The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-08-10
Mtseyies Of the Miners.

The following cdltOf1ai COpteu iioii e"c
Harrisburg Patriot of Tuesday paints Il
pic,nre of distress and misery in tho an
thracite manufacturing regions OF this
State which is almost too sad and sorrow
ful to contemplate, much less experience
4, in all is terrible details
! IT the strike il longer and more obstinate in
the anthracite regions the reason ~ that th''re
. is no. in the United States a class OF working
nen in such Rrievous distress as the 'ni Jcrs' 1t
NAV be doubted whether the condition of
I English and Welsh miners was ever worse tiihn
ahat t 4I me cprresnnnant of the New
York Times writing from scranton gives IN np.
paliing account of the condition OF the miners
in the region of which that c1ty Is the ceLtIe.
! Wages scarcely average twenty dollars inohta
: innst snnport large families on this amount.
When the frequent stoppages OF WORK are
taken , INTO aecoun' S a, irish miner with len
/ uersOns looking him for support said he had
not known such want sihoe ,h ar%es, ,ro a,nnupr
had made in two years was Sl5 and II was usual
they cannot help each other, ana many or
them very proud even III their rags. II
was hard to get them to admit they were NV
ing" on mtIsh alone when that was the case,
but ncighhurs would tell OF privations suffered.
The aNempts 0 hide ahject poverty were some
times heroic. The correspondent was shown
man "who had been known TO take his dinner
pail into the shaft. day after day, just as other
men did. when the form was an empty pretense
and his pail did not contain so much as even a
crust" What astonished him was 1.-The uni
form cheerfulness of these people even when
they were recalling and recountiug their most
PAINFUL experiences" Although none of them
were sanguine OF better treatment, they We're
al convinced that some time or another a sense
of justice would compel the corporations to
give them consideration"
Many are the causes assigned for the cnnGi-
tiOn TO which labor has been reduced IN the
fhracite region. Corporate tyranny has sportcd
for years with the interests of the miners aud
the consuming public. The corporations have
sometimes combined TO stop work. aud at other
Itnn hey hay %
Guction for the year. when the combination
was completed the rates of wages were reduced
and the price of coal was advanced. Rates of
wages rarely advanced with the cost or coal a $
this would have been concession of the ad-
the consuming public. Not the least of the in
iquities practised upon honest labor in the min
ing regions il the system of company stores"
There il scarcely working mine in Luzerne
county that has not one of these stores at the
mouth OF the pit. These stores supply the
miners with provisions on pass books or com
pany orders, and when pay day comes little
money is ever seen. The earnings are CON
sumed in advance at the store: Many of thee
stores are kept by poor relations OF the mil e
owners, who do not scruple to assist in thus
piundcring the miners OF portion OF ihcir
wages.
In excuse for this system OF plundcr it is
pleaded that the miners are mot compelled to
buy at the company store. OF course they are
not "compcile1,' But the stores are opened
and the goods are purchased to be sold to the
miners at profit. Employees who take their
cash every pay day and buy their goods else
where soon find that there is no need for them
at that mine. Thrift and economy are not re-
garded as virtues at company store. In flush
times when there is a chance Ia save earnings
miner who will not consume his wages at the
company store sets n bad example in the social
economy of which the store is the centre. His
thrift as shown in his ability to earnings
and ma kc his own purchases might prove con-
tag ous and the hnsiness of prosperous com
pany store brought suddenly to n close. The
most stupid mining operator with an interest
in the company store would know many ways
of getting rid of such an employe without as
signing the true cause of dismissing him to be
that he was running the store.
In order to make the system as complete as
possible in its iniouity the wages of one month
are not paid until the middle of the next at all
mines which are provided with the store at
tachment By this time the savings of the
miner are wiped out i'm the pass book. While
present the pass book at the store. Under such
an institution money loses its use, and often
unhappiy its value with the miner. II is said
that the families OF the miners are often ey
travagant. But how can they obt, mia bits of
thrift and economy under Il prrucious system
that is designed to encourage improvidence
and extravaganza. How are they ever to learn
the value OF money that they are seldom per-
mittcd to handle, or the cost OF the necessaries
of life when they see the price only in the de-
ccptive. company pass hooky The very last
place where decline in the prices OF neccssa-
ries OF life Il noted is the pass book OF the COM
pany store. Whatever may be the price of
nvcessaries elsew mere the standard of the COM
pany store is the highest price that can be
screwed out OF the earnings OF the mining Gus
toner.
1t is not to mining corporations alone that
this system of company stores is confined.
Many manufacturing companies of this state
employ the system to pinch the wages of their
. employees. At JOhnStuwn, the seat of one of
the largest iron manufactures in the state, the
company store sysrem is reduced to the utmost
perfection. The cnOrm magazine of goods
brionging to the company is filled with every
article OF necessity ID luxury, so that the en-
pIoyes will have no excuse or temptation to de-
maud II dollar of wages in hard cash. Their
/ earnings all toe invested pleasantly at
the company's store on presentation of a pass
book SO admirably are all their wants pro-
+ viGed for that they need not go to a shOema K r
of the town for patch or heel-tar or to a
doctor TOR pill The company have their ow n
Shoemaker aud their own doctor, and we be-
iieve at one time they employed minister of
. the gospel. 1t WAS the highly favored employees
of this iron company who turned out the other
day to greet with stones and chunks of otc q
i train OF United States soldiers passing through
JOhnstOwn on the way to Pittsburg. This was
probably 10y way of testimonial TO the compa ny
order system which they enjoy in common
with miners of Lnzcrne above all other work
+ iugaen in the country.