The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-05-05
coNrINunn rnoM rInsr rAar.

CoNrISUEp FROM FIRST PAGE.
cXorhitant rates soffrcights, the powers,
and duties of these several corporations
and of the legislature,--I have per-
formed all that which the senate resolu-
ton under which you are acting re.
quires at my hands.
In conclusion | beg leave to say that
while foreign to this subject, the attempt
to throw the responsibility of existing
troubles upon the mining classes has
signally failed; and according IT, the
testimony of Kendrick, Gowen and
others the establishment of the Work
ingmen's Benevolent Association has
had good moral influance in the coal
regions, has repressed crime, and kept
in check bad element in their midst.
1t is not n secret organization, having
neither oaths, signs, grips nor pass
words. Chartered by the courts and by
the legislature, 1t proposes to operate
simply for their general good-to help
their needy members by weekly al
lowance-to visit and care for the sick
to reclaim the vicious-to bury their
dead. So far as the evidence goes not u
single criminal act has been brought
home to their doors; but it would not
be strange If In such u large association
some members should prove recreant.
That they are led by few ignorant
irresponsible men l deny. The COM
mittee has seen them here day after day,
and must concede that they are men of
intelligence, sobriety, and sound sense.
Professors in colleges do not dig coal and
hence polished miners are scarceindeed.
But these men do not control their as
s0ciatiOn, because each proposition Is
submitted to their constituents for ap.
"A =.
members of this honorable body-are
guided by the voice of their constituents.
They have been compelled to organ
ize in self defence. The operators were
acting in concert before them, and con-
stantly working against their interests.
They found that while their employers
were amassing fortunes, they were going
the constant round of their dangerous
business, their wages down to the lowest
point, their children compelled to work
in the mines from boyhood without any
chance of education, and their wives
forced to pick their coal from the refuse
OF the mines. Their scanty wages were
paid in store orders at heavy profit to
the operator, leases were drawn by which
whole families could be thrown out of
doors in midwinter, and if any man
dareds murmur, tickets of leave,"-
entire coal field to prevent the man
from getting bread for himsefand fami-
~. One prominent operator even claim
ed the right to employ doctor for his
men, and took his fee out of their wages
whether they had been sick or not.
Again it must be remembered that
the miners can not get steady employ
nIent even if willing to work. When
the price ofcoal gets low in the market
that it cannot be sold at a profit, the
operator suspends; his mines are some
times flooded, the machinery breaks, or
the coliiery is stopped for repairs.
AS the evidence has shown, the COM
mon report about the wages received by
miners and their laborers has been
grossly exaggerated. AT the wages now
offered by the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western r. r. Co., the average miner
would not earn over $40 per day.
According to Hendricks own testimony
the average wages at his colliery under
the "Gowen Compromise" were in
August 1870 S2.SS; in September 81
and in November they slid down TO |
$40. AT the offer made by the opera |
tors for 1871, with coal at $3.50 per ton at |
Port Carbon, the miner would only get |
$1,000 per week, the inside laborer $1,000 |
and the outside laborer 5000.
When operators get up here and swear
that there is no extraordinary danger in
the occupation, they confess an ignorance
about the business that should render
them incompetent as witnesses. Has
AVondale and Stockton so soon passed
from their memories? Do they read of
the terrible disasters so constantly hap
pening in Great Britain? Why, sirs,
the mine statistics of Schuylkill show
thnf in A Annttcf Ganta,,kor nd nnf hnr
OF last year in that county alone there
were fifty-seven deaths from mining,
one hundred and thirty-five wounded,
leaving without supporters one hundred
and thirty-four widows and orphans
If operators are not making money! |
the profits of the miner are so great, |
and the occupation so safe and pleasant, |
why do not the former go into the
mines with their drills, picks and
powder, away from the light of the sun
and wholesome air, where fire-damp and
noXious vapors are rife, and thus earn
competence their capital will not yield.
You will find them doing nothing of the
sort. You will find them here prating
about foreign labor, and against the men
who have dug our canals, built our rail-
roads, and created the wealth of this
country.
These men want protection, then,
again these combined monopolists, who
are daily asking for new favors at your
hands, and whose power in the legisla-
ture we have seen in the past, and fear
In the future. Neither the starving out
plan of Mr.. Gowen, nor the bayonet
process advocated by the venerable
witness from Philadelphia, will have
half the good effect of enlightened legis-
lation which will restrain these huge
monopolies created by you, and who are
using their giant powers for the purpo-
ses of oppression.
Man spurns the worm, but pauses ere he wake
The slumbering venom OF the folded snake;
The first may turn, but not avenge the blow;
The last expires, but leaves no living foe;
Fast to the doomed Offenders form 1t cllngs,
Andh may crush-not conquer-still it stings."