The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-11-29
Written Tor the woREISGNANs ADVOCATE.
The Origin of Coal No. -.

81 steam, ana It's practical application u
industrial purposes, the coal trade began to
assume real Importance. The mighty
Sampson upon his hair for strength, soon
opened up multitude Of methods for the
application and consumption Of coal, while
the manufacture Of gas from coal, and the
introduction of the hot blast in the smelt-
ing IL iron, together with the invention OF
the railroad locomotive and the steam yes
sci, completed the grand list Of discoveries
which made the future use of coal an indls-
pensable article Of modern civilization
Before the application Of steam by New
cumen for raising the waters Of the mine,
the subterraneous excavations were limited
to drift mining, or t. comparatively shallow
and dry shaft workings The machinery
ma use Ter hosting water from pits previous
To- the middle of the 18th century. consist
ed of cham pumps, barrels, and sometimes
OK SKINS. operated by horse power. The
horsr and g1n, IN present use. IN the early
part NJ sinking shafts, were employed FIR
hosting the coal. The manner Of working
the coal and Of transporting 1t 70 the bot
tom ut the mlne were extremely rude The
post and stall system, carried Harvard with
cunt regard to the nature Of the coal and
the incumbent strata, and too Frequently
without order or regularity, was first
adopted IN laying out the underground
workings, while the coal was borne from
the wall faces to the bottom upon the backs
of bearers, who in many cases were women
and girls
The Germans were the trst ta introduce
rails and cars for moving the coal under
ground. Agricola informs MS that in l55O
the wagons were bound with iron, and were
rectangular in shape the box being mount
"a ou four small wheels John Carr, of
Sheffield, England. hrst introduced wooden
rails III British coal mines IN the wear
l115. The first tools employed for mining
uIdl we're made az stone then wooden
picks. with steel points, were invented
Guupowder was used for warhke purposes
long before the miner thought Of its assist
ance III breaking down coal. Ventilation
was little regarded in the early days of mi
ming. Even As late as the middle VI the
18TH century. the noXIuus and poisonous
airs ui the mines We're cOmbated by the
priests II Germany, with impotent exorci-
sipus and pIpus frauds.
The work ~ removing the coal from the
wall faces to the bottom OF the pit land in
many instances u the top, up the long ana
winding stairway So often imposed on fe-
males was truly slayish. At first the Goals
we're borne upon the backs Of the bearers,
~ sacks. The days labors Of the female
bearers In the Scotch coal pits have been
calculated hy Mr.. Robert Bald, the eIni-
neut clal viewer vi Scotland, as equal 70
carrying hundred weight Of coal tl the
twp w Ben L1mnd This was the prac-
ticc n,t III the British mines alone. but ou
the continent as well The bearers of the
French mines NJ st. Etienne were COMPEL
"a to carry a certain number If loads up
the long stairway as days work Bare
footed and supported by staff, these poor
creatures work ed harder than galley slaves
Many British coal miners are still living.
who can remember this savish practice
and spirited song. written by a Scotch
coal miner, who afterwards died fighting
the battles Of his adopted country, in the
war of the late rebellion thus refers 10 a
female bearer one of his contemporaries
shs gould clrr, wv hsr blyk what vad harrya nagg,
for trained t0 the coal heugh was Meg kelbegge."
The introduction u: wooden rails and
sleds, or wagons, made the labors Of the
bearers lighter but even then it was truly
slayish The drawers (for now the name
was changed were harnessed up like
horse, ana stretched out On All fours. drag
sed the car along
Until the year l1775 the Golfers If Scot
land were not virtually, alone, but were
actually slaves. compelled 70 wo;k for life
for the Goa. owner. and transferable with
the mines Though the act Of ammunition
WAS passed in that year. it was not until
the year 1899 only seventy-four years ago.
that the Scotch coal miners were wholly
freed from this species of bondage Their
slavery does not appear ~ have been the
result Ut the ancient serfdom of the feu-
dial ages but To have been dua % quite
modern acts of the Scottish Parliament.
and in decisions of the Scottish Court Of
Sessions. The workers Of the salt works
were IN the same state of bondage as were
the golfers. The preamble of the British
act of Parliament, which gives these poor
people their freedom, reads as follows
Whereas, by the statute law Of Scotland,
as explained by the judges Of the courts Of
law there, many golfers, and coal bearers
and salters, are IN a state Of slavery or
bondage, bound 70 the colleries or salt
works for life, transferable with the col
heues and salt works, &c Even the
act IF 1893 declares, that many golfers
and coal bearers still continue in a state Of
bondage. II would appear that the first
act contained certain penalties, the viola
ton Of which kept the miners still in serf-
dom, and that the operators Of the mines
had f md means to evade the law, hence
the second act.
The prohibition Of females from the
British mines was due to an act Of Parlia-
ment, passed in the year 1912 The writer
Of these articles, though not yet 40 years
Of age, remembers that when he was but
in the mines, being then scarcely eight
years old, women and girls were work
ing with him in the same pit. In the Eng
hsh mines the women were dressed exactly
like the men. This degrading and dis
graceful employment for delicate females
is still practioed in the coal mines of Bel
GUM, and it is to he hoped that by the adj
vancing price OF labor, if not for human
ity's sake, will soon be made impossible
by law.
1t is not possible to t9riG any correct es
innate Of the amount Of coal raised from
the mines Of Great Britain, and the States
Of continental Europe, ia the early stages
Of mining Up to the beginning of the
present century, 1t has been computed that
fully eight hundred and fifty millions Of
tons had been raised from the coal fields
of Great Britain. During the next half
century, when the coal trade became revo-
lutionized by the application Of steam 10
the purposes Of modern industry, no less
than two thousand millions Of tons had
been produced Since the year 1855, when
the mines inspection act went into opera
ton, reliable statements have been an
nually made Of the coal production Of the
island In 1850 the output would average
ahout 80 900 900 tons In 1857. il was