The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-22
THE GOVERNORS COMMISSION.
1t VIII Report that the Miners Are on
the Verge of Actual Want.


TERRE HAUTE, Ind. July H.-Judge
Terhune. J. B. Conner and State Mine In
spector Fisher. Governor Mounts special
commission, spent the day at the mines
in Parke and Vermllion counties They
went to Rosedale and Coxville, in Parke
county, where they found a number of
cases of restitution. They found that not
all the miners are on the same footing as
to supplies, some owning their own homes
and having vegetable gardens Many of the
miners are in the country working as har-
vest hands. Mr.. Conner says there seemed
70 be a disposition on the part of the men
70 do their best, and they are not idlng
about the camps Parke and Vermillion
counties have good crops and this fact has
a good influence on the situation among
the miners. Judge Terhune says the situa-
ton in these two counties is grave and
outside aid will be needed in short time
He has been surprised at the intelligence
and sterling qualities of the men. The COM
missioners heard of no talk Of violence.
They drove from CoXville to Clintc.., Ly-
ford and Geneva, In Vermillion county. To-
morrow and next day they will spend in
Sullivan and Greene counties, returning to
indianapolis over the /. & V. road They
Will report that the miners are on the verge
The miners as a rule expect little from
the commission. AS a matter of fact, they
are skeptlcai OF the EFFORTS alleged to pc
in their behalf. None in the past has helped
them. Every law passed to help them
has either been held to be invalid by the
courts or is a dead letter by reason of nom
enforcement. During the long strike in the
block coal field a few years ago. when
the men were insisting that further reduc-
ton in wages meant curtailment of earn
ings below thS actual cost of living, state
ments were given out right and left that
II miners were not prospecting it was
through their own thriftlessness. They lost
that strike, and they feel that this was
due in a large measure to the creation of
sentiment that they were not entitled to
what they asked. Later on, during the
strike of 1894 they did not suffer to the
same extent, but there was much said as
70 their own fault in not being more prov
1dent in their daily life. They have now
become. cynical and desperate at a time
when there is no dispute as to their hard
lines. They doubt even the professions of
sympathy the part of the public and
the press, and the comparative failure of
their relief committees to obtain money has
deepened the impression that much that
has been said as to the sympathy of the
public was not true. 1t is not strange
therefore, that at such time they look
upon the liquor dealer and brewer from
when Is now coming more relief than from
all other sources combined, as their best
friends Notwithstanding they know that
the liquor dealer and the brewer are not
acting from disinterested motives.
One of the causes of the miners hard
SHIPS. or winch the Governors commission
may learn something, but whose prevention
has not been effected in the older mining
States, is the company store The commits
sion has not as yet visited the camps where
the "pluck-me" store is the most rapacous
Until the past few years the ''pluck-me"
store was not known as such in this State
The coal companies owned stores, but the
men were not made prey of in these stores.
There are a number of localities where that
IS stiil the fact, but within few years the
rapacity Of the owners in other places has
led them to adopt the tactics of the worst
mining camps in Pennsylvania. In the block
coal field in this State and in Sullivan coun-
ty, where the mines are owned mostly by
of touch with the actual condition, the COM
pany store has come to be a crying evil
In Sullivan county they use metal checks.
which are virtually all the currency of the
community, and If they are not turned in
for merchandise the company which issues
them places a discount of 10 per cent. on
them. The surrounding farming commune
ties have been complaining for year or
more that they are forced to suffer this
discount on the sale of their produce be-
cause Uncle Sans money is not to be had,
the companys checks having entirely dis
placed it.
These company stores are conducted in
the names of persons other than the Off
GERS of the coal companies and the claim
is made that they are not owned by the
operators, but the miners say that in one
way or another 1t is made known to them
that if they do not buy at the particular
store they cannot get work in the mine.
and If they are given work it is in a vein
OF coal where they cannot get out half as
much coal as men are digging elsewhere