Vol. 1-Interviews-Ferko

DM inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -16- Tape 6 8/7/72 I know Mr. Nagle said about the Irish, he doesn't like the Irish, the Irish were so lazy they would sit until 6 inches of ice would form MF That's true, that's absolutely true, still today the same thing TF Same thing today they have the best jobs DM Around here TF Yeh, you take them Irish they never worked in the mines a day in their life because DM But if you pee'd on somebody's fence MF You were related TF That's what the Polanders use to say, we use to say about the Polanders they're all related DM Everybody in this town is TF Years ago they were DM Literally they are no joking around TF I guess in a certain way, there were only two people what the hell we're all related DM Somewhere we are even if we have to go back to Adam and Eve's time TF They talk about nationality, this and that, this guys marrying an Irishman, this guy's marrying a Protestant, what's the difference, they're all human, I don't believe in that stuff DM In the mining days when you were working did you have groups of people like certain ethnic groups like did you have the Polanders working together TF No they were mixed DM No work crews were all Irish or all Welsh MF No everybody worked together DM Now do you recall before you guys were her anybody talking about the Irish working together, or Polish working together TF I never did, maybe before my time they did DM I didn't realise that, because there's still a lot of prejudice still TF The Irish couldn't work together because they were too godam lazy they had to

have a goddam dumb Hunk or something that would go up and make the quota to make enough money DM Did they drink as much as everybody says they did MF Are you kiddin' DM They really put away the juice TF Everybody drank but them, they would drink behind the door where nobody could see them they'd get so slopped up they couldn't find their way home DM Was some of that because mining work was so dangerous TF Everybody made moonshine, almost every house you go in you could get some moonshine, beer and porter and their own wine they used to make there was a lot of booze flying around then we use to go up to Freeland but he's not operatin' any more you'd get 6 shots for a quarter and 6 beers for a quarter in a half an hour you had enough DM In a half hour that would last you for a day, I heard that they use to make moonshine in the kitchens of the shantys in the back and every once in awhile one would catch on fire MF We made it DM And the firemen would have to come down from the colliery and put the fire out MF Well ours never caught on fire but I know we made it and was that stinky, barrels in the shanty behind the stove TF Everybody use tomake it there wasn't much down this way MF Mostly uptown DM What did you make TF Moonshine, whiskey DM Rye whiskey, now when you say rye as opposed to other kind of whiskey TF You don't blend it with nothin' it's just straight rye whiskey, that Seagrams and PM that you buy in the stores that's all blend whiskey straight rye tells you right on the ( bottom, crossed out) bottle, 100% but that's the best whiskey to drink if

If you're going to drink whiskey, that's pure the other stuff has to much dope in it MF Plain alcohol my mother use to put some water to it she use to get some kind of stuff from the drug store to flavor it TF and give it a color too you know if it was 100 proof you diluted it down to 90 or 80 or whatever you wanted TF Moonshine is pure white, that's just like alcohol, that's what it is when it comes out, and you gave it a coloring DM Wasn't that a caramel flavoring TF you gave it any kind you want MF Cherry flavor she used to get TF We use to get all kinds DM Incredible TF yeah but these were the good old days MF I wouldn't want to go back to them DM Now you have to pay all that tax on the liquor and it's really expensive, I started to talk about jobs but I got lost somewhere, I think I already talked to you about this but I would like to ask you some more about it if I could about how you moved to a higher position like from one position to another you atrted off as a mule patcher TF You had to follow in line DM Like the seniority system TF Yeh, then you went to two mules or if a job opened for laborer that paid 5.49 then you had to go for your minin' papers and then if a job opened for minin' well DM Now how did you get your mining papers TF You had to go and take an examination DM Up at Freeland

TF No to Hazleton DM How did you study for this or how did you work for this TF They asked you different questions about minin' what you should do and what you shouldn't do all different questions they'd ask you DM Which most people could answer is they worked in the mines TF Yeh if they worked in the mines they could answer them questions but the bigger part of the thing was crooked anyway if you slipped them 2 bucks you was alright DM That's what I heard, Bruno took an ICS course, correspondence course to get his foreman papers and he had to do that too probably, that was pay-off too TF Yeh pay-off, that's how everything was DM But that's how you went up and the biggest job, the best job other than a foreman even better than a foreman as far as money, was a contract mining wasn't it TF Yeh, that's providing you had a drag with the committee or boss to get a good job then you could makemoney like up here MF He's dead now DM What do you mean you're making reference to something I don't know about TF Yeh he was a regular suck-ass he had the best job in the mines DM Annie Yenshaw's husband TF Yeh he always made big money DM Well she still screams and hollers MF She always does TF She's a big mouth DM I don't like her very much, I shouldn't put that on tape either MF Nobody does TF Nobody in Eckley likes her, we just talk to her but as far as likin' her well there aint many people like her she has too big of a mouth DM Well she must have some relatives or something because she's mad because they didn't get a job with the work crew and all that she has a thorn in her rear end

DM inter Mary & Tom Ferko -20Tape 6 8/7/72

on account of that I guess TF Same as Holly Maguire she was supposed to get everthing just like[?] her husband but he didn't get it and was pissed up right away they were supposed to get everything and everybody else was supposed to get nuthin' that's the kind of people they are the sonofabitch he promised me a job that I was goin' to get a job up here at the breaker he told me about it and after I took it to the district office he denied it I should have grabbed him by the throat and threw him out the window MF He was an official in the union at the time and he went up to the district office with him first he told him he was goin' to get him a job and then when he took him up to the office he denied everything MF My own uncle did the same thing, don't worry you're goin' to get the job TF He said you're from Eckley you deserve the job he said I'll stick with you and we went up to the district office and he never opened his mouth and I told him about it MF They're both dead now DM Now was age a factor whether you got a job or not TF Yeh, you had to be 18 yrs. old to get a job in the mine because the insurance wouldn't cover you see if you were under 18 you wouldn't get a job DM But once you got the job it wasn't how old you were, if you were 19 or 20 could you get a job contract mining if you were good at it TF If you were good and providing you had the papers and if there was jobs open like say they opened another gangway well 10 or 12 jobs open, well if you wanted a job you got the job because the other guys had jobs there was always more jobs developin' all the time as they were goin' DM Well now say, not you in particular, but say somebody in town, if they had a low job and got advanced to a higher job would they try and move in to a different house or would there status in the community rise