The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-01-20
FROM TINE ANTHRACITE sEeloMs
WILKEsBARRE, Jan. D, 1877.

wages paid them are in all easss almost,
and many quite a. low as thoss which
were obtained prior to the war. in Schuyl-
kill county the rate paid TO miners last
month was 43, and to lAborers 80 per cent.
less than the lowest rate prevailing Ut any
time since 1886. As a consequence of the
struggle of 1876, when the great coal con-
spiracy was apparently in the prime Of its
vigor, the basis figures there were reduced
20 and 10 per cent, and. in November the
committee to average prices Iepprtsa coal
selling at sl.sl at Port CarbQns which
took from all hands an additio 4 % per
cent, or one cent in every thr9 he diff |
terence between $3.50 and 81 81 "A thst
Lshigh, LAekawsnna, and thi1fl 1Er:1
s6fhi1k region, We 6g1rst are q tfids, though I
only trife better. But the worst festule |
of the miners case is the fact that even at |
this miserable pittance they do not average |
more than one third time, while many con
slider themselves exceptionally fortunate if
they make one out of every four Of the 25
days which are held to constitute the work
ing month. And then the dockage sys-
tenn, or ''clean coal order, operates SO a.
to require them to cut in many cases as
high as fifty per cent more coal for q ton
than they we're ever required to cut be-
fore. In future letter | may treat at |
length of the whole sale robbery of the |
| 81 ,v Enr he
present. think have already said suf-
ficient to convince your readers that the |
lot of the anthracite coal miner is Just now
cast amid many tribulations.
~ or UNION,
l am sorry to say, they have scarce
vestage left. In Schuylkill the forms of
organization are maintained, but the mem
bership is limited to that very few fearless
men, the Welshs, Fraziers, and Carriers,
who know no such word as yield In the
Lehieh il is a little bit better but in the
Lackawanna and hereAbouts the branches
of the late powerful national are every one,
| believe, totally extinct | hear however,
that under the lead Of E. A. Kline, a
machinist, Of Scranton, sort of amalga-
mated association Of workiDgmen for bene-
ticial, protective and educational purposes,
Is spreading with great rapidity through
out that city and the towns Of its vicinity.
Kline, whom ! have met but once, seems
to be plucky follow, makes good speech,
IS manifest IN earnest, and is hopeful OF
great results from bis efforts. We bid
him hearty God sped in the good work,
and believe that, should he prove himself
the right man to make it success, he will
not be forgotten and fol sakep as hsEs been
so many of his predecessors in that line of
business We base this belief upon our
knowledge Of the fact that, though the
workingmen generally are still almost
criminally apathetic as to their social and |
political rights and duties, there are a
score now alive to the necessity for action
and for maintaining those who lead in ac-
tion, for every one who was that way in
clined before the present industrial de- |
preston came upon rs. The hard times |
have opened many eyes heretofore blind
in this respect. Thus has every misfor-
tune lts cUmDensatius advantage.
THE woRKINGNAN
newspaper, organ of the miners and labor
ers Of these Regions, was sold by the
sheriff on Thursday of last week for q
nominal sum, and will no more be issued |
under its old auspices, or as a bona fde Ia
Dor journal. Its junior proprietor, a par
ty named Sholl, sold its columns, in the |
absence of Mr.. johnson, to a couple Of |
conscieBceless sspirants for the emoluments
of official station, and the general distrust
and dissatisfaction thereby created, coupled |
with the panicky condition Of the business
affairs OF the region, terminated in its col
lapse. There are few genuine Labor Re-
formers who will not cheerfully admit that
THE WoRKINGM AN has done good service,
or who do not sincerely regret its demise.
THE COOPER VOTE
in this State, and especially in this region,
was not by any means up to the expecta-
tions of its friends. A few worked hard
and constantly, without requirement, to
make the movement a success, but the sell
out in Indiana disheartened thousands
who had intended supporting it at the polls,
and drove them back to the ranks of the
one Of the old parties which they chanced
to consider the least danger GUS of the two.
/ am glad TO say, however, that. while in
SO and 20 the ANTHRACITE MONITOR, then
issued from Tamaqua, was they only paper
! published in the whole five coal counties
which favored the doctrines Of the Cooper
movement, there is scsIcely one now which
has the courage to bluntly antasonize
them-and the four gentlemen who repre-
sent us in Congress, three Democrats and
one Republican, can all bc depended upon
to vote right az to those doctrines every
time.
Mr.. CHARLES PARRISH,
for number of years President OF the
Wilkesbsrre Coal and Iron company, and
since its merger with the Lehigh and
Wilkesbarre coal CO., President of the lat
ter organization, has resigned his position,
and the resignation has been accepted and
will take effect January 1st, 1877. The
L. & W. Cos mines stretch all the way
from Wilkesbarrs in Luzerne, almost to
Tamaqus, in Schuylkill county, and give
| A. L
men. Mr.. Parrish raised himself by his
own exertions to affiuence and distinction
from condition Of comparative poverty
of course many other men have done the