Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-20


the present directly with the past of nearly
l,SOO years ago. now intend to say few
words about the more modern part OF North
umoeriand, and what I will say on this
point will have direct connection with the
industrial affairs of both the United States
ana England. The southern section of
northumberland is almost entirely made up
OF coal mines, and that coal region is known
as one of the foremost in the world.
think will be able to show that in all
Things the Northumberland miners stand
anead OF all other miners, in the world.
!nls may seem a strong statement
In view of the fact that not long ago GER
tain writer visited England and subse-
quently declared to the world that the
English coal miners in social and moral af-
!alrs were not far removed from the hog.
what l am going to say is regardless of
either free trade or protection.
THE COAL DIGGER AT HOME.
First, will deal with the Northumbrian
coal digger at home, that is, when he is out
OF the mine. He has comforts and avenues
to intelligence that an American coal digger
never sees and even may not dream of.
have examined carefully into the conditions
OF each and know that 1 have just stated a
TACT. At home the Northumberland miner
has splendid house and garden free. The
houses are generally built OF brick or stone
and have from three to five and six rooms.
The gardens are large enough to grow sufi-
cient vegetables for the house and the miner
generally feeds his own bacon" and rears
his own poultry. These conditions, that is,
all that have just mentioned, are not to be
found in the United States, and it is Of very
great importance to have house and coal
tree. But every colliery village is laid out
admirably and has lecture hall and read
ing room, besides three or four churches or
chapels.
Now the proprietors of these mines have
paid the lions share of money in building
these institutions. As rule the reading
rooms and lecture halls have entirely been
built by the mine owners. The churches or
chapels have been erected jointly. These
reading rooms are we'll patronized, and this
accounts for the remarkable degree of intel
ligence there is to be .ound among the
North of England miners. use the term
North Of England because what I say
of Northumberland miners applies to
the miners of Durham county, the
neighboring county. In many colliery
villages there are excellent debating socie-
ties and musical organizations. and the
hours OF labor are short enough to allow all
these things to be well patronized.
THE COOPERATIVE STORES.
But the crowning glory, might say, Of
these sturdy coal miners are the results of
their cooperative efforts. In every village
they have their "co-operative store"
founded and managed by themselves, and in
the two counties named 1 am under the
mark when say there are 400 mining vii.
lagos, some of them in fact being large
towns. The managerial work of these stores
is free. and the skill of management dis
played would often surprise the heads of the
biggest concerns in the world. Current
prices are paid. and at the end of each
quarter the profits are divided among the
members in proportion to their purchases
during the quarter. Some stores hardly
ever fail to pay 20 per cent profit. I
was informed that the store at Cambois
was seldom short OF that figure. At any
rate. 10 per cent dividend is deemed very
small. The members can either Withdraw
their dividend or let it remain and the
latter is generally done. AS a result the
miners not only have these stores, but they
have thousands of pounds gained by the
profits invested in them. Here is O very
significant lesson for the workmen of
America. I could say much regarding
these stores, would space permit, but /
think sufficient has been said to prove the
intelligence of the miner and the power of
cooperation.
The North of England miner is out of the
house about eight hours when at work; that
time includes his going to and coming from
his work. He, therefore, may work about
seven hours per day. The rules are rigid on
this point. He earns from 5 to 8 shillings
per day and in saying this am taking the
lowest estimate; that means 81 25 or So per
day. This seems small when com pared with
the wages of some mining districts in the
United States, and this great difference has
given rise TO almost all the talk in America
about the starvation wages of the English
miner. I am not going into details regarding
the comparative value ofthe wages of English
and American miners, but say this that
the Northumberland miner lives just as
well and has more social comfort than has
the average miner of any mining district I
know of in the United States. Judge
things by results and the results prove
what I say to be true.
A LITERALLY SUPPLIED TABLE.
It's also nonsense for writers to scribble
away about English miners living on uu-
buttered bread and salt herring. l STAYED q
day or two with some last week, and have
seen no working men of any vocation with
a better supplied table before them. And
there was no special preparation. Certainly,
the miner in question works hard, lust as
hard as he can, but at home he has rest and
comfort.
There are other important features of his
life. II he receives an injury while at work
the employers pay him a certain sum per
week as long as he is unable to work. He
also receives another weekly allowance from
the Permanent Relief Fund, to which the
employers Voluntarily contribute one-iourth
of the subscri ptions. These allowances,
together with the free houses, gardens and
Goals, are something that weigh heavy in the
balance when weighing or estimating the
comparative worth of the English and
American wages. Altogether 1 think it
can easily be seen that, tree trade or no free
trade, matters are not as bad in England as
we in America are sometimes led to believe.
The truth is that were l digging coal I
would prefer to dig in Northumberland to
anywhere else.
Of course it will be noted in what have
written that the mine owners have done
much to improve matters. This is quite
true, and many people fear that the leaders
Of the North England miners will ruin this
good work by asking for law to force the
owners to still do more.
JOHN D. PRINGLE.
IRVING AS MAHoMET.