The herald., 1897-09-05
Strikes and the Coal Miners

Awful as the conditions were at the
time of the panic of 1S93-and still as
result of that panic-there can be no
Goubt that had the workers not been so
we'll organized as they We're there would
have been no limit to the depth to which
wages would have fallen. AS a result.
tie consuming power of the workers
would have been as much further re-
duced as to render the economic and in
dustrial depression still more acute, and
the generalization and misery of the
workers so much more marked that by
comparison, their present condition
woul represent veritable paradise
In word, the unions of la Dor, during the
past four years, have stood as a rock to
check wholesale reduction in wages
with all its concomitant misery. Further,
the labor movement has served to short
en- the duration of panics themselves as
well as to enable the workers to main
tain the consciousness of power and the
hope that full justice will be secured to
them in the no distant future. Finally
the movement has been the one great
preventive of much more serious con-
flicts, If not of revolution.
The miners strike affords a study for
y
others, machinery Is introduced faster
than new employments are founded"
Before the panic of 1893 the miners were
comparatively poorly organized; reduc-
tion after reduction was the order of the
day; machine mining had been freely in
troduced, without the slightest atten-
tion being paid the new conditions under
which the miners were required to work
OF coure, no observer-certainly no in
telligent union member-entertains the
thought of opposing the introduction and
full development of machinery; but the
union labor insists that il, through the.
genius of man. the production Of the nec-
essaries and even the luxuries of life be
made easier. the producers Of these
the workers-if they do not become the
bene1ciaries, shall certainly not be made
to suffer thereby. Union labor insists
further that, if new machinery be intro
duced, the worker shall enjoy at least
part Of the fruits. 1t also insists that the
burdens Of the worker be lightened by a
reduction in his daily hours of Dor, and
that he receive as reward for his labor
a living wage-a wage which, in the
dawn of the higher manhood and nobler
civilization, will afford him an opportu-
nifty to keep pace with the ever-increas-
ing responsibilities devolving upon him
as husband. a father, a man, and a
citizen.
AS above stated, the condition Of the
miners organization in 1893 was such
that the men were unable to insist upon
a fair consideration Of their interests.
The abuses of the company stores"
where the workmen were compelled to
deal, were reintroduced and extended,
thus compelling them to pay, in most
instances, an excess of 25 to so per cent
for every necessity of life. The novels
| in which they dwelt, the we'll from which
they drank, the church at whose altar
they knelt, were all owned or controlled
by the companies; the workers were
truly their bondsmen and their slaves.
| There is limit of poverty and misery
among the workers in civilized society;
and, rather than sink below it, they pre-
| fer to incur the dangerssof open revolt.
Though they deplore the disturbances 1t
occasions it is the courage, hardihood,
and temporary self-sacrifice which this
course involves that often prevent a re-
lapse Of society into barbarisun, and the
people from being thrust into actual
slavery. 1t was this state Of feeling that
provoked the miners strike of this year.
Samuel Gompers in the September
Forum.