The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-07-24
THE MINER.
wffsssu Tor the ApFccAEa.
THE COAL COMPANY's AGENT.
CHAPTER H.
N WHICH YOU Practice oEcLcCv.

pASSeu htOnb ioi wv h@u HNtSt SeoU -"
miles beyond the limits OF the city before
bat your easy nature was not much affected
by strange sights nature had no charms for
you. The scenery you f~@sed through did
not cause your heart 10 tnrob with admira-
ton and delight. When the cars wheeled
you through mountain gorge, into ravine,
through rayine into valley, along the valley
into tie town, where we now sit, with those
mountain ridges towering 80 high above Us.
Y sere not affected by the sublime gran
Of the scenery. What callous piece
OF human flesh you must have beent Your
present indifference, after residing here bali
a soor years among Us, may be Ia some res
poets excusable but still, with the ever
changing scenery, cannot see how you can
be 50.
But We must 60 back, we are getting too
much in advance OF ourselves
Tsaid you came up here armed with i'm
por,ant commissions. can tell you the ex'
tens Of these. , Asse~rs IN
That leather man. who had degenersted
into a coal maniac, had not been idle ghile
carrying his burdensUtne dieease round
Gotham. He bad spread the contagion so
well, ahat after purchasing the tract, for
about ten thousand dollars cash, he had rails
ed company, procured charter, sold
shares, and pocketed eighty thousand dollars
clear OF all expenses, besides remaining
shareholder in possession Of one-fiith OF the
property. AS matter Of course this coal
maniac was elected president, of what at the
present time, is considered very important
coal corporation.
AT that time Mr.. Stirring, the president OF
the company--manias that he was-was en-
trusted with the entire management Of its Al.
fairs. The more SAGE stockholders, On whom
the terrible disease had not so fast hold,
never made any objectiensto the course he
wished to pursue with their property, there
fore bis engagement with you was endorsed
without question. This coal maniac settled
on you a salary, to begin With, Of three
thousand dollars per annum.
Before you had been engaged, the board OF
directors had settled on him salary Of five
thousand per annRIn. THIS beggarly sum
Just barely enough for one man 20 live on
they advanced subsequently to ten Thousand.
This is more like the thing. This coal ca
MAC is still your president and the company
is satisfied be shall remain so be has PROV
cd himself 10 be q sharp fellow.
To return 20 you, Mr.. Stirring, who repre-
sents the entire company to the working and
business men Of your district, and in conse-
quence are looked up to by most Of US, as II
you stood on some lofty pinnicle, say we
will return to you and follow your course
down to the present time.
Il is ten years since you came to this re-
giou. This makes you about thirty i've, and
you DO not seem to have suffered much from
hard usage.
There was great work TO DC done. How
did you feel when you gszed on those mOu0-
tAins you were to pierce and rob Of their ma
tural contents From the town where you
live team road now leafs You TO the Com
pany's tract. There were no roads then, but
there were those ready 70 accompany YOU to
Il in order TO show YOU the boundaries and
give you all the information in their power
respecting the beds Of coal and the best
modes Of making approaches to them. You
were led over high ridges, into deep gcrgss,
narrow ravines and expansive valleys. You
crept cautiously over high lodges OF rock into
dark caves; you examined the pr Firg shafts
which had demonstrated to certainty the
existence of great mineral wealth. The
huge pines and oaks and poplafs and other
valuable timber, grew so thick that the I'M
derbrush warped and bound them,a as it were,
into woven net work, that made it exceed
ingly difficult to get along without resorting
to free use OF the clearing axe. voG came
back to your boarding house in q STATE Of
bewiderment. You would have given any
thing for your city leather cutting establish
ment Just then. You faDcied you had UNI
dertaken an impossibility. Nothing you saw
or nothing that had been said to you, would
have convinced you that it Va possible TO
get out II that tract Of land covered with
primitive forests, hundred tons Of coal to
be sent down to the city markets. There
was nothing that encouraged or delighted
you among all that pile Of richness, repre-
seutIng many millions, you saw nothing.
There must have been . thick film drawn
over your minds eye. Ignorance binds
people it must have blinded yoI then you
were a child among the mountains the idea
at that time prevailed in your mind
that your president was al unredeemable
monomaniac. You could not think him
guilty Of knowingly steindiing set Of sharp
New Workers into the belief that this pro-
perry was worth hundred dollars, leaving
alone the five hundred thousand the compa-
ny had valued their mountain possessions at
OH the strength Of bis representations. How
people differ in their views, Mr.. Stirring, Ia
regard to the valuation Of certain properties,
| may say Of men and ideas as well We
deem many a poor fellow demented when we
and he knows more than we do; that is
when he has made some original discovery
that be is anxious for the public to benefit
by, We unbesitatiDgly deem him bit sub
ect for lunatic asylum. In your heart at
that tiIee you did your president this higb
honor.
II you recollect, Mr.. Stirring, alluded to
the volume Of communications your dement,
ed president had bad tae honor to receive
from parties who were capable CT performing
everything in the line OF mining and trans.
porting 81 coal. These were applying for the
high position you now hold, but none Of
their writers had been selected. How you
came TO be selected to fill the Office, was not
because that your oemented president
thought you in any way clever or capable !;
il was almost because you were the reverse
Of this, that he had engaged you. He knew
the measure Of your capabilities to an inch.
have said be was sharp. lie reckoned on
your undivided attention thongh,to the com.
panY's affair, and on your industry. He
looked on yon as one looks on a heavy
draught horse who takes much time to ira
vel long journey With heavy burden. lie
knew nothing wonl cause you TO wsver
from what you thought would be your duty.
This was much, but he did not reckon on
you 10 perform the duties Of tine office unas-
sisted. T. II. w.
Ashland. Pa, June, 1869.
Gro Be coErIsvED.l
RnnM ARnWnA