Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-08-01

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How would you citizens like some one
else to draw your pay and spend 1t for
you? (Laughter.) That Is the lot OF
the West Virginia miner. His wife
goes to the store where the check book
is kept, and buys what she wants, and
the checks are taken out, and although
her husband works every day, at the
end OF the month he is in debt and has
not a dollar to show for what he has
done. Thus the miner is an ah1ect
slave. with no hope for him except
through the back door Of suicide.
(Sensation.) / appeal to you TO put
yourselves in their places. Would you
be satisfied? CA voice, "No.D / am
sure you would not be. II the people
of the United States could be put in
/ that position for one week, mis- strike
would be settled in favor OF the men
that is to say, it would be settled in
favor OF the right and in favor OF hon
esty.
But they say that Debs and Rea
came here to make contest. That is
the fact. If men are cOntented in such
state Of degradation, then there is no
hope for the future. But in this con-
test every American citizen should be
an organizer. applause and cries of
"GoOd) If you could spend one day
out there in the mining region, you
would stand as l do. holding that such
conditions are a disgrace and an out
rage.
1--WE are making a little progress
just a little progress every day, and l
have faith in the future. because l have
faith in the people. They are coming
around to believe in the necessity OF
of acting. The miners and garment
workers have sunk to sOulless depths
of degradation. / remember when the
miner made five dollars day, and he
could live like a white man and educate
his children. But his wages have been
gradually reduced, until, in my own
State. the miners. on an average, be-
| fore this strike. made forty-two and a
half cents a day. am familiar with
their condition"
At this point Mr.. DebS spoke in detail
of the condition of the miners in some
sections of the country particularly
citing BrOOkdale, Ala, where the men,
although working hard, never see any
money. and just manage to get enough
clothes TO make them presentable on
the streets. Proceeding he said:
while I was in the Fairmont re-
gion I saw the children Of hard-wOrk-
ing miners with but a single garment
to cover their nakedness, and that a
muslin -four sack. with a hole for their
necks and two at the sides for their
arms They were nearly naked. grow
ing up in ignorance, without shoes TO
their feet. even in the coolest weather,
without schooling. They cannot be-
come useful men and women when
they are raised in that manner.
John Bright once said that the ma
ton lived in a cottage. 1t was beau
tiful and poetic idea. But large pro-
portion of the wage learners among our
citizens no longer live in a cottage, for
the cottage implies a home. Byron
said: When falls the coliseum, Rome
shall fall: and when Rome falls-the
world. Hsre and now. we say what
when the American home falls then
falls America. and when America falls,
there falls the greatest country in the
world. l do not say the American
home is TO fall; but do say the Amer
lean home is in jeopardy when a man
has to work for fOrty-two and a half
cents a day. (Applause.) The average
miner does not live in a cottage. He
lives in a hut, a hOvel. sometimes a
hole in the ground hardly fit for wild
beats. He works hard, yet his return
is little. His habitation cannot be a
happy one His wife is discouraged
She has been trying to live on fifteen
or twenty cents day-the children are
half naked ignorant, and all is
wretched. And after ignorance comes
crime. and after crime punishment, In
the shape Of the prison or the life
strangled out on the gallows. These
are the products of conditions. Under
proper conditions we have true man
hood and virtuous wOmanhOod: under
vicious conditions humanity sinks to
the level of the beast. Go TO the large
centres of pOpulation-to New York
and ChiCagO-and you will see hun
dreds of thousands of people huddled
together, ignorant, vicious and de-
PRAYED. and as a natural result of these
conditions there is not a State at pres
ent with adequate capacity for the
punishment of its criminals. This Ques-
tiOn appeals to the patriotism of every
honest citizen Of the republic. And I
want the ear of the business men Of
this community for a little while. |
want TO say TO them that they are just
as much interested in this matter as
the miners. If they are defeated, you
will suffer to a corresponding degree.
If the miner gets but fOrty-twO
cents a day he must live on il some
how. He cannot buy good, wholesome
food. He can't pay grocery bill. He
cant wear good clothes. He cannot
become a factor as a consumer If he
has children and they are sick he can
not pay the doctor; if he is wronged
he cannot employ a lawyer; and so it
is all around. The entire superstruc-
ture OF our system rests upon labor
labor is the representative and all
important thing Labor is the foun-
dalton. and II the foundation is weak,
the superstruCture cannot be strong
(Applause.)
who is to be benefited by the de-
feat Of the strikers? Will it be the
business man? No, Then who will
it be? l will tell you; it will be the
few millionaires who traffic in the mis-
cry of the common people (Applause)
A fair standard of labor should be Sc
cured, in the interests of capital, Of
labor. and OF the country at large. No
country can prosper where labor is inn
poverished That is an axiom in
economies. Labor produces every
thing; it pays all the revenues, and it
ought to be able to maintain living
wage.
But they say. What have the min
ers Of West Virginia got to do with ito