Part 5/13:
Conditions for miners were grim. Many lived in "company towns," where the companies owned everything, from housing to stores. Workers were paid in vouchers redeemable only at company stores, a practice that kept wages low and expenses high. Company policies also mandated yellow-dog contracts that forbade union membership—any worker who joined a union risked eviction from company housing. Such conditions paralleled, in the words of union leader Samuel Gompers, a “Russianized” autocracy where miners were essentially serfs.