The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1895-11-02

west OF sunrise.
And whence the cause of all this enter
prise and thrift? asks the unsophisticated
reader.
The vast coal mines which give work to
these armies of men, are the emanating
sources of all their prosperity. 1t was the
coal industry that built these towns to their
present proportions.
Coal is absolute king, as the saying is,
and citizens who would without hesitation
put thousands of dollars in hole in the
ground without prospect of its tapping
coal, are as careful and conservative in
other enterprises as they are reckless in
this. The one they are conversant with;
the other they are not.
| have often heard some visitor or tourist
IN the mountains, ask some old miner why
he did not seek some healthy climate
where he could pursue some safer employ
ment, to which the latter would generally
reply in rather dignifed tone, edo you
mean that | should leave this place with
an altitude of nearly thousand feet above
the sea, in search of a healthier one? ~
'Why, sir, there's not a healthier place on
earth than this same region. Here we are
free from the extremes in winters cold or
summers heat, and we are not dependant
upon the barometers fickleness for our pros
penty. The rains may rust, insects devour,
or the elements blast the hopes of the far
mer, and envelope the agricultural town or
city in the pail of gloom, but here it is
different, our harvest is always sure"
Thus would the miner who lives by his
occupation go explaining the many advan-
tages of his town. Seldom if ever thinking
at such times, how sudden explosion of
gas or an outburst OF tire-damp, might
envelope the mining town in the aforesaid
pail of gloom with far worse results than
those which attended the agricultural
town.
For in the mining town, the ''crop" may
90 uninjured, but those who were Deepen
dent on the harvesters of that "crop," per.
haps numbering hundreds, are thrown
upon the charities of cold and merciless
world. Boys who were made orphans by
the disasters having no other alternative,
are compelled by circumstances to seek
employment of the same kind and perhaps
in short time meet the same fate that
befel their father, thereby leaving the once
happy wife and hopeful mother, who long
before her time has become old and feeble
from grief and care, to end her miserable
days in the poor house or possibly, las is some
times the case, in the insane asylum. No
doubt kind reader your advice to the
miner would be similar to that given by
the tourist above referred to, but as the
seaman becomes more and more attached
to his perilous calling as the years roll by,
so also does the miner, and so long as he
escapes with his life he will still run the
risk, for he feels that he is "the right man
in the right place, as it were. That is,
he knows little or nothing of any Other
trade, art or science, having, as the ma
lority of them are been born and raised
where the geological formations are the chief
source of their wealth and subsistence. and
it is not until one of those circumstances that
he would be likely to term a streak of bad
luck, but which is in reality, good luck.
that he discovers that there are other places
in which he can do just as we'll, and in
many cases much better, than he had done
in the coal mine. One of the causes that
compel miners to seek employment in some
other branch of industry, is the practice
employers make of secret Establishing.
This is term used to denote the COM
bined action OF two or more EMPLOYERS
against an individual miner or other en-
ploye, whom they may either fear or dis.
like because of resistance on his part to
acts of supposed oppression. The system o,
blacklisting may be explained in this way
An individual miner either personally
objects to certain rules made by his en-
ployer, or he may object as the mouthpiece
OF his fellow workmen. In either case the
employer, to more eifectually guard against
any characterization ON the part Of his en-
ployes, will make some pretence for dis
charging any person who demonstrates or
who is in position to influence others to
oppose his wishes. Such discharge by the
employer is followed by a system Of
notification to other employers, who bv
agreement prevent the person employed
from obtaining work, thus making him
an outlaw in his particular branch of
industry, depriving him of the right 70
exercise his skill or convert his KNOWLEDGE
into the medium for obtaining livelihood
A person employed by coal compapv
may be, and frequently is, discharged and
no reason assigned He seeks employmen.
at another mine, but is refused because
unknown to him, his recent employer has
informed against him. Perhaps he NAV
obtain employment, but the avenging
hand of his former employer pursues him,
and note or hasty consultation with the
new employer is quickly followed by his
discharge. The workingman is helpless,
even his fellow work men dare not befriend