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Page 22 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