The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-04-19

employed, and are carried to work In the
morning and home again in the evening in
the coal cars Of the company. For this they
are charged sometimes as much as ten cents
n trip, the money being deducted from their
wages. 1t is no thing for the
boys to find, after reae hing the coCiery,
that the works will be idle for some reason.
In such cases they get no pay, and have
known it happen that at the end Of the
month it would not only require all of a
toy's wages to pay for his transportation,
but he would still be in debt to his employ
er. While | was in the coal regions en-
deavored to awaken an interest among the
miners on the subject of thus employing
boys at colleries. but nine out Of ten Of
them were willing to run the risk of their
boys being equal to the hardship Of the life
of a slatepicker rather than lose the pit
lance each would contribute to the family
income
And here is what another well informed
man, o district master workman Of the
| Knights of Labor in the anthracite district,
and who. though not now working at coal
mining, has passed through all its grades,
writes Mr.. George On the subject: "The lot
Of the slatepickcr, though still hard, has
been much improved in this quarter. Since
the advent of organized labor, the slatepick-
er's task master, the chute boss does not
whip and abuse the children as vas the
custom before. There is more or less of the
lash, the club and the boot administered to
the %slatepicker in many places yet, but it is
not so common n custom, and the practice OF
washing the coal, though adopted without
intention Of beneftting the slatepicker,
works for his good by keeping down the
dust. There are some places yet where the
coal is not washed, and the life of a slate
picker there is indeed deplorable. Choking
with dust, bending over the running coal,
used to call heart burn and emitting sour,
bitter wptcr brash, the slatcpicker is often
unable to eat when meal time at last arrives.
That the coal breaker and the coal mine fill
premature graves and make premature old
men, is true. Morgan Jones has not put it
too strongly. The gravcyards are o~verfull,
and the numerous asthmatic consumptives
| Astounding in these coal fields are walking
corroborations. l went to picking slate
ween nine years old. and weighed thirty-fve
pounds a year after, and on the dusty
breaker and in the mine did mans work for
boys pay for years, as hundreds Of boys are
doing it now. l will be thirty.eight next
September as you know, gray and old. But
though l have been myself a slatepicker, and
filled all the grades Of manual labor in and
about u coal mine, l must confess l have
given no thought before to the wrong done
these boys; it is SO common we have got used
to it. But as l write, my mind goes back
to the hundreds Of boys who with me were
little slatepickers. / recall lots OF them who
arc in the grayeyards, and those yet among
the living whom l occasionally meet art
gray-headed, old young men, worn out be
fore their time. Asthma, consumption
weak back, gravel and rheumatism follow
The breaker and mine work"
The Pennsylvani Bureau of Indussria
Statistics has secured a photograph Of the
little slatepickers Of n typical breaker, seatet
at their work, the chute boss with his Ions
| 49, - xLzs. ->:Io< r : ~, ln- Io~,>r
~stration of how the law concerning chile
labor is disregarded. The difficulty will
enforcing the law is the poverty Of the par
ents. The 'protected'' miner can With diff
Guilty support his family, 50 that any pit
lance the CHILDREN can earn becomes in
portant Still more is this the case whel
their natural protector is disabled or takel
away, and many of the little fellows EN-
ployed in the mines are the sons OF sucl
men. Miners complaining Of the neglect o
their employers to perform some work re
quircd for proper ventilation, were given t.
understand ''that if they conplained abou
it TO the inspector, they would r~etaliate by
enforcing the law against the employment
Of children At the same time appeared ir
a Pennsylvania paper Twelve reasons why
we want d protective tariff. of which the
sixth and seventh were as follows:
"6 Because children at n tender age ant
women of Europe are required to perform
the servile labor in manufactures and GU,
doors at a mere p~ittance for pay. being de-
graded to the servile condition of prison
labor Of this country. Our aim should be tt
SO protect the labor of America as to shield
it from q like serfdom condition.
81. Because we desire t. set an example
of universal education, and prevent any
growing up in ignorance, the wages of work
ingmen should not be brought into compe
tition with the pay Of women and children
who work in Europe for a mere pittance.
The Value of Trees.