Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-07-17
CAUSE OF THE COAL MINERS
CI-DrEkr-

Of cheapness and it did.
The positive declaration was made
that free raw materials would be
advantageous to manufacturers but
it proved to be absolutely false.
Through the efforts Of Republicans
and few Democratic Senators the
country escaped the full measure Of
the horrors of free trade. Heaven
only knows it was bad enough, but
nothing to what it would have been
had the Wilson bill been adopted as
originally framed.
The tariff on coal was reduced from
IS to 40 cents ton and the wages
of coal miners have diminished in a
like ratio. The beggarly pittance re-
ceived was not sufficient to furnish
even meager living and the strike
ensued
Official statistics show enormous re-
duction in the consumption of vari-
Gus products. despite the increase
in population. In 1892 the consump-
ton Of raw cotton in the United
States was 24.o3 pounds for each in
habitant. In 1896 it was only 1874
pounds. The consumption of wheat
per capita in 1892 was SOL bushels.
In 1894 it was 3 al, and in 1896 4 78.
In 1892 the consumption Of corn was
1888 bushels per capita. In 1896 it
was 1873, or less than one-half as
much.
Notwithstanding the fact that wool
was put on the free list, and that the
price was reduced nearly half the con-
sumption was less in 1905, the last
year for which official statistics are
available, by nearly one pound per
capita, than it was in 1893 under the
Mckinley rates of duty. These facts
demonstrate conclusively that cheap.
ening products by the reduction OF
wages and by the admission of foreign
products has been an enormous loss to
the country.
With free wool and the price re
duced one-half, the people consumed
about 90, 900, 600 pounds less of wool
in 1895 than they did in 1898.
They must have bought vast deal
less of clothing, or else they wore
shoddy clothing to an enormously in
creased extent, because the statistics
show that not only was there this i'm
mense decrease in the consumption of
wool, but there was a like decrease in
the consumption of cotton These
facts explain the depression of bust
ness and the misery brought on the
people of this country by the Wilson
tariff law.
In the case of coal the facts are ap-
parent on their face. The reduction
in the tariff and the general paralysis
of business caused by the tariff law
led to the reductions in the wages of
the miners. President Ratchford, of
the United Mine Workers, in pub
lished communication few DAYS
since, said
"a miners wages in the Western
Pennsylvania field ranges from 81 to
AZ cents a ton in thin veined districts
and from 80 to 2S cents a ton i'll thick
veined In 1898 the mining rates in
thin veined districts was 70 cents
and thick veined O. cents ton.
During the same year the rate in
Ohio and Indiana was 70 and IS
cents respectively"
The fact that the entire reduction
of wages which miners are complain
ing of has occurred since the begin
ming of work on the Wilson tariff
law, and that the reduction is nearly
the same as the reduction made in
the tariff by that act is of itself re-
markable coincidence and would prob
ably warrant the assumption that the
tariff reduction caused the reduction
in wages. Taken in connection with
the other tariff changes there is no
room for doubt on that point.
Before the passage of the Wilson
tariff bill visitor to Newport News,
the seaboard terminal of the Chesa-
peake & Ohio Railway, might have
seen at any time from four to a dozen
coasting vessels lying at the docks,
awaiting the arrival of coal trains from
Virginia and West Virginia, loaded
with coal destined to be shipped to
New York and New England. Nc
sooner had the Wilson tariff taken
effect tan all the vessels disap.
peared as completely as if they had
been engulfed in midocean.
4 The reason for this transformation
4 scene was simply this: The rate Of