The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-05-03
To the Miners # the West.
REgBs STATION, NEAR WEST BELLyILLE,
st Ciair Co, ILL.,. April -, 1873

REgBs STATION, NEAR WEST BELLyILLE, !
st Clair Co. Ill.,, April -, 1873.
Let ignorant men say what they will
about the labor Of a miner, sit is skilled
labor" 1t requires years Of practice and
experience To make man practical
miner, and there are a great many, who,
although they have followed the dangerous
avocatiop from their childhood will never
make practical miners Out Of every ten
miners who meet death by accident in the
mines nine Of them are either inexperi-
enced men. or their death has been caused
by the carelessness Of those who did not
fully understand the dangers Of coal
mining Thousands have been hurled into
eternity in a moment, by the action Of one
unskilled miner. Hence, if coal mining
is not recognized as skilled labor. it is the
fault Of the miner, who alone knows the
amount Of patient study, toll and expert
ence 1t requires to tit man to engage in
the trade Again | repeat the art Of coal
mining is skilled labor IL the employ
ment Of our labor conducted so far beneath
the surface Of the earth that it is beyond
lawful protection Win the unnatural
law Of tyranny and oppression consign us
forever to the doom Of abject slavery
Are We destined to be the eternal instru-
ments or tools of wicked designing men
Is our only occupation on earth to make
the whips that extract the hfe-giving sub
stance at every stroke; to forge the letters
of eternal bondage, to leave as legacy to
our innocent offspring the everlasting
curse of servile cOwardice No, | think
not. A coal miner, though half Of his
life MAJ be spent in darkness, away down
in the bowels os the earth, where one ray
Of Gods blessed sunlight never shines, is
Of ten fold more benefit to the world than
all the bankers, stock brokers, railroad
kings, and other public thieves who are
eating the very vitals Of the nation; who
are draining, drop by drop, the life blood
Of TOO generous people; who are, through
N'AoAA 81 - iSN hAASN'NiatiN, biAptChY
selfish, unprincipled actions, hurrying
themselves, with lightning like speed, to
the very abyss Of destruction; who by
their greedy, avaricious, Unsuitable desire to
grasp the accumulations Of the labor Of the
Almightys creatures -their own brothers
and sisters are driving the cold steel to
the heart of every workingman, Of every
trade, who are the very creators of all
their wealth and power. A revolution is
rapidly approaching; let them take warn
ing In time. The SIGNS Of the times are
portentOus. The present uprising of
workmen Of all grades of labor is too sig
nlficant to pass unobserved, by an united.
rupt aristocracy. Labor tciU hare justice,
even IT its creature, capital, must be crush
ed Capital has too long welded the reins
Of Government. Had its management
been conducted wisely, with just discrim-
nation between itself and its creator
laboring men would not to-day be de-
nOunced as dgitdtors, strikers, law break
ing, uncivilzed barbarians Legislative
aid would never have been invoked. Edi-
tors Of public Journals would not have
occasion to sit up night after night puz-