Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1898-05-19
POLYGLOT COMMUN,
ENGLISH SPEAKING MINES.
DRIVEN OUT.
h Origin of the Molly Magui,...
Strikes Were Responsible %,
Bringing in OF Miners from 50
Hungary and Italy.


The current number Of The con..
has a group of papers on the coal
gions of Pennsylvania. Mr.. Henry ~
ward Rood, writing of "A poiva,l.
Community" says: -"
When anthracite came into pon..,
use, the original miners quickly as,as
lished themselves In their ADO,
homes. and ceased to speak regrettn,1s
of childhood associations in Walas
in England. They had an abunaa,ss
of work here, and wages that uon,s
seem a fortune in the old country :
those days a Pennsylvania miner daom
ed it an unlucky month il he and i.
two brawny sons failed to earn s9oo !.
more They were not always na,a :.
regular intervals before and durinv ~
civil war. for money was not pIentifm
in this region. But they were credi,sa
fully on the books of the companv ~
they were permitted, If not encouraysa
to purchase goods at the comnar,
store, where could be obtained foos
clothing, toys. furniture-in fact abou,
all the necessaries and comforts ana
luxuries the miner had learned To psa
Prices were high, but wages corr.
sponded. and work was steady. D.,
after the terrible struggle between
north and south came a period Of A.
preston in business. Selling miro.
dropped lower and lower, and wage,
felt the result. But the average mips,
did not understand this. He saw tha,
the operator of the colliery took vifs
and children to Philadelphia or New
York as often as in previous years. and
that the superintendent wore clothing
as costly as ever. He forgot that Will.
he had been spending his wages eysy
month. and often exceeding his accom-,
at the company store, the operator and
other officials had been saving at least
a portion, IL not the greater portion. Of
their earnings. The miners grew dis
contentsd, and talked the matter over.
AS the panic drew near, they had more
idle hours than ever; and their com.
plants reached the ears of smooth.
tongued rascals who organized" them
into a band ready to resist any further
oppression" rs the business changes
were termed. And right at this poln!
let 1t be said that the old-time proies-
sional agitators referred to were wholly
different from the responsible, INTEL.
gent men who have performed such
good service during recent years by or.
ganizing and directing trades unions
like those which embrace the printers
and locomotive engineers and fremen
II the anthracite miners OF Pennsyl-
vania had been wisely led and firmly
controlled In the early seventies. the
Keystone state would now be spared
many black chapters in her history
But such happiness was not foreOr-
dained. Owing in some degree to tho
troublous times, and In a greater de-
gree to a group OF beings more deyillsa
than human, there sprang into active
control Of a portion OF the common
wealth the most brutal. vindictiye, ter.
rible conspiracy that ever a CIVILIZED
community had been cursed with in
recent times--the Molly Maguires; and
1t required the genius Of Franklin B
Gowen Of the Reading railroad, and tho
marvellous courage OF James McPar
land, a Pinkerton detective, to breaEH
up. and hang Its leading spirits, not
singly, but In groups Of ten. Thea
within a few years. came the long
strike" In the Lehigh region. when tho
old hands refused to work under any
consideration. Week after week and
month after month dragged by. Tia
colleries remained idle; the men. vc
men and children almost starved. Fol.
tunes were lost In flooded mines and ID
burning breakers. And at last one O
the greatest OF the operators SEM
abroad to Austria-Hungary ana
brought thence TO his mining-pateh 10
Pennsylvania the first OF the lT
eigners," who have long ago succeea'
ed, by their very presence, In drivins
out all OF the English-speaking mn
ers who could obtain work elsewne'
and who had the means to remove tasI
families. 1t is an old story now, NV
the first of the Slovaks, Polaeks, HAf
ans and Sicilians who came here We'
comparatively intelligent, and learnsa
readily, in the course Of a few yeals
the work OF mining coal. And we ~
know that year by year the lmms
grants Of such nationalities decrease
in the scale Of civilization until lnvs
who have come to the anthracite he,u
during the first half of the present "
cade are, as a rule, much more oanse
Gus to the body polite than inc
cluded Chinese; for not only are ~
eager to work for wages on which
English-speaking family woula s'Als
but they are superstitious ana nv
derous, and do not hesitate TO use -
Mantle IL they desire to blow up
home of one whom they partlcuias
hate. Also, unlike the average 0n +.
man, each of these foreign miners
sists on voting as soon as posSip'e