Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-03-03
LITTLE COAL PlLFeReRs.

"There are in the neighborhood OF
one hundred families in this CITY who
furnish their children. little bows
and girls. whose ages range from 8
to 16 years, with carts and wagons
. and send them out on daily trips to
, pick coal along the railroad tracks
and coal YARDS" said q coal dealer
yesterday. "In this forage they
haul away no less than seventy-fiye
to enc hundred bushels per dav, all
Ofs which the coal dealers of the city
are compelled to endure because
they cannot prove title to the goods.
This custom has been in vogue MANY
years, and the hard times have in
creased this traffic to such an extent
that forbearance ceases to be a
virtue. Indeed. so great has been
this piIfering that after selling out
cars of coal it is often found that the
coal left would fail to realize the cost
of same.
'.The coal dealers lot is anything
but a pleasant one, for when the
weather is cold and the demand brisk
the supply is invariably inadequate,
and when the supply is exhausted
there is no call for the coal. When
the demand is brisk coal cars are
scarce, and when there is no demand
the railroad company charges for
holding cars too long. 1t is a bust
ness which controls the man instead
of the man his business. But after
all the greatest difficulty to contend
with is the children. These
carts start before day break in
the morning and continue until
school time. Then after school until
dark, and on Saturday the same carts
are seen on the yards as often as
three Tires a day. The coal men
see these carts making their regular
trips. but they are helpless, because
when once the cart. is loaded
they don't know from whom
it has been taken, and
having a heart in them as other men.
they do not desire to punish the lit
tie children for what their parents
compel them to do. The practice
which they have followed SO long
that they cannot be caught in the act,
and they are SO cute at it that while
you are at one car they will get their
load and off at another.
One Place in ParticuIa-.
There was one particular case
which deserves mention. and that
was a car standing on the G.. b. & Q.
tracks at the Diamond 10 landing.
where transfers had unloaded a car
of coal. and on returning for the
slack. not one hour later, he found
was taken to the city scales and
weighed, when it was found there
were but 10 bushels left. He had
seen several small children in the
car, wEo were actually to small
to get into the car without
ladder This convenience they had
with them.
$50 extensive has been the custom
OF picking up coal in the yards that
it has become generally understood
to belong to anyone who has mind
TO take it. and to get the people TO
understand this to be wrong is the
whole difficulty. They say they pick
1T off the ground, and that il is no.
bodys business to interfere. and this
is the version of many good citizens.
But there is another side to this
story. The coal dealers buy this
coal from mines at distance, have
it shipped to the city. pay for the
coal all the miners ask. then they
pay the freight on the same. for
which rights the railroad company
grants them the use of the cars and
yards for unloading the same, and
while in the transaction of this busi-
ness, the cars with the rights of the
yard is understood to be in
their possession three days for
each car so shipped and at an addi-
;ional cost of 81 per day if required
longer period of time, and when
these objections are met by the coal
men it is certain fact that their
rights are unquestioned. and no per-
son. except employees or those en-
gagged In the business and the regu-
lar haulers of freight have any rights |
there, much less to carry away the
goods stored there either on the cars
or ground. And parents who send
their children on such missions are
running the risk of having them
killed under the ears, to saw nothing
of teaching them and compelling
them to steal. 1t is indeed too bad |
that some OF the poor little waits
shall he made to suffer that others
may know that the so-called inno-
cent taking and carrying away coal
is stealing. While we sympathize
with anyone in need, il cannot be
said that the burdens shall fall all on
the shoulders of the few who are in
that business, nor should the state
allow parents TO teach their children
to become criminals