Now, the houses are put up as much for the convenience of the companies as for the miners. There would be no coal mined unless the miners had houses in which to live, so a 6 per cent rate on the houses would seem fair. But even allowing 10 per cent, the rate would be $30 instead of $72. At the rentals charged these houses have paid for themselves over and over again and everything the companies get out of them now is pure "velvet." I would call the rental charges exorbitant rather than "slightly excessive" as the commission finds.
As a matter of fact, that Glasscock commission report will not bear close analysis. It is a straddle, made so perhaps in order to protect "the good name of the state." I do not believe that it is accurate in a number of particulars. I do not believe that the average wage of the miners on Paint and Cabin Creeks is between $600 and $700. A good miner will average $2.50 to $3 a day for the days he works. The impression is sought to be created that many of the miners have money in bank. Some of them have, undoubtedly, but they form an exceedingly small percentage of the whole number. I know that as soon as the strike was called the vast majority of the miners and their families had to be supported by the union. I saw wagon loads of provisions sent up to the head of Cabin Creek to feed those who were hungry and who had nothing coming to them according to the books of the companies and who could get nothing at the stores.
As a matter of fact the whole truth has never been told of the real conditions existing in the mines of West Virginia. One of the most illuminating pieces of testimony available to the non-partisan investigator is that of former Governor W. M. O. Dawson. Governor Dawson sent a special message--a rare document and hard to find now--to the legislature of 1907. Three cases of peonage in lumber camps had been called to his attention by Secretary of State Elihu Root at the request of the Italian ambassador. In his message Governor Dawson declared without equivocation that a system of peonage existed under the guard system. One of these cases resulted in what he called a "wanton murder" as a result of a controversy as to whether the murdered man owed $1.50 for the railway fare of his son. The man was killed by a guard. The governor goes on: