The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-04-06
APoLYeLor COMMUNITY.
EngIish-Speaking Miners Driven Out
ofthe Coal EieldA

ofthe Coal EisldA
The Century for April has group Of
papers on the cosl regions OF Pennsyl-
vaLia. Mr. Henry Edward HOOD, writ
Ing Of "A Polyslst Commanisy. says:
When anttrAcits came into general
use. the original miners quickly estab-
lished themselves Ia their adopted
homes, and ceased to speak regretfuiiy
OF childhood associations In Wales or IN
EnGJ md. Ttey had an abundance OF
work here end wages that. womb seem .
fortune Ia the cid country. In thcss days
q Peunsylvanis miner deemed 10 an IN
lucky month II he and his two brawny
sons failed to earn 800 or more. They
we're not always paid at rsgular intervals
bsfore and during the civil war, for money
was not plentiful 10 this region. But
they wers creditsd fully on tina books OF
tie company. and they were permitted,
II not encouraged, to PURCHASE goods at
the company store wtere could bs OBJ
rained food, clothing, toys. furniture In
fact. about all the necessariss and con-
forts and luxuries the miuer had learned
to use. Prices we've high. but wages
corresponded, and work was steady. Bot
sfter the terrible struggle between North
and South came q ptr.od OF depression In
business. Selling prices dropped lower.
and wages felt the result. But the aver
age miner did rot undtrstan this. He
saw that the operator Of the colIiery t,ok
wife and onildren to PhiIade phia or
New York as often n In previous years,
and that the super intendsnt wore cioth-
Ing as costly N ever. lie forgot that
while he lad been spending his wages
every month and often exec ding his sc-
count at the company stors. the operator
and other officials bad been saving at
least portion, II not tse greater portion,
Of their earnings
Ire mirers grew discontinued, and
talked tho matter over As the panic
drew near, they had mole idle hours than
ever; and their complaints reached the
ears Of smooth-tongued rascals who "or-
Ranized" ttcm into band ready to re-
sist any further OPPRESSION" ss the
business changes were termed And right
at this roint let it bs said thar tie old
time professional asitators referred to
were wholly diYercrt fIom tie respor-
title, Intelligent men wto rave perform
ed such aooi service during recent years
by organizing ana directiug trades
unions like tfose which embrace tie
rrirtlrs and locomotive engineers aud
tiremen. If the anthracite miners OF
Pennsylvania had been wisely led and
firmly controlled In the early seventies.
the keystone state wouli now te spared
many tlack chapters In her history. But
such happiness was not foreordained.
Owing in some degree TO the routlous
times. and in u ar,ater degree to a group
OF teinRs mora devillsh than human
there sprang in'o active control of Jor-
tioD Of the Commonwealth tho II ost bru-
tai. yindi tive, krrible conspiracy that
ever civiIizsd community had been
cursed with IN rstent tin este Mo,ly
Maguirss; and 1t required the genius OF
Franklin b. Gowen OF the Reading rail-
road, and kha marysloss courage of
Jsmes Mcfarland, Pinker;on dotec-
Tive. 10 break it up, and nana its Isaainp
spirits, not singly, but la groups OF tea
Then, within few years, came the
"lonR strike In the Lehigh reio,,
when the Cd tanfs refused TO v ork un.
Ger any consideration. Week otter week
and o1tn after month dragged by. The
colifries remained idis; the men, on EN-
and children almost s'arvea. Fortanes
were lost in Hooded mines and Ia burn
ins breakers. And at last one of the
gre itest or the operators sent abroad to
Austria Hungary and brought thence to
his mining pntch in Pennsyivapia the
nd q ka
Ego succseded, ry .hsir very presence, Ia
driving out oil ef the Bna lish-spsakibg
miners who could obtain work slsswh here
ana wIo had tie means to r. move their
families
1t Is en- old story now, how tire frst of
the Slo aks, Polnckf, Italiars ana SicI-
lans who me fers were ccmpIra.iysly
fntellil ent, 0rd le rned rsa. iIv, In { 9
course OF few years tie WORK cf mia
ing coal. And We all know thlt yesr by
year the immtprapts 81 such nationaIitis
oecredssd In The scale OF civilization un-
fIi ttOse wiO hive come to the npthra-
,ite fields dui ing the Il st halt Of TIE pres-
snt deeade ar, Gs rule. mcch moro
dangerous to tire body politic than tie
exfiuced Chin 50 for nor only IRE they
tater 10 ork for wages OF which an
Engli1i speaking family wouli starve.
iut they aie supersiiiiats ana murus rous.
And do rat hesitate tI uss d nam Ia II
they desire to blDw up the Ltme of ore
wFCm taay pari ulsriY hats. Al.o. TN
lik The Average Cpihnm IN. each of thes,
for Ian miners insists on voti as scon
M a