The Labor enquirer., 1886-01-02

though tn Shefase of the Pennsylyani,
laborers theif miserable abodes are 10
e PB 4 q h y ke + Eosptty xhaEs there i
I; 1g Al T. md ~ thing ID
bssS S y sls' - ! 3 "a I, : n L then
Nature ms fine everything to make
PsunsylvaniaI3he richest state in thu
union. Mankpwners of her soil draw
Iprincely incolb from the land withou
Investing ! dollr Or performing day,
labor Thei1spuses are surrounded b,
noble trees. nd billowy meadow
stretch away at every side, while I'M
derneath the hpses and the great stone
barns, hundredsof feet below the deep.
est growing pks of the tallest trees
men and boys d far coal and IRON. al.
most everything necessary for the per
feet making Of she king Of metals is al
hand. Yetrba state presents greater
contrasts between rich and poor thar
are to be found elsewhere in America
The iron, steel coal, gas, and railroad
lords sre the ! fil,ng class. They have
grown so rich hat millionaire among
them is poor man, comparatively
speaking. Their workingmen have
grown SO pitifuiIy poor that the one who
has sufReiencYo the coarsest food and
clothing ID rich. A recent enumeration
of the millionaires of Pittsburp alone
showed more thqn l50 of them, some Of
them counting their wealth by tens OF
millionsinstead of by units. Scattered
all over the state in, hegels which are
.unfit for b1slsa ans ts,ousatld lds &C nn-
Axpby q 6fss & llgs tIfz M
osher class on iron and coal. The rich
gifts of nature, but for some reason an
able to make them yield even the neces-
saries OF life.
Many of the osd-time miners who once
delved there are gone, and in their
places are thousands of Bulgarians,
Hungarians and Holes. The labor mar
ket is overstocked. There are three
men for every JOB. The great mines and
mills run but third or half of the
time, and 30 fierce is the competition
for work, so bitter is the struggle for
bread that men fight for the Door priyi-
lege of earning 70 cents day. Droyes of
imported workingmen, on whom no tariff
is laid, have been thrown into Pennsyl-
vania by the barons, and since their ar
rival strikes have been few, or. if they
have taken place, they have been un-
successful. This degraded labor which
grows rich on 70 cents, which has no
home in this country and no wives and
children appealing with gaunt faces for
bread, is used as club on the Ameri-
can worklngman, In the case of the
river miners injthe western part of the
state the struggle has been long and Bit
ter, but the inevitable result is at hand.
The men must return to work for the
figures which the Bulgarians are willing
to take. 1t is slow starvation if they ac-
cei t-r's-,---,-- So - =--.s-
"Men came to me yesterday and to-
day." said an operator. quoted in re-
cent dispatch to the Herald, "and they
asked permission to 60 into the pits and
dig some coal for their own use: / told
them that they would have to do with
out, as the pits we're closed. Itell you
they are in a bad way This is the
heartless boast of an operator who
knows hhsa Rowsr. g
In addition ID other evils, the bi
luminous coal miner is now suffering
from the general use of natural gas IN
Pittsburg. This has driven at least
5000 miners out of employment anc
those who have been at work since
January last have had employment fol
only from so to 100 DAYS. Many familie,
are starving, and the children Of miners
may be seen every evening at O'Clock
at the bridges in Pittsburg begging o
the workmen coming from the iron ant
steel works for the scraps left in thei
dinner cans. Poles. Hungarians and
Bulgarians swarm through the Goa
MINES. The Poles make good citizens
and so do the true Hungarians. Th
old Irish and Welsh miners contour,
the Bulgarians who come here with tn
Hungarlans. The Bulgarians are !
wretched lot. They come in great mum
bers and will work for almost NOTHING
They rarely become skilled miners, bu
are content to remain laborers. The
spend nothing. A dollar a week is
good income for one of these Slayi
Fifty or SIXTY ofthem viii 1--we in q singl
shanty, sleeping on the floor and eatin
the refuse of slaughter houses. Wit
their bread they use lard instead of but
ter. When Bulgarian has sent hom
eQnn ba unite fho <.onnfrv NJ hoo o<