The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-11-01
7HECASE IN CUMNOCk
Mexicans Are Better Off Than
the Section Hands There.
PROMISED 60 CENTS a DAY
Company Now Behind Three
Months and % Days.
RATES COMPARED WITH NORTH.

v ritter from These North Carolina Mines
Tells of ryrrany of Bosses There,
ard Pleads tor Kennedy
in Bryan.
TO the Editor: This city is now the
rendezvous of q goldbug club. It's
members consist of philosophers, sci
entists, pyets, diplomats, statesmen
and pholologists. Here we have an ar
array of brilliant intellects and pro-
found learning. The most intricate
problems are solved with the utmost
ease and dispatch. Their meetings
are held frequently, and their discus
sions are most edifying and convinc-
ing. But somehow or other these
giant intellects have failed to carry on
their campaign successfully with home
manufactured brains, and they have
been forced to import a lot of cam
paign documents, written and publish
ed by less distinguished politicians
residing in more remote and less con-
spicuous places than Cumnock. Many
of these documents are anonymous.
The arguments they contain are so
weak and trashy that the men who
import them feel ashamed of their
statements and arguments, and, there
fore, cast them upon the world without
a father. 1T is my intention to draw
your attention to some of these. First.
[ will notiee Mexico. Mexico has free
coinage of silver Eight hours hard
work on a silver basis is barely enough
to buy the ordinary Mexican laborer
enough Of the coarsest unbleached
cotton cloth to make shirt. The
same amount, three yards of the same
cloth, is earned by the ordinary North
Carolina laboreT an less than an hour
and half Hold carriers get as high as
$13 week in the United States. Their
average weekly wages in Mexico are
$780, Common laborers receive on an
average IS a week in North Carolina.
In Mexico they receive $500"
In examining these statements it
is not my intention to roam all over the
earth for an answer. If we compare
the condition Of the common laborer
the section hands at Cumnock, we
shall find the Mexican has the best
of it. The one works eight hours
day, or forty-eight hours a week for
S2.90. The other works from sun up
week for AZ cents day and his rations,
or sixty cents day without rations,
or $500 per week. The Mexican gets
fraction over 6 cents an hour, and
the Cumnock section hand makes less
than five cents an hour. A great ar
gument in favor of the goldbug. who.
by the way, happens to be bug with
out particle of gold in his possession.
This csY1aainc nf hJ7r fcx Al
disseminated at the present time. /
believe | am at this moment classed
among this family of Aueriferous
genus cimx. This anonymous scrib-
bier says, 'sHod carriers get as high as
$13 a week in the United States"
Common laborers receive on an aver
age SIS a week in North Carolina"
Hold carriers in Chicago are paid SIS
a week to-day.
THE Cumnock laborer receives a
promise of 60 cents day. The com
pany is now three months and twenty
two days behind with its payment.
More than this, what trading is done
in their store is done on scale of pri-
ces which destroys the purchasing
power of the dollar to an extent of
from Is to 20 per cent. This, in effect,
reduces the common laborer's wages
below that of the Mexican-eyen if he
were paid regularly, which he is not.
This anonymous goldbug writer did
not possess the nerve to state that bod
carriers were paid $13 week in North
Carolina, and why? Common laborer's
wages are not SIS week on an average,
but $500. Why is a hosting engineer
in Illinois paid $50 a month, while
Cumnock pays 81 a day for the same
kind of labor? Why are skilled me-
chanics in the North paid from 30
cents to 40 cents an hour, and only a
dollar day at Cumnock. The same
financial standard prevails at both
plees. The same tariff laws apply alike
to all the States. The same govern
ment officers execute the laws in both
sections of the country. More than
this, Cumnock coal sells for double
the price of any other bituminous coal
at any other mine in the United States.
Why is it, then, that those who get the
largest price for their coal pay the
lowest wages? Amy man who is con-
versant with the laws of political
economy''-the law of supply and de-
mand as practiced and enforced by all
capitalists, knows well enough that
our financial standard and the tariff
laws have very little to do with the
rate of wages that prevail to-day.
There is no such thing as a just moral
standard to influence wages one way
or another. Capitalists, in their anx-
iety to accumulate millions, abrogate
the moral law, and avail themselves
of the necessities of the poor working
man. If he can find employment for
one man, and six men should solicit his
permission to work for him, he will
Immediately take advantage of such q
condition of things, and will force the
one selected to accept whatever terms
to offer. The capitalist never asks the
man the amount of wages which vii
enable him to keep his wife and fam.
lily comfortable. He simply says there
are six men wanting this job. / only
have one job to offer to the six. Yor
can have the job at 60 cents day, il
you like. 1t is none of my business
xubathaT. Won aau live m 4bic nr not