Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-10-13

r!cktr, and filed all tho grades of manual
labor IN and about Goa! mine. must con-
Tess have given no thouvht before to the
wrong done these boys; II Il so common
VIC have got used 10 Il. iInt as write ny
ntBd gees back 70 the hundreds Of boys
who, with me, were little slate, plckers.
rccsll lnts ~ them who are IN the grave
yards, snd those vet among the living
whom occasionally meet are gray-headcd,
old.young men, worn out before their time.
Asthma, consumption, wcak.baek, gravel.
ard rheumatism follow The breaker and
minc-wofk~
We know that our Richmond negroes
pity those poor Pennsylvania whites.
Mr. GEORGE tells us that during strike
last fall on one Of the pools Of the Monon-
eahela river, body OF miners from one OF
the other pools came up In a steamboat
with brass band and pafaded around the
mines, while committee urged the men
who bad remained at work despite the
strike TO come out and Join tbem that
during this demonstration some collisions
occurred, and two Of The men who had re-
fused 10 Join the strike were assaulted,
though. rs IL seems, without serious cOnse-
quences and that this was made pretcXt
for charge Of conspiracy against the prln-
cilsl men in the strike. For this small Of
fence tweniy-three men were in Mr.. Pow
DERLY's State Of PcnusJ lyania found guilty
Of conspiracy, and sentenced 10 eight
months imprisonment with hard labor.
Have You ever heard OF anything OF this
sort in Virginia?
In the October No. MIR. GEORGE
writes OF the " Huns" in Pennsylvania as
follows:
"Tbty crowd together in the same way,
from eighteen 10 twenty-fOur OF them, OF
whom two or three may be women, fire.
Quenty being found in single small
house, which has been fitted up with rude
hunks, one above the other. after the style
Of IN cmigrant-ship, but with even more
economy Of space"
Were ever eighteen TO twenty-four ne
groes in Richmond treated in that wayy
Mr.. GEORGE states the case OF a man hav-
ing n wife and three children to provide
for. His average earnings were 81 day,
hut as he lost two hundred days year, his
yearly pay amounted to not much over a
month. lie testifcs:
al am an American citizen, and am
hsppy TO take this means OF letting the pub
lie know the state OF the miners employed
under the Penn Gas.COal Company. The
miners are not making decent living by
any means, nor could they do so II they
we're working full time at the price now
paid, which Is fifty cents per ton, over a
thrce.quarter inch screen, 1000 pounds 10
the ton. BY this report you can see that
we do not get half living at the wages we
now receive. We are not paying our way,
but going III debt every month. What few
clothes we have are wearing out, our names
for honesty and uprightness are getting
furnished, and yet it Is not our fault. for we
try TO live within our income and cannot"
Did you say starvation wages" Mr..
POwDERLYy A miner in Washington
county, Pa, testifies as follows:
"IIere see men working fourteen, six
teen, and eighteen hours-and know that
some OF them go into the mines on Sun
day-trying TO make living, and cannot"
A miner in Allegheny county, Pa, testi-
fes az follows
a miner only gets an opportunity to |
work few months in the year, and conse- |
queuily has to work all the hours God |
sends-in fact, make beast Of himself or |
else stGTvc."
What do you say ye negroes of Rich |
mond? Are you so low down ia the scale OF |
humanity that your labor is "menace TO
the toicrs of Mr. POwDERLY's State? Are
YOU working for starvation wages" Us
Nr. PowDERLY declares. or are you in-
iinitely better of than thousands OF whites
near his own home?
Here is more proof OF Mr. POwDERLY's
or ignorance. He asks:
"Will my critics stop long enough to tell
me why the United States Senate allowed
rolored man TO introduce before tue Vice.
President OF the United States measures
for the benefit Of his State: Were the laws
Of social equality outraged when the House
Of Representatives permitted colored men
10 take seats in it! Why did not other
southern representatives leave and return
10 their homes when that was donef"
Colored men are allowed to introduce |
bills into the Virginia Legislature; and in
both branches Of this body negroes are al
lowed to sit, as they have right to sit. |
That fact. however, does not touch the ques- |
ton of social equality. Is Mr.. POwDERLY |
20 dull or so pre!udiced that he cannot be |
made TO see the difference between social |
equality and civic equality? II not so dull |
be selected unfortunate language when lie
penned the following:
"In Difference TO the wishes OF those who !
regard the laws OF social equality as supe- !
rior to the laws OF God and man, we will !
not, while here, avail ourselves OF all Of
those rights and privileges which belong to
u.s."
What nonsense. Mr.. POwDERLY meant. |
we suppose, TO charge us in Richmond !
with putting the law OF social Inequality, |
not equality, aboIe tie laws OF God and |
man. The reverse il the truth. The law |
Of nature that causes white men every
where in this country, North and South,
to hold themselves aloof from negro social |
circles Is law Of nature, and therefore OF |
course a law OF God. Ii is Mr.. POwDERLY |
who would "join together" those whom |
God has "put asunder."
Here we leave him, trusting that he will |
ponder this last ayermert.
Richmond and Boycotting.