The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1897-07-21
Tile Advance Agent and the
Mfnors.


Wheeling Register: eve oil re-
member last fall how at the door of
every Office and workshop and
mine entrance there were posted up
a very magnificent cartoon repre-
senting the Republican candidate
for President as the Advance
Agent of Prosperity" He stood
erect, looking the part, with hand
outslretohed clasping the hand of
an imaginary workman, WHO was
evidently believing everything the
benevolent looking advance agent
was saying. 1t was mighty at
liraclive cartoon and confronted
workingmen and miners every
where, Now a quarter of million
coal miners have laid down their
tools and have come out of the
mines leaving them as silent as The
grave. These men Tor months have
been looaing for the fuIfllment Of
the promises made. They have
Hooked in vain. They have right
! ito demand an increase in their wa
| ges, for theyhaye been working for
"a bare existence
Prices have been pressed down
all along the line Not that the.
operators have been making mon
ley; we all know that they have
made very little money; they too,
have felt the burden ofdecreasing
prices and short orders. Certainly
they have not been affected by inn
portations of coal; there has been
mo great demand, and certainly no
importations TO amount to any
thing. These mine owners would
be glad to pay higher wages if the
markets and orders would Justify
|it. The men are entitledto higher
wages, the mine owners themselves
are entitled to greater profits, and
both are entitled toa higher order
of perception and reason, espec-
tally when they turn their faces
toward the causes ofthe low prices.
.The iron mines are either silent
or working with very small forces
They, too, are looking for higher
prices, abetter market They would
be glad to put more men to work
All along the line Of the lakes ships |
are riding idly in the harborsi there
are few orders to carry coal or iron;
not one.third of the tonnage is in
demand, Sailors, steyedores, ALL
hands interested in the great man
ufactories are working at lower
prices, for less wages than they
have a right to demand,
sWhat is the cause of all this
lis IL the tariFg Hatdly There
will be but very little change inthe
iron schedule, and it Is the ironI
workers that consume the great
mass of coal. The Wilson bill and
the Dingley bill win not vary
enough ON the iron schedule to
make 5 cents a day difference on
the labor questions therefore. IRON
men and coal men must come to
the conclusion that the bad cone
dition OF the ironiand coal business
is,not caused by the tariff, either
the one now inforce orthe one un-
der discussion. Certainly, il ii
were caused by ythe tariff, inasmuch
as the tariff that is to be lisa Re
publican measure, and sofull OF
promise and confidence, it ought
to bring higher wages and higher
prices, and. therefore, remove the
cause for strikes il that was the
cause, but every man knows that
the tariff is not the cause. The cause
lies deeper, it lies in the money
question There is not money
enough among the common people
who are the great purchasers Of
manufactured products; toenable
them topay higher prices Ifthey
cannot pay higher prices, how can
the price Of coal aud iron be reised,
and the wages Of those who pro-
duce coal and iron9 This is per
tinent question and very practical.
If the owners of coal mines be-
llieye the promisesmade by the Re
publican party they should at once
grant the request of the coal miners
land set business to going Can it
be that these strikes are Republi-
can chickens coming home toroostf
If the mints were eopened to the
free coinage of gold and silver
alike, there would be no cry for
higher wages, foreyerything would