The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-01
THE TROUBLES AT HAzLEToN.
Result of Bad Policy Adopted by Mine
Owners.
Review Of Reviews.

Review Of Reviews.
The mine owners Of Pennsylvania have
as a class never treated their miner folk
with tender indulgence and rather than
concede much, If any, to the men on the
ground. they, adopted in an evil hour the
plan of supplanting their old miners with
new material brought from Poland, Hun
gary, Italy, Bohemia and in general from
southern and eastern Europe. This new Ia
Dor could be employed for much lower
wages than the old. 1t could also be eX-
ploited--through company stores, company
stood by coal mine owners-in manner
that the old miners, who were self-re-
specting, English-speaking citizens, would
not have endured for a moment. A score
of strange languages and dialects were soon
heard in the mines. including Russian, Po-
lish, Magyar, Czech, Croatian, Ruthenian
sSeh as onn end sersn not t.
mention Italian. For while the supplanted
men Of the old regime fingered sullenly
on the scene, clinging to their little home
steads, and hoping against hope for the
work that was not destined to be theirs
again. They have for the most part been
dispersed throughout the country. Their
houses are now occupied by the newcomers
from the polyglot poletariat of southeast
ern Europe and under. the roof where one
miners family formerly dwelt in humble
decency there will now be found four or
five families huddled together after the
manner of the slums of Polish and Hun
garian towns. 1t all means a startling So
cial change
1t is not to be supposed that these new
corners WOulQ III any case nave DeCu lkSQ
or welcomed by the nonmining population
of the Pennsylvania towns and villages of
the coal regions. But the prejudice against
them was aggravated by the fact that
many of the miners of the former period
had drifted into other occupations in those
towns while still more of their friends and
relatives lived thereaboutS. These have
been accustomed to look with extreme
aversion upon the unattractive population
that has monopolized the work of mining.
When it is remembered that the deputy
SheriffS are drawn very largely from this
class of village or town jewellers who hate
the foreigners" and deride their filthy
habits and queer languages, it will be seen
that the strong prejudice might easily
heighten the danger of a misunderStand-
ing under circumstances of provocation.
The very fact, furthermore, that the new
miners as a rule cannot yet understand
English or make their English-speaking
neighbOrS understand them, also increases
the risks UnquestiOnably, these people
from southeastern Europe are Strange-Inan-
nered and turbulent, extremely eXcitable,
and to outward appearances an intractable
and ugly lot of people to deal with, though,
1t is alleged they are easily managed by
superiors who understand them and are
gratefully responsive to kindness. The mine
owners have seemed with deliberate intent
to adopt the plan Of bringing more of these
people into the coal regions than were ac-
tually needed. This has helped to keep
wages close to the starvation point, while
obviously rendering it more difficult for the
miners to assert themselves. The present
anthracite strike has come about as a
postponed, but inevitable reaction Likely
enough it found some occasion in the great
bituminOuS coal strike of the West. It is
the result of a bad policy adopted years
ago by the operators of the mines. We do
not mean to assert that all mine owners
are alike culpable Some of them have I'M
willingly adopted methods which were
forced upon them by the harsh laws Of
competition.