The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-07-16
AS SCOVEL SEES IT.

The Well Known Correspondent Tells OF
Conditionsin the Eastern ohio DiAtrict,
fft at, iateFesting Contributions.
Sylvester scovel, the well known stan
correspondent of the New York World,
who has been making Wheeling his
headquarters while looking into the
strike situation in eastern Ohio, has an
interesting contributloninwhich he tells
of the situation at Dillonville, on the
Wheeling & Lake Erie road. Mr. SEQ
Wells letter OF instructions laid stress
on the Importance Of getting next
door" 10 the miner himself, eating what
he eats and looking at matters from the
miners point OF view. AS Will be seen
from the following he draws realistic
men picture of the miner and his sur
roundings.
For the past year the miners of this
district have had neitherwor nor wages
sufficient to support life In deeeRcy.
All connected with the industry know
1t. Many are honest and admit II. TINS
ulace is not poverty-stricken, us most
OF the grimy mining towns In ONO are.
In fllht, from the 1897 miners point OF
dewitt is fairly prosperous. Yet honest
Investigation painfullyproves that Eng
iisf.speal1ing men to keep out Of debt or
evep,to keep alive must eat scantyp poor
food, and occupy scantIer. poorer quar-
tiers.
No wonder, then, the men OF Dillon
No. 2" read. unmoved, the company's
Invitation to return to work, even under
the protecting wing OF a large number
of unnecessary United States marshals.
one steady-eyed, earnest miner said
10 me: "Why should VIC return to work
and undercut the strike? Pittsbnrghmen
would then starye on De Armltts 3D.
cent rate. while We starved on nine
cents less. It's only little hog meat
and flour we get now at 81 cents n ton.
God only knows what II will be Mt i5
cents. with d five-foot vein Of coal and
three days work a week. 1t would be
sheer starvation without outside help.
II is bad enough now. The operators
themselves frankly admit that at the
tonnage mined even the present rate,
81 cents. Is too low"
How Can They Livei
A well-Informed company official ac-
knowledged: mo, can't understand
how miners manage TO i've.
He had lust found the books showed a
total OF il5 days actual operation OF the
mine during the twelve months up to
July 1. 1897. This means that the aver
age miners have received for the years
work SIG. Not man able to work
missed n single days run, and yet for
food, shelter, fuel. clothing, not mem
Rf a
Just 4Sjg cents a day.
The last twelve months hgs sunk
most OF the Engllsh-cpeaklng men
heavily In debt. a few have vegetable
gardens to lessen the food BILLS, or other
means Of making money
Only the men who are depending upon
mining alone for n livelihood have
stretched 4sih cents to cover wants, and
have had TO feed coarscy In droves
and herd together at night The for
elgn born men alone eau and VIII do
this.
or GOO men employed hercnbout 200
nre Engllsh-speaking. About half come
from Great Britain. The others are ma
tive born These nrc the best work.
men and make the highest wages, but
they nre Just the ones who are In debt.
nIlntrs Ia Debt.
Credit is not often extended except
to Englsh-spoaslng men. The books OF
grocery stores, butcher shops and pro,
fesslonal men here show that the min.
era have run into debt over 1900 during
the year ending july t.
This means that almost every minor
10 whom credit N extended IN To-day $50
In debt. This In over ono-thrd moro
than the average monthly wage during
TINT time. and more than ten per cent
of his total earnings for the whole
twelve months. even allowing the fact
that credit men, being. the better min
era. earned IS cents daily for year. or
az cents more than The AYeFage.
EngllHh-Hpenklng miners hero nfe
almost universally sober, frugal men
Tho present condition Ia not n result Of
fancy groceries or extensive canned
goods parlOr organs nre very scarce
In Dilonvlllo. There are no indications
NJ lil.ndvlpod spending Of money. Nor
has any pay gone back into the on-
ployofH pocket through the big profits
VI the company store" There IN none
hero hnd tho independent stores roll
chenply.
Tho best nouJ Ia 2H cents n pound,
pork I. bacon ., coffee l2h, Othor sun.
plies cost In proportion.
No ono knows the miner like the min.
ing town corner grocery Keeper one
said
ITS no! the mems fault that iloy owe