community for at least five years.
T a b l e I I .— Length o f residence offa m ily in 'present com m unity, by color and nationality
o f chief breadwinner.

Families.
Length of residence in present community.
Color and
nationality of
chief bread
winner.

To
tal.®

Total........ 639
W hite............... «477
383
Foreign born.. 93
34
Hungarian
(Magyar)..
9
9
English....... ’ 8
8
7
6
Olther..........
12
162

Under
1 year.

1 year,
under 3.

3 years,
under 5.

5 years,
under 10.

10 years,
under 15.

15 years
and over.

Not
report
Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per ed.
ber. cent.* ber. cent.* ber. cent.* ber. cent.* ber. cent.* ber. cent.*
34.4

156

24.4

15.0

113

17.7

5.6

2.3

158 33.1
132 34.5
26
7

121
92
29
11

25.4
24.0

71
58
13
8

14.9
15.1

92
70
22
7

19.3
18.3

22
20
2
1

4.6
5.2

10
10

2.1
2.6

c3
i
i

3
2
1
3
4
1
5
62 38.3

2
3
-3
2
2
4
2
35

220

1
1

21.6

1
2
25

2
4
4
1
1
15.4

3
21

13.0

8.6

3.1

® Excluding 6 families in which there were no chief breadwinners.
* Not shown where base fs less than 100.
c Including 1 family the nativity of whose chief breadwinner was not reported.
7 Child Labor and the Welfare of Children in an Anthracite Coal-Mining District, p. 7, U. S. Children’s
Bureau Publication No. 106. Washington, 1922.

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T H E H O M E S OF T H E C H ILD R EN .
T H E M IN IN G T O W N .

The child of the coal miner in the West Virginia mountains lives
very often in what is practically a frontier settlement. It is remote
and isolated, shut in by high, wooded hills, a straggling line of low
houses in the wilderness. The camps visited during the survey were
only from 3 to 13 miles from Beckley— the county seat and the near
est incorporated town of any size— but the distance in miles gives
no idea of their inaccessibility. Railroad service was infrequent and
uncertain. For example, the single daily train from Beckley to one
of the camps, only about 8 miles distant, took over two hours for the

ONE OF T H E

MOST

INACCESSIBLE AND P R IM IT IV E OF T H E M IN IN G
SETTLEM EN TS.

run under the most favorable conditions and was frequently delayed.
Most of the camps were from one-half mile to several miles away from
rough county roads, which were reached from two settlements by
walking over a mountain, and from two others by mounting in a
“ hoist” drawn by cables to the top of a steep hill. Uncertainty as
to the probable lifetime of the mine makes for cheaply and hastily
constructed houses, primitive sanitation, and other hardships— both
sanitary and cultural— of pioneer life.
Not only isolation and the temporary nature of the settlement but
other f actors, also, combine to prevent the development of the moun
tain miuiqg town along the lines of the ordinary small town or village.
6

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THE HOMES OF THE CHILDREN.

Coal mining is the sole industry, and the coal company owns and con
trols the town. The coal-mining company and the coal-land company
own the town site and the whole surrounding territory, controlling
in some cases the roads leading into the town. Practically all the
houses and, as a rule, the stores and other buildings, are company
owned. Sometimes even the church, if there is one, and the schoolhouse are built by the company, which often supplements or pays in
full the salaries of the pastor and the teacher. Whether conditions
are good or bad depends upon the policy of the coal company and
not upon the will of the inhabitants. If the policy of the company
is to provide attractive houses and clean and wholesome surroundings,
it is in an exceptionally good position to demand and secure imme
diate response to its program. If, on the other hand, company

HOUSES LOCATED ALONG

RAILROAD TRACKS.

standards are below those of the community, the inhabitants may
not take steps to secure clean streets, for example, or a safe water
supply. They have no redress from conditions which may be intol
erable, except to move into another camp.
The West Virginia coal miner does indeed move frequently.
Although the irregularity of mining operations accounts for much of
the shifting, another element is no 'doubt the hope which the miner
or his wife cherishes of bettering their living conditions. Of 464
families in the present survey who reported the number of removals
which they had undergone, one-third had moved at least once every
two years. Some of the families found it impossible to remember
the number of times they had moved. (One mother declared that
she moved “ every time the moon changed.” ) In five of the settle
ments visited half the families interviewed had been in residence less

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..CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

than one year, the percentage of removals per month being much
.higher in the less attractive camps than in the others. One family
had moved twice within eight months preceding the survey. “ We
moved from the last place,” said the mother, “ because dead hogs
were left lying around in the street.” • The labor turnover in the

THE

M O ST A TTR AC TIV E OF T H E M IN IN G

CAMPS.

Level streets» concrete sidewalks, well-kept buildings and fences, were unusual features.

most attractive town was said by the superintendent of the mining
company to be negligible; there was usually a waiting list, and new
comers almost invariably had to wait for a house— the father of the
family coming in first, the family moving in when a house became
vacant.
T a b l e III. — A verage num ber o f rem ovals sin ce m arriage, by color and n a tivity o f ch ief
breadw inner.

Families.
Average number of removals since marriage.

Color and nativity of chief
breadwinner.

Total.1
None.

Total.............................

639

Native.............................
Foreign-born...................
Colored...................................

2477
383
93
162

Less
than
once
More
a year,
Once
than
but
once a year. once
a year.
in 2
years.

Less
than
once
in 2
years,
but
once
in 3
years.

Less
than
once
in 3
years,
but
once
in 4
years.

KM.

132

175

31
26
5
21

42
37
5
8

6
4
2
1

84
76
8
17

47
37
10
14

49
39
10
12

93
65
28
39

2 125
99
25
50

1 Excluding 6 families in which there were no chief breadwinners.
2 Including 1 family the nativity of whose chief breadwinner was not reported.

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Less
than Not re
once ported.
in 4
years.

THE HOMES OF THE CHILDREN.

The ordinary small mining settlement is uninviting in appearance.
Apparently no consideration other than proximity to the mining
operations had influenced the choice of site for the towns included in
the survey. They lay usually in a narrow hollow between two high
ridges, the houses being in some camps located on both sides of the
railroad track or of a little stream running through the valley. In
one town there was but little room at the side of the track for the
pedestrian to use if a train went by, as the tracks were on an em
bankment, and between the embankment and the houses was a
ditch, usually filled with water; foot bridges were built from the

A NEGRO SECTION OF ONE S E TTLEM EN T.
Most of the camps had rough and Irregular roads and no sidewalks.

railroad embankment to the front doors of the houses.1 In other
camps the houses were built on steep hillsides where it was .difficult
to get a foothold, especially in wet weather when the hillsides became
slippery with mud. In some cases the hillside paths were littered
with the remains of old buckets, tubs, and tin cans. The roads were
usually rough and irregular, and in wet weather turned to black
mud and puddles. There were no sidewalks, as a rule, and only such
footpaths as had been worn by use. For the most part the'houses
were a uniform hue—usually a dark gray or dull brown, though in
some camps the companies have literally “ painted the town red.”
In one place, also, four or five houses had been freshly painted in as
many different colors. The houses occupied by company superin
tendents and other executives offered an acceptable relief from the
monotonous sameness of the miners’ houses. They were usually
fair-sized dwellings with porches, lawns, trees, and shrubbery.
1 See illustration, p. 7.
32706°— 23-------2

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

In some settlements waste matter entered the creeks flowing
through the center of the town, privies were tumble-down, and
incredible amounts of garbage and rubbish lay on the ground. (> Chickens, ducks, geese, and hogs wandered about, adding to the
general disorder and unwholesomeness.
= That the mining settlement may be prepossessing, even picturesque,
in appearance was proved by the aspect of one just outside the area
included in the schedule study.la In this settlement the roads were
level and well kept, the streets lighted, the sidewalks of cement..
Houses, outbuildings, and fences were in excellent repair. The
power house in the center of the camp was covered with vines and
surrounded with lawns and flower beds. The houses were painted in
light colors with red. roofs, and offered a pleasing variety in design
as well as color. Well-kept lawns and flower gardens were inclosed
in painted picket fences. Vines grew along the fences and trailed
over the porches. Lying at the base of the dark, wooded mountains,
the town looked like a pretty toy.
H O U S IN G .

Usually the only houses to be had in the towns belong to the mining
companies and the families must rent and live in them whether they
like them or not. More than nine-tenths of the families interviewed X.
lived in houses rented from the companies. Twenty-five others
lived in company houses without paying rent: For example, in
some cases the wife of a miner who had been killed, or the woman
who ran the camp boarding house, was given free housing by the
company j more rarely others—-in one instance a telegraph operator>
in another a barber—were allowed to live in company houses without
paying rent, as an inducement, no doubt, to settle in the town. Only
six families rented houses not owned by mining companies and only
nine— about 1 per cent— owned their own houses. These were out
side the boundaries of two camps, but virtually formed a part of the
respective communities. In or near all the remaining camps there
was not one family owning its own house.
It was customary on taking a house to sign a lease, though at least
one company merely required the tenant to “ sign u p ” for a house in
order that the rent might be deducted from his pay. One form of lease
included the following clauses: (1) Notice of five days necessary by
either party; (2) eviction without notice if tenant quits employ of
company; (3) rent at $2 a day if tenant continues to occupy house
after quitting work. One or two families said that these terms were
not enforced. It was not uncommon for men to sign the lease without
knowing what was in it. Several stated that they had not read it.

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THE HOMES OF THE CHILDREN.

One Austrian Polish miner said, “ Super told me to sign paper— no
read English. Don’t know what it said.” Another foreign-born
miner observed, “ They handed the lease out through a little pigeon
hole at the office and didn’t give you time to read it. You know
they are not educated in this town like they are in cities.”
The usual rental, deducted by the company before the miner
received his pay, was from $5 to $7.50 a month; $10 or more was
seldom paid, except for houses containing at least five rooms. In
one camp, according to the superintendent, old houses rented for
$1.75, new ones for $2, a room.
When not absolutely alike in every detail, as whole lanes of them
often were, the miners’ houses were built on the same general plan—
detached or semidetached one or two-story structures, containing
usually three or four rooms. They were invariably of wood, some
being clapboarded, others of upright boards with or without weather
stripping; erected without cellars, they stood usually on piles, in
many cases with an open space beneath. Most of them were gen
erally lacking in the essentials of a comfortable dwelling; rooms were
small and few in number; they were inconvenient, insanitary, illventilated, and cold. As the houses were built of the cheapest mate
rnal, usually not weatherboarded, and in many, cases not plastered or
even ceiled, the fireplaces which as a rule were the only means of
heating besides the cookstove could not keep them comfortably
warm. Some were said to be “ like paper” when the wind struck
them. The occupants of a" number of the houses had tacked news
papers or old magazine covers over the rough board walls— one family
had papered with samples of wall paper— in order to keep out the
cold. The flooring was often only a single layer of boards, sometimes
with cracks an inch or more wide, placed over open foundations
through which the cold air circulated freely. Knot holes and cracks
in the wall were not uncommon. Not infrequently the houses were
damp as well as cold, as they were built close to the ground and the
space beneath the house was not always kept dry;-water from a
near-by spring ran under one house. The open foundation also
offered a refuge for animals, from which vermin and unhealthful odors
easily entered the house. Many families found it, also, a convenient
place for rubbish of every description— an old bedstead in which
children and animals were seen playing at the time of the agent’s
visit was stored under one house, inviting disease and fire.
Many of the houses were in a bad state of repair, with leaking
roofs, loose windows, and sagging doors. The roof of one house
leaked in every room, and water and snow came in under the doors;
in another it was necessary to put pans around to catch the water.
The weather-stripping was falling off some of the houses. Where

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

they had been papered the paper, old and discolored, was frequently
hanging in ribbons.
In such houses as these the housewife has few conveniences— an
inefficient heating system, no inside water supply or toilet, no hath.
Electric light, found in all except one or two of the camps, was
practically the only modern convenience in most of the miners’
houses. The lack of household conveniences greatly increases the
housewife’s work and makes it harder for her to give her children
the attention that they should have. Running w^ater is a minimum
essential for comfort. The camp described on page 12 Rad running
water in each house, with white enameled sinks and pipes for drain
age connected with sewers, proving that such conveniences are not

' A COMMON

TYPE OF HOUSE.

Many of the houses are built on piles on rough, uneven ground.

impossible of achievement in the mountain mining town. The
need of a bath in the miner’s home is a very real one, especially
if there is no “ wash and change” house at the mouth of the mine.
Without a bathroom, the miner’s daily hath is likely to be taken
under uncomfortable and inconvenient circumstances. Wiater— a
small amount at best— must be heated on the kitchen stove, and in
the small, crowded houses strict privacy is difficult to secure. In all
the 11 camps only 52 of the families interviewed—usually those of
the mine executives— had baths in their houses; so that only 136
of the 1,928 children enjoyed what in .these days is considered a
necessity.
There was little variety in the houses to meet the needs of indi
vidual families. When the families were large or even of average
size insufficient space necessitated overcrowding. Almost half th§

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T H E H O M E S OP T H E C H IL D R E N ,

families lived in 4-room houses and practically two-thirds in houses
having 4 rooms or fewer.
Of all the families visited 16 per cent
were living in houses with an average of 2 persons or more per room—
a proportion larger by half than that found in the Shenandoah
anthracite district previously surveyed by the Children’s Bureau.
Indeed, room congestion in the mining towns included in the present
study seemed quite as serious as in crowded city districts. In 40
per cent of the homes there were 3 or more persons to each sleeping
room, and in at least 1 family in every 7 there were from 4 to 9
persons to each bedroom. In 3 native white families 8 or 9 persons,
usually parents and young children, slept in one room. There was
less overcrowding, however, among native families, both white and

NEW LY B UILT HOUSES.
The modern houses have closed-in foundations and are clapboarded and painted.

negro, than among families in which the father was foreign born.
This may perhaps be due to the custom; more prevalent among
immigrant than among native families, of taking lodgers. Onefourth of all the families keeping lodgers averaged 2 or more persons
to a room, whereas only 13 per cent of those who kept no lodgers
were thus crowded.
In one-fifth of the homes visited there were lodgers. Of these 132
families, 100 lived in houses containing 3 or fewer bedrooms and
numbering in their households from 3 to 14 persons. Three families
had only 3 bedrooms for 14 persons, including lodgers; 2 families,
each of 5 members, including lodgers, had only 1 bedroom. Fortynine families keeping lodgers had only 2 bedrooms, with the number
of persons in the household ranging from 3 to 10. Many of these
families were ones in which the children were young, but others had

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C H IL D R E N I N . COAL M IN IN G C O M M U N IT IE S , W E S T V IR G IN IA .

boys and girls from 13 to 16 years of age. A 16-year-old girl in a
Swiss family felt keenly the fact that the male lodgers in her family
must pass through her room to reach their own. The practice of
taking lodgers in small quarters exposes growing children, especially,
not only to the discomfort and unhealthfulness of overcrowding but
also to the serious social evils which may result from a lack of privacy.
T a b l e I V .— Num ber o f persons in household, by num ber o f rooms in house.

It should be pointed out that the rents paid for these houses may
perhaps be too low to permit of supplying the miner with a decent,
to say nothing of a comfortable and attractive,, dwelling. On the
other hand, it should be remembered that the miner is obliged to
occupy the house provided, even though he might be able and willing
to pay more for a better one. In this connection, Joseph H. White,
of the United States Bureau of Mines, in Houses for Mining Towns'
says: 2
T h ey [the com pany officials] determine, within certain lim its, what proportion of a
man s wages shall be spent on house rent.

This consideration should restrain fanciful

and unnecessarily expensive building; the other extreme should likewise be avoided.
True econom y should be distinguished from cheapness.

U gly, insanitary, uncomfort

able shacks should not be bu ilt even if, because of their cheapness, there is a demand
for them from tenants.

T h e obligation of the industry to society as a whole as well as

to the tenant ought to forbid this. A cheerful, strong, healthy, virile race w ill not rise
out of the filth and squalor of cheap hovels.
mi

I h e water supply.

S A N IT A T IO N .

Very few families had running water in the house. The majority
were supplied with water from a central source, piped to hydrants
more or less conveniently located. In the best camps one hydrant
in2to n i1914°SePl1 H " H0US6SfOT

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Towns’ P‘ 6* U< S’ Bureau of Mines BulletinXo. 87.

Wash-

the homes of the children.

supplied only 3 or 4 families, but in some the number of families
averaged 6, and in one a single hydrant was used b y 11 families.
Other camps had no central supply, water being obtained from wells
by means of pumps, 15 or 20 families sometimes using the same
pump.
The source of the supply was various and not always such as to
insure safe and abundant water. In one camp the water, obtained
from a drilled well some 400 feet deep, was safeguarded against
impurities by a system of filtration and chemical treatment. In
others, water was piped direct to the hydrants from springs and
creeks. In one camp in which the water had been obtained from a
creek into which sewage from the houses having plumbing and the
contents of many privies drained typhoid fever had been prevalent;
recently the company had bored a 400-foot well arid was planning
to extend the hydrant system so that every house should have a
hydrant within 50 yards. Regular analysis of the water was uncom
mon, but one camp reported that a sample was sent once every
three months to the State hygienic laboratory, and two others
reported annual analysis. Sometimes the water supply was scant
as well as of doubtful purity. For instance, most of the 12 drilled
wells supplying the people of one settlement were said to be out of
order at the time of the survey— in July. In another camp one of the
mothers reported that she was obliged to use spring water for all
purposes as the hydrant supply had been cut off for a week.
Many families preferred to use water from shallow wells or even
from tainted springs and creeks because, they said, the hydrant
water was “ rusty” or “ thick.” As in most rural communities
where they are common, springs furnished a favorite source of
drinking water even when the hydrant water was used for other
purposes. A much-prized spring in one camp was at least 200
yards up a mountain side from the nearest house, and probably a
quarter of a mile from the farthest. Unless the spring is concreted
to prevent local contamination and is periodically examined the
water is likely to be unsafe, and much of the spring water used was
not fit to drink. Many springs were contaminated by chickens and
stock, or by dishwater, drainage, and garbage; many were situated
in hollows on a lower level than surrounding privies. One privy
standing above the house on a steep slope, at the foot of which was
a spring used by some of the families, had not been emptied for
almost a year, the contents draining down the slope; three of the chil
dren had had typhoid fever since their family had occupied the house.
Toilets.

Fifty-four families, chiefly those of men holding executive posi
tions with the mining companies, had water-closets in the house
and one family had a water-closet in the yard. Most of the families—

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C H IL D R E N I N COAL M IN IN G C O M M U N IT IE S , W E S T V IR G IN IA .

nine-tenths h&d only privies, and seven households visited in four
different camps had no toilet of any kind. Eight per cent of the
families were obliged to share their privies with other families,
sometimes as many as four or more. The privies in one camp were
situated along the road and never locked, so that-any passer-by
could and did use them. One woman said that when she had first
moved to the camp she had cleaned hers up, but that thé next day
it was as bad as ever. Many privies were ramshackle, with doors
lacking and pits broken. One was tied to a tree to keep the high
waters of the creek from washing it away; another, blown over by
the wmd, had merely been propped up against a tree by the men
sent to repair it, no hole being dug nor box provided.
The privies were commonly of the dry, open-back, surface type to
which chickens, hogs, and. flies had easy access, especially as they
were not screened. They were seldom and insufficiently cleaned;
cleaning once a year appeared to be the standard, though in one
camp privies were said to be cleaned at the request of the families,
and in at least one or two others they were never cleaned except by
the occupants of the houses. In one camp it was the custom to move
the privy instead of cleaning it, digging a new hole and covering
- the old waste matter with dirt. One mother reported an entirely
novel method of cleaning the family toilet— being tied to a tree just
over the creek it was upturned and cleaned when the water of the
creek rose, and restored to its upright position when the waters
subsided. Certain precautions were taken by the company in one
or two camps— once or twice a year, according to one superintendent,
the pits beneath the privies were dug deeper and the waste buried’
disinfectant being used; in another camp, the waste matter was
shoveled out, piled outside the privy, and sprinkled with lime, which,
however, was washed away, it was said, by the first heavy rain.
Odors from privies and sewage were very offensive. In some
places sewage filled the creeks winding through the center of the
towns or drained into hollows and stood with surface water in stag
nant pools. One family whose house faced a ditch carrying part
of the town sewage reported that they were unable to sit on the
front porch, and another said that “ when the wind blows a certain
way you have to shut the door,” because of the unwholesome and
disagreeable odors/"
Disposal o f refuse.

In none of the settlements visited was garbage or other refuse
regularly removed by the company, though in one camp the company
would take cans and other rubbish, if collected in barrels, to a dump
some distance away. Garbage was commonly fed to the hogs or
dumped by the families into the creek or hollows near their homes

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THE

H O M E S OF T H E

C H IL D R E N .

though some of the executives’ families had theirs hauled away at
their own expense and disposed of outside the village. Garbage,
tin cans, broken crockery, and other rubbish littered almost every
road in some of the camps; in some, the almost stagnant creeks con
tained cans, wooden crates, bottles, and even old furniture, shoes,
and clothing. In one camp a dead cat had been left lying in the road
for five days, though it was said that the nuisance had been reported
to the authorities repeatedly.
Chickens, hogs, and other domestic animals are kept almost as
commonly as on the farms from which many of the miners come,
though in the relatively crowded little mining settlement they a^e a
constant source of danger unless careful regulations are in force.
Apparently no attempt was made in the camps visited to restrain
stock from spreading the contents of privies and contaminating the
water supply, or to treat accumulations of manure in such a way as
to prevent the breeding of flies. \
Under the primitive sanitary conditions prevailing, flies abounded.
Mosquitoes also were numerous; for tin cans and bits of crockery
filled with water, uncut weeds, open ditches containing stagnant
water, and undrained swamps, were to be found in practically all
. the settlements. Nevertheless, the necessity for screening was not
generally recognized; less than one-fifth of the houses occupied by
the families interviewed were screened. Supplying screens at cost
at the company store might prove helpful in educating the mining
town to the importance of this protection against fly- and mosquitoborne diseases. In the camp referred to on page 10 screens were
supplied with the houses.

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CH ILD REN IN SC H O O L .
SCH OOL ATTENDANCE.

The, West Virginia compulsory school attendance law, as amended
in 1919,1 required children between the ages of 7 and 14 2 to be in
school during the entire school term, making exceptions, however,
in cases of extreme poverty, or when a child was physically or men
tally unable to attend or lived 2 miles or more from the schoolhouse.3
Included in the present study were 936 children between 7 and
18 years of age. Of these, 78 had not reached the compulsory school
age at the beginning of the school year preceding the survey, and had
not entered school. Thirteen others, though between 7 and 18 years
of age, had never gone to school; of these, 6 were mentally or
physically unable to attend, and 4 had no school to attend, or none
within a reasonable distance. Seven hundred and thirty-four
children were enrolled in school. These included practically all
children between 7 and 14 years of age, as might be expected from
the law, but what is more surprising in an industrial community, it
included also more than four-fifths (84,7 per cent) of all the children
between 14 and 16, and over three-fifths of those between 14 and 18.
Most of the children had entered, at 6 years of age, but a few— ap
parently for no very good reason— had reached their teens before
beginning to go to school.
Although the law requires each school district to appoint at least
one attendance officer, little attention seemed to be given to enforcing
regular attendance. Twenty-four children of compulsory school
age, i. e., under 14j had not attended a single day during the school
year just completed at the time of the survey, though 14 of them were
reported by the parents as still in school. Only 71 per cent of the
pupils for whom attendance records were secured had atttended so
much as 90 days, or three-fourths of the legal minimum term.4
This record is to be compared with that of a township in the bitumi
nous coal mining regions cited by the U. S. Bureau of Education 5 as.
enforcing the compulsory attendance law unusually well, in which
83 per cent of the pupils enrolled had attended more than three1 West Virginia Acts oi 1919, ch. 2 (amending and reenacting Barnes’ Code, ch. 45, secs. 122 to 128).
2 Sixteen i f not employed.
s Children were also exempted under conditions making attendance impossible or hazardous, or for other
reasons accepted as valid b y the county or district supervisor or superintendent of schools.
* Attendance records were secured from teachers’ registers b y bureau agents. __
s Deflenbaugh, W. S.: Schools in the Bituminous Coal Regions of the Appalachian Mountains, p. 7.
*U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1920, No. 21.
•

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CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.

fourths of the term of 160 days, and over half had attended almost
every day.
The minimum school term fixed by the West Virginia law was
only 120 days,6 and all except two of the 11 camps visited reported the
minimum term. Sometimes the mining companies supplement dis
trict funds in order to lengthen the school term, a practice which
can not of course be recommended in lieu of adequate school support
by public taxation, though it has the merit of securing for the children
a much-needed extra month or two of schooling. Funds had been
thus supplemented in one camp, the school of which was attended
also by the children living in another settlement. One of the company
superintendents stated that the company had agreed to keep the
school open an additional month, paying all salaries, provided the
teachers maintained an 80 per cent attendance,—but that the plan
had not been successful, as attendance, beyond the minimum school
term was not required by law.
T a b l e V .— School attendance o f children between 7 and 18 years o f age, by sex.

Children between 7 and 18 years of age, June 30, 1920.
School attendance during school year,
1919-20.

Total.

Number.

Total...................................................

936

Total reporting......................................
Not in school..........................................
In school................................... ............
1 day, less than 10...........................
10 days,less than 20........................
20 days,less than 40........................
40 days,less than 60........................
60 days, less than 80........................
80 days,less than 100......................
100 days, less than 120....................
120 days,less than 140....................
140 days,less than 160...................
160 days, less than 180....................
Not reporting...............................................
Under-age1 ...............................................

602
103
499
1
5
7
15
42
133
256
29
3
8
256
78

Boys.

Girls.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution,
459
100.0
17.1
82.9
0.2
0.8
1.2
2.5
7.0
22.1
42.5
4.8
0.5
1.3

477

299
50
249

100.0
16.7
83.3

2
3
6
24
60
134
14
2
4
120
40

2.0
8.0
20.1
44.8
4.7
0.7
1.3

0.7

1.0

303
53
250
1
3
4
9
18
73
122
15
1
4
136
38

100.0
17.5
82.5
0.3
1.0
1.3
3.0
5.9
24.1
40.3
5.0
0.3
1.3

i Not 7 years of age, Sept. 30,1919.

A good deal of the absence reported by the children in these mining
villages was such, apparently, as to call for the provision of more
adequate school facilities as well as for a more rigorous enforcement
of the law. Some of the schools were so crowded that many of the
younger children, though of compulsory school age, could not be
accommodated and were turned away. Two of the smaller communi
ties had no schools at all and two others had no schools for colored
children; many of the children in these towns had to walk at least a
6 To be extended 10 days per year for four years, becoming 160 days in 1923-24 and thereafter.. West
Virginia Acts of 1919, ch. 2 (amending and reenacting Barnes’ Code, ch. 45, sec. 54).

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c h il d r e n i n

co al m in in g

c o m m u n it ie s

, w e s t Vir g in ia .

mile and sometimes two miles to another camp over roads which in
winter or muddy weather were practically impassable, so that they
could attend, as one father expressed it, only on “ picked days.”
Several parents complained that the road to the nearest schoolhouse
was dangerous. One father who had not sent his children to school
until they had reached the age of 16, remarked that he “ wasn’t going
to have his children butchered up by the railroad even to get an
education.”
S C H O O L F A C IL IT IE S .

T he schoolhouse and its equipment.

In the school districts in which are located the camps included in
the survey, 28 schools were visited. Schools in the mining towns as

T H E TYPE OF SCHOOLHOUSE FREQUENTLY P R O VIDED .

well as those in the distinctly rural communities were rural in type,
many being one-room, one-teacher schools, offering only five or six
elementary grades.
The recently constructed buildings were fairly substantial and
attractive, and though not always conforming to the best modern
standards in certain details, such, for example, as side lighting, com
pared favorably with rural school buildings being erected in other
States.
In many of the mining camps the mining companies had contributed
in some way to the school— erecting buildings, furnishing equipment,
or increasing teachers’ salaries. Although some of the companies
were generous in their contributions, others did little or nothing; in
the latter instances all too often the public-school authorities likewise
had provided inadequately in the expectation that the companies
would supply what was needed. Thus some of the poorest schools

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CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.

were in buildings furnished by the mining companies; for example, in
three camps the school for colored children was held in a companyowned miner’s cottage or in an old church building furnished by the
company. Many of the schools located in mining camps were seri
ously lacking in equipment. On the other hand, some of the rural
schools visited were modern and well equipped, proving that the
school authorities could provide adequately if they felt the obligation
to do so. Many schools, both in the open country and in the mining
camps, were of the old-fashioned, inconvenient, uncomfortable type of building. Of the 28 school buildings visited, 12 had no hall or
vestibule, and 21 no cloakrooms, coats and hats being commonly
hung on nails either in the hall or the classroom or piled up on
benches and chairs in the latter. Only one schoolhouse, a new

ONE OF T H E

MOST ATTRACTIVE

SCHOOLHOUSES.

company-built structure, was steam heated. The others, even the
newer ones, were heated by unjacketed stoves in the classrooms.
Only 6 had any janitor service, except such as teachers and pupils
themselves provided. •
It was, however, in equipment rather than in the building that the
majority of these schools were most inadequate. One substantially
built school had neither desk nor chair for the teacher, only benches
for the children, and a makeshift blackboard, which was at the back
of the room. One-fourth of the schoolrooms had too few seats for
the average number of pupils attending, and at least five had no seats
at all, or from three to seven single seats for classes of from 18 to 55
pupils. Mothers complained that their children had to sit on the
floor. In one camp 25 wooden boxes for the children to use as seats
had been supplied by a grocer. Aside from desks, chairs, and black
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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

boards, which in many schools were inadequate, practically nothing
was furnished by school authorities. Books and supplies had to be
furnished by the children themselves, and many -a teacher was seri
ously handicapped by lack of materials. Maps, pictures, charts,
library books, and even a dictionary were rarely found, and one
school reported that its equipment consisted of “ nothing but a bell.”
Only one school had a playground equipped with play apparatus,
and although many of the school yards were of good size, nowhere
were there any organized play activities. In a few instances there
was not even a suitable yard. One school, for example, was located
near the mining tipple, between railroad tracks, exposed to coal dust
and noise from both.
Half the schools had no water on the premises. Several teachers
said that they instructed the children to drink at home and not ask
for water when in school.- The common cup or dipper was in use in
some schools, but teachers seemed to be making an effort to enforce
the law 7 regarding individual drinking cups, at least requiring a cup
for the children of each family.
Of the 28 schools, 3 had no toilet facilities, and only 1 had a toilet
within the building. Three schools having privies made no separate
provision for boys and girls, though required to do so by a regulation
of the State department of health,8 and at four other schools a single
structure partitioned in two was used by both sexes.
Teachers.

Except in rare instances the children of the mining camps were
taught by poorly trained teachers. Teachers’ salaries in the towns
included in the study ranged from $360 to $690 for the school year of
six months, although some of them had been supplemented by the
mining companies. Of 71 white teachers reporting their education
in three of the school districts in which were located the miuiug
camps visited, 42 reported that they had never gone beyond the
eighth grade; though of 17 colored teachers reporting, all had had at
least part of a high-school course. Many of the teachers had little
experience to offset their lack of training. The teacher whom,
according to one mother’s story, the children “ light, curse, and knock
down” is no doubt an extreme example, but unquestionably many of
the teachers were too young and inexperienced to maintain ordinary
classroom discipline, much less to provide the skillful teaching neces
sary if children are to learn anything in a short term in schools
seriously overcrowded. Some of these untrained teachers are obliged
to handle classes of from 45 to 60 or more pupils— one teacher had 73
children enrolled, another 81, another 100— of half a dozen nationali7 West Virginia Acts of 1913, ch. 23, sec. 1.
» Rules and Regulations in regard to School Buildings, Equipment, and Grounds, p. 13. State Depart
ment of Schools, Charleston.
«

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CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.

ties and in half a dozen grades. It is hardly surprising that, as some
of the mothers said, the teachers did not “ get around to ” their
children.
The lack of suitable rooming and boarding places in the camps
makes it more difficult than it might otherwise be to obtain teachers
of the right sort. A solution of the rooming and boarding problem
lies in the provision of “ teacher ages ” or teachers’ homes which are
now found in many communities and in some mining towns. An a ct9
of the West Virginia Legislature passed in 1920 now makes it possible
for the school board of one independent school district to provide
such homes. The Children’s Bureau was told b y school authorities
that the act had been passed at the urgent instigation of some coal
operators who had found it difficult to induce teachers to come into
the mining camps.
The curriculum.

Many of the schools in the mining camps do not offer a full ele
mentary course, and in others all eight grades are taught by one
teacher. The fact that in many cases a child must go to the county
seat to attend the seventh or eighth or even the sixth grade probably
accounts in part for the large number who drop out befbre completing
the elementary-school course. Only one camp included in the survey
gave any high-school work and that did not extend beyond the first
year. The nearest high school was at Beckley, from 3 to 13 miles
distant from the various camps.10 One 17-year-old girl who wished
very much to go to high school lived at a settlement only a few miles
from Beckley, but the trains did not run at suitable times, and the
girl’s mother was afraid to have her walk back and forth along the
road alone.
The school curriculum was confined chiefly to instruction in read
ing, writing, and arithmetic, and included no manual training,
drawing, music, or physical training. In only two schools had even
so much as a sewing class been introduced. No vocational courses
were offered children under 16.n
The schools were in no way fitted to follow up the unusual oppor
tunity which was' theirs in the presence in school of so large a pro
portion of the boys and girls over 14 years of age. Because of their
isolation the children of the mountain mining community especially
need opportunities in school to try out various lines of work, and
they should certainly be able to obtain practical training at least in
the kinds of work carried on within and near the community, includ
ing home economics, home gardening, and agriculture.
9 West Virginia Acts of 1920, Second Extraordinary Session, ch. 3.
i° Seep. 6.
n in two of the largest camps visited evening industrial classes for adults under the Smith-Hughe^ Act
had been held for 30 evenings during the winter preceding the survey.

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

That it is possible to bring color and inspiration as well as prac
tical worth-while training into the school life of the children in
mining, as in other industrial towns, is illustrated by the following
accounts of mining-town schools given by the United States Bureau
of Education: 12
Ellsworth, P a., is a purely mining town located about 24 miles south of Pittsburgh.
The schools are organized [to include] a kindergarten, a high school, and a homeeconomics and an industrial-vocational scho ®.
T h e physician employed b y the company is the school physician.
nurse is also at the service of the schools.

nomics, in sanitation, and in the care of children.
of children for the adult women.

The company

The nurse gives a course in home eco
There is an evening class on care

A bou t 30 are enrolled in the course.

T he home-

economics teacher has a class of women in cooking and sewing two evenings a week.
There are evening classes for m en in mathematics and English and in subjects per
taining to. mining.
M uch attention is given to directed or supervised p lay for children below the
seventh grade, two 35-m inute periods a day being given to it.
is employed.

A special supervisor

T h e program is arranged on a departmental plan, so that instruction in music,
drawing, play, and construction m ay be given b y special teachers.

One of the most interesting educational experiments in the bituminous coal region
of the Appalachian system is conducted b y the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad
Co. in Jefferson County, A la.

There are 21 of these schools.

The company fur--:

nishes buildings, employs a superintendent and special teachers, and supplements
the funds of the county for running the schools.

The work is done in complete cooper

ation w ith the county school board, which apportions funds to the mining-town
school on the same basis as to other schools.

The superintendent of the schools in

the m ining towns is an assistant county superintendent, b u t is paid entirely b y the
company.
Special emphasis is placed on the work in physical education carried on in the
schools b y the regular teachers supervised b y a.specialist in the subject.

Cooking

and sewing are also stressed and are taught in the welfare cottages located near the
schoolhouses, w ith a special director in charge.

These cottages are duplicates of

those built b y the com pany for its employees and are furnished sim ply but in good
taste w ith such furnishings as the workmen can afford.

T h ey serve as demonstration

cottages for the com m unity, as w ell as classrooms for the children.

Schoolhouses are

built b y the com pany and fitted into the scheme of landscape artistry adopted.
Sites are carefully selected.

The architecture harmonizes w ith the village scheme,

to w hich the schoolhouse and grounds often add the finishing touch.

Buildings are

particularly attractive and conform to the best modern ideas of school architecture,
both outside and inside.

The grounds are laid out with trees, shrubbery, school

gardens, inclosed tennis and basket-ball courts, and other equipm ent for recreation.
The majority of the buildings visited have auditoriums, cloakrooms, supply closets,
and other school conveniences. There are adjustable desks, supplementary reading
material, and good working equipm ent in all schools.
The school housekeeping and general upkeep are worthy of special notice and m ay
well serve as a model for other schools in and out of the county.

Janitors are fur

nished in all cases, and the work is supervised b y the teachers.

Floors are clean

and w ell kept.

Blackboards and windows are washed w ith soap and water regularly.

12 Deffenbaugh, W. S.: Schools in the Bituminous Coal Regions of the Appalachian Mountains, pp. 2223,30-31. U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1920, No. 21,

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CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.

The walls are decorated in good colors, and the interior of the rooms presents a pleasant
appearance.
The salaries furnished b y the county for teachers are supplem ented sufficiently
b y the com pany to enable the superintendent to secure professionally trained and
experienced persons.

Social work is required b y the com pany, and special stress

is placed on personality and fitness for this additional service.
is of splendid quality.

The classroom work

The teaching staff shows good organization, enthusiasm,,

loyalty, and a high degree of professional spirit.

A s an exam ple of this, the M ay

D a y program of the colored schools held at W estfield, M ay 3, m a y be cited.

The

program consisted of a pageant, introducing setting-up drills, folk dances, and the
like.

Children marched and drilled w ith soldierlike perfection.

T h e y showed

splendid training, all of which was given b y the regular teachers— none of whom
had had previous experience or training in this kind of work— under the direction
of the supervisor of physical education.
b y an attendance of probably 2,000.

The interest of the com m unity was shown

The program was carried out without a hitch,

and order on the ground was perfect throughout the day.
This is one exam ple of the organization and supervision w hich prevails throughout
the system .

A s a whole it is an object lesson in efficiency w hich m a y well be studied

b y other m ining communities.

I t shows conclusively w hat can be done b y the

expenditure of reasonable funds, business management, and professional service.
Conditions are not different in an y essentials from those of the surrounding territory.
W hat can be accomplished here can be accomplished elsewhere w ith similar manage
m ent and expenditure.

■

I f a private corporation can get value received from the m oney spent on schools
as just described in the added efficiency and happiness of its employees, surely a
com m unity, a county, or a State w ill benefit at least in the same proportion from
similar methods in school im provem ent.

These schools demonstrate conclusively

that w hat is advocated in this respect is possible of achievem ent if sufficient funds
are provided; that education is a good business investm ent; that schools in mining
towns can be as good as those in cities; that mining-town people appreciate good
schools and good buildings; and that children under trained teachers do good work
and are h ap p y in doing it.

Where the mining settlements are small, and sufficiently near
each other, the consolidated school offers a solution of many school
problems. The only camp included in the present survey which
offered any part of a high-school course shared its school with two
other settlements.
SCH O O L PROGRESS.

Thè least that cgn reasonably be expected of the schools is that
they should teach normal children to read and write. In the families
visited, however, 71 children 10 years of age and older, approxi
mately 1 in 13, were illiterate. All except 13 of these children had
been in school during the term preceding the survey; only 3, however,
of the 13 children who had reached the age of 15 without being able
to read and write had persisted in attending school.
The children’s progress in school had been very slow. Half those
who had reached their fourteenth birthday,13 for example, had com13 In the discussion of school progress of children still in school, the ages of the children are as of Sept. 1,
1920. For children who had left school (p. 27), the age at leaving school is considered.

32706° — 23— 3

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

pleted at most only the fifth grade, and it was not at all uncommon
to see big boys and girls in their teens in the first and second grades.
Of the 181 school children between 14 and 18, usually considered
the high-school age, only 8 had entered high school. In fact, twothirds of all the children in school were from one to eight grades
below those considered normal for their years.14 Obviously, a large
proportion of these children could not reach more than the fourth
or fifth grade, at best, before reaching the end of the compulsory
school period, and it is well known that few children more than a
year or two older than their classmates will remain in school unless
legally obliged to do so. The percentage of children over age for
their grades is very much larger in the mining camps included in the
present study than that reported for children in other mining com
munities. For example, of 5,634 children between the ages of 5
and 17 attending schools in bituminous coal mining regions studied
by the United States Bureau of Education15 45 per cent (as con
trasted with the 67 per cent found in this study) were retarded, a
proportion that has been characterized by the United States Bureau
of Education as “ excessive” ; among children 13 to 16 years of age
in an anthracite mining community surveyed by the Children’s
Bureau, 35 per cent had not reached grades considered normal for
their ages.
T a b l e V I .— Retardation o f children between 8 and 18 years o f age still in school, by age a
o f child.

Children between 8 and 18 years of age still in school.
Retarded.

Age.o
Total.
Total.

1 year.

Total................

721

483

172

10 years, under 11___
11 years, under 12___
12 years, under 13___
13 years, under 14___
14 years, under 15 —
15 years, under 16 —
16 years, under 1 7 ....
17 years, under 18___

103
85
89
93
90
80
66
64
36
15

26
49
61
64
63
68
48
59
32
13

26
41
27
25
17
10
11
11
4

3 years
2 years. and
over.
131
J

Ad
Not
vanced. reported.

180

213

4
3
3
2
2

8
20
27
34
22
34
24
11

71
33
25
26
25
11
14
4
3
1

26
19
19
24
15
14
4
2

Normal.

2
1

1
1
2
1
1

a Age as'of Sept. 1,1920.
u A child who is 6 or 7 on entering the first grade, 7 or 8 on entering the second, 8 or 9 on entering the
third, and so on, is regarded as being in a grade normal for his age.
is Defienbaugh, W . S.: Schools in the Bituminous Coal Regions of the Appalachian Mountains, p. 9.
U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1920, No. 21.

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C H IL D R E N I N

SC H O O L.

T a b l e V II. — R etardation o f children betw een 8 and 1 8 years o f age s till in school, by
color and n a tiv ity o f ch ief breadw inner.

Children between 8 and 18 years of age still in school.
Color and nativity of chief breadwinner.
Retardation.

Total.
Native white.

Foreign-born
white.

Negro.

Not
re
Per
cent
Per
cent
Per
cent
Per
cent
ported.1
Num distri Num distri Num distri Num distri
ber. bution. ber. bution. ber. bution. ber. bution.

No
chief
breadwin
ner.1

Total.....................

721

100.0

451

100.0

174

100.0

Retarded.........................
1 year.................. .
2 years......................
3 years and over.......
Normal...........................
Advanced.......................

483
172
131
180
213
17
8

67.0
23.9
18.2
25.0
29.5
2.4
1.1

300
112
77
111
133
12
6

66.5
24.8
17.1
24.6
29.5
2.7
1.3

55
26
15
14
31
2
2

61.1
2a 9
16.7
15.6
34.4
2.2
2.2

123
34
38
51
48
3

70.7
19.5
21.8
29.3
27.6
1.7

. 2

2
1

1
2

1 Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.

The children of the bituminous coal miners in the communities
studied are at a special disadvantage in their school work because
of the frequent moving from camp to camp which characterizes the
^workers engaged in the industry in West Virginia.16 A smaller
amount of retardation was found among children whose parents had
moved on an average less than once in three years than among
those whose parents had moved once in three years or oftener;
and the smallest amount was found among children whose parents
had not moved at all during the lifetime of the children. Another
factor contributing to slow progress in school is doubtless the
comparatively low cultural level of the families included in the
study as represented by the rate of illiteracy among them; thus
12.5 per cent of the mothers and 13.6 per cent of the fathers or
other heads of households were unable to read and write, as com
pared with 8.2 per cent of the population of West Virginia 21 years
of age and over.17 But the principal reasons for the large proportion
of children in these mining communities who had failed to reach
standard grades are, without doubt, to be found in school conditions—
the short terms and poor attendance, overcrowded rooms, inex
perienced teachers, and inadequate equipment offering serious
obstacles to normal progress.
S C H O O L L E A V IN G .

In spite of the tendency shown by the children in the West Virginia
mining communities to remain in school well into their teens, 111
children between the ages of 12 and 18 in the families, visited had
is Seep. 7.
Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. V ol. m , p . 1102.

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

definitely left school. Of these, 30 had left before reaching their
fourteenth birthday, 8 under 11 years of age; on the other hand,
43 had remained in school from one to three years longer than the
law required. Proportionately more girls than boys had left school
at 14 or earlier, probably because the girls could be useful at home
helping with the housework and taking care of the babies, whereas
boys could do little or nothing until they were old enough to work
in the mines. A few children had left before the end of the com
pulsory school period because their earnings were needed by the
family, a few because the school was too far from their homes, or
because there was no school or no teacher. Others had left merely
because they disliked school, and two 13-year-old girls had abandoned
the schoolroom for the purpose of getting married.
Children in the less prosperous families tended to leave school at
earlier ages than those whose families were in more comfortable
circumstances. While it is possible that in the poorer families the
standards of education desired for the children were lower and the
ambitions of the children themselves more easily satisfied, financial
reasons, no doubt, played an influential part in early school leaving
in these families. Thus, in the group of families in which the heads
of households, a few of whom were widowed mothers, had each
earned during the schedule year less than $850, about one-fifth ofthe children had left school. In no other income group was the
proportion of children who had left school so large. After the
income of the chief breadwinner of the family reached $1,450, a
perceptible drop occurred in the proportion of children leaving
school at early ages; among the families in which the income was
$1,850 or over, every child had remained in school until he was at
least 14 years of age.
T a b l e V III .— A g e at leaving school, by annual earnings o f ch ief breadw inner.
Children, between 7 and 18 years of age who had left, school.
Annual earnings of chief breadwinnèr.
Age at leaving
school.

Total.

Per
cent
distribu-*
tion.

Less
than
8850.

8850,
less
than
81,050.

Total...............

I ll

100.0

7.2
4.5
3.6
11.7
21.6
24.3
12.9
1.8
12.6

3
2

1
1

13 years) under 1 4 ...
14 years, under 1 5 ...
15 years, under 16 ...
16 years, under 17 ...
17 years, under 18...
Not reported............

8
5
4
13
24
27
14
2
14

3
4
5

4
2

81,050, 81,250, 81,450,
less
less
less
than
than
than
81,250. 81,450. 81,850.
14
1
1
1
5
3
2
1

14
1
2
1
5
2
1
2

No
81,850
Not
chief
and
re
breadover. ported. win
ner.1
8

2
" 4
1
1

1 Including children in families in which there was no chief breadwinner for part of year.

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1
1
2
5
5

3
4
4
1
4

1
2
2
2
. 2

CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.

The part played by family need in causing children to leave school
may perhaps be indicated by the frequency with which going to
work was given as the chief reason for leaving school. In the families
having no chief breadwinner or one who had earned less than $1,250
a year, 22 out of the 45 children who had left school had left to go
to work; whereas only 9 of the 40 children leaving school in house
holds whose heads had earned $1,250 or more had left in order that
they might work.
Going to work was the reason for leaving school given by most
of the boys; to help at home was
the reason most commonly given
by the girls. Two-thirds of the
boys leaving school had left to go
to work, whereas only 6 per cent of
the girls gave going to work as
their chief reason for leaving. Rel
atively more colored children than
children in white families with either
native or foreign-born fathers had
left school for work. Dissatisfac
tio n wdth school as the chief reason
for leaving was, strangely enough,
given by a much larger proportion
of girls than of boys, but “ going
to work” was probably only an
excuse with many boys to escape
from the irksomeness and boredom
of the schoolroom. Possibly, on
the other hand, the adolescent girls
found the unattractiveness of the
schools, the poor sanitary arrange
ments, and the meager equipment
harder to bear than did their broth
ers. In fact, several girls were very scornful in their comments on
the schools, one 15-year-old girl saying that her friends would not
attend because the school was in such a bad condition. Dissatis
faction wdth school -as the chief reason for leaving was confined
almost exclusively to white children of native fathers. More girls
than boys left school because of the fact that the nearest schoolhouse was in another camp or too far from their homes. Possibly
the dangers involved for girls in walking the lonely roads may
account in part for this.

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING CÒMMtrNXTffiS, WEST VIRGINIA.

T a b l e I X . — R eason fo r leaving school, by annual earnings o f ch ief breadw inner and sex
o f child.

Children between 7 and 18 years of age who had left school.
Annual earnings of chief breadwinner.
Reason for leaving school, and
sex of child.

Both sexes.
Went to work......................
Needed at hom e.................
Ill health.............................
No school, or school too far.
Dissatisfied with school----All other reasons.......... ....
Reason not reported...........
Boys.
Went to work......................
Ill health..............................
No school, or school too far.
Dissatisfied with school----All other reasons.................
Reason not reported...........

Per
cent
dis
Total.
tribu Less
tion.1 than

I ll

No
il, 050, $1,250, 1,450, $1,850, Not
chief
re breadless
less
less
less
and port
than than than than over.
win
ed.
$1,050. >1,250. 1,450. $1,850.
ner.2

100.0

37.8
17.1
5.4
5.4
8.1
18.0
8,1
100.0

66.1
3.4
1.7
5.1
13.6
10.2

Girls.
Went to work......................
Needed at home..................
Ill health.......................
No school, or school too far.
Dissatisfied with school----All other reasons.................
Reason not reported...........
1 Not shown Where base is less than 50.
2Including children in families in which there was no chief breadwinner for part of the year.

Even children who are not obliged by poverty or other circum
stances at home to leave school as soon as the law permits are more
likely, of course, to leave at the earliest possible moment if they are
older than 'the children in their grade, or if they have been obliged
to repeat the same school work year after year. Doubtless many of
the children who said that they had left school for the purpose of
going to work or to help at home might have remained in school
if they had not become discouraged by repeated failures and slow
progress. The discipline and work of the lower elementary grades
is unfitted to the needs of a child of 14 or 15 years even if he has
not demonstrated his ability to do school work of a higher grade.
It requires a faith in the benefits of elementary education which the
average parent does not possess, to say nothing of a strong parental
hand, to keep children in school under these circumstances. The
oft-repeated statement that the more retarded children tend to
drop out of school at the earliest possible moment is supported by
the facts in the case of the children leaving school in the West Vir
ginia Tninincr camps. Of the 111 children between 8 and 18 years

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C H IL D R E N I N

SCH O O L.

of age who had left school, only 16 per cent had been in grades that
were normal or advanced for their ages, as compared with 32 per
cent of those who had stayed in school. (This difference may be partly
explained by the higher proportions of older children in the former
group.) Of 42 children for whom records were available who had
left school to go to work, 3Q were retarded; of 19 who were “ needed
at h om e/’ 9 were retarded; of the 6 who mentioned ill health as the
chief reason for leaving school, only 1 was in the standard grade
for her age; of the 9 so dissatisfied with school that they had left,
all were retarded; of the 6 who had left because the schoolhouse
was too far from their homes, 3 were retarded, 2 in average grade,
and 1 two years advanced. This child was the only one who had
made more than normal progress in school who had not continued
to attend. Naturally, children who are retarded 3 or 4 years or
more leave school markedly ill-equipped, even though they may have
remained in school until they are 14, 15, 16, or even 17 years of age.
Almost all left with less than the elementary education which a child
of 14 is supposed to have acquired. Of the 92 children reporting
the grade which they had completed before leaving school, only 8
had completed the eighth grade;, almost three-fourths had left
school at or before the completion of the sixth grade, the largest
number after completing the fourth grade. Five children had never
gone beyond the first grade; and 13, or about 1 in every 9 of those
leaving school, were unable to read and write. Only 1 of these
13 children said that he had left school to go to work, indicating that
it was not economic necessity that was chiefly responsible for their
starting out in the world illiterate. Only 1 child among those who
had left school had ever attended high school.
T a b l e X . ^ - R etardation o f children betw een 12 and 1 8 years o f age who had left school, b y
age at leaving school.

Children between 12 and 18 years of age who had left school.1
Age at leaving
school.

Retarded.
Total.
Total.

2 110
8 years, under 9.........
9 years, under 10.......
10' years, under 11___
11 years, under 12___
12 years, under 13___
13 years, under 14___
14 years, under 15___
15 years, under 16___
16 years, under 1 7 ...^
17 years, underT.8___
Not reported..............

1
3
3
5
4
13
24
27
14
2
14

70
1
1
2
3
10
18
20
13
2

1 year.

2 years.

3 years
and over.

1
1
1
1
2
2
3
1

2
6
5
7
2
1

1
1
3
11
11
8

1 No children who were under 12 at the time of the study had left school.
2 Excluding 1 child who was only 7 years of age at leaving school.

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Normal.

Ad
vanced.

1
1
, l
2
1
3
5
3

Not re
ported.

22
1

1
1
4
1
14

CH ILDREN AT W O R K .

In the average industrial town the child of 14 or 15 who seeks
employment is usually limited in his choice of work to that which
requires little or no skill, offers no future in itself, and provides no
training for a more responsible position; nevertheless if he is willing
to run errands, carry messages, or do simple mechanical tasks in
store or factory he need seldom be without a job. The mountain coal
camp of the bituminous field, on the other hand, has few opportu
nities for work of any kind to offer boys and girls under 16. Mining
was practically the sole industry in all the camps covered in this survey,
and at the time of the survey a boy could not legally work in the mines
in West Virginia until he was 16 years of age.1 No manufacturing
plants had been located in or near any of the settlements to take
advantage of the labor supply furnished by the wives and daughters
of the miners, as is the case in the older and larger communities of
the less isolated anthracite field. A small establishment just outside
one of the camps, bottling soft drinks, was the nearest approach to a
factory located in the vicinity of any of the.settlements; it hired
only a few men. In such mining camps the company store, with not
more than two or three clerks at the most, gives practically the only
opening for a mercantile occupation. Domestic service is but little
in demand. The superintendent’s wife or the clubhouse manager
may hire occasional help, or a housewife with illness in the family
may engage a half-grown girl temporarily, but practically all the
women do their own housework, even the washing and ironing,
unassisted. After her meager school days are over there is little for
the girl to do until she marries except to “ help around the house” ;
while for the boy, even after he has reached the age of 16, the future
holds practically nothing but the mine.
For these reasons, the problem of child employment in the bitu
minous mining camps is not an important one numerically. Only
153 children under 18 years of age in all 11 camps had ever done any
paid work; 84 of these had worked only after school and during
vacations, so that only 69 children had had regular full-time employ
ment. These children represent but 10.7 per cent of the children
between 10 and 18 and only 3 per cent of those between 10 and 16
included in the survey; contrasted with the latter figure is the 8.5
per cent given in the census of 19202 as the proportion of children
1 West Virginia Acts of 1919, ch. 17, sec. 2.
2 Occupations of Children, 1920, p. 5. U. S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, 1922.

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C H IL D R E N A T W O R K .

between 10 and 16 years of age gainfully employed in the country
as a whole. In Connecticut and Massachusetts, States whose
diversified industries probably favor early wage earning, 24.8 and
26.4 per cent, respectively, of all the 14- and 15-year-old children
were gainfully employed in 1920.3 In 1915-16, in Boston, a city
with large commercial and business, as well as industrial, interests,
nearly three-tenths of the child population were becoming regular
workers before their sixteenth birthday.4 Of the children of these
ages in the bituminous mining camps, only 8 per cent had begun
regular work. More nearly comparable to the West Virginia settle
ments in opportunity for employment, perhaps, are the mining
towns of the anthracite coal fields, since in the latter as.in the former
communities life revolves around the coal mines. But in the anthra
cite mining region with its coal breakers and near-by factories,
opportunities are not so restricted as in the isolated mountain camp.
Thus, in the Shenandoah anthracite mining district of Pennsylvania,
previously studied by the Children’s Bureau, 46 per cent of the 14and 15-year-old boys and girls had begun regular work,5 more than
five times as many proportionately as had gone to work in the
bituminous mining camps. Even when 16-year-old children, as well
as those 14 and 15 years of age, are included, 70 per cent of the boys
and 39 per cent of the girls in the Shenandoah district had begun
regular work, as compared with only 29 per cent of the boys and
only 8 per cent of the girls of these ages included in the present study.
Although 69 children under the age of 18 years had definitely left
school to engage, if only for a brief period, in some regular occupa
tion, at the time of the survey only 55 boys and girls were actually
employed at regular full-time work. Only one of these children was
less than 14 years of -age— a 12-year-old boy assisting his father in
timber cutting, regarded as an agricultural pursuit and hence exempt
from the provisions of the State child labor law; only 2 others—
both illegally employed in the mining industry—were as young as 14.
During the years in which the working children of the present
study were beginning their industrial life (approximately 1913 to
1920) , legislation, either State or Federal or both, regulating the em
ployment of children under 16, was in effect.
The West Virginia child labor law, as amended in 1915,6 forbadethe employment of children under 14 in factories, and of boys under 16
and girls of any age in coal mines,7 except during thè period when
3 Prom figures furnished by eourtesy of the U. S. Bureau of the Census.
4 Woodbury, Helen Sumner: The Working Children of Boston, pp. 13-14 U. S. Children’ s Bureau
Publication No. 89, Washington, 1922.
3
Child Labor and the Welfare of Children in an Anthracite Coal-Mining District, p. 14. IJ. S. Children’s
Bureau Publication No. 106.
6 West Virginia, Hogg’ s Code 1913, ch. 15Hsecs. 469,470, 485,495 (all as amended by acts of 1915, ch. 10);
secs. 530-533; West Virginia Acts of 1915, ch. 10, sec. 33.
■
7 Application of law: limited to coal mines in which five or more persons were employed in a 24-hour period.

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

school was not in session, when boys of 14 might work in coal mines.
Enforcement was especially defective in respect to work in mines,,,
inasmuch as the law did not require the same employment certificate
as for factory work, but only the parents’ affidavit as to the age of a
child seeking work. Federal legislation, however, beginning Sep
tember 1, 1917, afforded boys in mining towns a 'som ewhat
greater measure of protection than that provided by the State
law: The first Federal child labor law 8 in effect forbade the employ
ment of any child under 16 at any time not only in but also around
mines. But when this law was declared unconstitutional in June,
1918, West Virginia boys were again permitted to enter the mines at
the age of 14, during summer vacations. B y the time the Federal
child labor tax law became effective (April 25, 1919), imposing a tax
of 10 per cent on the net profits of any mine employing children under
the age of 16,® a new State child labor law had been enacted (in effect
May 11, 1919), prohibiting the employment of any child under 14 in
any gainful occupation except agriculture and domestic service or of
any child under 16 in mines,10 and containing excellent provisions
with respect to employment certificates.11 The influence of legisla
tion was no doubt the principal factor in reducing the number of
boys under 16 working in mines in West Virginia by 75 per cent
during the decade 1910-1920, although the number of persons of all
ages engaged in mining in the State increased in this period by 75 per
cent.12
V A C A T I O N A N D A F T E R -S C H O O L W O R K E R S .

Some children in the mining communities, as everywhere, begin
their industrial experience by doing odd jobs before and after school
hours and on Saturdays, and by working during vacations, though
such work is less common among children in the mining settlements
than it is among those of the ordinary industrial town, owing to the
fact that even temporary work is scarce. Not including any regular
workers, some of whom had worked out of school hours before taking
a full-time position, 84 children— about one-eighth of all the children
between 10 and 18 years of age— had held from one to five after-school
or vacation jobs. Only 21 of these children had ever done any work
during the months when school was in session. These after-school
jobs consisted for boys in carrying wood or water for neighbors,
selling or delivering papers, and blacking boots; girls did housework
s The law prohibited the shipment in interstate commerce of the product of any mine in which, within
30 days prior to the removal of said product, children under 16 had been employed (39 Stat. 675).
«40 Stat. L . 1138 declared unconstitutional by the U. S. Supreme Court, May 15,1922.
10 since the Federal child labor tax law was declared unconstitutional (May 15,1922) the work of children
under 16 on or about coal tipples, on or about tracks between the drift mouth and head-house or tipple, or
places where mine cars are switched or moved, by power-driven machinery, or where trips of cars are made
up, has been prohibited under a ruling of the State Commissioner of Labor, the State Commissioner of
Health, and the State Superintendent of Schools.
11West Virginia Acts of 1919, ch. 17. The law also exempted boys 12 years of age or over employed on
special permit in mercantile establishments and business offices outside school hours.
12 Computed from Occupations of Children, 1920, pp. 10,11. TJ. S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, 1922.

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CHILDREN AT WORK.*

or cared for children, as a rule, but one girl had a paper route and
another tended a soda fountain. All except 2 of the 84 children
had done vacation work. The first vacation job reported by over
two-fifths of the 52 boys had been in the mining industry. The
proportion of vacation workers working in and around the mines
was much smaller than that of the regular workers. More boys
were occupied during vacations with a variety of odd jobs, such as
doing chores about the town, carrying papers, delivering groceries,
and carrying water for road builders; but 1 boy had worked steadily
on a farm and another had been a railroad section hand. Of the 32
girls reporting vacation jobs, 24 had done housework or cared for
babies; of the remaining 8, 3 had worked outside the mining com
munity, 2 in a five-and-ten-cent store, the other in a laundry; 1
other had been a salesgirl; 1 had done errands for a lumber company,
and 3 had had newspaper routes.
Most of the temporary workers were at the time of the survey at
least 14 years old, though 25 were between 10 and 14. At the time
of the survey, in the summer of 1920, only 42 children were actually
vacation workers, 14 of whom were under 14 years of age. Most of
the children under 14 years of age did part-time work, such as serv
ing papers, running errands, or doing chores or housework; but one
11-year-old boy was carrying water for a road gang, and another
boy, aged .13 years, was loading coal within the mines. Of 16
children employed for vacation work in or ground the mines at the
time of the survey, 5 had not yet reached their sixteenth birthday,
though in the summer of 1920 the State law forbade employment in
mines below that 4ge, and the Federal child labor tax law in effect
prohibited work both in and around mines. Three of the 5 boys
under 16 years of age worked underground.
Many children— 35 of the 84 who had done vacation or after
school work but had held no regular positions— had taken jobs in
order to earn spending money; but almost as many (27) had wanted
something to keep them busy during vacation, or had wanted to
“ try their hand” at a job or had been urged to do so either by an
outsider who was anxious to get some work done or by a parent who
wished his child to “ learn something,” earn a little money, and
“ keep out of mischief” — for which the six months’ vacation custo
mary in the mining districts offered abundant opportunity. Two
high-school boys, 16 and 17 years of age, were working in the mines
in order to earn money to continue their education. Twenty chil
dren— about one-fourth— said that they worked during vacation in
order to help out at home; more than half those who did vacation
work because their earnings were needed by the family were children
whose fathers had earned less than $1,05Q during the schedule year
or whose fathers were dead. Eight per cent of all the children 10
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C H IL D R E N I N COAL M I N I N G C O M M U N IT IE S , W E S T V IR G IN IA .

years of age or over in families whose chief breadwinner had earned
less than $1,050, reported that their chief reason for working during
vacation was that their families needed their earnings; whereas only
4 per cent of the children of the same ages in families in which the
breadwinner’s income had been between- $1,050 and $1,450, and less
than one-half of 1 per cent of the children in families in which the
breadwinner had earned at least $1,450, said that' they had done
vacation work because of actual need.
T a b l e X I .— R eason f o r going to work given by vacation and after-school workers, by
earnings o f chief breadwinner.

Children working after school and during vacations.
Reason for going to work.
Annual earnings of chief
• breadwinner.
Total.

Family
need.

Total...................

Less than $850_______
$850, less than $1,050...
$1,050, less than $1,250.
$1,250, less than $1,450.
$1,450, less than $1,850.
$1,850, less than $2,250.
$2,250,1 ess than $2,850.
$2,850, less than $3,450.
$3,450 and over............
Not reported................
No chief breadwinner..

7
11
10
10

19
7
2
2

2
13

To be
Spend occupied
Wanted
ing
during
money.' vacation. to work,

Instiga
Not
tion of reported.
others.

4
4
9
5

2
2

Only 8 children were able to give the amount of their after-school
and vacation earnings for a year, and these varied widely: A bootblack and a water carrier had each made $10; a 15-year-old girl
doing laundry work throughout the year and serving a paper route
for 9 months, in addition to 3 or 4 weeks’ housework during vaca
tion, had earned $665; a 14-year-old railroad section hand had received
about $80 for his month’s work during the summer; a boy of 16
who had worked for a building contractor for 2 months, driven a
wagon for the company store for 3 months, and acted as school j anitor
during the 6 months that school was in session, had made $338;
other children who had run errands and served newspapers had made
from $100 to $145. None of the boys working in the mines reported
their total earnings from vacation work. Most of them were paid
at a daily rate, which for trapper boys, who constituted the majority
of the boy mine workers, was about $3.
All except 3 of the temporary workers were still in school. Three
girls had left, one 17-year-old girl because, she said, the school was
u not fit to go t o ” ; another girl aged 14 because “ there was so much
work to do at home.” Of the children still in school, 66 (81 per cent)
had failed to reach standard grades for their ages.

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CHILDREN AT WORK.

REGULAR W O RKERS.

Of the 69 regular workers only 14 were girls. Nine of them had
entered some type of domestic service, and of the remaining 5 all had
found their first work outside the mining community, usually in fac
tories, either before moving to their present home or on leaving home
for the purpose of finding work. Only one of these girls was at work
at the time of the survey. Of the 9 girls who had begun as domestic
workers, 4 had married before reaching the age of 17 and were no
longer gainfully employed. Thus in the summer of 1920 only 5 girls
in all 11 mining camps, excluding those who were working only
during vacation, were actually employed at full-time work. Although
this work is termed “ regular” in order to distinguish it from the
work done by children only during vacation and outside school hours,
it was by no means regular in the ordinary sense of the word, as the
accounts of the working lives of individual children given on pages
44-46 indicate.
T a b l e X I I .— Occupation i n first regular p osition , by age at beginning regular work.

Children between 7 and 18 years of age who had worked regularly.
Age at beginning regular work.

Occupation in first regular position.

Total. 10 yrs.,
12 yrs. 14 yrs., 15 yrs., 16 yrs., 17 yrs.,
under under under under under under Not re
ported.
12.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Total................... ......
Mining occupations:
Laborer, surface...............
Laborer, underground..........
Rodman.........>....................
Trackman...................
Trip rider......................
Tfapper......................
Other occupations:
Agriculture and forestry...............
Clerical................
Domestic and personal service...
Manufacturing*and mechanical...
Professional............... .
Trade.........................
Transportation...............
Not reported............
:

69
6

1
1
4
24'
1
1
9
7
1
1
1
4

1
2

1
5

2
1

2
2

1
1
1

1
1
2
1
1
i
2

1
1

* 1
4

Just as the girls find nothing to do aside from housework, so their
brothers when the time comes for them to work must turn to the
mine. Of the 55 boys who had begun regular work, 44 had found
their first work in the mining industry. The others had been variously
employed: One, for example, had become a carpenter’s assistant,
another had helped a roofer, a third was a clerk in the company store.
Two other boys had first gone to work before the family had moved to
the mining camp, one in a tobacco factory, the other in a printing
office.

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

As has been said, there are no breakers at the surface of the bitumi
nous mines, such as absorb most of the boy labor in anthracite
districts. Hence, the boys who go to work in the West Virginia'
mines are chiefly underground workers. The majority (24) of the
44 boys included in the present study whose first regular work had
been in or about the mines were “ trappers,” sitting or standing all
day in the darkness opening and closing the doors which regulate
mine ventilation in order to allow the coal cars as they came along
the tracks to pass through; others were trip riders, couplers, or other
underground laborers. Only 6 of the 44 boys who had first gone to
work in the mining industry were surface workers. A majority (28)
were under 16 years of age when beginning regular work in the mines;
9 were 15, 13 were 14, 5 were 13, 1 was only 10 years of age. At the
time of the survey five 14- and 15-year-old boys were at work inside
the mines. Although some of the boys who had entered the mines
before the age of 16 had entered at a time when neither Federal
nor State law forbade work in mines under the age of 16, at least
18 13 of the 28 had gone to work illegally. Some of the 18 had begun
work when the State law required only the parents’ affidavit that the
boy was 16, or, during the period when school was not in session,
that he was 14.
.The present State child labor law, which since the Federal child
labor tax law was declared unconstitutional is now the only protection
offered children going to work in the mines, requires the same cer
tificate for mine work as for other employment; but under the present
law, as under the former one, inspection is in the hands of the State
mine inspectors. The intention of the law is clearly to protect
children under 16 from the hazards of underground work; the real
problem in West Virginia, as in the 28 other States having this
standard and in the 4 having a higher standard for work in mines,
is one of enforcement. On the inadequacy of enforcement by mine
inspectors the Children’s Bureau has previously commented.14 “ The
mine inspector is, in theory, at least, especially trained for the highly
technical work of safety inspections * * *. Most of the time of
a child labor inspector must be spent, nob inside mines and factories,
but in outside investigation of the ages of the children. It is quite
wasteful of the skill of a safety engineer to plan that he shall spend
time in visits to certificating offices, homes, health departments, etc.,
in order to establish the age of a child. That most mine inspectors
will not give the necessary time for this work is to be expected.”
The hazards of underground work are well known. Every year
hundreds of deaths, and thousands of accidents of a nonfatal but more
13 Assuming the school session to be October to March, inclusive.
m Administration of the First Federal Child-Labor Law, p- 82,
No. 78. Washington, 1921.

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Children’s Bureau Publication

C H IL D R E N A T W O R K .

or less serious nature, are caused by falling slate, rock, and coal; gas,
powder, and shot explosions; charged wires, mine cars, and locomoives; and cave-ins and fallen supports. In the coal fields of West
Virginia alone 1,895 men were killed in the mines in the five-year
period 1916-1920, approximately 1 of every 225 workers.15
Of 52 boys who had at some time worked regularly in a mining
occupation, 10 had sustained some injury while at work, and 1 boy
had been twice injured. Four of the boys were under the age of 16
when the accident occurred, and at least 2 of them were working
illegally. The accidents reported by the boys had incapacitated
them for from one to seven weeks. The injuries included split fin
gers, bruised, lacerated, and burned legs, injured knees, injured backs,
broken limbs, and hernia. Only 4 of the 10 injured children had
received compensation, according to statements made by the boys’
families, although all except one boy had been disabled for at least
eight days, the minimum period specified in the West Virginia work
men’s compensation act as entitling an injured employee to com
pensation.16 One 14-year-old boy working illegally as a miner’s
loader had suffered an injury'to his back due to a fall of slate. He
had been incapacitated for six weeks but had received no compensa
tion. Another boy, aged 16, a trip rider in the mines, had been
Thrown from his car, breaking his leg; although he had been incapaci
tated for seven weeks he had received no compensation. The
amounts paid in the 4 cases receiving compensation ranged from $7.98
paid to a 15-year-old coupler, working illegally, who had been run
over by a motor and disabled for four weeks, to $25 paid to another
coupler, aged 16, whose leg had been burned, incapacitating him for
three weeks. An attempt to safeguard children against illegal em
ployment in dangerous occupations has been sought in one State—
Wisconsin— through a provision of the workmen’s compensation
law, requiring treble compensation to be paid in the case of minors
illegally employed, and making the employer primarily liable for the
additional amount.17
In general, during the early years of industrial life children are likely
to change from one position to another until they have become ad
justed to the discipline of work. Thus, it is quite common for chil
dren who have been at work only a few months to have held several
positions and to have had longer or shorter periods of unemployment.
In addition to the industrial restlessness which characterizes the aver
age untrained young worker, the nature of the only work open to the
boys and girls of the small isolated mining towns results in consid
erable enforced idleness. Of the 35 children who had been regular
workers for at least one year, 5 had each held but one position; on
15 West Virginia Department of Mines, Annual Report, 1920, pp. 16, 344.
'* See p. 69.
17 Wisconsin Statutes, secs. 2394-7, 2394-9 (7), 2394-9 (8).

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

the other hand, 29 had each held from two to six jobs, for the most
part in the same industry.18 In mining, the hoys, like the men, mush
suffer periods of enforced idleness;19 in the casual housework open to
the girls a few days’ work is often succeeded by weeks and even
months of involuntary unemployment. Only 4 children reported
that they had worked without loss of time throughout the year;
while 31 of the children at work at least a year had had some unem
ployment, the periods reported being from 15 to 193 days.
In the mining industry the standard working day for boys as well
as men was eight hours. A few boys had done occasional overtime
work during the year, but practically all these were over 16 years of
age and so did not come under the maximum hours provision of the
State child labor law or Federal child labor tax law. These laws
fixed a maximum eight-hour day— the State law for all occupations
except agricultural pursuits and domestic service, the Federal law
for factories; and both prohibited any employment of children under
16 in mines. As would be expected, girls doing housework re
ported long hours. Few States have attempted to regulate the
hours of work in domestic service, even by implication, and the
West Virginia child labor law specifically exempts such work from
its provisions.
^
Few of the children employed were able to state the amount of the
wages which they had received. Twenty-one boys engaged in min
ing occupations during the year preceding the inquiry reported that
they had earned from $102 to $2,000, The boy earning the first
amount was a 16-year-old teamster for a mining company, who had
been employed as a teamster “ off and on ” for three years; the latter
amount, the largest earned by any of the workers, was received by
a 17-year-old boy who worked as a wireman, a skilled occupation.
Of the 21 boys, 16 had earned at least $850. No worker outside
the Tnining industry reported earnings amounting to as much as
$1,050, though 3 had earned between $850 and $1,050. Two girls
in domestic service reported that they had received $216 and $260,
respectively, for their year’s work, and one 17-year-old waitress in
a restaurant, whose weekly wage had been $10, estimated that in
wages, board, and tips she had received during the year approxi
mately $800. Five dollars a week and board was the usual rate
paid girls in domestic service.
Wages received by boys who enter the mines are sufficiently large
to seem of very great importance in many of the families, especially
in those where the father is dead. Although a miner’s widow, unless
she has a son working in the mines to justify her occupying one of
* the company houses, is likely to move away from the mining com
munity soon after the death of her husband, nevertheless 51 families,
is One boy did not report the number of positions held.
19 See p. 67.

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CHILDREN AT WORK.

8 per cent of the total included in the survey, had lost the father by
death. That the death of the father plays an important partin
"" sending the boys and girls to work is indicated by the fact that of
the 69 regular workers 14, or one-fifth, were fatherless,20 whereas
according to average mortality rates only 10.4 per cent of them
would have lost their fathers by death.21
The compensation law of West Virginia in effect at the time of
this study allowed the widow $20 a month until death or remarriage,
and in addition $5 per month for each child under 15 years of age,
to be paid until the child reached the age of 15.22
Under the mothers’ pension law of West Virginia, no mother re
ceiving benefits from the compensation act was entitled to relief;23
other widows with children under the age of 13 might receive a maxi
mum of $25 a month under that law provided they had lived two
years in the county in which they applied for the pension. The
miner’s widow, however, is likely to benefit little if any from the
mothers’ pension law. Inasmuch as it is difficult for her to find
work in the mining community, and as she can not support her family
on the $25 which is the maximum allowed under the law, she is
obliged to move from the mining town; and if her new residence is
in a different county two years must elapse before she becomes
eligible to the pension. Only one of the widowed mothers in the
present study reported that she was receiving a mother’s pension.
Several, however, were in receipt of benefits under the compensation
act.
T a b l e X I I I .— R eason f o r going to work given by regular workers, by age at beginning
regular work.

Children between 7 and 18 years of age who had worked regularly.
Age at beginning regular work.
Reason for going to work.
Total.

10
years,
under
12

12
years,
under
14

14
years,
under
15

15
years,
under
16

16
years,
under
17

Total.......................................

Family need...................................
Spending money.......................
Inadequacy and unattractiveness of
school..........................................
Through with school.........................
Wanted to work............................
Instigation of others............................
Not reported............... ....................

32
10

1
1

7
1

6
1

2
1

8
5
6
2
6

3
3
2

2
1

1
1
1

17
years, Not re
under ported.
18

x
1

1
4

20 Fathers of 5 of the 14 had been killed in the mines.
21 Estimated from the mortality during periods corresponding to the ages of the children (10 to 17 years')
given for males aged 30 in the U. S. Life Tables, 1910. The estimate is purposely slightly overstated in
assuming a rather high average age of fathers at the births of their children ana in assuming that the
mortahtv of males apphes to married males.
22 West Virginia Acts of 1913, ch. 10 (as amended by acts of 1915, ch. 9, and acts of 1915, first extra
session, ch. 1), sec. 33 (as amended by acts of 1919, ch. 131).
’
’
23 West Virginia Acts of 1917, ch. 46, sec. 11.

32706°—33-----4

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CHILDREN IN COAL M IN IN G C OM M UNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

Thirty-two of the 69 working children in the families interviewed—
13 of whom were fatherless24— gave family need as their chief reason
for having gone to work. Of the 44 working children in families in:
which the chief breadwinner’s income had been less than $1,450, or
in which there had been no chief breadwinner during at least a part
of the year, 24 said that they had gone to work because their wages
were needed at home; whereas of the 11 working children in families
reporting that the chief breadwinner had earned at least $1,450,
only 2 children had been driven to work by the need of helping
support themselves or their families. Certainly, children of families
in the lower income groups showed a greater tendency to go to work,
for whatever cause, than did those in families in which the father’s
wage was more nearly adequate to support a family. Thus, of 287
children aged 10 years or more in families whose head had earned
less than $1,450 during the schedule year, 24, or 8 per cent, had'
gone to work; whereas of 229 children of the same ages in households
whose heads had earned $1,450 or more only 5, or 2 per cent, had
gone to work. While poverty may not have been the chief direct
cause for going to work on the part of these children, low incomes
were certainly at least a contributory cause. Ten children in addi
tion to those who said that their principal purpose in going to work
had been to help out at home said that they had gone to work in'
order to earn “ spending m oney” ; in the homes of most of these
children also straitened circumstances if not actual want had caused
them to become wage earners, though in some cases, no doubt,
a lack of appreciation of the benefits of further education had been
the chief factor in sending children from school to work, instead of
the comparatively trivial reason given by the children.
If the number of children going to work in the mining camps“ m
the districts studied is so small as not to constitute a very serious
situation, the lack of education of the children who go to work is
deplorable. The United States has been called a “ nation of sixth
graders” because of the large proportion of children who stop school
upon completing the sixth grade. The children of the bituminous
mining camps were below this average. Not one of the 57 regular
workers who reported the school grade which he had last attended
had entered high school; and only 5, or less than one-tenth, had
completed even the eighth grade. A large majority had left school
before entering the seventh grade, and over half had completed
only the fourth or a lower grade before leaving school for work. A
few had received insufficient education because of the unusually
early age at which they had left school. But even the children who
began regular work between the ages of 14 and 18, when it might be
supposed that they had completed the eighth grade at least, were
?■*Three fathers had heen killed in the mines.

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CHILDREN AT WORK.

singularly ill equipped educationally. No 14-year-old child had gone
beyond the sixth grade; of the 10 children 15 years of age reporting
grade completed and age at going to work only 3 had gone beyond
the sixth, and only 2 had completed the eighth grade; of the 10
children 16 years of age, 1 had finished the seventh and 1 the eighth
grade; of the 3 children 17 years of age none had gone beyond the
sixth grade. The West Virginia child labor law, as amended in
1919,25 requires all candidates for work permits to have had at least
a sixth-grade education. While this provision will doubtless prove
beneficial in increasing the amount of schooling received by boys
in the mining communities, it is not as likely to raise the standard
of education among the girls, inasmuch as most of the latter either
do not go to work at all or enter domestic service, for which no
employment certificate is required.
T a b l e X I V .— School grade com pleted by regular w orkers, by age at begin n in g regular ■
w ork.

Children between 7 and 18 years of age who had worked regularly.
Age at beginning regular work.
School grade completed.

Total.
10 yrs., 11 yrs., 13 yrs., 14 yrs., 15 yrs., 16 yrs., 17 yrs., Not
under under under under under under under
re
12.
11.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
ported.

Total...........................

None..................................
First......................................
Second...............................
Third............................
Fourth...............................
Fifth...........................
Sixth..................................
Seventh.............................
Eighth...............................
Not reported..........................

3
2
5
6
13
7
12
4
5
12

1
1

2
2
i

1
2
1

4
2
i

1
1

An improvement in the schools themselves will be an effective
means of holding children in school until they have received at least
an elementary education. That the schools were not satisfying the
boys and girls of the community, and were even a factor in their
preferring to take their meager chances at work, is shown by the
fact that 8 of the 69 working children mentioned dissatisfaction
with school as their chief reason for going to work, and 11 others—
making in all 27 per cent of the regular workers— gave as their
principal reason what may perhaps amount to the same thing as
dissatisfaction with school, namely that they “ had wanted to work,”
or were “ through,” meaning in the latter case that they had com
pleted the highest grade in the local school. In the absence of indus25West Virginia Acts of 1919, ch. 17.

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

trial and commercial openings to tempt young girls and boys into
wage earning, the schools have an unusual opportunity to hold
children until they have received not only an elementary education
but some prevocational and vocational training as well.
Moreover, in the long and oft-recurring periods of unemployment
which many of the young workers know, the schools have not only
the opportunity, but also the responsibility, of giving worth-while
trailing. The problem of the unemployed child is, it is true, a diffi
cult one in school administration. The West Virginia school
attendance law requires children under 16 to be in school unless
they are at work. 26 As it affects children under 16, the problem is
not so urgent in mining communities; as has been pointed out, a
large proportion of the children under 16 do remain in school. In
the mining camp, it is the child between 16 and 18 who needs especial
attention in this respect. Those children who have left school but
are temporarily out of work require special classes to meet their
needs, and with the establishment of continuation schools for work
ing children such special classes could be provided.
An amendment27 to the West Virginia education law, passed in
1921, authorizing the establishment of continuation schools, requir
ing their establishment under certain conditions, and requiring
children between 14 and 16 years of age to attend, 28 and the possi
bility of Federal aid under the Smith-Hughes Act, now offer an ex
cellent opportunity for the much-needed vocational training.
How great is the need of solving the problem of the child who is
neither at work nor in school is indicated by the fact that of the 111
children who had definitely left school, only 69 had ever done regular
work, and only 55 were actually employed at the time of the survey.
The following typical stories of the circumstances under which the
children in the mining communities surveyed had gone to work, and
the conditions of their work, so far as it was possible to learn about
them from the families, present in a very concrete way what the
foregoing analysis has attempted to show— the lack of opportunity,
the meager background, and the enforced idleness which make up
the lot of wage-earning children in the mountain mining camps.
A 17-year-old boy of native white parentage had gone to work as a trapper boy in
the mines at the age of 12 during vacation only.

A t 15 he left school, having completed

the eighth grade, and w ent to work because his fam ily needed his help.

In the. two

years during which he had worked regularly in the mines he had been a coupler, a
trip rider, and a motorman.

One year before the survey his father had been killed

s# For exemptions, see p. 18, where the law is given in detail.
27 West Virginia Acts of 1921, ch. 4 (amending and reenacting acts of 1919, ch. 2, sec. 129).
28Children required to attend when schools are established are those between 14 and 16 who are not
regularly attending school or who are regularly and lawfully employed in some occupation or service.
The law exempts those who have completed the eighth grade and those who would be exempted iron)
day-school attendance under the terms of the compulsory school attendance law,

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Ch i l d r e n

w o r k

in a mine explosion; the bo y had then become the chief wage earner in the fam ily, in
which there were six children under 16 years of age.

H is mother received $45 a month

as compensation, and kept a lodger. W ith the b o y ’s earnings of $983 the total fam ily
earnings for thè year had been $1,153.
A Polish b o y of 16 had been working in the mines about a year and a half.

Because

he did not like school he had left at the age of 8, after completing the first grade, and
without learning either to read or to write, and u ntil he was almost 15 had neither
attended school nor worked.

“ M ine boss saw him running around streets,” said his

younger sister, “ so he asked w h y m am m a don ’t make him work.
go into m in e.”

So papa made him

A colored girl had gone to school until she was 15, bu t had completed only the fourth
grade.

After a while she began to do laundry work for private families because she

■Was “ tired of staying at home and doing housework.”

Her father’s earnings dining

the schedule year had amounted to more than $1,550, and there was only one other
child in the fam ily.
John, the son of native white parents, had left school when 14 years of age to go to
work, his father’s earnings being small— $731 during the schedule year— and the
fam ily large.

H e had'not gone to work, however, until some months later.

H e then

became a trapper boy, and during approxim ately two years in which he had been
working in the mines he had had on ly eight months’ em ploym ent.
A 15-year-old colored boy, whose father had been killed b y a fall of slate, had left
school after completing the sixth grade in order to go to work.

H e worked three

months coupling cars in the mines b u t found the work too heavy; he then worked as
an underground laborer, bu t at the end of eight days the work became slack and he
was laid off.

Later, he had worked again for two weeks as an underground laborer,

leaving because the p ay was too little.

H e then became a section hand on the railroad

and worked for three months, b u t had “ trouble w ith the boss” and left.
of eight months, having held four jobs, he was without work.

A t the end

A 14-year-old girl had left school on finishing the fourth grade, because her mother
was ill and needed her help w ith the four younger children.

In the three years dur

ing which she had been out of school she had been a regular worker at three different
times, for three months in all, doing housework for a married sister and receiving $4
a week. H er father was earning between $1,450 and $1,850 a year.
A 14-year-old Polish bo y had been working in the mines three months, having gone
to work at the age of 13 on completing the fourth grade because he ‘ ‘just wanted to .”
H e was earning $3.18 a day as a trapper boy.

His work was illegal

because at the tim e

both State and F ederal29 child labor laws prohibited em ploym ent in mines under
the age of 16.
A Polish bo y had gone to work as a loader’s helper in the mines when not quite 14
years of age.

A t his mother’s death his father had made him go to work, although he

would have preferred remaining in school, where he had completed the seventh grade..
A t the tim e of the survey he was coupling cars in the mine.

H e was undersized, and

disliked the work. H e was planning to leave the mining camp, as soon as he had saved
enough money, and go to work in a store.
A 16-year-old w hite bo y whose father was dead and whose mother took in washing
had been working for about three years, having left school at the pnd of the second
grade to go to work because his father was ill.

H e had been a teamster, a laborer on

29 The Federal child labor tax law, which constituted in effect a prohibition.

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See p. 34.

CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

the roads, and a laborer in a sawmill.

Tw o days before be was interviewed be had

secured a job as teamster w ith a mining company.

During three years be bad worked

in all less than five months, having been discharged from each of his first three jobs
because he was discovered to be under age.
Edgar, aged 10, a w hite boy of native parentage, had left school without completing
the first grade because he preferred going to work.

H e liked to go w ith his father, who

was engaged in cutting down tim ber for a mining company.

A t the tim e of the survey

he had been working more than two years. Although unable to read or write, he could
not be reached b y the child labor law, w hich exem pted agricultural pursuits from its
provisions.

T h e State compulsory school attendance law, however, if it had been

enforced in his case, should have kept him in school.
A n English boy had begun working in the mines at the age of 14, bu t had been
obliged to discontinue his work owing to the first Federal child labor law.
went to school for two years, completing the sixth grade.

H e then

A t the age of 16 he again

went to work as a laborer in the mines; but after four months, finding the work too hard,
he got a job driving a delivery wagon for the company store.
he left to “ earn more m o n e y ,” and returned to the mines.
as a trip rider for 6 months.

A t the end of 8 months,
H e had been at work

H is father’s earnings for the year had been only $941,

for although he received $5.55 a day as a brattice man in the mines he had been out of
work 108 days on account of strikes and shutdowns, and 9 days on account of illness.
Esther, a native white girl, left school on completing the second grade and went to
work as a general houseworker at 11 years of age because her father had been killed in
the mines and her fam ily needed her earnings.

For four years she had worked for

a number of families in succession, and at the age of 15 had married.
Mary, a native white girl, finished the sixth grade when she was 14 years of age and
left because the “ school was no good, there was no regular teacher, and she c o u ld n ’t
learn anything. ”

She left the m ining com m unity to go to work as a mother’s helper,

and had been em ployed for more than a year at $5 a week, room and board.
Another girl in the course of two years “ at w ork” had held five jobs as a houseworker, none more than one month at a tim e.

She had left two places at the end of

a few weeks because she had not liked the work, and two others because the “ fam ily
had no more need of her. ”

She had left school in the first grade because her father, a

Russian Pole, did not “ believe in schooling.”

Although she had

come to the

U nited States when 6 years of age, she had not entered school until she was 14.
A Polish boy in a fam ily in which the father’s earnings for the schedule year had
been $776, began work loading coal in the mines when only 10 years of age.

H e had

been afraid in the mines at first and had worked with his father, his earnings being
included in his father’s p ay check.

H e had not wanted to go to school because he was

tall for his age and disliked being w ith the “ little boys. ”

H e had worked as a loader

one year, leaving because he wished “ an easier Job ” and becoming first a trapper,
then a trip rider, then a motorman in the mines.

A t the tim e of the survey he had

been working for seven years, all except about two and a half years illegally.

H e had

earned during the year covered in the study $784— somewhat more than his father’s
earnings, as the latter had been out on account of straining his back lifting slate.
A native white boy whose father, a foreman in the m ines, earned approximately
$2,200 a year, had gone to work at 15 years of age because no high school was available.
H e became a trapjJfer b o y b u t left the job in about 16 months because he secured work
that he liked better.

A t the tim e of the survey he had held his job as an electri

cian’ s helper for 7 months.

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M ED ICA L CARE AN D H EALTH .
G E N E R A L H E A L T H C O N D IT IO N S .

It is unnecessay to point out the close relation between the health
of children and the sanitary conditions in the communities where
they live. So long as such conditions as are described on pages 14-17
continue to exist, typhoid fever and other diseases connected with
an impure water supply and the careless disposal of waste matter
are likely to be a menace. No accurate figures showing the prev
alence of typhoid fever in the county or in the State are in existence—
West Virginia is not included in either the birth- or the death-registra
tion area of the United States—but the rate in the State is known to
be unusually high.1 Following a survey of sickness among 6,000
families of bituminous coal miners and 16,000 anthracite miners’
families, a well-known life-insurance company makes the following
statement regarding the prevalence of infectious diseases :2
It w ill be noted that the rates for all causes com bined, as well as for the great majority
of the individual causes, are very m uch higher among bituminous miners’ families.
There are several factors concerned in this difference, chief among which is perhaps
the fact that there are included in the bituminous group some families from the m ining
sections of W est Virginia where sanitary conditions are known to be bad.
ence in the typhoid fever rates in this connection is striking.

The differ

T he infectious diseases of

childhood (including measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough, and diphtheria), in
fluenza, tuberculosis, rheumatism, diseases of the nervous system, and disabilities
connected with the puerperal state are all m uch more prevalent in the bituminous
miners’ fam ilies surveyed than in the anthracite.

Although the West Virginia State Board of Health was at the time
of this study invested with ample authority to control contagious and
infectious diseases, the law failed to provide for adequate reporting,
so that in the absence of exact knowledge of the extent and distribu
tion of the various diseases the board was handicapped in the formula
tion of an intelligent program for their control.
In Raleigh County the health officer was a part-time official whose
work appeared to be but little related to the mining communities.
Inasmuch as the control of all municipal affairs in the unincorporated
mining settlements is in the hands of the mining companies, insanitary
conditions can be corrected by systematic efforts toward improvement
made by the companies. What can and has been done in the way of
sanitary betterment in company-controlled communities where con1 Clark, Taliaferro: Public Health Administration in West Virginia, p. 232. U. S'. Public Health Service,
Reprint No. 252, from the Public Health Reports, 1915.
a Frankel, Lee X ., and Dublin, Louis I.j Sickness Among Coal Miners and Their Families, pp. 1,13,14.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York, 1917.
47

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C H IL D R E N I N COAL M IN IN G C O M M U N IT IE S , W E S T V IR G IN IA ,

ditions originally were very similar to those in the mining settlements
of Raleigh County, is described by the United States Bureau of Mines
in a bulletin on sanitation at mining villages in the Birmingham dis
trict, Alabama.3 The cooperation of the workers has been an im
portant factor in the improvement which has been brought about
in these towns. The bulletin states:
This presupposes the education of the individual, the same difficult task that has
been m et b y m any mining companies in their efforts toward greater safety in and about
mines.

A n d to teach the white inhabitants of these camps hygiene and sanitation is

not easy.

In the isolated and mountain settlements whence m any of them come they

are accustomed to a life of freedom from restraint. T h ey do not readily perceive the
necessity of a different manner of living when confined in comparatively close-built
communities.

A similar education of the negro miners is no simpler task.

PRIVIES W H IC H DRAIN INTO A STREAM R U NNING TH R O U G H T H E S E T TL EM EN T
I t has been im perative that the work of im provem ent should be carried along with
all the difficulties in m ind and fu lly appreciated.
roughshod.

T h e companies could not go ahead

T h ey have been compelled to advance a little at a tim e, content if their

steps did not have to be retraced; to rem edy the worst dangers and to perm it the less
serious ones to become evident to their m en ; to plan for to-morrow satisfied if the m ove
of to-day was secure.

T h ey could not antagonize the persons on whose aid the whole

scheme depended, even if those persons were the beneficiaries, and they had to draw
their lines of restriction slowly, and always w ith a delicate finger on the pulse of
public opinion.
M E D IC A L C A R E A N D N U R S IN G .

The population of the mountain mining village is usually too small
to attract competitive medical practice;'hence physicians are em
ployed by the companies and paid by assessments deducted from the
employees’ pay. In the camps surveyed single men were assessed
3 Woodbridge, Dwight E.: Sanitation at Mining Villages in the Birmingham District ,Ala. U. S. Bureau
of Mines, Washington, 1913'.

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m e d ic a l

caee

ahd

h e a lt h

4£

from $0.75 to $1.25 a month, married men from $1.50 to $2, in return
for which they and their families were entitled to the services of the
doctor except in surgical and confinement cases, for which an extra
charge was made. Some companies turned over the total assessment
to the physician, but one gave a straight salary of $4,200 regardless
of the amount collected in fees, and a few deducted 10, or even 20,
per cent in payment for collecting the money from the workers’
wages. Some of the physicians cared for several communities; none
had more than 150 or 200 families under his care, and the territory
covered was seldom more than a narrow strip from 1 to 3 miles long.
The nearest independent physicians were at Beckley, and not easily
available for the inhabitants of the more isolated of the settlements.
Experience has shown that any arrangement whereby an employer
provides services for which employees must pay is likely to create
dissatisfaction. It was therefore to be expected that, although
some “ company doctors” received nothing but praise, unfavorable
criticism of the care given by others was frequently voiced. Typical
charges were that repeated requests had to be made before any
response from the physician was received; that follow-up calls were
never made except upon request; and that doctors often gave “ absent
treatment” in the form of pills sent the patient, without any real
knowledge of the nature of his illness. If employees were permitted
a voice in the selection of the?physician, and if an account were made
of the moneys received and expended in medical care (such as are
required in such arrangements between employers and employees in
at least one State 4), there would probably be less dissatisfaction on
the part of the workers and their families. The type of care given
would depend less than under the present system on the conscien
tiousness of individual physicians and the attitude taken by the
company.
Whether from lack of time or from lack of a realization of its value
to the community, no company physician had attempted any
educational propaganda looking to the prevention of disease and the
preservation of health. Hospital care was also arranged for through the mining companies,
a monthly assessment of from 50 to 90 cents being deducted from
each worker’s wages. Employees and their families were thus
entitled to hospital care in any illness, that was not contagious. The
hospital receiving the funds collected by the company was in some
cases selected by the workers, in others by the company itself, with
out reference to possible preferences of employees.
Three hospitals were available. The nearest and the one generally
used by the families of the workers was at Beckley. It was a private
hospital with a reported capacity of 125 beds, apparently ample
4 Oregon. See Oregon Acts of 1917, ch. 393.

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

accommodation for the demands made upon it. It accepted mater
nity cases and at the time of the survey was equipping an entire
floor to accommodate 12 maternity patients. The hospital main
tained no clinic or out-patient department.
In the settlements included in the survey, only one public-health
nurse was at work. She served two camps. A fifty-fifty arrange
ment between two mining companies and a burial fund to which
each mine worker contributed 45 cents a month brought in a sum of
$200 a month.
Out of this amount, the nurse was paid $190 for
salary and expenses, the remaining $10 being deposited to the
credit of a “ welfare fund.”
M A T E R N IT Y CAR E.

The physicians employed by the mining companies cared for
confinement cases for a fee ranging from $7 or $10 to $25. Practi
cally all the mothers included in the present survey had been attended
by a physician at their la§t confinement in a mining community.
A few— 3 per cent—had had a midwife, and 4 others had had no
professional attendant.
The necessity for careful supervision of the mother’s health before
confinement was not generally recognized. Urinalysis was rare and
pelvic measurements were unknown. Less than 1 mother in 10
reported urinalysis during pregnancy, and only about 1 in 3 had
even seen the attendant before confinement. “ These women don’t
know anything about things of that sort,” one of the physicians
remarked to a bureau agent, “ so I seldom bother.”
Care during and after confinement was somewhat more customary
than prenatal supervision. The majority of the mothers, however,
had received only 4 or fewer visits after the birth of a baby. Of
the 392 women reporting on this point, only 98 had received a daily
visit for at least 7 days— 26 per cent of the white mothers and 23
per cent of the colored— although a minimum standard of adequate
maternity care requires at least 7 after-care visits from the attending
physician.5
One of the chief causes of the low standards of maternity care
existing in the mining communities, as in the country at large, is
the ignorance of mothers regarding the dangers connected with
childbirth and regarding the need for proper hygiene and skilled
care during pregnancy and confinement. Recognition of this funda
mental factor in the loss every year of many thousands of women in
childbirth led to the passage in 1921 of the Federal maternity act,6
under which Federal aid is extended to States accepting the provi
sions of the act and adopting a program of popular instruction in
the hygiene of maternity and infancy. The act has been accepted
6See Minimu m Standards for^Child Welfare, U. S. Children's Bureau Publication 62. Washington, 1919.
e Session Laws 67th Congress, 1st session 1921, ch. 135, Public, No. 97, approved November 23, 1921.

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M E D IC A L CABE A N D H E A L T H .

by the Governor of West Virginia, pending the meeting of the State
legislature, and plans for the work have been submitted to the
Federal Government. It is to be „hoped that the program will
include the mothers of the mountain mining camps whose restricted
opportunities in school, early age at marriage, and isolation, render
them particularilv in need of instruction if their children’s health
and their own is not to be needlessly sacrificed.
IN F A N T M O R T A L IT Y .

An infant mortality rate, as usually computed, is the number of
deaths of infants under 1 year of age per 1,000 born alive within a
given period. It was not practicable to ascertain for the communities
covered in the present study the number of children born within a
given period and the number of these who had died before the
completion of their first year; so that an infant mortality rate, as
generally understood, can not be stated for the mining settlements.
An infant mortality rate based on the total number of births in any
mining community to the mothers of the families interviewed was,
however, determined. This rate is 94 per 1,000 infants born alive.
Based as it is on births occurring over a number of years it is not
-strictly comparable to a rate based on births within any one year.
Inasmuch as infant mortality rates have during recent years shown
a tendency to decline, it might be expected that the rate found for
the mining communities would be larger than the rates for the
United States birth-registration area7 for the years 1915-1920. It
would appear, however, from Table X V , that the former on the
whole cpmpares rather favorably with the latter.
T a b l e ' X V .— Infant m ortality rates in urban and rural areas, United States birth-regis
tration area, 191 5 -1 92 0.1

Deaths under 1 year per 1,000
live births in the birth-regis
tration area.

Year.
Total
area.

1915................... ................................................................................................
1916............................................ .......................................................................
1917................................................................ ..........t .......................... .........
1918............................................; . . . . ................................................ ..............
1919.................................................................................... ...............................
1920.................................................... ...............................................................

100
101
94
101
87
86

Cities of
10,000
popula
tion and
over.
103
104
100
108
89
91

Rural.

94
97
88
94
84
81

i Birth Statistics, 1920, p. 26. U. S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, 1922.

The rate found for the mining communities is higher, however,
than the average for rural parts of the birth-registration area, despite
i West Virginia was not in the United States birth-registration area at the time of this study.

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C H IL D R E N I N COAL M IN IN G C O M M U N IT IE S , W E S T V IR G IN IA .

the fact that in point of population at least the camps may be con
sidered rural communities. Among the conditions in the camps.less
favorable to infant life than those in the open country may be men
tioned the difficulty of procuring fresh milk, greater overcrowding
within the houses, and poor sanitation, with a relatively congested
population. Unfavorable atmospheric conditions, regarded by some
authorities on the subject of infant mortality as a very important
factor, do not as yet, it would appear, present a problem in these
particular mining settlements, inasmuch as the air has not become
vitiated to any great extent by coal dust and smoke.
The infant mortality rate for babies of foreign-born white mothers
is higher in the mining communities, as in the United States birthregistration area, than that far children of native white mothers—
122 as compared with 98. That the rate for children of negro mothers
(55) is the lowest, is surprising in view of the fact that in the birthregistration area it is the highest.
*
F A M IL Y D IE T .

Diet is of such importance in relation to health that an effort was
made to secure information concerning the kind of food which children
in the families interviewed were accustomed to receive, though no
exhaustive study of dietaries was practicable. The foods eaten on
the day preceding the interview were ascertained from each family;
if the diet on the preceding day had differed, in the opinion of the
family, from the ordinary one, information regarding that of a more
typical day was requested. No attempt was made to learn wherein,
if at all, the diet of the children differed from that of the family, but
judging from the statement of two-thirds of the mothers that they
were in the habit of giving their children the family diet before the
latter had reached the age of 2 years, usually not later than the tenth
month, it seems likely that what appeared on the family table was
in general what the children ate. Neither was any attempt made to
ascertain the quantity of food received, whether adequate or inade
quate. The information secured merely indicates in a somewhat
general way whether or not the essential food elements, such as milk,
butter, eggs, fruit, vegetables, bread, and meat, were being included
in the diet of most of the families.
Only three-fourths of the families were accustomed to using fresh
milk every day. In the 151 families not having milk were 225
children under 7 years of age, or more than one-fifth of the total
number of children of their ages. Since milk supplies adequate
protein, vitamines, and minerals, lack of it in the diet is a serious loss
for any child, and for children whose diet was undoubtedly restricted
in other respects it was particularly unfortunate .that they were receiv
ing no milk. Whether or not young children in the families reporting

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MEDICAL CARE AND HEALTH.

that milk was in daily use received the amount commonly regarded
as the minimum for health for children between the ages of 2 and 7,
that is, one pint, is not known. It was said that milk was hard to
procure. Only about one-third of the families interviewed owned
cows,, possibly because pasturage on the steep mountain sides was
poor. A family who owned no cow could sometimes purchase milk
from neighbors, but the mother could not be sure, in such a transac
tion, that either the milk or the utensils used in handling it were
clean.
Certain other valuable kinds of food were missing from many of
the diets reported. Thus, 12 per cent of the families reported that
they used no butter, the most easily digested of fats and a particularly
valuable source of vitamines, especially when a large quantity of
whole milk is lacking in the diet. Potatoes, supplying energy and
valuable minerals, and usually a staple article, were not in daily use
by close to one-third of the families. Most surprising of all is the
lack of protein in any form in one-third of the family diets. That is,
211 families reported that on the day preceding the interview they
had had no meat, eggs, fish, cheese, or other food—with the possible
exception of milk— containing an appreciable amount of protein.
The taste for meat is so general, especially where the diet is somewhat
monotonous, and the miner’s work is so heavy, that this lack in the
diet is surprising; it is probably due to difficulty in procuring fresh
meat, eggs, or fish in local stores.
More families reported vegetables than any other important food.
Practically all had had some fresh vegetable on the table on the day
for which information regarding diet was given. The majority of the
families interviewed— seven-tenths— had gardens, though many, dis
couraged by the steep hillsides on which their houses are located, the
rocky or swampy ground, and the expense of fencing, did not attempt
one. The plots were usually too small to produce more than a limited
amount and variety of vegetables and fruits. Most of the f amilies
raised only beans, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and cabbage. Beets,
onions, and lettuce were less commonly found in the gardens, and
carrots and spinach, to mention only two of the most valuable of the
ccrmmon vegetables, were seldom or never grown. Very little fruit
was grown; watermelons were raised in 10 gardens, cantaloupes in 6,
raspberries, rhubarb, and apples each in 2, and five other fruits in as
many gardens. It is therefore not surprising that less than half the
families (45 per cent) had included fresh fruit in their typical day’s
diet.
The time of year at which the study was made— July and August—
probably accounts for a more favorable picture as regards the use of
fruits and vegetables than was actually the case. These were the
months when the gardens were yielding. During the remainder of

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

the year canned goods from local stores had to he depended upon.
In. the absence of knowledge of the importance of a daily use of fruits
and vegetables in the children’s diet, it is probable that those eaten
during the winter months were negligible in variety and quantity.
That the dietaries were not more adequate for growing children was
no doubt due in part, at least, to the ignorance of the mothers re
garding what food elements were essential. The mother in the
mountain mining camp is at a great disadvantage in learning to feed
her family scientifically. Because of her isolation she rarely, if ever,
sees an exhibit or demonstration or hears a lecture on any subject
pertaining to her home or her children, nor has she as a schoolgirl
received any instruction in the principles of diet and hygiene. A
program of popular instruction in these and allied subjects under a
home demonstration agent and a county public-health nurse would
no doubt be welcomed by many of the mothers.
Gardens need to be improved and enlarged (possibly the companies
might allow the use of unoccupied land outside the camp limits for
gardens) and here the agricultural agent could render valuable service.
At the time of the Children’s Bureau study the county had no agri
cultural agent. A public-health nurse had been engaged for the
county, but at the time of the study had not entered upon her duties.
C H IL D R E N ’S H E A L T H C O N F E R E N C E S .

Children’s health conferences in charge of a physician from the
Children’s Bureau were conducted in nine mining communities in
Raleigh County, seven of which had been included in the survey.
The chief object of the conferences was to acquaint mothers with the
physical condition of their children and with methods of improving
their children’s health, but it was hoped also to arouse interest in
periodic examinations and health supervision of young children by
some public agency.
The conferences met with a cordial response irom company and
union officials, teachers, clergymen, and others. Ample publicity
was secured through the local press; posters announcing the confer
ence were placed in prominent places; notices were read at church
services, union meetings, and motion-picture shows; and local persons
visited mothers to notify them of the conference, make appointments,
arouse their interest in having their children examined, and supply
them with popular literature prepared by the Children’s Bureau on
the subject of the care of young children. The Children’s Bureau
motion-picture film, 11 Our Children, was exhibited (admission free)
in several camps through the courtesy of the managers of the motionpicture houses.
The conferences were held in various places in the camps— com
pany physicians’ offices, schoolrooms, motion-picture theaters-, etc.
Each child was weighed, measured, and examined by the Children’s
Bureau physician, and the mother given a record of his condition

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MEDICAL CARE AND H EALTH .

with suggestions for his improvement; when necessary the mother
was urged to take the child to her own physician for treatment. No
sick children were admitted, and no medicine or treatment was given
by the Children’s Bureau physician.
Three hundred and sixteen children of all ages up to 16 were
examined. Many were brought by their fathers, who showed as keen
interest in their children’s physical condition as did the mothers.
Many were brought a considerable distance for examination. One
mother walked 1J miles with five children and was much disappointed
when she heard that it was impossible to have more than two exam
ined on account of the large number who were awaiting their turn.
One man walked a long way with three children of his own and three
of a neighbor only to find that those who had secured appointments
in advance had to be given preference. Having secured an appoint
ment, however, he returned. Sometimes the company physician
came with patients whom he wished to have examined, and teachers
brought entire classes. The defects found, summarized in Table
X VI, demonstrate great need of preventive work.
T a b l e X V I .— Defects fou n d in children given physical examinations, by age o f child.
Children showing defect or disease.

Defect or disease.

Children
under 2
_ years.

Total.

Num Per
ber. cent.

Children 2-6
years.

Children 7
years and
over.

Num Per
ber. cent.

Total........................................................

316

100.0

191

100.0

Total without defects.......................................
Total with defects.............................................
Defects:
General—
Anemia.................................................
Poor or very poor nutrition................
Fat excessive1....................................
Head—
Open fontanelle in child over 18
months..............................................
Eyes—
Vision defective (wears glasses)..........
Eye diseases—
Granulated lids.............................
Conjunctivitis................................
Stye................................................
Strabismus....................................
Blepharitis.....................................
P to sis........................ .................
Corneal ulcer..................................
Cataract (right), congenital.........
Wart on l i d ...'..........................
One blue, one brown eye..............
Ears—
Otorrhea...............................................
Deafness...............................................
Mouth—
Decayed teeth......................................
Malocclusion....... •................................
Gingivitis.............................................
Pyorrhea..............................................
Alveolar abscess........ .............. ..........
Alveolar process exposed....................
Teeth chalky........................................
Teeth irregular.....................................

16
300

5.1
94.9

6
35

14.6
85.4

5
79

6.0
94.0

5
186

2.6
97.4

18
156
2

5.7
49.4
.6

3
16

7.3
39.0

. 6
43

7.1
51.2

9
97

4.7
50.8
1.0

4.9

14
15
2
3
2
i
i
i
i
i

4.4
4.7
.6
.9
.6
.3
.3
.3
.3
.3

2
4

2.4
4.8

1.2

12
U
2
2
1
1
i

i
i

.3
.3

1Children normal except for this defect,

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201
28
2
16
11
1
8
1

2.4

1
63.6
2.4
8. 9
.6
5.1
3.5
.3
2. 5 . . . * . 4 V
.3

i
1
1
1

50
4

59.5
4.8

1.2

i n

150

J)
*

78.5

16
1

CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

T a b l e X V I .—-D efectsfound in children given physical examinations, by age o f child—-Contd.
Children showing defect or disease.

Defect or disease.

Children
under 2
years.

Total.
Num Per
ber. cent.

Defects—Continued.
Mouth—Continued.
Stomalitis.............................................

Nasopharynx—
Adenoids.-......................................... ..
Tonsils—
Enlarged only................................
Mouth breathing...................... ..........
Nasal obstruction................................
Nasal discharge................................. .
Bifurcated palate (congenital).......:..
Soft palate clipped.. . . " ....... ’ .............
Long palate. .*. *...................................
Thyroid...... ........................................
Congested throat..................................
Excoriated nares..................................
Glands—
Hypertrophied (without associated
mfection)..........................................
Hypertrophied (with associated inf ection)..................................................
Circulatory system—
Heart disease.......................................
Respiratory system—
Respiratory diseases........................ I.
SMn—
Infected sores.......................................
Hives...................... ..........................
Exzema................................................
Scdbies.................................................
Acne.....................................................
Abscess or boils....................................
Pediculosis................................. ; ........
Eruption—undiagnosed......................
Sore foot (accident).............................
. Birth mark................................ .........
Abdomen—
Distention............................................
Hernia..................................................
Bony and muscular system—
Pronation.............................................
Beaded ribs...........................v.............
Harrison’s groove............ ...................
Pigeon breast.......................................
Depressed sternum..............................
Asymetrical chest......................... .
Flaring ribs....... ..................................
Enlarged epiphyses.............................
Round shoulders........ ........................
. Winged scapulae..................................
Lordosis...............................................
Knockknee...........................................
Bowlegs...............................................
Pigeontoe........................................
Deformed leg (rachitic). . . ' . ...............
Deformed tibia (rachitic)...................
Hip disease___ ^........... .'..................;.
Nervous system—
Tic.........................................................
Speech defect.......................................
Genitalia—
Prepuce adherent...............................
Prepuce contracted.............................
Congestion—milky discharge..............
Mental condition—
Retarded mentality...............-.............

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Num Per
ber. cent.

Children 2-6
years.

Children 7
years and
over.

Num Per
ber. cent.

Num Per
ber; cent.

2
1
3
1
27
1

.6
.3
.9
.3
8.5
.3

9.8

2.4

8.3

12.0

38
40
28
24
32
14
19
1
1
1
2
2
1

12.0
12.7
8.9
7.6
10.1
4.4
6.0
.3
.3
.3
.6
.6
.3

2.4
2.4
2.4
12.2

19.0
13.1
3.6
9.5
9.5
7.1
3.6
1.2

21
29
25
15
23
3
16

11.0

1
1
5

16
11
3
8
8
. 6
3
1

1
1
2
2
1

.5
.5
1.0
1.0
.5

9.8

105

33.2

1.6

2
2.4

1.2
2.4

1
25

1.0
1.0
J>
13.1
.5

12 1
7.9
12.0
1.6

6 - 14.6

10.7

8.4

4.9

33.3

39.3

1.2

2.1

1.3

2.4

1.2

1.0

31
14
4
2
1
7
3
1
3
1
3

9.8
4.4
1.3
.6
.3
2.2
.9
.3
.9
.3
.9

1
6
2

2.4
14.6
4.9

11
7
2
1

13.1
8.3
2.4
1^2

19
1

9.9
.5

1
r7
3
1

1
1

.5
.5
3.7
1.6
.5

1.2
1.2

16
9

4.9

7.3

5.1
2.8

3
3

7.3
7.3

10
5

11.9
6.0

3
1

1.6
.5

77
4
1
6
1
1
4
6
37
104
8
12
4
15
2
2
1

24.4
1.3
.3
1.9
.3
.3
1.3
1.9
11.7
32.9
2.5
3.8
1.3
4.7
.6
.6
.3

1
1
1

2.4
2.4
2.4

11 '
3

13.1
3. 6

34.0

6
1
1
1
4
33
81
6
- '7
2
6
1
2
1

3.1
.5
.5
.5
2.1
17.3
42.4
3.1
3.7
1.0
3.1
.5
1.0
.5

1
1

.3
.3

1
1

.5
.5

2
4
1

.6
1.3
.3

1
1
2
1
2

1
4
1

2.4
2.4
4.9
2.4
4.9

2.4
9.8
2.4

3
2
3
22

3. 6
2.4
3.6
26.2

4.8

9
1

10.7
1.2

1.2

MEDICAL. CARE

AND

HEALTH.

Apart from the advice given in individual cases such conferences
are of value in bringing to light the particular health problems of a
community, such as the need for instruction in the hygiene of preg
nancy and confinement or of advice as to the care and feeding of
children, the need for physical examinations of school children, and
the importance of educating the community in matters of hygiene
and sanitation. Many of these needs a public-health nurse would be
able to meet.
32706°— 23-------5

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SOCIAL LIFE AN D RECR EATION .

In the smaller mining settlements, ,such as those included in the
present study, no community life exists, and recreational facilities
for either children or adults are few. One of the camps had nothing
in the way of diversion, and one had nothing except a pool room.
Even neighborly sociability is discouraged b y the fact that the popu
lation is so unstable. As one lonely woman remarked, “ You don’t
know any of your neighbors; they move in to-day and out to-mor
row.” Beyond the daily tasks, people in these isolated communities
have little to do or to think about.
The almost intolerable monotony of existence is relieved in some
of the settlements by motion pictures. Of the 11 camps included in
the survey 6 had motion-picture houses showing pictures usually
two or three times a week, or had easy access to a theater in another
community; and 2 other camps were planning to build a theater in
the near future. The only other commercial amusement in any of
the settlements was the pool room, found in 3 camps.
In the way of noncommercial recreation or community activities
practically nothing had been provided. There existed no social
agency in most of the communities which could supply the necessary
leadership. The schools had not recognized their responsibility in
leading the way to a richer community life. Only one of the camps
had a church with a regular pastor and regular weekly services for
both white and colored, and even there at the time of the survey the
people were dependent upon visiting ministers, as the pastor had
resigned. In one community a Sunday school was held at irregular
intervals. More than half the camps had no church service, and one
community shared the services of a neighboring camp. Of the
four which did have some sort of religious services, one had none for
white people, one had “ preaching” irregularly, and another had
services only occasionally.
It would appear that the mining companies had taken the lead in
providing whatever social or recreational activities existed. The
largest of the settlements had what was known as an “ institute,” an
organization of mine executives somewhat on the order of a chamber
of commerce, which in addition to backing the motion-picture house
promoted from time to time other recreational and educational
projects. During the winter preceding the survey, for instance, the
institute had arranged for an extension course on mining, which was
held once a week for six months; it had also supported a baseball
team for one season. Three other camps had baseball fields provided
b y the coal company. These were in good condition and much used,
58

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SOCIAL LIFE AND RECREATION.

Boys had the use of the baseball diamonds when the men did not
want them. Little or no recognition of the play needs of children was
indicated. Only one camp had a playground, company owned and
equipped, which had fallen practically into disuse, apparently for
lack of the right kind of leadership. The lack of playgrounds is the
more unfortunate in that some of the camps have no open spaces
where children m ay safely play. The mining camp, though in the
country, is not of it. Railroad tracks run through the settlement,
the ground is rough and uneven, yards are small and houses crowded
close together. Thus, even those elementary activities which children
delight in and which are so necessary a part of their development,
such as running and climbing, leaping, throwing, wrestling, must
necessarily be restricted. A few attempts by company officials to

LACK OF PLAY SPACE.

organize a boy-scout or a camp-fire group had not been particularly
successful, though one boy-scout troop, disbanded at the time of the
survey because the leader had left the camp, was said to have been
flourishing at one time. One of the mining companies, in order, it
was said, to stimulate the interest of the children in church activities,
had during the summer preceding the survey engaged a “ welfare
worker” who held daily classes for children, teaching them hymns,
telling them Bible stories, and teaching handicraft. In the case of
children who are out of school half the year, and of boys and girls
who have left school but are often without employment, the problem
of a profitable and happy use of leisure is a very real one.
The use of the school as a social center is to be recommended
for the mining town ho less than for the rural community. At present

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

the schoolhouses in the mining settlements commonly stand closed
and unused for six months of the year. Only one school was re
ported as being ever used, even during the winter, for any commu
nity meeting— in this case a weekly “ singing school.”
Until the
schools are considerably improved, they can hardly be expected to take
the lead in creating and supplying a demand for a richer family
and community life.
The increased salaries and better training
for teachers, and the longer school terms, provided for under the
West Virginia education law of 1919 1 should bring about such an
improvement. It is to be hoped that this law will result also in
an enrichment of the school curriculum to include, at least, music,
drawing, and gymnasium work. Out of work of this type might
very naturally develop exhibits, public drills, games, contests, and
pageants which would be not only a source of entertainment and
diversion but also a starting point in arousing community interest,
now so conspicuously lacking in the ordinary small mining town.
The county agricultural and home demonstration agent, in recent
years a vital force in hundreds of agricultural communities, could
do similar and much-needed work in the smaller mining settlements,
at least in those where the town site will permit of gardens, or where
land outside the limits of the settlement is available for gardening.
The garden interest is an especially valuable one for men who spend
their days in the darkness of a mine; incidentally, gardening might
discourage the keeping of domestic animals, a somewhat question
able practice in the crowded camp. Out of the garden interest,
clubs with helpful and stimulating programs for boys and girls, and
for women, also, would no doubt develop in the course of time.
The influence of the mining company’s attitude, policy, and assist
ance is not to bo underrated.
The company, inasmuch as it con
trols all property and is looked to for leadership, is in a position
to do a great deal toward making the mining town attractive in
its social and community life, as in other respects. While it is
desirable that social and recreational activities should grow out of
the needs and aspirations of the community rather than that they
should be imposed from above, nevertheless the mining company
through sympathetic and tactful leadership might well play the role
of the private organization which demonstrates the value of a pro
gram to the public before the latter is able or willing to undertake it.
1West Virginia Acts of 1919, ch. 2.

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INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS AFFECTING CHILD WELFARE.
A N N U A L E A R N IN G S O F C H IE F B R E A D W IN N E R S .

It is conceded that economic conditions which permit the average
worker to maintain his family in health, decency, and simple com
fort are fundamental to child welfare. In bituminous mining cer
tain factors, such as short time and irregularity of operation, which
until recently have not been generally understood, seriously affect
the worker’s ability to provide adequately for the needs of his family,
in spite of the fact that daily earnings are often comparatively high.
In most of the families interviewed in the present study the father
was the head of the household and the principal breadwinner. In
23 families, however, the mother was the chief breadwinner, and in
23 others the head of the household was some person other than the
father or mother, the responsibility in 4 of the families devolving
upon a child less than 18 years of age. Wage data were secured from
the father himself, wherever possible, otherwise from the mother
or the most responsible member of the family who could be inter
viewed. The family’s statement was in many cases verified by seminionthly pay slips issued by the mining companies which many of the
mine employees were in the habit of keeping.
Of 514 chief breadwinners who reported that they had been heads
of their respective households during the entire year preceding the
inquiry and who reported the amount of their earnings 414, or fourfifths, had earned less than $1,850; 204, or two-fifths, had earned
less than $1,250; and 69, or 13 per cent, had earned less than $850.
Men engaged in occupations other than those connected with mining
had received somewhat larger annual earnings than those employed
in mining; thus, only 25 per cent of the former as compared with
45 per cent of the latter had earned less than $1,250, and only 69
per cent as compared with 85 per cent had earnings totaling
less than $1,850. The same proportion, however, 13 per cent,
of the breadwinners who were employed in mining and in other
industries had received less than $850 for the year’s work,
the nonmining* group being considerably influenced by the inclu
sion of 10 mothers who during the year had taken lodgers
or done laundry or other domestic work in order to support their
families. When superintendents and other mine executives are
excluded from the one group, and professional workers {that is,
company physicians, ministers, electrical engineers, etc.) from the
other, the earnings of men engaged in the mining operations are seen
61

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Table X V I I .^Annual èarninpè of chief breadwinner, by occupation.

During entire year preceding.
Occupation.

Reporting specified annual earnings.
Total.
Total.
Total.

Less
than
$850.

$850,
less
than
$1,050.

$1,050, $1,250, $1,450,
less
less
less
than
than
than
$1,250. $1,450. $1,850.

$1,850,
less
than
$2,250.

$2,250,
less
than
$2,850.

$2,850,
less
than
$3,450.

Not
during
Not
entire
report year
ing
pre
$3,450 annual ceding.
earn
and
over.
ings.

Total.............. «................................................................

639

612

514

138

Mining occupations....... ...........................................................
Superintendent, assistant superintendent, manager.......
Bosses and foremen:
Driver boss...................................................................
Fire boss......................................................................

470
10

449
10

373
10

91
1

26
1

16
2

10
3

4
3

3
4
26
3

2
4
25
3

2
3
24
3

1
2

6
2

1
3
4
1

1
1

4
42
26
16
248
32
11
3
4
26
7
5
169
10
8
27
72
11
16
18
9
5
131

3
41
24
15
239
30
11
2
4
24
7
5
163
10
8
24
69
11
15
18
8

3
35
17
15
187
30
8
2
3
21
6
4
141
7
8
13
65
10
13
18
8
5
11

7
3
3
38
3

7
2
2
30
7
2

2
7
3
5
46
7
3

1
7

Tipple boss................... ..................... ..........................
Operatives:
Brattice m an............................. ..................................
, Laborer, surface...........................................................
Machine man, runner, cutter.......................................
Motorman.....................................................................
Pumper, pipeman........................................................
Rock*man.*..................................................................
Timberman, rodman...................................................
Trackman..’ .................................................................
Trip rider................................... ..................................
All*other........................................................................
Other occupations.....................................................................
Agriculture and forestry............................................ .......
Clerical........................ I......................................................
Domestic and personal service...........................................
i

Blacksmith..................................................................
Carpenter.....................................................................
Electrician.................................................................
Engineer.......................................................................
Machinist.......... ...........................................................
Other...........................................................................

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7
4
2
27
2

1
7
4
1
29
8

1
4
3
19
1
11
4
i
i

2
1
2
6
1
1

1
1
4
2
10

2
15
3

1
4

1
7

2
2
2

i
i ............ j

6
7

1
10
1
2

3
i
i

2
4
1

i
2

47
2
3

32
8
5
8
3
3
5

14
i
3
7
2

2
1

i
3
1
1
22
3
11
4
1
2

1
1
2
1
9
2
1
2
6
3
3
1
1

i
1

CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

Chief breadwinners, June 30, 1920.

ÌNDtJSTMÀL CONDITIONS AFFECTING CHILD WËLEAEE.

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T a b l e X V I I I .— M aximum day’s earnings o f chief breadwinner, by occupation.

Reporting specified maximum day’s earnings.

•
Occupation.
Total.
Total.

639

$5,
less
than
86.

111

3
4
26
3

4
42
26
Machine man, runner, cutter........................
16
248
Motorman.......................................................
32
11
Pumper, pipeman..........................................
Rock* mân. Î....................................................
3
Timberman, rodman.....................................
4
Trackman.......................................................
26
Trip rider........, ..............................................
7
AlTother......... .'.............................................. *?■
6
169
Agriculture and forestry. ...............'.............. .
10
Clerical.........................*........................................
8
27
Manufacturing*and mechanical...........................
72
11
Blacksmith.................. 1.................................
Carpenter.............................................. .........
16
18
Engineer.........................................................
9
5
Other................... ........... ...............................
13
Public service......................................................
7

4
42
24
12
174
29
11
3
4
24
7
3
132
6
8
11
67
11
15
17
9
5
10
7

superintendent,

Bosses and foremen:
Driver boss.....................................................
Fireboss.........................................................
Foreman, assistant foreman................... .
Tipple boss.....................................................
Operatives:
Brattice man..................................................
Laborer (surface)...........................................

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$7,
less
than.
88.

160

380

assistant

$6,
less
than
$7.

470

Superintendent,

512

Less
than
$5.

8
1
13
2

37
1
1
10
8
3
1
2
1
1
2

3
22
11
1
2
20
9
2
1
17
7
3
49
4

$8,
less
than
89.

$9,
less
than
810.

810,
less
than
811.

$11,
less
than
$12.

$12,
less
than
$13.

$13,
less
. than
$14.

$14,
less .
than
$15.

Not re
porting
maxi
mum
$15,
day’s
and
over. earn
ings.

127

2
7
41

2
4
74
3

1
1

2
37
4

*3
10
2

i
6

4
4
2
8
8
2
1
3
5

1
1

10
1

34
4
9
10
5
2
4
3

19
6
3
5
1
1
3
2

1
1
33

1
7

1
4
1
1
1
1

3
2
1

1
17

1
5

16
5
1
1

i
1

CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

Chief breadwinners, June 30,1920.

. •1

Transportation......................................................

10
10
25

3
8
22

1
3
11

1
5

1
1
1

/
7

2
3

2
1

Total........................................... - ..............
Mining occupations.....................................................
Miner.....................................................................
Other occupations.......... ......... ..................................
Manufacturing and mechanical...........................

10.2

31.2

15.0

5.3

6.4

3.9

7.4

3.5

3.9

1 .6

1.2

10.4

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

3.9

29.2
1.1
37.1
50.7

13.9
4.6
18.2
28.4

5.3
5.7
5.3
6.0

6.8
9.8
5.3
1.5

4.2
8.0
3.0
1.5

9.2
19.0
2.3

4.7
9.8

5.3
10.9

2.1
4.6

1.6
2.9

13.7
23.6
0.8

28.0
11.9

c o n d it io n s

i Not shown where base is less than 50.

..........

100.0

in d u s t r ia l

PER CENT.1

a f f e c t in g
c h il d

w elfare

o §
ot

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

to compare even less favorably with the earnings of those in other
occupations. Only 13 per cent of the actual workers in the mining
industry— “ pick and shovel” men, machine runners and cutters,
motormen, laborers, fire bosses, mine foremen, etc.—reported that
they had received as much as $1,850 for their year’s work, whereas
28 per cent of the workers outside the industry,1 such as carpenters,
blacksmiths, engineers, electricians, machinists, domestic workers,
railroad employees, etc., earned at least $1,850 during the year.
The substantial accuracy of the estimates of income made by the
families of the wage earners in. the mining industry is indicated by
the evidence of pay-roll figures secured fronuone of the larger coal
mining companies employing a number of the men included in the
schedule study. Of 41 chief breadwinners in the families inter
viewed who appeared on this pay roll and who had reported their
earnings, 26 had reported slightly larger and 15 somewhat smaller
earnings than the pay roll showed. The average discrepancy where
the breadwinner had reported his net earnings as larger than the
amount indicated on the pay roll was $197; where he had reported
his net annual earnings as smaller than the pay roll showed, the
average difference was $98. Had the 41 been classified into wage
groups according to pay-roll figures instead of according to the wage
data supplied by the family, 24 would have fallen into the same
income group, 12 into an income group lower, and only 5 into a
group higher, than that in which they are classified in the present
report. If the cases of these 41 workers, 8 per cent of those in the
families interviewed reporting wages, are typical— and there is every
reason to believe that they are—it seems likely that the annual earn
ings as reported are somewhat higher than the pay rolls, had they
been available for all the workers, would have shown.
The reasons for the low annual earnings in the mining industry
have become so well known to the public since the wage and hour
disputes between miners and mine operators which have followed
the armistice, that only a brief mention of them need be made.
The majority of the miners are paid on a tonnage basis, their
earnings being limited by the number of tons of coal (in the union
fields, carloads) which they can cut down and load. This depends
not only upon the miner’s skill, but also upon mine conditions and
equipment, the number of cars placed at his disposal, and also, if he
himself does not cut down the coal, but only loads that brought down
by machine cutters, upon the amount of coal that has been cut down
the day before. A man may have to spend half a day laying tracks
or putting up timbers in order to make his working place safe, work
for which he is paid, if at all, at a lower rate than for actual mining;
1 It will be remembered that many of these workers were employed by the mining companies, though
engaged in other than strictly mining operations.

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INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS AFFECTING CHILD WELFARE.

lie may have to wait around several hours for cars to load, earning
nothing at all; or, owing to some condition over which he has no
control, he may be able to remain in the mine only a few hours—
practically three-fifths of the mine employees in the present study
reported short time. Thus, although his maximum daily wage may
be high— almost one-sixth of the heads of households in the present
study who were engaged in mining reported $15 or more as their
maximum day’s pay— it is not a fair indication of the mine worker’s
average daily wage. Still less is it an indication of his annual income;
for, due chiefly to overdevelopment of the industry and, in a some
what lesser degree, to car shortage and labor disputes, the mines
operate very irregularly. “ The potential working year in the Ameri
can bituminous industry,” * states F. G. Tryon, of the U. S. Geo
logical Survey,2 “ is 308 days. In the last 30 years the mines have
actually worked on the average 215 days, and have lost 93 days, or
30 per cent of the potential time, in enforced idleness due to one
cause or another.” Moreover, the number of days during which
any mine is reported as being in operation is likely to be larger than
the number of days’ employment actually available for all the
workers; a fall of roof, a car wreck, flooding, or a gaseous condition,
for example,, may cause a shutdown of the part of the mine affected,
with consequent loss of time for a larger or smaller proportion of the
workers. It is not surprising, therefore, that a large amount of
unemployment was reported by the chief breadwinners in the families
interviewed, that unemployment was more serious for men engaged
in mining than for those in other occupations, and that the greater
part of the mine workers’ unemployment was due to industrial
causes. Industrial unemployment, reported b y less than one-fifth
of the breadwinners in industries other than mining, even when
working for mining companies, had affected 76 per cent of the men
in the mining industry. Of 126 of these men who were able to give
the duration of their unemployment, more than one-third had been
out of work as a result of industrial conditions at least three months
(78 shifts) during the year. The average number of days (shifts)
lost per man was 64.3
2 Tryon, F. G., and McKenney, W. F.: "T h e broken year of the bituminous miner,” in the Survey
Vol. X L V II (Mar. 25,1922), p. 1009.
'
2 During the period covered by the present study (the year ending June 30, 1920) the mines of Raleigh
County were reported as in operation an average of 190 days, a loss of 118 of the possible working days.
(Annual Report, West Virginia Bureau of Mines, 1920, p . 242.) The situation as regards the number
of days of operation was thus somewhat worse than the average, but better than that during the calendar
year 1921 or the calendar year 1922. The fact that the loss of time reported by the men included in the
present study is less than that reported for all the mines of the county as a whole may indicate that the
men went from mine to mine, wherever work was available; it may possibly indicate, also, a comparatively
larger proportion of nonunion men among those included in the study, who would not have been affected
by the nation-wide strike in the bituminous mining industry in 1919.

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

Table X I X

D u ra tion o f total u n em p loym en t o f ch ief breadwinner during selected yea r,
by occup ation .

Chief breadwinners in industrial employments,
June 30,1920-1
In mining occupations.

Duration of total unemployment.
Total.

Number.

Total.....................................................................

In other occu
pations.

Per cent
Per cent
distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.

594

449

100.0

145

100.0

128
460
29
29
34
34
26
29
17
38
224
6

51
393
13
16
28
24
23
27
16
36
210
5

11.4
87.5

77
67
16
13
6
10
3
2
1
2
14
1

53.1
46.2

1 Excluding 18 in domestic service and professional occupations, and 27 who were chief breadwinners
for part of the year only.
2A shift is equivalent to an 8-hour day. •
T a b l e X X . — D u ra tion o f in du stria l u n em p loym en t o f c h ie f breadw inner during selected
yea r, by occu p ation .

Chief breadwinners in industrial employments,
June 30, 1920.1
In mining
occupations.

Duration of industrial unemployment.
Total.

Total..........................................
Having no industrial unemployment
Having industrial unemployment. . .
Under 13 shifts2...........................
13 shifts, under 26.........................
26 shifts, under 52.......................
52 shifts, under 78........................
78 shifts, under 104.......................
104 shifts, under 130.....................
130 shifts, under 156.....................
156 and over..................................
Duration not reported.................
Not reported as to unemployment...

In other
occupations.

Per cent
Per cent
Number. distribu- Number. distribution.
tion.

594

449

100.0

145

100.0

219
369

107
342
14
7
30
31
23
13
5
3
216

23.8
76.2

112
27
5
7
3
1
2

77.2
18.6

9
6

1 Excluding 18 in domestic service and professional occupations, and 27 who were chief breadwinners for
part of the year only.
2 A shift is equivalent to an 8-hour day.

In addition to the time lost because of the intermittent operation
of the mines, the working time of mine employees frequently is
further reduced by accidents, which are of common occurrence in the
mines. Among the families interviewed more than 1 chief bread
winner in every 10 in the mining industry reported an accident during

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INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS AFFECTING CHILD WELFARE.

the year which had incapacitated him for work. Of the 52 fathers
reporting loss of time due to accident, 48 were engaged in mining,
relatively four times as many as in other industries. About one-third
of those incapacitated by accident were unable to work for at least one
month. The amounts of compensation fixed by the workmen’s com
pensation law were very low; at the time this study was made the com
pensation for temporary total ’disability resulting from an industrial
accident was 50 per cent of the workman’s average weekly wage, not to
exceed $12 nor be less than $5 a week, to be received for a fixed
period.4 Under this schedule of payment one man who had been
unable to work for 6 weeks, having had his back and hips crushed
by a fall of slate, reported that he had received a little over $30.
No payment was made for accidents incapacitating the worker for a
period of less than eight days. It is probable that a large proportion
of the nonfatal accidents occurring to mine workers result in disa
bility of brief duration, so that many men lose time on account of
accidents connected with their work during which they receive
neither wages nor compensation. On the other hand, many nonfatal
accidents are sufficiently seriotis to render the worker incapable of
earning wages for a long period of time, while the amount of com
pensation allowed is too small to replace the lost wages. Thus, one
man doing carpenter’s work on a tipple had fallen and struck his
forehead, injuring his sight and impairing his memory; his compen
sation for “ partial disability” amounted to $35 a month. This man
was exceptionally fortunate in that although unfit to do steady work
he had been able to work at odd jobs, thus supplementing the family
income by approximately $200 a year. Earnings which would per
mit of generous savings and insurance would seem to be essential in
an industry the hazardous nature of which makes adequate provision
for emergencies imperative if children are not to suffer hardships.
The charge has frequently been made that mine workers do not
make full use of the opportunities for labor afforded them, and the
operators have stated that if the worker averaged only 75 per cent
of the available time he could make a good living.5 In the words of
the majority report of the U. S. Bituminous Coal Commission,6
“ ---------- an irregular industry breeds irregular habits among the
workers. When the men are not accustomed to going to work regu
larly every morning the incentive for regularity becomes less potent
and a certain amount of absenteeism inevitably results. This is the
psychological factor of irregularity, and it may be expected that it
will disappear in large measure as the industry becomes more stable.”
4 West Virginia Acts of 1913, ch. 10 (as amended b y acts of 1915, ch. 9, and acts of 1915, first extra session
ch. 1), secs. 30,31 (as amended b y acts of 1919, ch. 131).
6 Award and Recommendations of the TJ. S. Bituminous Coal Commission, 1920, p. 44.
« Ibid, p . 45.

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'CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

Nevertheless, so far as the data obtained in the present survey
indicate, the proportion of mine workers reporting voluntary unem
ployment was practically no greater than that of workers in other
industries, the percentages being 26 and 24, respectively. The average
number of days of voluntary unemployment reported by the two
groups was for mine workers 20 and for others 16. Possibly the men
included in the present study, having in all cases the responsibility
of supporting a family, were on the whole more industrious and stable
than the average worker. It does not appear, however, that mine
workers reporting no voluntary unemployment had been able to>
earn substantially larger incomes than those who had taken time
off of their own accord: 68 per cent of the former as compared with
80 per cent of the latter had earned less than $1,850 for the year;;
the proportions of those earning less than $1,250 were 35 per cent
and 44 per cent, respectively.
F A M IL Y E A R N IN G S .

The income of a man employed in a mining camp is perhaps less
likely to be supplemented to any considerable extent by the earnings
of women and children in the family than that of other industrial
workers, inasmuch as in the one-industry mining town opportu
nities for employment open to women and to girls and boys under 16
are very limited. In about two-fifths of the families interviewed,
there was at least one wage earner in addition to the head of the
household. Most of these wage earners were adult sons. The few
working children under the age of 18 usually made no appreciable
difference in the family income except in cases of boys 16 or over
who worked in the mines. Few mothers worked outside the home,
but 194, or almost one-third of the total, contributed to some extent
to the family income by taking boarders or lodgers, doing laundry
work, or cleaning by the day. Some of these mothers were widows
who thus supplemented the earnings of a grown son who had assumed
the chief responsibility for the support of the family. However,
even in those families in which the income was contributed to b y
one or more wage earners in addition to the head of the household,
65 per cent of the families who reported earnings were in receipt of
less than $1,850 a year and 30 per cent had incomes totaling less
than $1,250.

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in d u s t r ia l

c o n d it io n s

a f f e c t in g

c h il d

w elfare

T a b l é X X I .— A nnu al earnings o f fa m ily, by number o f breadwinners.

Families.

Annual earnings of family.
To
tal.4

With one
breadwin
ner only.

With more than one breadwinner.
Total

4 and over.

Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber. cent.8 ber. cent.8 ber. cent.8 ber. cent.8 ber. cent.8
Total.............................. ...... 8639
Under $850................. : ..................
56
#850, less than $1,050......................
56
$1,050, less than $1,250...................
68
$1,250, less than $1,450...................
67
$1,450, less than $1,850.................. 132
$1,850, less than $2,250...................
55
$2,250, less than $2,850..................
$2,850, less than $3^450,.................
30
$3,450and o v e r . .................
21
Not reported.............. ................... 8 119

358

56.0

37 66.1
30 53.6
47 69.1
45 67.2
76 57.6
31 56.4
14
11
■ 7
60 50.4

280

43.8

19 33.9
26 46.4
21 30.9
22 32.8
56 42.4
24 43.6
21
19
14
58 48.7

199

31.1

8.6

18 32.1
24 42.9
19 27.9
18 26.9
45 34.1
16 29.1
15
4
4
36 30.3

1
1
2
4
5
5
4
9
6
18

1.8
1.8
2.9
6.0
3.8
9.1

15.1

4.1

1.8

6
3
2
6
4
4

4.5

3.4

1 Excluding 6 families in which there were no chief breadwinners.
8 Not shown where base is less than 50.
8Including 1 family for which the number of breadwinners was not reported.
C O S T O F L IV IN G .

In 1919, Prof. Wm. F. Ogburn, of Columbia University, made a
special study of the cost of living as related to bituminous mine
workers’ families, and prepared a budget adapted to the particular
needs of mine workers and to the special conditions in mining towns.
This budget, believed to represent a minimum of health and reason
able comfort for a mine worker’s family of parents and three children,
called for an annual income of $2,143.94 at the prices prevailing at
the time. It provided for no savings.7
Of the men in the present study employed in the mining industry
and reporting the year’s earnings 8 only 6 per cent had received
so much as $2,250, approximately the amount required for Prof.
Ogburn’s budget; of the workers in industries other than mining,9
only 12 per cent— though relatively twice as many as in the mining
industry— had enjoyed an income of at least $2,250. More than
one-third of the families in which the main breadwinner had earned
less than $2,250 had more than three children.
Irregularity of work and the impossibility of forecasting what
earnings will be, make a wise expenditure of income, whatever its;
size, very difficult for the mine worker’s family.
The necessity
of moving frequently from field to field and mine to mine “ follow
ing” work also creates a special expense which eats into savings;
7 Ogburn, Wm. F.: “ Budget for bituminous coal mine workers,” in Studies of the Cost of M a in ta in in g
a Family at a Level of Health and Reasonable Comfort, p. 34. Presented before the U. S. Railway Labor
Board by W . Jett Lauck, 1920.
8 Exclusive of a general manager and nine superintendents and assistant superintendents.
* Exclusive of “ professional workers."

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

or plunges a family into debt. It is not surprising, under these
circumstances, that most of the mine workers’ families rely on credit.
The coal companies’ practice of issuing u scrip,” a book of coupons
which passes at the company provision store for money, no doubt
encourages the habit of purchasing on credit and even beyond the
means of the purchaser.
Approximately four-fifths of the families
interviewed were accustomed to using scrip. The amount which
the employee owes the company store is deducted from the semi
monthly pay before it is handed over to the worker. Some families
were constantly “ scrip bound,” that is, deductions for purchases at
the store equaled or exceeded their earnings, so that on pay days
they never saw cash. Such an arrangement is bound to cause dis
satisfaction, whether well-grounded or not.
The following were
typical comments regarding it made by parents in the families
interviewed:
Y o u no sooner get your m oney than they take it right hack from you.

A 24-pound

sack of flour w hich costs $2.50 at the com pany store costs only $1.90 at B -----------.
W e use very little scrip, as prices are so high at the com pany store.
W e have to deal where we can get the most for our m oney, so we only trade at the
com pany store when w e’re in a big hurry.
Company store is too expensive. W e ’d rather pay 25 cents railroad fare and shop
in S-----------.
As soon as the company gives a raise prices at the store go up.
I t is inconvenient to get to the other stores, or I wouldn’t deal there.

The company

store charges high prices, so farmers who bring in their produce also ask a good price.
W h en a mule dies on the company, prices at the store go up.
The company store is too high, bu t it is so far away to the others that we have to use
it sometimes.
The prices are high.

The nearest other store is 2 miles away, but we prefer to walk

the distance and trade there.
W e wouldn’t trade at the company store at all, prices are so high there, if the other
stores weren’t so far away.
W e ’ d rather go a couple of m iles where things are cheaper.

It was impossible within the scope of the present study to deter
mine with any accuracy whether or not prices charged at the company
stores were higher than those at private stores in the neighborhood.
Undoubtedly the isolation of many of the settlements tends to in
crease the cost of many necessities. Miners’ cooperative stores, of
which there were several in the territory included in the survey, may
possibly help to reduce somewhat the cost of living.
F A M IL Y S A V IN G S .

Of the 540 families reporting on savings, 29 per cent reported that
.they had saved something during the year— approximately the same
proportion, 33 per cent, of native whites as of those of foreign birth,
but only 19 per cent of the colored. The ability to save shown by
families in the present study was closely related to the amount of the

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INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS AFFECTING CHILD WELFARE.

income and the size of the family. Thus of all the families with in
comes of less than $1,850 only 22 per cent had been able to save, a
proportion which dropped to 14 per cent among families in this group
which had more than five members; of the families with incomes
under $1,250 a year, even among those of small or “ average” size
only 16 per cent had saved, and among those of more than five mem
bers only 3 per cent reported having saved; but almost three-fifths
of the families with incomes of at least $1,850 had been able to save
during the year.
No attempt was made to ascertain the amount of the savings, nor
was any attempt made to discover the number of families having
deficits. In a recent study of cost of living among bituminous mine
workers made by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics,10 the
same proportion, i. e., 30 per cent, of families were found to have
saved on an average of $228 during the year covered by the inquiry;
but 60 per cent of the families interviewed reported a deficit averaging
$313 per family.
32706°—23----- 6

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M IN E R S ’ F AM ILIE S LIVIN G O U TSID E C O M P A N Y T O W N S .

It appeared to be possible, so far as some of the mining companies
were concerned, for mine employees to live outside company towns.
Several miners stated that some years ago the policy of most com
panies had been to make employment conditional upon living in
“ camp” but agreed that probably during recent years no attempt
had been made to prevent employees from living where they pleased,
and that men who chose to live outside were not discriminated against
by their employers. One old miner expressed the consensus of
opinion when he said: “ There used to be right smart prejudice about
it, but there is more unity in this generation and the men are more
independent.” The opportunities, however, of securing a house that
is not company owned and at the same time is conveniently near the
mines are limited. A few families leased land from coal companies and
erected their own houses; they secured the land rent free for a short
term of years and upon their leaving the houses became the property
of the company. According to the terms of the lease any trouble
with the coal company was considered a cause for eviction. There
were also several small settlements adjacent to the mines in which
property could be rented or bought. The largest of these, consisting
of 50 or 60 families, was within a mile or so of half a dozen mines; the
land, it was said, had been bought from the original owners b y miners
in the early days of coal mining in the county, and attempts of the
coal companies to get possession of it had met with no success.
Another settlement ma,de up of several dozen miners was located on
top of a mountain and was practically inaccessible except on foot or
horseback. One or two other independent communities contained
only 10 or 12 families each. Probably somewhat less than onetenth of the men employed by companies whose towns were included
in the present survey lived either on farms in the open country or in
one of these small independent settlements. As there were com
paratively few houses to rent, the possibility of living outside camp
was conditioned to a great extent upon the ability to save enough to
buy property.
In order to ascertain what were the advantages, if any, in living
outside company-owned towns, agents of the Children’s Bureau inter
viewed 72 of these families in which the chief breadwinner was at the
;time an employee of a mining company and in which there was at least
one child under the age of 18 years. Owing to the time at which the
study was made— during the summer months— no families were in10 Investigation of Wages and Working Conditions in the Coal-Mining Industry: Hearings before
„Committee onJLabor, House of Representatives. H. R . 11022, p. 49. Washington, 1922.
.

7.4

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...............................

............................

the

MINERS

FAMILIES LIVING OUTSIDE COMPANY TOWNS.

eluded in which, the father regularly farmed in the summer and
worked in the mines during the winter, a practice said to be common
in the neighborhood.
Families living outside company-owned towns enjoyed no greater
household conveniences than those living “ in camp.” In fact, in
some respects, especially as regards the more remote and isolated of
the independent settlements, living arrangements were probably even
more primitive than in most of the company mining towns. For
example, kerosene lamps were in general use rather than the electric
lights with which the majority of the company houses were provided.
Also, water was invariably obtained from wells and springs, whereas
in most of the camps families had the advantage of a central water
supply piped to hydrants, even though the hydrants were outside the
dwellings. Sanitary arrangements were about on a par with those
prevailing in most of the camps; most families had privies of an in
sanitary type, and a few, as in the camps, had no toilet facilities. It
should be noted, however, that the fact that there was less crowding
together of families outside than in the camps rendered the dangers
of insanitary living conditions relatively less.
Probably the most serious drawback to living outside the company
^ town was the problem of securing a physician in case of illness. The
independent settlement referred to as being located on top of a
mountain was 15 miles from the nearest private physician, and
without a telephone. The company doctor at the nearest mining
camp was available on the payment of an extra fee, but had to be
met with a horse at the foot of the mountain three and one-half
miles from the settlement. A considerable number of the families
interviewed in this as in the other independent settlements reported
that they paid the customary deduction for the services of the com
pany doctor; in some cases, however, especially where the family
was relatively inaccessible, only the fee charged for a single man
was deducted from the pay and the miner only, and not the entire
family, was entitled to the doctor’s services. A few families re
ported that they permitted the deduction but did not call the doctor
on account of the distance; a few others stated that the company
doctor seldom came when sent for, one father remarking that the
family didn’t bother with him.” Despite the fact, however, that
in many cases physicians were not easily available, 28 of the 32
births reported in these families as having occurred in the community
in which the families were living at the time of the interview had
been attended by a physician.
Opportunities for schooling seemed to be identical for children
living outside and for those within company towns. Some attended
district schools located within the camps. Those living in inde-

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CHILDREN IN COAL MINING COMMUNITIES, WEST VIRGINIA.

pendent settlements had schools in no case more than a mile from
their homes; children in families living in the open country, like
many rural children, were somewhat less fortunate.
Opportunities for church attendance were somewhat better, if
anything, outside than within the mining towns. Unlike most of
the camps, every independent community had weekly church and
Sunday-school services, and one had a weekly evening “ song service.”
Living in independent communities, in fact, appeared to have
several distinct advantages. The greatest of these undoubtedly was
the opportunity to own a home, and this was the reason usually
given for living outside the company town. Over two-thirds of the
families interviewed— 50 families— owned their houses, and with the
opportunity for individual expression which the ownership of prop
erty gives, the houses varied more widely in size as well as style,
comfort, and general up-keep than did those in the camps. Some
were much better than those to be found in the company towns,
others were not so good, according to the prosperity and thrift of
the tenants. The “ b o x ” house, roughly built of upright boards
and papered with newspapers to keep out the cold, and, occasionally,
even the rough log cabin, were found, as well as the good-sized,
comfortable-looking dwelling surrounded by fruit trees and well- ^
kept gardens. It is worthy of note in view of the dirty gray or drab
maroon of many company-owned houses that a majority of the cot
tages owned by the miners living outside were painted light colors—
yellow, and even pink and blue— and trimmed with white, and many
were decidedly picturesque. Practically all the families interviewed
had gardens larger than were possible for families living in camp,
the amount of land varying from 2 or 3 to 100 acres. Many of the
families had sufficient vegetables for winter use. Some commented
on the difference the produce made in their standard of living and
in their ability to save money; others spoke of the enjoyment which
they derived from working in their gardens, especially as a change
from work inside the mines. In fact, the possibility of having more
land to cultivate Was frequently given as one of the great advantages
of living outside the mining towns.
Pride in the communities and a spirit of neighborliness were
marked in some of the settlements, as might be expected from a
group most of whom owned property and many of whom had been
living in the same place for 10, 15, and even 20 years. As might be
expected, also, of families living outside mining camps from choice,
they were almost unanimous in their preference for life in the inde
pendent settlement. Many emphasized the feeling of security that
owning their own homes gave them, especially in tunes of illness or
slack work. “ You don’t have to move every time your man quits
his job,” said several of the women. Others commented on the

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m in e r s

’ f a m il ie s

l iv in g

o u t s id e

com pany

to w n s

unhealthful conditions in the camps. “ You can’t never get a good
breath down there, you’re so close to somebody’s privy,” remarked
one woman, adding, “ There’s lots of sickness there, too.” “ Last
summer,” testified another, “ nearly every family in the camp had
a case of typhoid. We had two cases. We decided it was too un
healthy a place to live and moved out, but this spring our boy died
of typhoid and the doctor said we had probably brought the germs
from camp.” A father preferred living outside because there was
“ too much sickness in camp—never heard of anyone catching ty
phoid here.” “ We moved here,” stated one of the mothers, “ because
it was a healthy place, had no saloons, but had a school and church.”
One mother who preferred the sociability of the camp commented
on its “ bad water.” The crowding of camp life, with its mixture
of nationalities, and parents’ inability to choose the children’s associ
ates, were general complaints. “ I like living where you aren’t /
messed up with other people all the time, and where you dan have a
real garden, a cow or two, and chickens,” said one woman. Another
remarked in disgust that it was “ so crowded in camp you can hardly
get out of the scent of another’s dirt.” Another thought that it was
“ easier to bring up your children where you’re by yourself.” One
mother objected to the gruesomeness of camp life, saying that they
had lived within sight of the mine and as she sat at her sewing she
could “ always see them carrying out someone dead or crippled.”
Some of the women mentioned the conveniences of life in camp, such
as a near-by water supply, and electric lights, but the majority,
even the most isolated, said that they would not on any account
return to the mining camps to live.

✓

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Full text of The Welfare of Children in Bituminous Coal Mining Communities in West Virginia, Bureau Publication No. 117

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