The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-01-18
WHITE SLAVES AT THE NORTH,
The Horrors OF Labor Under PcnnayIvanIa
Protection"

WASHINGTON, January 1.-The section
of the Republican party still represented
in Congress is casting about like drown.
ing man catching at straws for some way
out Of the political predicament in which
IT finds itself by its own voltion. A fit
OF pure desperations compels it to take
up the Democratic demand for reform in
the civil service. There is no evidence
of change Of heart. II is only change
of chin. We have had multitude of
promises in the last fifteen years, but how
much genuine reformation have we got
for our money?
THE GREAT CURSE OF TWENTY YEARS
OF Republican reign has been class legis.
lation. Class legislation is that intricate
system Of laws and the administration of
laws which have but one tendency-to
make the rich richer and the poor poorer
Ito create millionaires and beggars.
When am told by All eminent protec.
ZIONIST of Pennsylvania that it il propos-
ed 10 establish protcctionist club in
that legislative body known as the
American Congress for the purposes of
more complet >lv furthering this class leg.
isiatlon, 1 II ]. t to wonder how much
further such men dare so and not bring
laundering down upon them the wrath
and violence of
THE PLrNDERED PEOPLE.
The mere brazen audacity of the mon
eyed power often carries il over danger.
Gus ground where to falter would be to
sink. can think Of no moro brazen i'm.
pudence than that which claims special
legislation for millionaire manufacturers
~ protection TO American labor.
When was on q political tour in Penn.
sylvanla last summer l had occasion TO
pass. through the coal regions of the
northeastern section of the State.
met very intelligent workman on the
cars one day who pointed out the obiects
OF interest along the valley with which
ho was familiar. He had lived among
the coal miners Of Pittston and Carbon.
dale and among the iron workers of
plttsburg for twenty years. The story
he recounted of the gradual degradation
OF American labor during that time was
something
P1TlADLE AND ASTONISHING,
He pointed out the company stores"
that loomed up whenever we passed
breaker, and described with the minute
distlnctness born of personal aud bitter
experience the indlgnities and hardships
TO which the laborers were subjected.
tie showed how tho rich mine owners
with quarter Of million in n single
SHAFT screwed down the miners year BY
year lower and lower, and raked in their
slender earnings by their "store order"
system: | asked him something about
The relative prosperity of owners and
workers. He replied bitterly that capital
was
ALWAYS STRONG ENOUGH
to take care of itself and no one ever
dreamed of legislation for labor. Invent
down among the mines with this man
and saw that he had not overrated the
hardships of the miners or characterized
too strongly their unfortunate condition.
1t is the popular idea that American sin.
very was abolished with the proclamation
of Abraham Lincoln. There never was
worse system Of slavery than that which
prevails in Pennsylvania and in the
great manufacturing centres.
THESE ARE WHITE SLAVES.
tno, born to toll for millionaires and to die
in novels and warehouses;. On eyery
hand in Pennsylvania, from Pit,sbure to
Scranton, the palaces of the protected
rise grandly by the myriad tcnements of
pauperized labor. There is no theory.
however, demonstrable on paper that can
refute the cold logic of these facts. La.
Dor has been going down hill all over
this country aud
THE MILLIONAIRE MASTER
lords it over race of white slaves. I
thought of this when beheld the mag
nificent residence of Mr.. Henry Oliver,
near Pittsburg, and saw his iron workers
gathered rnoudiiy about the streets bo.
cause their wages had been reduced bc.
low the costs Of decent living. Oliver
is the maker of tho tariff on met.
ais in which he speculates. Oliver grew
rich, with hundreds of other iron. mas.
tiers, on a protective tariff, and his Ia.
borers and theirs have become moore.
and poorer until the old are
CARRIED TO PAUpERs' GRAVES,
and the young fill the dens of vice or ere
dying by inches like their sires. There
is something horrible in all this, for what
Is in the future? shall never shake Off
the vision of Pennsylvania poorhouse
in the mining regions where out under
the orchard trees men were chained like
wild animals. They were pauper miners
once-they wero now raving maniacs,
naked, covered with their own filth, ma.
nacled and chained to the treesl A lit.
tie further on were the white slaves vet
in possession of their reason, chained to
cars,
IN RAGS, BLACK AND GRIMY,
with the carbon sweat Of the shaft and
the leVel. l asked my pilot how long
such men lived. "Not many years.
said he. These men for the most part
DO not taste meat moro than once week.
You SEQ that immense mountain ,,use
slate and coal from the breake.s7 It
used to be that every miner going home
was welcome to his lump of coal, such 40
he could carry. Men could be seen going
to their homes, each with his lump Of
coal on bis shoulder. Now they must
pay for their own fuel. They would be
arrested by the company's watchmen and
tried and
CONVICTED BEFORE THE coMpANY's
COURT
should they evon pick up a little refuse
from the foot of that mountain. They
used to save little money, but now the
life Of miner of coal or iron in this
State is hopeless slavery. On the other
hand the men who own these properties
are growing richer every year."
"wHAT WILL BE THE END
of all this7" I asked, curious to see what
was in this mans mind.
"There can be but one end"
4 &. Al