The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1888-03-03
The MINERS PITIFUL CONDITION.


rom the y. I. Herald
These Pennsylvania strikers are well
worth studying. Whether they are in
! the right or the wrong, their helpless
condition, their determined attitude
toward the big corporation which
! steadily, il not grulfiy, refuses 40 listen
To their grievances an attitude whir'4
involves untold misery ia this icy colt
weather-lheir evident conviction tLAt
| they are defending principle and tha:
Mr. COrbin is crowding them 10 ihe
| wall-all these things make The sitG4-
ton QUE of painful popular interest.
A Herald correspondents: went
through the coal region, talsed with
the miners, visited their huts and re
ported the exact conditions OF affair-.
The picture he drew may prOtitabiy
claim our attention Oh this Sunday
morning DC we sit in front OF the biaz
Ing CRATE and manage 10 keep ihe
mercury al seventy, While outside Il II
"climbiug down" below the freezing
point.
In Panther Greek Valley and al
TaInaqua and throughout The SChuyl.
Kill and Lehigh regiOn7 there Is about
as much suffering for want oi clothing
and food just now II. you can ind IN
any part OF the world.
The workmen are nearly all native
Americans aud some oil them We're ia
the war tor tie Union. Intelligent.
brawny. skIltul aud peaceable-Ihese
are the words used by our Correspon.
dent they have firm conviction
mistaken, perhaps, but still firm as II
rock-,hat they are lighting the great
k,ai al ,,f lab,
should have credit, therefore, for their
motives. When u man voluntarily
subjects himself to Inconvenience cG
loss OF privation il is because ie thinks
| he has right on his side, and though
you may not always praise his jadX-
ment you cannot help feeling degree
OF admiration for his seii-sacriticr.
"i have seen within few hours"
said our correspondent, - little giri
walking through the snow baret0cled
and hungry" Aud again, speaking OF
! the men out of work, Their wives aGd
children are white laced, half clothed
aud taDishing." DIR. Shirmer, who
had just returned from the great col
| liery center, said 81 saw two miner-'
families VIII" told me that they begged
enough food to barely keep them alive
The children were IN rags and had
neither shoes nor stockings. The wind
drove snow through wide cracks in the
two shanties, whiah were not lit tor
human beings to live in"
That is the picture. Your imagina-
ton will enable you TO I'll in the de
tails, but we don't care TO dwell Oh il
further. The actual amount OF suffer
ing endured by these men and their
families in the middle OF a bitter winter
is not not TO be described by words.
Now, it is perfectly clear thar the
forbidding attitude of the railroad
company toward these miners comes
from the tact that what il called pro-
teCtiOn-Heaven save the mark, so far
as these poor wretches are concerned
makes them masters of the situation
The company is protected" there is
no doubt OF that, but the miners are
compelled TO protect themselves, and il
COSTS them wages, hunger, sickness and
even the death of their children t.
do it.
Every workiugman in the country
ought 10 see that the strength OF the
corporation, which refuses to arbitrate
lies in the tariff on coal. Remove thai
tariff, give us the chance to get our tue
from Nova Scotia when we can't get i,
from Pennsylvania, and howevei
strong corporation might feel i;sel
to be, il would fiud some meaus ot re
storing the relations between itself and
its employees.
That is very practical matter, ana
we commend it TO the attention oi
wage earuers everywhere