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ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
SUNDAY. OCTOBER 7. 1900.
THE SLAV AT THE MINES.

CBARACTERISTICS AND CUSTOMS OF

THE HUNGARIANS AND POLKS TS THE

The str:!
-
PENNSYLVANIA COAL FIELDS.
the coal region brings afresh to
the alter' ! tin- outside world the Slav. The
coal operators have been blamed for bringing
these people here and for their treatment of
them. About twenty years ago. after the
Strike in tta al regions, the coal business was
in a bad way. Ov fight between capital and
labor had become an aff.-i.ir of Kilkenny oats,
and the ogx rat mis looked abroad for relief from
the powrr <>f the labor unions. Upon the trreat
sun baked i>!.iin <>f Hungary and amid the for-
ests of Poland they found a new race of laborers
whom they Introduced into the mines to sup-
plant thr Irish, <•< mi in and Welsh miners.
These people are loosely classed as "Huns" and
"Potanders" -the (lassie name Pole is seldom
used. They arc really Poles, Lithuanians,
' v.i
'-hs. Magyars and of other races, who do not
understand on< another's speech and who have
their roots in the Middle Ages.
When thew sun browned peasants from Cen-
tral Barope first swarmed into the Pennsylvania
valleys they were driven about like sheep or
: from one place to another like water.
Their umee being unpronounceable, they were
known on the payrolls by numbers. Their mail
paralyzed
• ices the clerks could only
shove out the foreign letters and let each man
pick out his own To this day advertised letters

EVADING THE LAW.

The trunk contains beer for a Sunday feast,

lord to the marriage license office, walking
at a respectful distance behind him. There has
I been a great influx of these girls of late, and
the records of the license court bristle with
names made up of unpronounceable combinations
of k's, x's and z's. These are not always the
real names of the persons, however. They are
often the license clerk's "stagger" at them.
An Hungarian wedding lasts three days, or as
long as the beer holds out A table, loaded with
food, which stands in one of the rooms, is re-
plenished from time to time, but never
cleared. The guests dance all day and all
night, the bride is bound to dance with
The third influence at work upon him was the
subtle something that we call Americanism.
The spirit of freedom began to ferment within
him, and the first effect was a species of intoxi-
cation. As he saw no auied sollders or uni-
—
formed police he thought there were no re-
strictions upon society he mistook freedom for
license. He organized Lithuanian societies, he
dressed himself in the uniform of a major-gen-
eral and carried a gun. There is an Hungarian
proverb: "Sallangos a Mag-yar" ("The Hungarian
is fond of trappings"). One may see in the pro-
cessions that march through the streets to
church dedications, funerals and the celebration
who have been here longest. They are building
houses, planting trees and gardens, are getting
into business, and are large depositors in the
savings banks.
At the great Lattimer trial there was in evi-
dence a rag. It was known in the case as the
flag. Some of the stripes were torn off. the
field was gone, ihere was a blood stain upon it.
It was made of cheap glazed muslin, and mi^ht
have cost 10 cents when it was new This
American flag was carried at the head of the
strikers when they march ?d upon Lattimer.
This rag was flourished In the courtroom, now
by the prosecution and now by the defence, but

all comers, and as each man pays for the

honor a buxom bride can earn a consid-
erable dowry with her feet. These weddings are
both a nuisance and a menace to the neighbor-
hood, for the customs they have brought from
the mud walls and hard earth floors of their
native land are repeated here. Hobnailed boots
for dancing slippers and shirt sleeves for dress
coats are the rule, and broken floors, smashed
windows and general demolition are the ordi-
nary results, while pistol shots may characterize
an affair more frolicsome than usual.
When they first came to America they bore
the marks of having lived under a strong gov-
ernment. They had never been allowed to own
firearms, and they looked upon a man in uni-
form as a superior being. They walked in the
middle of the street because they did not know
that they were allowed to use the sidewalk, and
they went around an open lot instead of going
across it. They had come of a long line of an-
A BULGARIAN IMMHJRATIUN AGE cestors who had been conquered and enslaved
by every armed force that crossed their borders.
fall under three beads: "Men, women and for- The very name Slav is the parent of the word
eign." They huddled in great barracks or board- slave, and the Russian peasant was, not long
ing houses kept by thi-ir own people. These were ago, bought and sold with the land like the tim-
run on the 00-operative plan, each boarder buy- ber ami watercourses.
ing his own food, which the boarding boss cooked. The Slav was no sooner settled in America
In the storeroom of one of these barracks would than three distinct Influences began to work
hang a long row Ot hams and under each was upon him.
a pile of groceries. Tlu- boarding boss, when he First—That of the coal operator, his employer,
prepared a meal, would <ut a slice from each who proposed to get the greatest amount of

.-
bam and select equa! portions from each board- work out of him at the smallest cost. Under the
er's groceries. Coffee was i>\u25a0 il•«-i in wash !>oiit-rs hard conditions which drove the Irish and
and stews were mad'- in hu<^ caldrons.
•\u25a0
When Welsh laborers out of the mines the Slav
a man was killed in the mines the boarding boss thrived, he saved his money and sent for his
refused to receive bis body, saying: "Dead Hun- friends to follow him over the sea. Dirty he was
garian no good."
—
and rough, and lived "like a beast" but so did
After a while missionary priests came and the "Argonauts of '49" and the Klondiker and
tried to exert a civilizing Influence over th'-m. every man who ever wont to a new country with
Churdu .c]i!t. both of w.'- Roman and
nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Greek Catholic faiths, on one of the hills of The second influence was that of the labor
Wilkec ids a wooden church with the unions, which, failing to prevent his coming,
*
bulbot; the Russo-Byzantine arcbi- aimed legislative enactments at him. The Penn-
iii lure. sylvania Legislature has passed a number
But mon- potent than the priests a.s civilizers of mine laws, making it illegal to employ miners
are th«- women. When th<- Pole or Hungarian who could not speak English or who could not SLAV MINERS GOING TO WORK,
has saved a liti'n- money he sends for bi pass examinations on air currents, gases, etc., Carrying the powder keg is one of their grievances.
heart. She arrives. Her skirts are of and imposing a tax of three cents a day on
length and ber feet are encased all that it meant was only dimly
comprehended
in cowhide aliens. It is true that a man who cannot speak of birthdays of Polish or Hungarian heroes the
boot.-;. <>n h<-r bead is vi imported bonn- t she
or understand the English language and who is uniforms of nearly all of the generals of Europe. by either side.
has imported it herself. It is a gay silk handker- ignorant of gases and air currents is a danger- Such, In brief, is the Slav as he is known in What is this something so mysterious .md so
chief tied under th> chin, i.s not unbecoming to ous fellow workman in so explosive a place as a the mining region. Imported in masses, worked illustrious which we call American freedom?
her round
- <J uatured face, and she has no coal mine. But all these restrictions operated in masses, voted in masses, handled by the labor "It was not won by Americans al< ne. The blood
quarrel with th* Auduboil society. It is to to educate the Slav. He learned English, he unions in masses, and, alas, shot in masses, his of Englishmen, Irishmen, Fren< hmen and Pules
mingles together uj»'ii the altars of the coun-
be regretted that as s:>on as she becomes learned mining, he became naturalized. The salvation lies in detaching himself from the
try's liberty." The children of Kosciusko and

and picturesque headgear for cheap

—
Americanized she will exchange this simple labor unions, having failed to drive him out,
and took another step they adopted him. That was
mass and ceasing to be a member of a patch of
Poland or Hungary set down bodily in America Pulaski and of the Hungarian apostle ofgreatlib-
erty. Kossuth, are to be blended with the
tasteless milliner's finery. As soon as she the beginning of the Lattimer affair and the —in becoming assimilated with Americans. There
arrives she usually accompanies her future pr lit strike. ax* mmx; good citizens already among those mixture v? racvs that is called American.