The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-03
THE COAL NINE TROUBLES.

The appeal which the secretary of the
United Mine Workers of Illinois has made
to Senator Mason contains rebuke for
these statesmen in Washington who are
bowling for the interference of the United
States in behalf of the Cuban insurgents,
and rebuke that may wen be needed. The
secretary may have exaggerated the mat
ter, but there can be 10 doubt that the
condition of the coal miners of the country
is the most deplorable of any class of Ia
Dor. This has been the case for years.
While coal production has been increasing
it is to be feared that the conditions of the
people who work in the mines have been
growing harder and harder. II may be said
that this is due to the deterioration of the
people who are employed as miners. That
may be said but it cannot be true, since
the character of men who are fairly paid
does not deteriorate, but the reverse. Com
petition has led to the cutting down of
wages, and native and intelligent miners
have been forced to leave the industry or
accept low er wages because many mines
during times of strikes have been filled with
foreigners who had known nothing but the
squalor which attends the lowest condi-
tions of human existence. Thus in many
districts the mining population has been
increased far beyond the number to which
anything like constant employment can be
given. While many are industrious and
law-abiding, many are sniftless and Vio-
lent. AS the years pass, the conditions APP
pear to grow more and more harsh and
hopeless.
This should not be so. Coal, more than
any material, may be said to be the founda
ton of all the great industrial forces of
civilization. To close the coal mines would
be equivalent to a general paralysis of bust
ness and industry. The labor and the capt.
tai employed in producing the article which
gives power and motion to civilization
should be we'll cared for. Such a product
should not remind the consumer of human
Indebtedness and the degradation which
comes of the poverty which denies food 1t
is a crying shame that it now does So
even if the improvidence of the worker is
somewhat responsible.
A general strike of coal miners has been
ordered for July A. Such a strike is de-
plorable at any time. Coming now it will
interfere with the revival of prosperity
should it continue any length of time. The
tone of the address of the national officers
is temperate, but in spite of this there will
be an excitement which will lead to vio-
ience, the destruction of property and even
the splitting of blood unless this strike shall
be an exception to all others. The question
arises: Is there no way to prevent such
troubles? Is it not possible for mine own
ers to so organize that they can give en-
ployment at fair wages? To put an end to
the fierce and profitless competition which
an arrangement to limit the supply and
make the price This would be denounced
as a trust, but who will deny that an ar
rangement which will put coal upon the
market at price which affords a reason
able profit to the capital employed and liv-
ing wages to the labor mining the coal,
trust or no trust, is far preferable to eX-
listing conditions?
Assuming that the evils are greatly ex-
aggerated a remedy should be devised for
those which are real. 1t is a problem of
economies, and can be solved by men of
experience 1t is a question of interstate
commerce, and, therefore, falls within the
province of Congress. And, as the secre-
tary of the Illinois Mine Workers says, it
is matter of vastly greater Importance to
the country than anything which is in
volved in the Cuban revolution. The whole
subject is worthy of an investigation by the
best committee which Congress can con-
stitute 1t is not a field for demagogy but
for practical craftsmanship. Let Congress,
as suggested by the representative of the
coal miners, first attend to the evils at
home. BY that time the solution of the Gu
ban problem will be easier.