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The Southern Israelite
Davenport Brothers
Dry Goods, Notions and Furnishings
IMPORTERS AND JOBBERS
Chattanooga, TennpsNPf
: :
:: :
i Hubbuch Glass Co. :
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
Manufacturer* of
i
M I It It 0 It S
Jobbers of GLASS
Store Front Construction
USE
TEXACO
H. L 1 HA It. HER. Agent
The Texas Company
CHATTANOOGA, TENN.
Jews In Mining In South Africa
By Hilda Purvvitsky
Mining as a profession is not
adopted by many Jews in South Afri
ca. It has a number of disabilities
which the average Jew will not con
template facing, and the conditions
of a mining life are not attractive.
Mining is a career which does re
turn monetary value commensurate
with the effort entailed. The work is
not an occupation which is very osten
tatious. It is not a "top-hatted” pro
fession.
Unlike most professions in which a
young man, after having matriculated
and taken four or five years’ course
at the University obtains his degree
and then places a brass plate on his
door, mining is an undertaking in
which the young man, however numer
ous his degrees, must start at the
bottom, and very often he stays at
the bottom.
The method of organization in a
mine is very similar to that adopted
in the navy. There are various ranks,
and a system of rigid discipline pre
vails. Jews do not take kindly to dis
cipline. Before any promotion is pos
sible the Government certificate of
competency must be obtained.
Various risks surround the miners,
—the risk of occupational disease—
miner’s phthisis,—the risk of accident
and the responsibility of accident. The
popular conception of a miner stripped
to the waist and wielding a pick is
quite erroneous, for the meanest white
man in South Africa gets five shillings
a day in the capacity of supervisor.
Obviously this proves that the man
who wishes to succeed in the mining
world must have a variety of excellent
qualities. In engaging a man for a
job the other day a prominent Jewish
official said, "If you want to get on
you must have the lungs and wind of
a springbok, the organizing powers
of a British general, the tact of Ma-
ehiavelli and the brains of a Cabinet
Minister.” The aspirant must be a
psychologist and have a ready fist
as well. A successful mining engineer
may have as many as a thousand na
tives in control; he must be a leader
of men and a driver of men; and be
sides a commanding personality he
requires the physical ability to knock
two natives’ heads together, if neces
sary. In addition he must be able to
write learned and highly technical pa
pers when occasion demands. It seems
strange, but it is nevertheless a fact,
that to succeed on the mines a man
must also have the attribute of luck.
A Mine Captain of my acquaintance,
a Jew, who worked his way up from
the foot of the ladder in a compara
tively short time, tells me that he
has had only one fatal accident in six
months. He is quite certain that if he
had not been so remarkably lucky
promotion would not have come his
way. When continued accidents dog a
man s path, even accidents for which
he is in no way to blame, promotion
lags. In mining, more than in anv
other sphere, the Jonah is shunned. *
There is a fair amount of anti
semitism. and the road to the top, dif
ficult as it is for the average man,
‘ s fa ** more crowded with obstacles
for the Jew. To succeed it is not
enough that the Jew is as good as the
next man—he must be infinitelv bet-
It is all the more gratifying then
that quite a number of Jews have held
and are holding big positions on mines
in South Africa. There has been a
Jewish General Manager on the big.
gest gold-producing mine in the world,
drawing a salary of three thousand
pounds a year and for which the ap
plicant must hold the Government
Mine Manager’s Certificate of Compe
tency. The next position of Assistant
General Manager or Underground
Manager on a very large Transvaal
Mine is now held by a Jew. The rank
of Mine Captain, which comes next,
is now held by at least three Jews in
South Africa. For this position the
Mine Overseer’s Certificate of Compe
tency, which may only be issued after
five years’ underground, is required.
There are, too, several Jewish shift-
bosses (who must be holders of the
Permanent Blast Certificate obtained
after two years permanent under
ground service), each controlling fif
teen to twenty white men and three
hundred kafirs.
When it is remembered that South
Africa is the largest gold-producing
country in the world, that a decent-
sized mine today makes a profit of
sixty thousand per month, while a
concern like the Modderfontein Con
solidated Mines, Ltd., makes at least
two hundred thousand pounds per
month (a fact of immediate concern
to everybody in this country, for if
the Government were not sharehold
ers in the Modderfonstein Consoli
dated. every income-tax payer would
have to pay ten pounds a year more).
That the Transvaal gold mines pro
duced last year more than ten million
ounces of fine gold worth more than
forty-two and a half million pounds,
one is inclined to ask, “Where does the
Jew come in?”
In the technical branches of mining,
which I have just been discussing,
comparatively few Jew's are to be
found, though more and more young
men are taking up the profession with
zeal and enthusiasm, and are making
a success of it. Quite a number of
Jews, however, are found doing ad
ministrative w'ork rather than execu
tive. There is more work to be done
above ground than below,—the work,
corresponding to that required in con
trolling a ship in motion, but an enor
mous ship, measuring, as some large
mines do, ten square miles in area!
There are quite a few Jewish Sur
veyors, and various positions in the
Survey Department generally are held
by Jews. That is, in fact, where Jews
gravitate. The w'ork does not require
the handling of men, to w’hich the
ERSKINE BAKING CO.
INCORPORATED
Manufacturers
HIGH GRADE CAKES
Baked Fresh Every Day
H. P. ERSKINE
Pre»idemt anil General .Manager
CHATTANOOGA, TENN