The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1877-08-24

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ploy, may send In bill. and II III
company chooses 10 pay IL, with M.
duction II five per cent. for The trouble
the man must submit or BE- dis'
charged, and turned out Of III
home on the company's land
Of course the makers Of such bills serve
the company by making them extortion-
ate, and even IL they stop a little shor,
of that, they mt least take good care "
save their interests from the 8 per cen,
deduction. The State and local taxes
imposed upon the men are, by State
law, collected in this manner from IN.
company, the Collector getting Der
cent, and the company in this instance
only 3 per cent.
After the mems accounts nj the com
pany's stores are made up for the month
they or their wives are supposed Ia bc
At liberty to get goods at the store, pro-
vidcd there Is any thing left after the
ground rent and various orders and per-
centages are deducted from their earn
ings. As many rs Goo or 200 Of these
poor people may be seen outside the
store, standing in line, in sunshine. rain
or snow, awaiting their turn, on the
earlier days Of the month, when work
is getting on. Each in turn drops his
or her pass-book through slit into n
box. The clerks draw the books from
the bottom, call out the name of the
person on each and ask, what do You
want?" The order is filled approx
malely 10 the buyers desires, but III the
clerks sweet viii No samples are
uh ehA,.... "a ~
remonstrance is made the prompt order
is, 'Get out--no time to talk. II Won
don't like it, 60 and get your time. n
They treat Us like dogs, sir.n said
several Of the men, especially our
women. They are brutal To them Of
ten, but what can we dop" Every thing
at the store is 10 or 20 per cent. higher
than the same articles are in outside. IN
dependent stores selling for cash in the
town. Sometimes the difference is even
greater. just before the strike. when
potatoes were selling for forty cents q
bushe IN the town. the company charr-
ell eighty cents. Shoes il charged fifty
cents per pair more than other stores.
SO all through the list Of the necessarieS
and poorest Injuries Of life needed here.
Yet there is no credit in the company's
sterc. No man in the employ Of the
is ever permitted To get an his
wares except when he quits It's service.
A miner or an ironworkcr may have
: 100 due him in the store, and for his
urgent necessities require $40 Of that
II he asks for $50 he NAV ret
$50, or perhaps S2j, Just rs the mana
ger Of the store sees fit, and il he re-
or begs for more. the
reply Is, ssTake your time.
hen, and get OUT AT least
wages the company aims 10 hold
always in hand, but il never paws any
interest on that amount retained. II 4
mans family, ia the flush Of unusual
during the early part Of the
month, lets is appetite get the better Of
Is prudence, during the latter part of
he month and up 70 another payday
nan, wife and children must 90 hungry.
wen though he may have ample means
. his credit in the store.
From their squaid misery the COM
,any employees look up 70 the magniii-
,ent mansions on the hill above the
tore, built BY their oppressorS; the 81,
10000 house erected BY Joseph III.
scranton, and the princcly abode Of ,.
y. Plat Former superintendent Of the
'ompany's store). They remember that
his company was bankrupt in lsii.that
ince then ii has paid enormous divi-
lends, and i now possessed, openly and
severity. of property variously estlnat-
u al from S25,OO0,O0O 10 $4O,VO0,0Oo,
although its nominal capital j. only 80.
100000. With all this, they see them
elves more wretchedly and hopelessly
Door than they were when the company
vas bankrupt.
Under such circumstances 1t l. not
TRANCE that the company has, ever
inee the beginning Of the trouble here,
,een nervously apprehensive Of its en-
,loyees wreaking their vengeance upon
Is stores. Two hundred men were kept
IN guard day and nightto protect them.
The military have been required 10
,ivouac near them. The doors are kept
-loscd, and the men can not get the
wages due them except by marking
themselves rs men never again 70 enter
he company's service, and this they are
9th 10 do, rs they hope ultimately 70
fleet an improvement in the terms ac-
'orded them, and they are too poor 70
70 elsewhere to seek work.