Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1897-10-06
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP.

markable speech on last Labor day, at
Philadelphia, ex-Gov. Altgeld said:
NOW suppose that the United States govern
ment snoulo say: The constant recurre5ce OF
these disturbances of industry and economic
conditions OF the country. growing out OF dis
putes between the mine owners and the miners
cannot be endured; neither can 1 permit
large portion of the most Industrious of nv
people TO be reduced to such a low condition
that they will be unfit to maintain free inStitu-
lions These people should have living wages
so that by industry. economy and prudence
they can support their families and educate
their children On the other hand the owners
OF the coal mines should have a reasonable in
come from their property 1 will take these
mines myself 1 will buy them where ] can
ana where cannot will have their value as
certained and pay the owner so that every
man will get good fair compensation for his
properly. l will issue bonds bearing low
rate or interest for these mines and I
Will operate these mines 1 now run the
post ONCE. will fix q scale OF wages which
will give every man a fair wage for his worl,
as now pay other government employees I
Will nix the price Of coal so that every man will
know what 1t will cost him. / will fix this price
so low that all the people of America can get
thelr fuel at the cost of production and such
slight addition as will pay the low interest and
In the course OF years reimburse the purchase
price, so that the mines will cost the public
nothing. Will in the same manner take the
anthracite coal fields. which are now operated
as a monopoly, the price for such coal being ar
bitrarily fixed without reference to competi-
ton 1 will sell that coal to the American
people at the cost OF production. with slight ad-
d1tlon for the payment of interest and the ulti-
mate payment OF the purchase money. thus
enabling the people to get anthracite coal for
much less than they now get it This will give
stability to the coal supply; 1t will elevate that
large population that now depends on mining
Tor a living; make Of it higher grade of citi-
zens; 1t will reduce the cost of living to every
American citizen. and will be blessing to the
country"
Having heard the government thus EXPRESS
Itself. what would be the response OF the coun-
try: imagine that hear coming from the
great boring masses, and from the manufac-
turers, and from the millions of citizens who
love their country and want it to reach the
highest plane OF civilization, an enthusiastic
voice Of approval
But also hear the insolent voices OF the
monopolists and their followers protesting that
the government dare not do anything except
furnish courts. sherifs, marshals and bayonets
with which to crush the miner and silence
every man who dares to insist that humanity
has rights
My friends these are the two voices heard in
this land to-day. Which shall prevail?
But, in the course of an interview in
recent issue of the Kansas City Star,
"a coal man" said:
iCSiocub ndICnIOrQ. OF the United Mine
workers of America, told me the other day in
st Louis that the coal plants OF the United
states now working can produce in six months
enough coal to supply the demand for 1a
months, hence the general average of the
miners OF this country cannot, under natural
conditions, demand work more than half the
time, and, under the present system of cut
throat competition. at no more wages than are
barely necessary to keep body and soul to-
getner so long as such state O: affairs ex-
lists there will always be trouble in the coal re-
g1ons and have failed to find any man daring
enough to suggest a remedy, unless IL might be
government ownership
This would mean the turning away OF one
half OF these men to crowd into other channels
Of labor and rise in price to the 20 600 900 con-
SumerS
This is a reasonable and candid
statement and, as it is applicable to
almost all other important industries
and branches of production, is worthy
OF serious consideration. In the same
interview our coal man" furnishes
these figures:
Nearly all OF the coal for domestic and steam
purposes used in Kansas City comes from
southeastern Kansas: that is, the Pittsburg
district The retailer is now selling this coal
for S325 ton. How close this price is NAV be
easily figured out The mine charges the re-
taller ECO ton laid down in Kansas City
Under the new agreement in Kansas
miners get 81 cents for every ton mined and to
this the company must add the IS cents freight
ana switching charged by the railroads This
makes II. 81 Of the S22O received by the COM
pany at Kansas City. Then comes the cost of
operating the mine. the interest on investment
and often discount to the middle man
L propose to take these figures and
prove that, under system of govern
ment ownership and operation, all the
miners could be given employment.
working only one half the number of
hours in the year, and yet receive
twice as much for the short days work
as they now receive for the long day,
while at the same time the price of
coal would not be increased to the re-
taller.
1t will be noted that the above fig
ures leave a profit" in the hands of
the operators, of 3s cents a ton. Coal
lands in southeastern Kansas sell for
from $25 to $55 per acre and an acre of
coal land in that section, of the aver
age thickness of vein, e feet will pro-
duce about 3. 500 tons of dump and nutl
merchantahle coal. So that two cents
a ton would pay $40 an acre for the
land. The royalty on lump coal, paid
by operators to owners of coal lands
runs from cents to 10 cents a ton: saw
cents per ton, which pays the land
owner $3.50 an acre and leaves him the
land. l have known 4-foot vein of
coal to sell at S1O0 per acre, or about
2A cents ton. The average operat-
ing expense of a shaft is 10 cents ton.
This leaves SLIT per ton for the COM
bIned operators and miners. The sum
realized for slack coal (which is not |
included in the coal for which 81 cents |
is paid easily increases the SLIT to |
II 30 as the fund out of which the min |
ers get their pay and the operators get |
their profit" Fraudulent weight at |
the mouth of the shaft, exorbitant |
prices for the powder, and the scrip |
system, under which 75 cents paws a |
dollar in wages, will divide the 81 30 |
into two equal parts of 65 cents each.
one part being what the miner actually |
gets for mining a ton of lump coal and |
the other representing the profit
made by the operators on each ton of |
lump-nut coal mined Under a system
OF governmental operation, the gov
ernment would have in its hands, at
the present value of coal loaded on the
cars, S1.30 for each ton of lump coal |
loaded. SO that twice the number of |
miners now working could work and.
yet, need not work any more DAYS in
each year than those now working
have to work. in order to make equally |
as good daily wages as those now