The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-08-07
the PennsyiTania Coal Region.

We are happy TO know that the men
who mine coal in the vicinity Of Wheel.
ing have never yet experienced the hard.
ships Of those who are employed In the
anthracite regions Of Pennsylvania, In
that region the coal trade has been great.
ly depressed for more than year, and
the financial straits Of the leading coal
mining and carrying companies have
proved that the work Of mining coal has
been oyerdons. So long as an artificial
combination kept up the price Of coal
beyond the normal rates, the mine own
ers could pay wages which afforded de-
centliyirg to their men. But when the
combination fell to pieces, as II was Ger.
tain to do, and sCIiVe competition re.
duced prices and profits, many Of the
owners ionnd a reduction Of wages to the
lowest point one OIL the necessities Of their
struggle for existence, The following
from Scranton letter published in the
New York PO,i, is specimen picture Of
the reIulE
"Theie was one man IN the crowd, an
Iri,hman, whom addressed. He ia en-
ployed in the Continental Mine Of the
Delaware, LackGWanna and Western, and
is labOr.r Having paid his necessary
expenses 10 the company, at the end Of
last month ho had SO. Out Of this came
81 50 rent Of his house and 81 for coal.
Hchas wife and three children and his
mother, Ieventy.iour years old, to sup
port. Their diet has been for months
simply round Of mush made Of Indian
meal, and occasionally potatoes. The
man was clad in clothes very much the
wo.se for wear, yet he said they we're the
best he had to put on when he came out
Of the shait. But do you not have meat!'
a.kcd. 'MeRt il il! sure / wouldn't
know how 10 eat it, said the man in reply,
and the truth Of his statement was cor
roboratcd by several earnest and intelli.
gent men who stood near"
1t cannot hC charged that the employ
era q this nan can afford TO pay him bet.
ter wase. They have earned no divi.
dcnjs for many months, and have recent
~ borrowed a large amount Of money.
They continue to mine coal, even il it
brings them Little profit, because the
mines must be kept in order, and freight
must be ,upplied to the railroads. The
trouble il that, under an artificial sys-
ten, coal mining has been overdOne. Too
much capital has been put into II, too
many mines have been opened, and too
many miners have been collected in the
Pennsylvania coal region. These iacIs
the miners will have to recognize, and they
will hagctoseek remedy, not in attempts
to exact better pay by force, because tho
money to pay with ia not to lie had, but
in new places and kinds Of employment.
There has been for several months Il
steady but small emigration Of miners to
parts farther west and it will be well for
those miners whose bank accounts have
not ye, been closed to follow the emf,
grants. The once rich companies, when
sorely pressed, can be placed in the hands
Of receivers until they can recuperate;
but miner with family on his hands
mus. rely upon his own ezertions.
The piiitul situation Of the miners
calls for heartfelt COMMUNICATION, and if
they. manifest disposition 10 better their
condition by peaceful methods, a way to
assist them, IA by an emigration society
for instance, ough! TO be pu! into opera
ton,