Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-01-27

into the pockets of the labor which produces
it. There is, then but 6 per cent. of the
protection left to 1.-THE coal mining magnate'
to reimburse himself for the large outlay he
has made i'll the purchase and expensive de-
velopment of his coal lands.
Labor thus rightfully monopolizing nearly
all that the tariff law affords, the railroads.
which Mr.. Wilson claims, on the other hand
are subsidized by the duty, must get the i'm.
pied bonus from some other source. Its no
longer in coal, for, as shown, it was left at
the mouth of the mine in mining labor and
royalty There can be- then, no argument
against the tariff on coal more unfair not to
say unsound, than that after its resources
have been paid out in incidental protection
to mining labor it still constitutes "a subsidy
to railroads.
My purpose, however is not to reply to Mr..
Wilson, but more particularly to present
some considerations in connection with the
SIMS general view of the situation as see it
from particular standpoint In doing so |
desire to urge, in the second place, that the
Georges Creek coal region is not only excep-
tional in the character of the reqiD.e under
which the little protection afforded by the
present tariff is fully transmitted to the
pockets of labor, but its geographical location
separates it from the conditions which the
San applies all round We are too far south
and east to compete with West Virginia,
Ohio and Pennsylvania in Ontario. Our
only market is eastward and north-eastward,
and oar market is tie on1y market mat Nopa
Scotia ,cdnts.
No congratulations can obscure this fact
Let the SIM take the map and it will easily
see why "our mining companies are sending
to Canada and selling there at a profit more
soft coal than Canada is sending and selling
to u.s." 1t will see that the Ontario mar.
ket is nearer to the trans-A leghany coal
regions than it is to the Nova Scotia source of
coal supply, just as Nova Scotia is nearer
to New England than we are. 1t will see,
too, that some other reason than striking
down railroad subsidies must be alleged for
taking from us the only market that is ours
by the laws Of location and gravitation and
by the requirement of years of industrious
cultivation.
The question we lay before the people of
Maryland is whether they will continue to
stand by class of their fellow citizens extra.
meritorious of consideration on account of
the approximations nature of their calling
by the employers who pay them with clock
like punctuaity every cent of the little benefit
accorded by the tariff, and by the thousands
whose business life depends upon the current
level and volume of trade? Or will they
lndorse the fallacies that local is raw
material; !" that a tariff paid 20 miners is a
subsidy to railroads." and that to destroy
subsidy that no longer exists even by i'm
phcation we must become exiles from our
own markets, aliens to our own customers,
and seek to recoup all we lose at home bv
discoveries of new trade in lands beyond the
ocean?
But should the people of Maryland through
their representatives, join the demand for
free coal, it is in order to inquire what they
are to gain by 1t. Will the purchase of the
still highly protected goods of New England
upon whose altar our coal and our labor are
to be sacrificed, indemnify them in either
kind or degree? Will the wages transferred
to Nova Scotia reimburse them for the notion
that coal is a raw material ?" Will the
freight rates taken from our brakemen and
boatmen compensate them for the contention
that "the tariff is a railroad subsidy" Will
the inevitable depreciation of property values
IN Allegany county that will appear in the
proposed new assessment repay them for the
fancy that because our coal is near the sur.
face it is easier (but far more dangerous tc
get?
AS to New England 1t has been said by
the SIN and by Mr.. Wilson that free coal is a
concession to the manufacturers in consider.
alton of reduced tariff rates upon manufac
tured goods. | do not remember how much
the average reduction is, but do know it is
not 100 per cent.-the amount taken from
coal. | do know that the virus of protec.
tionism" has not left the roof: covered spinner
wholly bereft of the grateful! infection, but il
has passed by on the other side" the miner
who with his precious life in his hands, still
delves in the wet, CRIME and peril of under
ground toll.
The people of this region view the future
under free coal with dismay. Democrats es
pecially, who know that it costs something
to be democrats, regard the coal clause as not
only sectional, but class legislation by demo
Gratis against democrats. They have never
felt better assured of their footing than under
the oegis of the Chicago platform-that coal
already revenue commodity, would and
ought to remain so as long as anything in
this country is incidentally protected.
If the views herein expressed appear to be
selfish it is because the honest conduct of af
fairs by the employers of this region and our
peculiar environment, or want of environ
ment, make them so. There is no other coal
region like this; none other where the rela-
tons between employer and employed are SC
amcable; none other where the tariff has
so completely gone into the pockets of the
miners and the trade of the people-al the
way from Westernport to Baltimore.
To the extent of their great ability, there.
fore, the Sun and the people of Maryland
should stand by us and see that it will be
better for ninety-nine guilty regions to go un-
punished than that their own model mining
interest should suffer.
Baltimore Sun.