New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-10-09
MA EPS, TPOURJE0

DIMINISHING, DHl ihCic"SHS'
MINERS TROUBLES.
In n series of letters from the anthracite
coal region, a staff correspondent of The TRTB-
UNE has examined the causes of the frequent
strikes and their accompanying disorders, dis
cussed their effects upon society and business,
and drawn faithful sketches of the life of the
miners in the dark shafts and gangways of
the coal pit, in their bare cabins on the noun
tain Sides and in the villages and towns TO
which they resort. Excess of working pOpula-
tion around the mines, and excess of produc-
ton of coal, have been shown to be the con-
slant causes of the ruinons struggles between
employers and employed, which occur so often
az almost to seem like regular and necessary
feature of mining anthracite. The remedy is
easy to point ont, but difficult Of application.
limitation of the supply was attempted few
years ago by combination OF all the
great transportation companies. each OF which
agreed to haul to market only a specified
tonnage per annum. Under this Arrangement,
wages were high enough to support the min
ing population, but the scheme violated the
natural laws Of trade, and the same spirit OF
selfish greed which established it soon broke
it down. Wages had to fall when free COM
petition in production took the place of mOnop-
oly The long strike of 1875 ensued, and was
disastrous to the miners who were idle for
nearly half year, and then went to work for
the wages they had refused That strike was
the most stubborn and serious the region had
known for many years. 1t was an Or
ganzed opposition to the operations OF
the trade laws which were bringing
down the prices of labor and commodities
throughout the country. Its failure was in
eyitable. This year the strike has been much
less extensive, affecting only the Wyoming
and Lehigh districts and not touching the
great Schuylkil region. 1t was really strike
for work, rather than for higher wages. The
miners acknowledge that they could live on
the pay they were getting, if they could do SIX
full days work in the week; but the mines
cannot be worked to their full capacity for
want of market.
According to the trades-uniOn ethics of the
miners, all the men who congregate round
pits mouth in brisk times, when production is
full, are entitled to share in. the diminished
work when times are dull, and production is
cut down. There is q spirit of fraternity in
this that is admirable, but again the laws of
trade are violated, and the system, being
bad one in spite of the noble trait it contains,
must in the end be abandoned. 1t entails In
sufficient earnings, and consequent want and
discomfort, eliminating in that ultima ratio of
miners, the strike, with its Accomplishments Of
intimidation, incendarism, and assassination.
The way to q more healthful condition Of
affairs seems to be in the direction of a better
understanding and more friendly relations
between the employers and the more stable
class of miners-the men of families and OF
good reputation for industry and respectability.
If this class could be induced to cut loose from
the irresponsible and disorderly element, the
problem would be near its solution. The work
of the mines should be given by preference to
the most skilful and orderly workers. They
should be made to feel that they have a stake
in the success of the enterprise, and encOur-
aged to acquire little property in a cottage
and a garden, by the assurance that their en-
ployment is to be permanent. An alliance be-
tween this class of men and the employers
would soon cause the surplus population of the
anthracite region to drift off to the bituminOus
mines of the West, or to find its way
into other, but not Over-stocked, fields Of
labor
The employers must make the first move
however. They must show more interest in
the welfare of their men. Instead of the rude
unsightly cabins which they provide as dwell
lings, looking like ugly blotches on the bleak
mountain slopes, bright and cheerful little
villages should be built, each house a
pleasant home that miners would DO glad to
get and 10th to leave. Work in tho mines
does not of itself degrade men. On the con-
trary it develops the qualities Of courage,
fortitude and energy. A majority of the
miners are industrious, sober. intelligent, and
compare favorably with other classes of work
ing men. If they had the conditions of
civilized life around them, and felt friendly
CONN unity of interest with their employers,
they would soon be controlled by their best
intead of their worst elements. Molly
MAGNETISM would no longer terrorize the coal
regions and better means than strikes for
settling differences about wages would soon be
resOrted to.