The advocate., 1891-03-25
MTNHnAPOLHB.


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In all departments Of labor COrres-
pOndingIy low wages prevail. Har-
per's Weekly Of June 10, 1888, good
Republican authority, has the follow
ing in reference TO the coal mines OF
Pennsylvania:
Wages arc very low In the coal mines Labor,
en receive from 90 10 30 cents per day. Year
ln and year out for the last ton years. during
which time the cheap foreigners have been com.
Ing 10 this country I'm great numbers the aver
ago daily wages for a common labOrer has prob
ably not been more than 70 cents per day With
the stopping Of work very few labOrsrs mako
more than sl2 per month the year round, anda
third Of thls must 30 as rent for the shAnty.
Eight dollars a month Is very little In the eX-
penslve coal regions for food clothes and medl-
Cines.
There is many miner who goes without din
ner day after day, and who tghtens his belt
when noon comes.
A piece OF fresh meat Is a luxury for holidays,
and two or three cold potatoes are the contents
Of the dinner pail. There Is no allowance made
by the employers for accidents or Illness. When
tho doctor 10 needed, each visit must be paid for
when II rs made When tho rent comes due tho
same Is taken from the months earnings, and II
the head OF the family can work no more, the
family s turned out with an the bitter cruelty Of
business"
These pen pictures might be con-
tinued indefinitely. "Labors' wrongs"
if fully written, would constitute by
far the largest volume OF modern
American history. II is not because
the human heart is becoming more
hardened or the modern conscience
calloused that these wrongs exist.
They are the result of q vicious
system, and the influence Of this sys-
tenn is seen in the wrecks Ofhumsnity
that lie strewn all along the pathway
of life. Let the editor OF the Jour
nal of Finance visit Blackwell's or
Wards island and he may see a pOr-
tion OF these wrecks Mr.. Riis in
speaking Of them says:
An average Of i,7OO women this asylum har-
bOTs the asylum for men upon Wards Island
even more Altogether l,4l0 patients were ad-
mtted TO the city asylumS for the insane In 1889,
and at the end OF the year 1918 remained In
them There Is a constant OminOus increase In
this class Of helpless unfOrtunates that are
thrown on the citys charity Quite 200 are
added year by year, and the asylumns we're long
aimee so OvercTOwded that great farm" had 10
be established on Long Island TO receive tho
surplus. The strain Of our hurried, OverwOTkei
life has something to do with this. Poverty has
more For these are all OF the poor. It is the
harvest Of sixty and hundred fold, the Fearful
rolling up and rolling down from generation to
generation, through al the ages, Of the weakness,
Vice, and moral darkness Of the past" Tho
curse Of the island haunts all that come once
within itS reach. "NO man or woman" t" says DR..
l. Seaman, who speaks from many years OK
peTience In q position that gave him full OppOT-
tunity 10 observe the facts, ''Who Ia sent up 10
those colonies ever returns 10 the city scOttfree
There is lien, visible or hidden, upon his or her
present or future, which often proves stronger
than the best purposes and faregt OppOEtunitlesOf
social rehabilitation. The underworld holds In
vigorous bondage every unlOrtunateOr misCreant
who has once served time" There 10 often
tragic interest in the struggles OF the ensnaEed
wretches 10 break away from the meshes spun
about them. Butthe maelstTom has no bowels OF
mercy; and the wOuld-be fugitlvos are flung
back again into the devourlng whirlpool Of
crime and poverty, until the end Is reached on