Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-11-04
Wage Farmers Suffer.

Wage Farmers Suffer.
Some of those mills are standing
idle today, others have started up, and
they are paying wages, which, in GER
tain lines. are below wages paid for
similar work across the ocean in Eng
land. Six weeks ago you noticed that
all the carpet mills of America shut
down. Not only one, nor a dozen, but
all the carpet mills acting together in
conjunction have shut down. What
reason do they all give? Why, they
said there is no market for our goods,
and the great farming communities are
not buying as they did. They do not
seem able to buy. We cannot sell our
carpets and we must shut down. Tens
| OF thousands OF employees who were in
those mills are today on the streets
looking for work, and it will not be
long until many of them will be beg
ging bread.
Oshkosh.
Up in Wisconsin in one of the great
est woodworking centers of America,
where they have great mills employing
thousands OF men, they have had a
greaI strike, lasting all summer. Why?
Reduction OF wages. Why reduce
wages? Because we cannot sell our
goods There is no market for our
goods. An investigation showed that
skilled workmen that used to get $3.50
day were getting S1.25 a day. Day
laborers-men thirty and forty years
OF age. having families that they were
trying to educate-were getting 80
cents a day.
Recently Mr.. Mark Hanna's manager
declared that the great coal mines OF
Ohio and West Virginia would have to
reduce wages, and that he expected a
great strike when they did. Well. why
reduce wages il we are SO prosperous?
Because, he said. the market does not
consume our coal. The mills and
great factories are not buying coal as
they used to. for they are not running
full capacity. They are not running
along in a moderate way. They are
not consuming the coal they once did,
and We must reduce expenses and we
are going to cut wages.
Cleveland and indianapolis
When We look at Cleveland and In
dianapolis and see the great strikes
there that lasted all summer in the
y
every industrial center OF America,
what do you find? You find a reduc-
ton of wages and a strike; you find
men out OF employment; you find dis
asters and disturbances caused by the
fact that the manufacturers say they
cannot go on without reducing wages
The yIrden Anair-TanBer Plays Low
Politics.
Look at the disturbances in our own
state. What did the operators and
mine owners up here ut Pana give as
the reason of reducing wages here last
spring. They say there is no market
for their goods. Couldn't sell their
coal. so they were obliged to reduce
expenses in order 10 be able to under
bid some other operator. What are
they doing now? They are importing
negroes from Alabama. What for? To |
drive the white miner out and produce |
a lower order of labor. THE PRES |
ENT GOVERNOR Is THRILLING
WITH THIS SITUATION: HE Is |
PLAYING CHEAP POLITICS-HE Is |
PLAYING A DOUBLE ROLE. AT PA !
MA HE DECLARED HE WOULD NOT /
PROJECT THE IMPORTED Ne |
GROES. HE SOUGHT IN THIS WAY !
TO GET THE VOTES OF THE |
WHITE MINERS THEN HE TURN !
ED AROUND AND QUIETLY PRO |
TECTED THE NEGROES THE |
TROOPS HELPED To PUT THEM /
INTO THE MINES AND THEY ARE I
AT WORK THERE. AT VIRDEN HE /
TO PLAY THE SAME l
GAME. BUT THINGS WERE POORLY
MANAGED AND BEFORE HE COULD |
PLAY HIS HAND OUT THE CRISIS
CAME WITH AWFUL BLOODSHED. |
THE DEAD AT yIRDEN ARE THE
RESULT OF THE GOV r4RNOR'S Eff
FORT TO PROSTITUTE EVERY
THING TO LOW POLITICS. The
black man must be given q chance
TO earn his living, gentle
men. Just as well as the white.
And when he comes like an emf
grant. comes and brings family ex-
pecting to settle here, become a citi-
zen. become member OF the commun-
ity. get a little property II he can.
build himself up. acquire a social po-
sition. - II Just a. welcome IS any