St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-08
Suferings Of the Hooking Valley
Miners During the Last
Six Months.
Winter Setting in Largely Adding to
ThGir Already Wretehed and
Starved Condition.
Mothers and Crying Children Within
Their Cabins.
lspeeial Telegram to II. Glohe. |

are IN 4 most deplOrAble state. This indus
trial var has done serious damage 10 all
these engaged in it. The railroad company,
aud the coal companies on
the one side have lost heavily
in money and business, while the miners
and their families on others have suffered
unusual privations and are now in extreme
want and dire distress. The Hooking valley
miners for six long months have bravely
struggled to resist the desDotie demands
made upon them and to defend their lust
rights and industrial liberties. The rigo- OF
winter, which nls just set in, has added 10
their suffering and now render the condition
OF these poor people most appalling. Out
side, the wolf OF hunger, driven there by the
hand Of tyranny. stands at the door Of the
miners cabin, while within can be
seen the sad sight Of crying chill
dren aud weeping mothers, shiveriug in
rags and wretchedness. Something should
be done at once to assist these poor people
In their deplOrabie state Of want and suffer
ings. Meetings of workmen and Of citizens
generally should be called in all the large
cities in the country to denOunce this great
wrong aud relieve this great misery. This
Hooking valley lookout, in its causes and in
lis history, is 4 scandal and an outrage. War
was declared upon the miners without provo
cation upon their part. and the aggressors,
the Railway company aud the coal syndicate
offer starvation and slavery as the Chief
terms Of peace. The apology is offered
BY the allied conspiracy that they were not
able to pay the miners the prices for labor
that had prevailed for several previous years.
This statement is not true, as our firm have
shown in the operation of our mines in this
coal reagiou during all this time, and our
ability to mine and sell coal Al a profit based
on the seventy cent rate Of mining. The
operators claim, that prior TO the declar-
alton Of the lockout, in substance, that il
was absolutely impossible TO pay this price
except with the result OF loss and ruin. The
reduction demanded was twenty cents per
ton. Now let Us for a moment ex-
anime by a test OF figures whether
1t would not have been from a financial
stand point, better 70 have continued paying
the former rate than to have incurred the
heavy loss Of this expensive strike. The
largest yearly tonnage ever hauled over the
line of the Hooking Valley road never
reached 1900, 900 tons. BY a late careful
estimate Of the Columbus board Of trade, the
cost OF this strike has already exceeded
$4,000 600. II the twenty cents per ton were
clear profit it would then have taken
ten years on the basis of such
showing to make up this
stupendous loss. Therefore, If they could
not afford to pay seventy cents per ton, they
could much less afford TO wickedly waste the
money spent in an attempt TO reduce and
subdue the miners. 1t is true the people
who started this trouble are getting far more
than they bargained for, and by this time
have purchased costly experience not soon
TO be forgotten. The railroad company es-
pecially wishes It had kept its hands of and
attended TO its Legitimate affairs. Its revenue
fell OFF to such an extent that it was
forced three months ago TO borrow in
New York large SUN of money to meet the
interest on its bonds, and last Thursday the
president Of that company went in his pri-
vate palace car to the same city to again Dor
row, or beg, another large amount to meet
similOr obligations. These railroad officials
have been clamoring for the state militia
to guard their property and enforce the laws
What respect do they themselves show
for the property Of others, or what evidence
do they yield to state or national laWSl
They have been in constant violation
Of the laws by exerting and discriminating
against the public, and now even seek to
nullify and defy an imperative INDUCTION OF
the courts. 1t is true that acts OF lawlessness
have been committed in the Hooking valley
mining region, and parties guilty of these
acts deserve and will probably receive proper
punishment. But the miners are by no
means such a class OF desperadoes and out
laws as those who SANDER them would have
us believe. AS a body they are honest,
industrious, peareable and law abiding.
Resentment for real wrongs and abuses
suffered has melted some of the thOughtlesS
and desperate Of their number TO deeds Of
violence. It would be as unjust, however, to
say that vOrkingmen Of the country should
be held responsible for the riots Of 1877, as to
say the miners as a body are responsible for
the late acts Of lawlessness, riot and incen-
diarism in the II ocking valley. The work
respons ible for the riot in that city. Nor, by
the way OF further illustration, are all Of
US mine operators guilty of the vices and
crimes Of some rich rascals and
black sheep in our midst, who have plundercd
the public in playing the stock confidence
game and in other ungodly behavior. The
two corporations that have acted the part of
chief agressOrs in this conspiracy to pauper-
ize the wages and trample upon the rights of
miners, are the Hooking Valley Railroad
company and the Hooking Valley Coal syn
dictate. Both of these powerful monopolies
have been guided in their past policy and
conduct by the two vicious principles
of getting high prices from the
public and giving low prices
to the laborer. The plans of securing double
profit by advancing the selling price Of coal
in various large markets, and BY reducing
the cost Of production from cutting down of
lily paid labor, showed at least a talent for
shrewd fnaneering. The interest on watered
railroad stocks and inflated bonds had TO be
paid, aud the sentiments Of justice, compass
ion or mercy could not furnish means to
meet such hard obligations. The present
owners Of the Hooking Valley railroad gained
possession of this property q few years ago
by simply using the printing press to
turn out bonds enough to cover
the entire purchase of stock, bonds
aud everything else handed TO them by the
old company. These men even paid in these
new bonds almost generous price for their
purchase, aud Ear in excess of any actual
money investments ever put into the road.
Then they had the kindness to issue to them