and prevents such employee from engaging in his regular work for wages. The period of such payments begins with the sixth day after disability and is limited to twenty-six weeks for one injury. The total sum to be paid out in respect to any one accident during a policy year is restricted to $500. In case of death or the loss of both hands or both feet, or one hand and one foot, or the sight of both eyes, the assured is entitled to a sum equal to his wages for twenty-six weeks, computed at the rate received per week by principal at date of accident.

FRAUDULENT EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES.

To a more or less extent fraud is practiced by the subofficials of a large number of the mining companies in the region, but proof in specific instances is hard to obtain. The foreman and employment bosses disclaim all knowledge of such practices, and the superintendents and managers state positively that nothing of the sort exists, while the employees who have been victimized are unwilling to give out information for fear of losing their positions. Enough data were secured to justify the statement that questionable methods are used by certain foremen and employment bosses in filling the vacancies in their gangs. The question was brought up before a group of Croatian and Servian laborers in one of the towns on the Mesabi Range, and nearly every man in the group stated that he had paid from $5 to $20 for a job in the laboring occupations to some lower official of one of the largest mining companies. One of the most intelligent of the men, a Croatian, who spoke English fluently, stated that just a few weeks before a gang of laborers, 15 in number, was laid off by an employment boss of the company and reemployed immediately on the payment of $5 by each laborer to the boss. Each man gave an account of how he had secured work with the company, and several offered to swear to the statement in writing before a court official. An affidavit was secured from one, a Servian, which is given below, as an example of how some positions are secured and sold on the ranges:

STATE OF MINNESOTA,
County of

I,

county of

- 88:

do hereby swear that in the month of October, 1908, I paid one a working boss of the Mining Company at the town of State of Minnesota, ten dollars in lawful money of the United States, for a job as track laborer at two dollars per day, which job I held for three months and

was then laid off with others.

I approached the boss, Mr.

and asked him for a job, whereupon Mr. asked me whether I had any money, and on telling him no, he said there was no work for me. That afternoon I went back to Mr. and after treating him to the

amount of six dollars in a near-by saloon went home with him and there gave him ten dollars for a job, which he accepted, and I received a position next morning as track laborer.

Dated June, 1909.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this

day of June, 1909.

(Signed)

The statements of other laborers on the range are similar to the ones set forth in the above affidavit and need not be gone into.

THE IMMIGRANT AND ORGANIZED LABOR.

A local union at the town of Hibbing on the Mesabi Range is, at the present time, the only labor organization in the iron region, but it has never been recognized by mining companies. A number of attempts have been made to organize the mine operatives by the Western Federation of Mine Workers, but all have met with failure, due to the opposition to such a movement on the part of the mining companies. Beginning about June, 1906, an attempt was made to unionize the entire region. This movement succeeded in creating a discontent with the wage systems, resulting in the only serious labor disturbance that has occurred on the ranges. A strike followed the refusal of the mining companies to consider the demands of the union to increase wages, establish an eight-hour day, and abolish the contract system. The strike was called July 20, 1907, but really began on the 14th of that month, simultaneously with the ore handlers' strike on the Duluth docks. The leader and chief agitator was a native of the Austria-Hungary Province of Tyrol, who was working under the direction of the Western Federation of Mine Workers. By questioning persons in all grades of occupation in the mines it was learned that numbers of men among the strikers were holding out for the abolition of the contract system and who, had they won, would have been placed on the pay rolls at wages ranging from $2 to $2.50 per day, when under the contract system they were able to earn from $3 to $4 a day. Judging from this, it would seem that many of the men were completely under the influence of the leaders and were insisting upon demands the effects of which they did not realize.

The majority of the strikers were Finns, although led by a Tyrolian, while the minority was composed of Slovenians, Italians, and Croatians, with a few of other races. Around the Hibbing locations the strike was most disorderly, due, it is claimed, to the radical Finnish element. The strikers in the town of Hibbing assembled in the streets and after forming marched over the town shouting maledictions at and stoning all who opposed them; growing confident in their strength, and because they had met with little opposition, they went a step further and unfurled the red flag. The American element stepped in at this juncture and under the leadership of one of the most prominent citizens formed a vigilance committee, which soon put an end to the public demonstrations. In other towns on the Mesabi Range the movement was pressed in the same manner by the strikers and their sympathizers, but the mining companies held firm and refused to recognize in any way the labor organizations or their demands. On the Vermillion Range the strike was passive, and it little affected the community. The strike ended with the disappearance of its leader after about a month, but it was not until the following October that labor conditions became quiet or approached a normal state. While the strike was in progress, a number of Montenegrins, Servians, South Italians, and Croatians were used by the mining companies to take the place of the strikers. One mining company imported as many as 1,300 of these strike breakers, it is claimed. When the Finns applied for work after the strike was over, they were refused, and it was not until after several months that they were allowed to enter even the lower occupations. The Austrian races received the preference.

The strike, coming just at the time of the industrial depression of 1907, was a severe blow to the mining industry in the region, and as late as the year 1909 the effect was still noticeable. Finns are now discriminated against, due, it is said, to their radical socialistic tendencies, and it is only because they are excellent laborers that they are tolerated at all. The results of the strike may be grouped as follows:

(a) Attempt to organize labor unsuccessful.

(b) Industrial depression made more severe in its effect by the labor trouble.

(c) Under the lawlessness resulting radical tendencies of the Finns led to organizations under guise of socialists.

(d) Importation of the "black" races, Montenegrins and other races, as common laborers.

(e) Complete victory won by the operators.

(f) Movement resulted in discrimination against Finns and a general distrust of these people, which are only overcome by fact that they are excellent laborers.

The small extent of membership in labor organizations may be seen from the following table, which shows, by general nativity and race of individual, affiliation with trade unions of males 21 years of age or over in the households studied who were working for wages.

TABLE 110.-Affiliation with trade unions of males 21 years of age or over working for wages, by general nativity and race of individual.

That very little interest is manifested in trade unions in this locality is evidenced by the fact that of 240 males, for whom information was obtained, only 4 or 1.7 per cent are affiliated with trade unions, the foreign-born reporting less than 1 per cent, as compared with 8.3 per cent of the native-born of native father, white.

Among the foreign-born it will be noted that, with the exception of one male from the English and one from the Swedish, not a single individual of any other race is affiliated with trade unions.

CHAPTER V.

INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY.

Progress of immigrants-Racial efficiency-Saloons and the use of intoxicants as affecting efficiency.

PROGRESS OF IMMIGRANTS.

Of all the races found on the Minnesota iron ranges the Scandinavians are making the most progress. Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes are moving up in the scale of occupations and found chiefly in skilled work in the ore mines, while many of them are entering independent undertakings of their own. These people started as laborers in the lowest grades of work and are now found among the most advanced residents of the region. They are industrious, law-abiding citizens. The Italians and Montenegrins have made almost no progress. The Slovenians on the Vermillion Range have made some progress, chiefly in their living conditions. The Hebrews, who are nearly all from Russia, are the proprietors of general merchandise stores, saloons, and other business enterprises, and are apparently progressing. The English, Irish, Scotch, and French Canadians have worked out of the unskilled occupations and are found holding such positions as foremen, master mechanics, machinists, and steam engineers. The Finns are making some progress, but in the ore-mining industry are in the laboring class. Some are going out of the towns and mine locations into the wilderness and making farms. It was stated by a county commissioner of St. Louis County that the Finns and a few Swedes were opening tracts of land miles away from the centers of population, where they remain practically the whole winter on provisions hauled out during the fall. This official further stated that in his opinion the Finns were the best people to use in opening up new locations of all on the ranges, as they seemed to thrive where the hardships were the most severe. The progress of the Finns is retarded though by their surliness and radical tendencies.

Concerning the Bohemians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Greeks, Poles, Servians, and Syrians little data could be secured. The Poles are reported to be good workers and orderly, but the Croatians are said to be lazy and indifferent workmen. Very little real progress has been made by either of them considered collectively. Of the other races there is a scarcity of information, and they are little known, which in itself would indicate that they have made but little progress, if any. Education is compulsory, and among the second generations some progress may be noticed, but due to the unsettled condition of most of the races the results accomplished by the schools can not be noticed in any great degree.