The Labor enquirer., 1886-12-18
HOLMES HORRIFIED.
He Visits the Coal Miners
He'll and Becomes Justly
Indignant.
A Residence" Into Which the
Wind Whistles Through
Knot Holes and Cracks.
Gone Home to, Recruit for Deter.
q mined War Against the
"Beast Of Property"
For the ENQUIRER.

For the ENQUIRER.
NY last letter to THE ENRU1RER was
written from st. Joseph, Missouri. Ow.
ing to the fact that my, lecture there
gave rise to considerable discussion and
newspaper controversv-during which
a hanging bee was darklY limited at bv
one of the st. Joe dailies-I was delayed
in that city longer than l expected
| However, improved the time by visit
ing Assem- blies and getting acquainted
with all the radical people of the city.
The order is well represented in st. Jo-
seph. There are eight locals and the
boys are quite active. A co operative
grocery store has been established, which
is proving decided success in Its par
ticular line. A cooperative meat mar
ket is also talked of and is one Of the
probab ilities of the near future.
On Sunday afternoon l boarded a
train for Lexit gton, Missouri, carrying
with me the hearty good wishes of true
and tried comrades. Reached Lexing-
ton about o'clock the same evening,
| and not being met at the station as
had expected, had some difficulty in
"locating" myself. l bad/the name of
one Socialist in that city and the next
morning started out to seek him.
After great deal of trouble. and VIII en-
| was about ready to give up the search
in despair, learned that he was coal
miner and lived at the mines three
miles from the city. found nv m an
living in kennel II cannot dignity such
| habita' ion with the name of house, on
the steep hillside overlooking the
muddy Missouri. For the first tune in
my life ate and slept in coal miners
cabin. l had read about the destitution
and distress of the miners IN the Rock-
ing and Monongahela Valleys; | had
heard Comrade Parsons recite his expe-
riences while among the coal miners Of
Kansas, Ohio and Western Pennsvlva-
MIA but no pen painting or word -piCtur-
ing could equal the reality-and here,
before my eyes, all about me, was the
thing itself doubt if the miners of
any part of the country have a harder
row to hoe than have these poor victims
of Jay Gould's Unsuitable greed. The
cabin which my friend calls home is one
half of fOur-roomed shantY costing
probably $25 to build. Nothing hut
rough boards inside a-d out. The floor
full of knot holes through which the
cold wind fairly whistles into the bare
put nv hand up to the cracks between
the boards and feel the icy blasts un-
til my fingers are benumbed with cold.
Standing anywhere in the room on the
freezing, windy November morning
following | could feel the cold wind
blowing upon me through the chinks
between the boards. And for this mis-
erable hovel nv friend must pay 81 per
month, and sign a contract to stay half
year, under penalty of losing the four
weeks pay WhiCn the company retains
as forfeit. The other half of the cabin
is rented upon the same terms) by an
English miner with his wife and four
children-six pei sons cooped up in two
rooms, the largest of which would only
make an ordinary bed room. And the
life of these poor disinherited sons OF
toll The only furniture in the two
rooms of my radical friend consists of
dilapldated cooking stove, rickety
bedstead with poor and insufficient bed
ding, a common pine table, three wooden
chairs and trunk. No closet or cup
board, the only pantry a starch box set
upon end. I noticed that the wife of
mine host invariably waited until we
had finished our humble meal, before
sitting down to the table herself. I sOUn
discovered that the cause of this strange
behavior was the absence of proper and
sufficient eating utensils and dishes
Five dollars would be big price to pay
for the whole outfit-wearing apparel in.
cluded-and yet, amid this distress and
this poverty found one of natures no
blemen. Great hearted, yet simple
minded, brave, generous, temperate, in
dustrious and wholly devoted to oul
cause; a man in the best sense, Crea-
ture of misfortune and poverty such is
a description of my new friend and most
worthy Comrade.
The day after my arrival | donned a
complete suit of miners clothes and en-
tering one of the mines saw the men al
work. 1t was a new and strange expert
ence, First we had to walk nearly hal
a mile, bent nearly double, and then fol
another quarter of a mile were com
PEELED to crawl on hands and knees ant
sometimes aim ost fat on our stomachs
to the rooms where the men wer,
digging Jay Gould's black diamonds
The work must be extremely laborlou
and irksome, as all the digging must b.
done while reclining upon the eide
-Four cents bushel is the pay allowed
and in order to keep these slaves FROM
earning sufficient to better their condi
ton. they are only permitted to worl
three and four days each week. 50 that