The leader., 1889-12-21
MINERS WITHOUT WORK.
Thousands of Men Penniless
and Facing Starvation.
Owing to Mild Weather the De-
mand for Coal Limited.

The newshaving reached Schuylkill Haven.
Penn, that the twenty-five thousand coal
miners and mine laborers throughout the
Schuylkill coal regions had been ordered ON
three quarter time it cast gloom over the
entire region controlled by the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad Company and other
companies.
All through the autumn and winter the
coal miner has had bad luck upon bad luck.
Still suffering from the effects of the long
strike with debts contracted for the necessi-
ties of life still unpaid his wages were re-
duced to four per cent. below the regular
basis Then came the heavy autumn floods,
which drowned out the collieries; mild
weather continued and the coal trade was
worse than had been known for twenty years.
Summer prices prevailed at tide water. with
a sharp cutting and shading of circular
prices: stocks at the markets increased and
there were no sales.
The miles of sidings along the railroads
from the mines to the sea were crowded with
loaded coal cars. Colliery after colliery shut
down, repair work was suspended, thou
sands of men were thrown out of work and
now all those who have been left at work as
long as was possible have been ordered on
three-quarter time. This is regarded as only
a precursor of what is to follow, and 1T is
foregone conclusion that the miners will be
may be a complete and total shutdown be-
fore long.
In the Shamokin district thousands OF men
are out of employment and there is no KNOW
ing when they will be re-employed. Those
who had work during the summer were
obliged to labor at very low wages, owing TO
the sharp competition of the Huns Poles and
Italians. If miners and laborers averaged
$50 month they were doing well; the men
had large families. it cost every penny to
live many ran in debt, and now they are
penniless and without credit because at many
stores the rule is spot cash or orders from
the mines.
Between Traverton and Mount Carmel it is
estimated that there are 1000 men and boys
idle Individual colleries are shutting down
in all directions and the operatives having
no money ahead are in state of mind verg-
ing on despair The foreign element is al
ready tramping about the regions begging
for bread The miners and mine laborers
who are citizens and tax payers are silent and
gloomy, unable to help themselves. With
thousands upon thousands of tons of unnined
coal at their feet they have no work.
They are in need of the actual necessities
of life and are strong and willing to labor,
but they are told there is no use to mine any
more COAL because there is no sale for 1t and
no room for it in the great storage wharves
at tidewater The only demand at all for
coal is for manufacturing sizes.
The miners are also told that recent fali-
ures in New York city have had much to do
with making coal producers careful and con-
servative For weeks past men have been
sent through the regions predicting opal
panic. This to some extent has prepared 1he
miners for the news, despite the fact thas
1000. 900 tons of coal less have been shipped
to tidewater this year than last. That means
81, 900. 600 at least out of pocket to the miners
of the coal regions of Pennsylvania.
in IIftp
leaving the regions. 1t is reported that at
Treverton at least thousand men have left
for other sections of the State to secure
work. Many have been driven away by ac-
tual hunger. and having large store bills al
ready they have no more credit. The same
story is told of many another mining patch
in the Schuylkill coal regions.
The mine owners prefer to keep the coal
under ground rather than continue the men
at work, because trade must not be demoral-
lied. The coal carrying companies say they
had rather make less in tolls for carrying the
coal to tide water than mine the coal which
thev cannot now sell. Between these two
millstones the miner and mine laborer are
being ground to pieces.