The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-07-06

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boon to the community.
eff there is any TRUTH" says Public
Ledger editorial, (which claims our loyal
adherence, it is that all selfsbness and in
justice react upon the aggressor. We all
admit this to certain point. We willing
ly remember :hat tyrants seldom die a nat
ural dea.h-that tyrants infiict untold pains
on mnltitudes only to live in terror of rebel
lion or assassination, and often they are the
victims of one or the other. 1t is said the
West India planters who had in value the
slaves who wished to buy themselves off
frequently made oath to higher sum per
day than their just worth. When, subse-
quently, they bad to hire, their own esti
mates were quoted and enforced against
them; thus their greed of gain gave its own
penalty. Sensual indulgence of the body
brings train of woes before which its mo-
mentary qualification sinks into insignifi-
cance."
As the body is punished for the trans
gression or neglect of natures laws, so is
/ the body polite punished for every trans
gresson or neglect Of the moral law or
rights of others. This punishment is often
brought about in way which men cannot
approve of, but i'll which, nevertheless, they
cannot fail to recognize the providence of
God, which makes one bad man the scourye
of another or of a community, for COM
munity may sin as well as an individual.
In the history of the world there have
been times and places in which the tyranny
of the strong and the vengeance of the op-
pressed have held alternate sway-when
reuibutiOn to the rich was written by the
poor in blood. This has been and ever will
be until all men learn to believe in the full
ness of their hearts, "Blessed are they that
suffer persecution for Justice sake" What
fOrcibly strikes the student of history is thi is:
While the horrors and barbaritics of, for eX-
ample, .he French revolutiOniStS and com
munsis are laid bare to the eyes of the
world, the systematic, legalized injustice
that, unobserved, gradually deprived them
of peace here, made them despair, madden
ed them, until in desperation they sprang to
{ vengeance, is rarely noticed or condemned.
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
Nowhere in this country have capital and
labor at SO early date been arrayed against
each other as in the coal regions. There
were the two classes, the operator and mi
ner. They regarded each other as enemies
and acted as if their interests were conflict
ing. The operator came to the coal fields
as men go to the Black Hils-not to make
it his home but TO make his fortune. A
fortune was either rapidly made or often
more rapidly lost especially the loss the
miner did not consider in counting his
/ wrongs.
The losses of operators made them des-
perate. Their failure to pay was regarded
as defrauding :ne laborer of his wages
Their avarice made them hard task masters
No part of the world ever presented so ia
vorabe opportunity as the coal regions
for the rich to Cypress the poor working
man. In many instances the opportunity
was not neglected. The rapacity, extortion
and refusal to pay the la5orer his Just
wages are still remembered i'll the company
store, and in the order. They still exist. J
The iniquity of this system may be known
from one fact the operator received, when
the store was not his own, ten per cent. for
collecting the storekeepers' bills. The
prices were exorbiaut Even though the
provdent miner had money to enable him
to go elsewhere he was not permitted, even
after laws had been enacted against these
stores. A miner was several times passed
over in the regular order of promotion -
He asked the boss "Why it was-did be
not give satisfaction" &c. e? The boss said
''he didn't know. But it is none of my
business. Where 90 you deal? y
If you dealt more in
the company stores you would not be passed
over" AT one time the postage stamp ard
the coffin could only be procured at the
store or by an order. This may, to Ger
/ tain extent, have been the result of the
way business was conducted i'll those days.
being carried on mostly by exchange or
, barter. Nevertheless, the remem brauce of
it is an arrow that still rankles in the flesh
of those who were compelled to submit to it.
Any attempt on the part of the men to
ameliorate their condition was at all haz-
ards Immediately crushed. Those who
took prominent part in such movements
among the men fell under the operators
displeasure, were ''marked," 'black list
ed" Il is well known that, while other
nationalities we've more skilled i'll working
up such movements-to use the phraseolo-
gy of the coal region, Sin making the balls'
the Irish, i'll their hatred of oppression,
were, by their impetuous natures, led to
take the risk of ''firing them, fact which
will explain why SO many of the Irish be-
came obnoxious to the operators and why
the operators became so hostile to them.
AN INCIDENT IN ILLUSTRATION.
The war came and with it the draft
Hero was an opportunity to be revenged on
truculeut spirits. The land agents, opera
tors being of ''the better GLASS;" obtained
the ear of those having the draft in charge.
Poor men were by the military torn from
their homes, and their wives and children
left without support. This was done in
most cruel manner. They we're in mum bers
chained to ropes which were tied to the
saddles of dragoons and thus from distant
points marched into Po:tsviilc, sent to Fort
Delaware and Fortress Monroe and left to
languish in prison, This was done in vio-
lation of law and without The form of a trial
and was done, as was supposed, at the die
tation of prominent land agents or opera
tors. n spectator, as he described this
scene. filed up even at this distant day
with indignation and said if such had been
done TO him he would have -. 4 very
little knowledge of human nature will ena-
BILE the reader to SEQ that such high handed
measures were calculated to stir up the
worst passions, to enkindie spirit of re-
venge that could be extinguished only in
blood. Assassnations having their origin
in the conditions of society here described,
followed they we're but injustice reacting
upon the aggressor.'
ORGANIZATION OF THE woRKINGMEN.
The existence of the Coal Exchange,
which enabled the operators to systemati-
caly govern and oppress the men, at this
time caused the formation of the Working