The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1871-04-01
.tFro,s, the Esssun,Inous Region:

Last week some one, evidently instlgated
by the opponents of the workingmeD's cause
in this region, sent report from Johnstown
at the western base of the Alleghenies, that
the miners there were about to join and put
themselves under the control of the Work
ingmen's Benevolent Association at the an
thracite region. This. as was no doubt
! intended, brought out another telegram
signed by number of miners at that place
in which they deny the report, and Intimate
that not only would such course be OF no
! benefit to them, but most likely an injury.
| inasmuch as it might lead to the repeal OF
the duty on btuminous coal.
! The Pottsville Radical organ, working in
! the interest of those who are trying to put
| down work ingmen's wages IN Schuylklil
! county to the pauper labor standard OF EuN
rope. has been making the most OF this dis-
| claimer. characterizing it as q verdict OF
condemnation by the ''miners OF the btu
minous region' against those OF the anthra-
/ cite region. few words will serve to show
| how little tie editor of forty-two years
! standing knows about the coal measures Of
! the State and how very unreliable and par
! tisan are his statements.
Johnstown is not in the bitumlnous coal
region 1t is eighty miles by railroad east
! Of Pittsburgh. and, consequently Is about
! that distance from the btuminouS coal fields
/ The coal found there is generally known as
..semi bitumiuOus, but is not bitumiDo ous
| at all l. is entirely unlike that found IN
Allegheny couuty-the latter having an cx-
cess of bitumen, while the former has large
admixture of sulpher. The Johnstown peO-
| pie use Pittsburgh coal for gas making
! The Jyhnstown ceal is nearly identical with
| Broad Top and Cumberland Goals. 1t is
! found in veins from two to six feet in thick
| ness, mostly above the water level, and is
| secured by drifting. Mining there is in very
! few particulars like mining in the anthra-
cite regions. TIE miners Of Johnstown, with
thu exception of a very few who operate
banks" for the town supply and probably
! for q cement and fire brick factory, are all
! employed by the Cambria Iron Company. of
which Hon. Daniel j. Morrell, late member
! Of Congress, and President of the Tariff
! League, is principal manager. They are
| all under the control of a "boss" miner, Mr..
! James Morley, a very clever EngIishman,
| who has perfected an excellent beneficiary
| organization, and introduced night schools
| for the young men, and we do not wonder
! that the miners employed there are prepared
| to repudate any request that might be made
| to Join strange organization in a distant
| part Of the State. The wages they get are
not high. but they no doubt find them sntti
| cient for their simple wants and are proba-
! bly, content. At any rate they might not
benefit themselves hy joining tie w. b. A,
and the W. B. A. could scarcely receive any
/ benefit by such distant and unsympathetic
! co-operatlaD.
| The coal mined there is all used by the
Iron Works. Not ton has ever been sent
away for sale, unless recently during the
/ far iS a
see where repeal of the duty coal-bitu-
miuous coal, especia lly-cuuld disastrously
| affect the miners at JUhnstown. 1t is all
! the more difficult to see it, when it is known
| (as We know it) that many of the miners
whose names are appended to the telegram
referred to are employed in mining iron ore,
and probably know little or nothing about
mining coal, certainly nothing about mining
anthracite coal.
/ These facts show that the coal and ore
miners employed by the Cambria Iron Com
pany have been dragged in by somebody u
| make capital against their fellow craft IL
the anthracite region. but it does not matter
whether the miners there are for or against
the miners here. The two classes Of work
neD are not more widely separated from
! social intercourse by the Allegheny Noun
! tans than they are by their local interests
W
in the upper ground drifts are exposed to
fewer perilS from gases-suffocating or ex-
| plosiye; they risk nothing in descending
! and ascending dangerous slopes and perpen-
/ dicuar shafts and not subject to so
! many casualties by falling rocks or burning
| breakers. practical mining engineer (to
| which anthracite mines are frequently stran
| gers.( makes everything safe and pleasant
| for them. They dig coal for q company
/ and not for general market whose demands
are ffuctuating and prices uncertain. Hence
the demand for their labor is steady, their
/ pay regular, and there is no danger of a
| lockout on account of q gurgled market and
/ deprecated prices.
The miners under that gigantic iroa Con-
/ pany may have all they desire in the matter
of wages and steady employment. If they
f.. have they should be thankful for those bless
ings, but they should be careful TO avoid
being led upon the treacherous ground OF
epunciating their political views by tele-
graph to the apparent iDjury cf their brother
workmen in this region. ShoEld the tariff
on foreign bituminous coal happen to be
taken off; and should it happen that few
tons above what is needed at the works are
sent to market and sold by the iron coInpa-
ny at a loss, then it will be time enough for
the coal and ore miners Of JUhnstown IL
teach their brethren of the anthracite region
! their duty to Johnstnwn-and the country
| -POHsvlNe Standard.
! AN UNNATERAL FATRER.-The latest
! thing Out is the elOpemeDt of Philadel pnIa
! gentleman with his SON S wife. The case oc-