Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-09-12
MINING JOURNAL.
FROSTBURG MD. SEPTEMBER II, 1891.
4 FORGOTTEN Factor.


Homecoming Reoie,c, and endeavoring
to be facetous, finds three kinds of
independence among the newspapers
of Frostburg and Homecoming.
This discovery may involve the
Frostburg Lelger and Homecoming Star,
but it does not affect the JOURNAL,
which is now, as always, an indie
pendent paper.
But we have far more drastic med
icine for Knight of Labor" who finds
fault with Rev. Mr.. Ockerman for af-
frming that Sin most cases of unequal
pay the blame attaches to the work
man" He says:
What is meant by unequal pay we are not
told. If it means we all want equal pay, one
as much as another, the JOURNAL is off. We
want equal pay only when we have done
equal work.
That is doubtless the Noble Orders
latest conclusion, brought about by
stress of circumstances.
Or it is what the Noble Order holds
i'll theory and despises in practice.
But we anticipate See this:
Whether man is great or small he should
get Just as much for digging ton of coal as
any other man, and if he digs twice as many
tons he should get twice as much pay.
The reader will note that there are
no qualifications here. "a ton Of
coal' is Il ton of coal, no matter how
dug. The man who picks his ton into
slack is entitled to just as much as the
miner whose skill and care enable him
to fill his car with lump coal.
1t is worth remembering also that
the man who neglects to clean his coal
can send out more tonnage than the
conscientious miner, yet if he sends
out twice as much, ''Knight of Labor.
authorizes us to repeat that she should
get twice as much pay" In other
words, the more slate the more pay.
1t must be assumed right here that
both these fellowship unsllillful or
careless man and the skillful miner
dlt NulSulS vi lIdlJOls IL liz lfltttl
were not, he would enjoy no con-
sidcration, for it is on account mainly
of his conscience and industry that the
Noble Order has in ''Knight of
Labor's' own words, limited
the hours of work, and we have done so
by law
After this showing it is not likely
our bumptious young scholastic will
be able to make 50 much sport Of Mr..
Ockerman's well-grounded af1irma-
ton:
A perfect equality of wages therefore would
be high handed injustice.
Certainly, and the miners Of this
region admit it every day in the dock
age they gracefully submit to more or
less on account Of unclean coal.
Suppose Mr.. Ockermam had said ga
perfect equality of income''-how
then ?
According to manifesto of the
Noble Order, when it was openly
swaying the sceptre over the mining
operations of this region and sneaklng
ly dominating the business of the
county in every other line, it was de-
creed that mo miner should load over
five tons of coal per day" That is to
say, the daily wage m0rimWm Of each
miner was fixed ineXorably at 1925.
This was possible, not accessible, to all
-skillful and unskillful. Indeed, the
quality of the work played no figure
under the Noble Order regime. The
employers had lost, not only the right
to reject unmarketable coal, but the
power to dock OF discharge. The EN-
ployer was the victim of the whole
business.
With one exception:
The miner, with a big family whose
earnings were restricted Cd by the
normal demand for coal, and GU by
the arbitrary limitations of the Noble
Order. For his necessitous condition
there was no fraternal consideration.
The brotherly notion of "equality' |
placed him on plane with the young
fellow who bets on the foot-race during
the day and sleeps in the lookup at |
night.
And another exception:
The poor fellow who did not be-
lieve that public ends should be sought |
through secret Order; or who did |
not for other reasons want to join a
dark-lantern junto, or who, as des-
cribed by "Knight of Labor" wanted |
''to pull himself into his shell and
stay there" His right to work at a
price he knew would keep his family
in bread was absolutely denied. To
him the Noble ORDERS ipSe dirH was
violate your conscientious scruples,
or move out ; abdicate your manhood,
or starve
Knight Of Labor" may want to
controvert all this on the ground that
it is inconsonant with the ethics of the
Noble Order.
If he does, we say in advance that
the Noble Order was never, in seed,
root, or branch, what it pretended to
be. And the tree, being infallibly
known by its fruit, all its history in
a.,