At  all  the  other  colheries  of  the  company  the  officials
were  quite  discouraged  with  the  attitude  of  the  workers:

''What  can  we  do  when  a  dozen  men  refuse  to  work
Sunday  for  the  repairing  of  the  sheaves?"  [The  sheaves
are  the  pair  of  wheels  always  visible  at  the  top  of  a  mine
tipple,  serving  as  pulleys  for  the  wire  cables  which  run  from
the  winding  drum*  inside  the  engine-house,  down  into  the
shaft.]  "By  that  they  make  it  necessary  for  five  hundred
of  their  companions  to  lose  two  eight-hour  shifts!  .  ..
More  machinery?  Yes,  but  the  men  will  refuse  to  work
with  the  machine  for  undercutting  the  coal.  That  in  spite
of  the  fact  that  actual  experience  has  shown  that  the  col-
liers earn  more  with  the  help  of  it  wherever  its  use  is  practi-
cable!"

The  tour  only  emphasized  the  impression,  gained  ear-
lier from  the  train  through  this  district,  that  the  housing
conditions  are  much  better  than  would  easily  be  found  in


"BACK  TO  THE  MINES!"  107

an  American  colliery  area.  All  the  houses  are  closely  built
of  brick  and  stone.  Except  for  a  few  bad  back  streets
they  are  quite  fairly  attractive  and  all  seem  to  have  some
sort  of  indoor  plumbing.  For  miles  and  miles  we  were
scarcely  out  of  sight  of  one  of  the  well-built  and  busthng
mine  towns.
