September 2023

Lewis W. Hine documented child labor conditions in the 1900s—traveling throughout the country and taking photos with his five-pound Graflex 4×5 camera. Historians credit Hine with creating the “photo story,” where images—rather than copy alone—capture a narrative. When visiting a mine in West Virginia in 1908, Hine snapped the picture (above) of a youngster who worked as a “driver” from 7 in the morning to 5:30 at night, seven days a week (Murrmann, 2015 October 3). Source: Library of Congress

Labor Day: What Does it Mean?

Labor Day gives me a chance to read up on American history and ponder what prompted policymakers to recognize workers on the first Monday of September some 129 years ago.

Declaring a special day in history, unfortunately, had no relationship with working conditions and no predictable change in the status quo.

No single event shined the political spotlight on laborers despite countless (and often needless) tragedies that struck workers in the U.S. before, during and after President Grover Cleveland declared a federal holiday called Labor Day in 1894.

One noteworthy event that focussed international attention on workers was an explosion that killed at least 362 miners—boys and men—in Monongah, West Virginia, in 1907: more than a decade after Labor Day was made official.

Some historians consider the conflagration “the worst mining disaster” in American history (Wishnia, 2021 December 3).

The Monongah Mine Disaster

Miners’ deaths worldwide were caused by a number of hazards—beginning more than a hundred years ago—and not only lung diseases and bone-breaking chiseling through rock—but a result of fires, blasts, blow-ups (caused by igniting dynamite and from gasses lit by coal dust), flame-cutting practices, and more.

In the case of the explosion at the mines in Monongah (a community named for the Native people who long lived there, and who reportedly perished once settlers arrived), a fire broke out, apparently starting when a coupling link broke on a train-load of coal cars leaving the mine (and carrying about 30 to 40 tons), sending the cars backward into the mine.

“The loose cars crashed into a wall, cutting electrical cables which then ignited the dust cloud which had been raised by the crash, it was firmly asserted, and this resulted in an explosion so vast and so powerful that it ruptured almost every ceiling and wall in the mine, instantly killing the miners working below,” according to World History.

Writer Steve Wishnia said the death toll is uncertain because the mining company—Fairmont Coal—hired many part-time workers “off the books” and rescuers (some who died during attempts to find miners) were unable to pull out all the bodies because breathing air in the mine was “too toxic.”

Wishnia noted that 1907 marks the worst year for mining deaths in the US.

Two weeks after the Monongah blast, an underground explosion at the Darr mine in Pennsylvania killed 239 boys and men—the largest mine disaster in the state’s history.  

By the end of the year, more than 700 laborers died from mining accidents.  

Owners balk over unions

Fairmont Coal Company was never held responsible for the Monongah mining tragedy, yet local folks started a relief fund to help families affected by the blast.

Andrew Carnegie, an industrialist with interests in—among other things, steel and coal—contributed a large sum of money through the Hero Fund, which he managed and is still in operation (in 2022 the fund awarded $40.5 million in aid.)

As the mining industry grew, workers in Appalachia formed unions to represent their interests with owners, who were notorious for paying low wages and ignoring the dangers of mining—from bone-breaking physicality required to free coal from rock—to the inevitable lung diseases arising from exposure to coal and silica dust, according to the Ohio History Central website.

Mining was considered “the most dangerous job on earth.”

At least two unions were formed in the late 19^th Century, including the American Miners’ Association and the United Mine Workers of America.

Yet, the unions had little leverage in 1907—when the worst disasters occurred.

The noteworthy 1902 strike

Pennsylvania miners living about 100 miles north Monongah went on strike five years before the deadly fire.

Anthracite coal workers in Eastern Pennsylvania—who mined the most cherished of coal—asked for shorter work days and better wages.

The walk-outs started in May and June in several communities, and lasted until October, 1902.

Some 147,000 workers contributed to the “Great Strike.”

As winter approached—and without the prospect of coal—schools, shops, transportation services and government offices across the country (and especially in the East) feared “untold misery” and “social war,” according to Scott Connelly.

President Theodore Roosevelt intervened behind the scenes: he was prevented from taking action.

Technically.

Instead, Roosevelt brokered meetings with workers, management and the government to resolve the conflict, and his actions helped end the strike.

Miners were given a 10 percent increase in wages (they asked for 20 percent) and were awarded a 9-hour workday (they asked for 8).

Remarks

Clearly establishing a national holiday to recognize workers offered little comfort or agency to laborers working in mines and factories in 1900s America.

Despite the Monongah mining disaster of 1907 and New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911, policymakers were molasses-slow in securing—not just workers’ rights—but human rights.  

It took decades to enact the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 to protect children.

Today, the US is stuck in a past riddled with ridiculous laws that unfairly thwart fair wages.

And while the federal government establishes a minimum wage, it hasn’t changed since 2009.

As of this writing, the US minimum federal wage set 14 years ago is still $7.25 per hour.

One pundit, who works in communication for the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) reported that in 2009, a Big Mac cost $3.58 in the US.

Today, a Big Mac costs $5.81: an increase of more than 63 percent (See @KalinaNewman, 2022 April 27).

Apartment rentals follow a similar trajectory, according to a national property management organization, which compared average rents, overall, in 2009, with 2021.

A typical rent in 2009 was $944 per month.

Rents rose 63% to $1491 per month in 2021, and continue to climb in 2023.

Cost of a first class stamp in 2009 was 44 cents.

Today you need 66 cents to mail a first class stamp.

It’s worth noting that industries that sell beef, mayonnaise and toilet paper blame their mounting prices on inflation.

And they successfully lobby politicians.

“Members of Congress who receive an influx of money from corporations and trade associations are less likely to discuss things like wages or income inequality,” note two political scientists writing for The Hill.

“What’s more, members of Congress equate positive economic performance with the goals of business, while ignoring the needs of the ordinary workers and consumers who make our economy work,” they add.

Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas) has argued in favor of placing business owners over workers, saying, ‘Wall Street is the foundation on which Main Street is built’ ” (Morgan & Wilco, 2021 July 20)

What a pity to see politicians’ priorities in play. ###

​I acknowledge the Native peoples on whose land I live, write, and teach, including the Multnomah, the Clackamas, and other Indigenous communities in my region of the Pacific Northwest

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