The crudity of the labour portrayed here belies the rich outport traditionalism of the men who worked the Bell Island mines. This manifested itself in many ways. In a good Conception Bay tradition many were reluctant to give themselves over fully to one kind of work. Gardens were kept by many families in an attempt to make the industrial wage part of a larger economic package. There is also some evidence of resistance on the Island to the regiment of industrial work. Life in outport Newfoundland was organized on a cyclical and seasonal basis. There was no such thing as a shift or a twelve, ten or eight-hour day. Industrialism, of course, demands these; it requires a rigid and often monotonous routine of work, job specialization, and a careful division of labour. Like people of traditional societies elsewhere in the world, Newfoundlanders have not always found the change easy to accept. In February, 1925, the Bell lsand mines were closed after the men had rebelled against the introduction of a punch clock system. The government intervened in this quarrel and a settlement was arranged whereby the clocks were removed. Workers on Bell Island also insisted on being paid in cash rather than by cheque.
