Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-08-05

Laborars inside. ........,.., 1850 $50
Laborers outside. ,,...,..... 9.BO b.Ol
"In the forthcoming report for 1886 ii
is estimated that the total amount re-
turned as paid in wages in coal-mining
would, if divided equally among all re-
turned Us employed, give $6.G7 per week
in anthracite mining and 1921 in bitumi-
nous mining" But out Of the miners
wages must come the cost of his mining
supplies-powder fuse, oil, cotton, Sc.--
and these must be bought of the com.
pany OF from 20 to 100 per cent more
than the ordinary prices. Still worse,
what the miners call the "pluck-me
store system is general in the Pennsyl-
vania coal regions.
These "pluck-me" stores seem to well
deserve the name the miners have given
them, the prices charged In them running
from 10 to 100 per cent above ordinary re-
tail prices, and probably averaging from
% to 40 per cent. Quality, too, is somo-
timos In Inverse relation to price ghon
a mtner bitterly complained 20 lln that
while fresh roll butter could bo boz. .bt for
% cents pound the company store charged
40 cents n pound for butter 'strong enough
to pull car up slope" 1t Is doubtless
true that there are some company stores
content TO charge only ordinary prices, but
In the course of conversation with miners
representing pretty much NIL the mining
districts Of the state, only heard OF one.
In this case the company store has passed
to the widow OF q deceased member OF the
mining firm, and this lady who lives,
believe, In New York has issued strict orders
that prices shall not be higher than in
ordinary stores.
'There is no avowed computation, y
says Mr.. George, sin dealing with these
stores, but II nevertheless az effectively
exists" AS the miners put it, "If you go
elsewhere to buy your powder, you must
go elsewhere TO burn it."
In regard TO the habitations of the
miners, Mr.. George finds this
AS rule, when the operators OF tho mine
| control the surface, and where they are not
brought into competition with the owners
/ OF closely adjacent land upon which stores
| or dwellings can be built, they will neither
| sell nor lease building sites, the control OF
| the land giving them bettor control Of their
men. The employees arc lodged In dreary,
monotonous rows of company houses, di-
\ vided by thin partitions into from two to
four tenements OF from two to four small
Il rooms. These houses arc OF wood, built In
n cheap and tlimsy manner, usually I'M
finished inside and implanted outside. The
only evidence that there Ia such n thing Ms
paint In the world Gas for whltewash, that
seems to be unknown) Is generally the com.
pany number painted In bold figures = =
| The rent OF these houses differs on different
estates, ranging from 20 80 to 80 a month
theaverage being IS. = In these mlninl
villages every one Is "a tenant upnr
five days notice. y In some places nc
one is allowed to live in the village unless
employed by the company, young mar
L horn the Qpnf md atIll tiuInTt xuitl q
parents being eompelled to leave II he gov
to work elsewhere than "fOr the lord OF the
manor" Tho power of the solo land
lord enables the operator or superintendent
to exercise such control ms ho cares to, ant
may deem prudent. lie may ennct dos
laws, CONT laws, chicken laws, liquor law
or any other laws that he plcases, short
the point of producing general revolt.
According TO Mr.. George, the con
miners of Pennsylvania appear to liv,
under conditions but very little bette
than those of chattel slaves. They ar
not, however, "what in this country w
call peons;" for, as class, they ar
not allowed to run in debt to the com
pany." Mr.. Georges exact meaning her
is best comprehended, perhaps, in tn
following paragraph:
Strange It seems when passing throug
the mining regions of Pennsylvania to CON
across newspaper articles on Irish land
lordism or to read resolutions OF Knight
OF Labor announcing Gland grabbing
In tho far west. II the Pennsylvania
Wishes to 500 land monopoly, he need eros
neither the ocean nor the Mississippi. Fror
many point In his own state all OF tn
, world there is in sight is the legal propert
OF ono man or ono corporation. All th
other free and Independent" citizens {
the commonwealth of Pennsylvania whOI
one secs there may be cut of at wor
from tho privilege Of earning living, an
be thrown out of what they call thel
homes at Ave days notice.