New-York tribune., 1877-09-19
THE MINERS STRIKE.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF IT.

| a
| LANsFoRD, Penn, Sept. 1.-The miners and la
borers of the Lehigh coal region are not an easy
people to get acquainted with. The greater portion
Of them are Welshmen, who arc not very sociable
| among themselves and who will have very little to
say to any stranger who comes among them. The
Molly Mcguire troubles in this valley, and the ex-
emplary punishment Of some Of the murderers, who
employed right here in these mines and break
ers. where they not even suspected by their
| fellow-workmen, has made the suspicious of
every one whose business they do not exactly under
/ stand. They go into the mines OF breakers. In the
morning. and are, Of course inaccessible during
| working hours. When the days labor is performed
they go home to their families, and do not gather
much in public places. The miners and laborers OF
this valley are probably less communicative than
ever just strike which continued about
seven weeks has Just ended with the resumption of
work last week While it lasted the men and their
families suffered as they did before, and now
that they have gone to work again after concedng
the most that they struck for 10 natural that they
should wish TO say very little about past troubles
But although the miners and laborers themselves
be easily reached. there men here who are
are constantly with them, and almost any of whom
can be approached and who can present the miners
side Of the labor question much better than they could
do it themselves Tney the cngineersand foremen,
or Bosses" they usually called. 1t Is from
men of this class as well as from superintendents
and operators, that most of the information must be
obtained. They generally sympathize with the MN
and aborers in their opposition to reductions OF
wages. for they suffer with them, when such reduc
tons made, and yet they understand, "a most OF
the miners of tins region donow, that the losses By
strikes are always tenfold greater than any possible
gain can be- "No, SIR said an engineer day or
two ago in answer to my question, the men III this
valley could never regain what they lost by the last
strike if they had got everything tney asked for II
would take years, and then they cOuldn't do it,
The miners of tho Lehigh Region seem to live
about az other labOring men with Ike Incomes. Ihe
houses they occupy belong 10 the coal companies
and seen from the outside appear to be as comfort
able as those furnished to operatives by manuiactur-
ers in New England villages. The towns are rather
more Struggling than IN the manufacturing districts
of Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, that there is
generally room for a garden about each house.
There was a time, when the miners OF this region
made large wages, and some Of them saved some-
thing But the long strike" Of two or
three wears ago used up the most of such
accumulations, and they have never been re-
placed. Then the low price Of coal which followed
the breaking mp of the Coal Combination in August,
1876 made wages 50 low during the Fall of that year
and again in the Spring and early Summer Of 1877,
that the men were about as poor as they could be
when they stopped work the last time. What they
and their families have sufT during the last six
or seven weeks none but those who endured the
privatlons will ever know. dollar and a quarter
dIy for skilled miners and from that d9wI to ninety
cents. and even seventy-hve cents day fot able
bodied men, is a scant plttance upon which To sup
port q family bur IL the half leaf that was bet
ter than none, a. these men found by biIter cX-
periencc With no income and no credit, there was
70 alternative but starvation as long IS the strike
lasted.
Imight give many examples of the intense suffer
ing Of the men during the late strike. they have
been related 70 me, but two three will suffice.
Many of the people had gardens in which they
IN sed potatoes and few other vegetables and hun
drcds lived during the whole time what they thus
produced Of course they all in debt to the
pany for their house-rent. One family that had been
in the habit of getting the sops from gentleman's
kitchen, to feed TO a pig, lived for weeks on what
could be shed out of them. One Of the best miners
in an adjoining region wiling to do any kind OF
worn. tramped all the way 10 Harrisburg and back
i'm search of employment, getting nothing 70 do, and
hardly ANYTHING To eat. On his return, he went 10
the store br0ngingtO the company and begged the
privilege of scraping the lard barrels that had been
emptied. Upon what he thus obtained, and fe~
odd scraps that he could pick up he lived until work
was resumed. Another man lived IN the mine dur
ing the whole suspension but what he had 10 eat
nobody knows. During All tins tne me men IN TINS
region quiet and orderly they held no meet
ings they made no threats-tney simply remained
idle.
But what was the object Of the strikei That is a
question have repeatedly put and here is the an
swer in substance: When coal was at the lowest
price the wages Of the men "a regulated by the
basis system, were, they thought, too low for
their support The basis rates were fixed when
coal was selling at Perth Amboy at 50 a ton. But
coal went down to 81 80 a ton and then the men
demanded an advance Of 12l2 per cent on tho basis
Tho cou,rarv ,Vnult n m grant IL xVaa
ing money already every ton Of coal that went to
market "But there were also other reasons for the
strike" SAID one of my InfOrmants a fore
man at one of the mines. The men want
ed regular payday Sometimes the COM
panv would owe them almost two months
wages before the pay-car would come around. They
also wanted tie Old system or checks restored
Formerly the checks which showed the amount
of money due each man, were made IN two parts,
and the amount was written on each. one part the
man signed and delivered up n day or two before he
got his money, and the other part he kept. Then,
If any mistake was made II paying, the man had
something 10 show But when this system was
abolished and the men were gwen only single
check, which they had TO sign and give up day or
two before they got their pay, they had nothing to
prove a mistake against them, If one was made"
And what have they gained by the strike ~
We'll. they rot the 1219 per cent was the re-
plv "They did not get "A regular payday, but
/ believe that the cd system OF checks Is to be
adopted"
AN told by the Superintendent OF these mines
that it is not that the company has granted
advance on the - basis rates Of wages. The price
of coal IS considerably higher now at Perth Amboy
than 10 was wnen the strike began, and that makes
the rate of wages higher. But that s not tine re-
suit of the strike only "a il has reduced the supply
of coal, and thus affected the price.
1t has often been said that the labor troubles in the
coal regions grow out of a surplus of aborers, and
that the only remedy is the emigration of part Of
them. Now. this may be true Of the coal regions