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Labor
Course Connections | Outside Connections
The Dollmaker clearly illustrates the necessity of mass organized labor
during wartime. Early in the novel the Nevels family moves from their homeplace in Kentucky to Detroit, where Clovis works repairing machines in a steel
mill. The steel mill provides steel for the army in order to make weapons.
If Clovis had not chosen to work in the steel mill, he would be obligated
to join the army and fight overseas, an unappealing choice, especially since
Gertie’s brother Henley had recently died in battle.
Mass labor in Detroit was demanding, strenuous, and often unrewarding. One
of the first surprises that Gertie encounters is the odd hours that people
work. During her first night in Detroit, she is shocked by the late hours
that her neighbors keep, and wonders where and why her neighbor had been
out so late. Clovis easily responds to her inquiry: “When else would a woman
on the three-tu-twelve shift get home?” (Arnow 98). Such hours and the realization
that work never stops in Detroit serve as an awakening to Gertie, who had
never in her life “slept till past sunrise” (Arnow 147) before coming to
Detroit. Later in the novel, Clovis returns from work one evening in a bad
mood because he got “bumped” (Arnow 273); he lost his shift to another machine
repairer and must now work the midnight shift. This is a clear example of
how work never stops in Detroit. When the Nevels’ neighbor, Sophronie, returns
from her “three-tu-twelve,” Clovis is just beginning his shift at the steel
mill.
The move to Detroit changes Gertie’s concept of ownership. In Kentucky, Gertie
was accustomed to working, receiving money for her work, and spending money
in exchange for ownership of whatever it is she chose to buy. The concept
was clear: In order to own something, you must pay its full value at the
time of purchase. Detroit presented to Gertie an altered concept of ownership,
where items could be bought in return for hours of work in the future. Upon
seeing Clovis for the first time in their new home in Detroit, with new dishes,
a radio, and new clothing, Gertie praises her husband, telling him, “You’ve
done real good, Clovis, to buy so much stuff, and send us th truck money
besides” (Arnow 187). Clovis is surprised at Gerties clear misunderstanding
shown through her admiration and replies, “Law, woman, your shorely don’t
think I’ve paid fer all this. Up here everybody buys everything on time”
(Arnow 187). In general, the vast majority of workers involved in mass labor
in Detroit could not afford the cost of living in the city. In order for
the companies, such as the Flint Steel Mill, to continue production at a
rapid rate, workers were provided with government homes and items that required
no money up front on the pretense th
at they would work to pay off their amounted
debt.
Similar to the concept of buying on time is buying on credit, both of which
were necessary for families without enough cash to buy commodities and other
items. The main difference between the two practices was job security. Someone
with job security buys on time, while one with little or no work buys on
credit. The Nevels’ run low on cash when disputes between the union and steel
mill become more frequent and heated.
“Though [Clovis’] wounds had cost him only one day’s work in that pay week,
walkouts and work stoppages had made him lose so many hours the check was
for on $37.23” (Arnow 544). The union ultimately votes on a strike and the
main source of income for the Nevels household becomes the wooden jumping-jack
dolls, which do not account for much at $2.50 a piece for a household of
five. Clovis thinks about what the future holds for his family: “A factory
hand could usually get grub enough together on credit to keep from starving,
but not rent, especially in these government projects where there was never
any fooling around about evictions” (Arnow 543). Gertie must now think of
ways to feed her family. Other women in the neighborhood, including her neighbor
Sophronie, had been buying things on credit from an assortment of stores
and vendors. Gertie does not think that she will even be able to buy anything
on credit except for vegetables: “She had bought so little from the bakery
man, she could only ask credit of Joe; the bill would get so big at Zedke’s
he might cut them off before the strike was over” (Arnow 548).
Cottage Industry
The cottage industry is present throughout many of the books in this course.
In The Dollmaker, Gertie’s skill in whittling allows her to carve a variety
of trinkets, toys, and art, which she modestly refers to as “whittling foolishness,”
a term her religious mother gave to Gertie’s small carvings, such as dolls.
Gertie learned to whittle from her father, and uses her skill for many practical
applications, including handles: “Hoe handles, saw handles, ax handles, corn-knife
handles, broom handles, plow handles, grubben-hoe handles, churn-dasher handles,
hammer handles, all kinds a handles – it takes a heap a handles” (Arnow 22).
Gertie also uses her whittling to make baskets and even a small, hollow tube,
which she whittled from a poplar branch during a makeshift tracheotomy so
that her child, Amos, could breathe. But it is not Gertie’s whittling of
practical items that is admired and receives recognition. In Detroit, Gertie
receives compliments of genuine admiration for her “whittling foolishness.”
On the train, before Gertie even reaches Detroit, she is offered a dollar
for a basket that she makes on the train. Gertie appreciates the wood and
nature when she whittles. She loves whittling the dolls and hens that she
make for Cassie, which were all done by hand, and is disgusted with the manufactured
jumping jack dolls that Clovis has her make; “But they’s not any real whittlen
on th things” (Arnow 503). Gertie views the making of the dolls as “creating
ugliness,” but does not protest due to the family’s need for money, which
the dolls certainly help bring in at two and a half dollars each.
The Nevels’ started making the jumping jack dolls as an additional source
of income, in order to make life a little easier. When the war ends, work
is hard to come by, since the government no longer needs production for the
war effort, and there are soldiers returned from overseas who need jobs as
well. As a result many people lose their jobs and start peddling as a sole
source of income. Such peddlers earned even less than the small amount peddlers
made during wartime. “Times were none too good for many; she could see that
in the peddlers flocking through the alleys; many ex-servicemen, all knocking
on her door, holding out books, magazines, photographs, clocks…Others sold
dancing lessons, clothing of all kinds, imitation jewelry, an endless assortment
of pots, pans, brushes, gadgets for what use she could not even guess, radios,
and toys” (Arnow 518).
Unions in The Dollmaker
Unions played a large role in the steel industry, as opposed to the coal mines in Appalachia that went without established unions for a long time, while mine owners held absolute control over their mines. Workers in the steel industry paid mandatory fees, or “union dues,” so that the union could continue to function smoothly in the face of adversity from the steel companies. Despite the presence of unions, working conditions in the steel mill remained less than ideal. In The Dollmaker, Clovis comes home early one day due to a walkout, which started when a union steward was suspended from his job for three days, because he got into a fight over overtime hours. Clovis needed the money, but could not have stayed and worked longer: “You want me to come home with a busted nose? When them others walk – you gotta walk.”
Even after the firm establishment of unions in
the steel industry, violence between union workers and company-hired enforcers
was still an issue. In
The Dollmaker, tensions at the Flint steel mill, where Clovis works, are
continually rising, due to an assortment of disputes between steel mill executives
and union officials. Throughout the novel the union members beco
me increasingly
riled by the steel mill, whose high-ranking officials show little concern
for the welfare of the workers, demonstrated through cuts in overtime pay
and detrimental working conditions. One man who works in the steel mill with
Clovis “saw a man die on th ‘sembly right by him – speed-up – August – no
fans” (Arnow 531). The steel mill had ordered a faster production rate and
neglected to turn on the fans in the mill, even though it was August. The
man died from exhaustion in the hot weather, while working at a faster than
normal pace. Such disregard for the workers caused frequent walkouts and
talks of striking, both of which ultimately result in the steel mill losing
money. In order to prevent more walkouts and a potential strike, the steel
mill hires men to murder a man named Balkin, the union delegate. Clashes
between union members and the steel mill were constant; there were “the dues,
the numbers, the badges, the meetings, the walkouts, the strike talk, and
now blood” (Arnow 531).
Storming Heaven
Storming Heaven provides a glimpse of the cottage industry. Albion Freeman’s
father is a “drummer,” or peddler like the Detroit peddlers in The Dollmaker.
Whereas the people peddled in Detroit, due to a large loss of employment
at the war’s end, Albion’s father was selling his wares, traveling from West
Virginia to Ohio and back, because he lost his farm in West Virginia to the
coal companies as did many inhabitants of the region.
Unions are a central theme in Storming Heaven, like The Dollmaker. Though the
two novels deal with different industries, the coal and the steel industry,
the methods of negotiation between union representatives and coal operators
are extremely similar and lead to similar consequences. In Storming Heaven,
the coal operator’s knowledge of a miner’s union membership was reason enough
to get that coal miner fired. If the miner lived in company housing, the miner
and his family were evicted.
Work Ethic
In Jack Weller’s Yesterday’s People, he makes a distinction between the work ethic of middle class American society and that of Appalachians. “In middle class America…a man is described by the work he does – he’s a drill-press operator, he’s a teacher, he’s a shop foreman…It is almost a case of ‘we live in order to work,’ while the mountaineer’s philosophy is ‘we work to live’” (Weller 106). The sentiment of the mountaineer is clearly expressed through Gertie in The Dollmaker, who wanted nothing more than to continue farming in Kentucky. The practice of subsistence farming, as seen by the Nevels early in the novel, is exactly what Weller says, it is working to live. However, Gertie cannot sustain her desired style of working and living when Clovis and the family move to Detroit. Clovis does not fit the mold of the mountaineer’s work ethic, seeing as he has a passion for his work, tinkering with and fixing machines. Gertie and Clovis experience a strain in their relationship when they move to Detroit and their fundamental differences are exposed. Gertie simply cannot adjust to a life full of work with no time to pursue the things she enjoys.
Course Connections: River of Earth
Jack Weller’s concept of work ethic applies to Brack and Alpha in James
Still’s River of
Earth.
Brack, a coal miner, expresses his views on work during times of hardship: “Against
my wont it is to be treaching the camps, but it’s bread I’m hunting, regular
bread with a mite of grease on it. To make and provide, it’s the only trade
I know, and I work willing” (Still
52). Brack does not want to work, as can be seen in his words “against
my wont.” Brack wants to make enough money to survive and enjoy the small
luxuries of life. He does only what he has to in order to live, and he
does that willingly so that he and his family can enjoy life. Brack’s wife,
Alpha, expresses an even greater desire to live a full life, and does not
see the need for work to earn money. “Forever I’ve wanted to set us down
in a lone spot, a place
certain and enduring,
with room to swing arm and elbow, a garden-piece for fresh victuals, and
a cow to furnish milk for
the baby” (Still 51). Alpha holds a more traditional, nature and subsistence-oriented
view on life. She wants security for herself and her family, as seen in
her desire to live in a “certain and enduring” place. Security lies in
a place that is able to sustain the Baldridge family healthily.
Alpha main desire is to enjoy life with her family. Work and money are
not of importance
to her. She wants only enough to provide food so that she can live life
to its fullest without outside intervention. Brack and Alpha quarrel of
the choice between rural and urban life, just as Gertie and Clovis in The
Dollmaker, and their relationship does suffer some consequences as
well.
Course Connections: Storming Heaven
Dillon in Storming Heaven is a pertinent of example
of a mountaineer, who works to live as opposed to living to work. Dillon
isolates himself from
society on account of his love for nature and his dislike for most all forms
of modernization and the people that embrace it. He “can’t abide a room for
long” (Giardina 195), and holds strong contempt for the people of Annadel,
or any town for that matter, saying t
hat “They live live sheep. They like
to be ordered around” (Giardina 195). The coal companies are likely responsible
for Dillon’s view of people living in town, since they ordered the people
off their land, and the people have been moving in flocks, like sheep, from
the hills, to the coal camps, to the tent communities, and then to town.
The only reason that Dillon comes to town, which he obviously dislikes, is
to get goods so that he may survive. He works as a moonshiner, trading “a
load of liquor for what [he] need[s]” (Giardina 194). Dillon simply works
to live, “living the old ways…the pure ways, the dead ways” (Giardiana 194),
from which the Appalachian people have progressed, but still hold definite
traces of the sentiment.
Steel Industry: Historical Context
The steel industry did not take kindly to attempts
at union organization. In the early days of union organization, many men
died in massacres resulting
from negotiations gone wrong with the steel companies. An example of
such
conflict occurred at the Carnegie Company’s Homestead mill in 1892, which
resulted from the expiration of a wage contract that the workers had won
in a strike three years earlier. Union members called a strike when the contract
was not renewed and in response the executives of the Carnegie Company hired
300 Pinkerton guards from New York to break the strike. Seven workers and
three guards were killed in the Homestead strike, resulting in the Carnegie
Company saying that it would never recognize a labor organization in the
future (Goldner).
During World War II, the steel industry did not achieve industrial democracy,
but significant measures were taken to make sure that industrial tyranny
was no longer a feature of the steel industry. The federal government expanded
its controls over the economy and became involved in the steel industry.
Average wages were raised, but of greatest importance to the government
was the continuation of constant production. Strikes were banned and President
Roosevelt formed the National War Labor Board in January of 1942, which
was established to determine procedures for settling disputes that might
affect war production. The board could offer mediation, voluntary arbitration,
and compulsory arbitration in disputes between unions and company owners.
Working conditions and wages improved considerably during the war as well,
with average gross hourly earnings raising approximately 40% from 1940
to 1945 (Schumann).
Coal Industry: Appalachian Context
Coal was first discovered in the Appalachian region in 1742, by John Peter Salley, but was not mined in large scale until the mid 1800’s, due largely to the isolation of the region, and the limited demand for a new source of fuel as wood, charcoal, and peat were still commonly used before industrialization became a significant presence in American labor. West Virginia was the foremost producer of coal in 1840, producing three hundred thousand tons, stimulating the organization of many coal companies throughout the region. The Civil War had an adverse effect on production, unlike World War II, and mines were closed until the war’s end. However, the war’s end saw tremendous growth in the coal industry throughout the Appalachian region from its central presence in Virginia (Eggleston).
Coal miners faced unfavorable and hazardous working condition with little job security. “Fatalities and disabling injuries on the job, unemployment, and occupational illness are all apparent, common, and direct consequences of the conduct of the coal industry in Appalachia” (Cuoto 165). In the mid-1920’s, the time in which Storming Heaven takes place, a focal issue of concern and a contributor to miners’ poor pay and benefits, and job security was excess capacity, “the industry’s ability to produce more than it could sell at a profit” (Cuoto 166). Excess capacity was a direct result of the coal operators employing too many miners during profitable boom periods, and then having to lower wages and fire miners when the demand for coal fell.
The UMWA (United Mine Workers of America) disputed with coal operators,
citing a need for improvement and preservation of the standards of labor,
and assurance of uninterrupted production, and the provision of profits for
reinvestment and improvement in the indu
stry, including mechanization (Cuoto
167). Frustrated with the non-compliance of coal operators, union divisions,
such as the Matewan division of the NMU (National Miners’ Union), responded
with strikes that often resulted in violence and at time escalated to armed
conflict between miners and the hired guns of the coal operators that resulted
in the deaths of men, women, and children.
The United States government decisively intervened in the struggle between
unions and coal operators and established the National Labor Relation act of
1935, which “encouraged collective bargaining by organized labor groups” (Cuoto
167). Union efforts and government action in the 1930’s had approximately ninety
percent of the coal industry organized, with benefits, such as welfare and
retirement for the miners by the end of the decade (Eggleston).
Coal miners experienced even better treatment
during World War II, as did steel workers, due to the government’s necessity
for continual production
so that the war effort had security in the manufacturing of weapons, vehicles,
and other necessities of war. The federal government needed to avoid union
action against injustices in the industry, including strikes and sit-downs,
and took charge of the mines and negotiated with the UMWA for better work
benefits than coal miners had experienced in the past. As a result, coal
production in West Virginia, essentially the coal mining capital of Appalachia,
produced 173,653,816 tons of coal in 1947, its highest production rate to
date (Eggleston).
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-Clarence Radin
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