Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-11-03
THE COAL MINER CANDIDATE.
Some of the Dangers Which Beset the Life
of the Man Who Labors Below the
Earth's Surface.

Editor New Mexican: The remark has
fallen upon my ear anumbero of times dur
ing the last few days with reference to
one of the Republican candidates for
the Legislature, Mr.. William Fitzpatrick,
sob, he is only a coal miner! Why vote
for him?" will endeavor to the best
of my ability to answer their question.
Permit me to say that a portion of my
life has been spent in the coal fields Of
Pennsylvania, and | know something
about the life and character of the coal
miner. Every miner is a hero, for his
life is hourly beset by peril.
The world is ringing with praise of the
feat performed by the crew of the Merri-
mac in the narrow channel at Santiago.
Had Lieutenant Hobson lost his life in
that daring feat a monument would have
been erected to his memory and his grave
kept green by an admiring people. OF
him the American people are proud, and
rightly too; but he was fired by the en-
thusiasm of war, while there are thou
sands of coal miners in the United States
whose daily avocatiOn leads them into
positions equally as perilous, and we
offer them only contempt. One feat is
performed for the pride of a nation,
while the other is a necessity. The one
danger is only momentary, while the
other is a daily occurrence.
Each day the coal miner takes his life
in his hands and goes down, down into
the bowels of the earth to his thankless
task. Each morning, as the thinly clad
housewife places the frugal meal in the
battered tin pail, a tear glistens in her
eye, for she does not know but that it
will be for the last time. And as she
moves about performing her humble
household duties she is continually
haunted by a %foreboding of evil. A rap
at the door startleS her, for she is in
constant expectation of the messenger
whose mission it is to inform her that
she is a widow. A confusion of voices
frightens her, for she knows not what
hour the crushed and ~lifeless remains of
him who once was husband and father
in her home may be conveyed into her
presence a bleeding mass. His life be-
ing cast in such dangerous lines, the
miner is always brave and sympathetic
and I've ready to divide his scanty store
with any II who is more unfortunate
than himself. The beggar child never
appeals to him in vain, for he does not
know what hour his own children may
be dependent upon a cruel world for
support.
The coal miners work is harder and
more poorly paid than most kinds of
labor. If he loses a minute it tells ter
ribly against him. If he is idle for a
week he must look carefully after every
penny for fear of e~Xhausting his credit
at the office. Living under such con-
d%itlons, is he not entitled to the respect
of mankind, who rises and by his sterling
worth appeals to his fellows until they
make him their standard bearer?
Such a man is William Fitzpatrick.
Those who think that only ignorance
and vice are associated with the life OF
the coal miner are mistaken and woe
fully ignorant themselves. Some of the
brightest men to be found in our land
today have been coal miners. Do not
speak lightly of a man because he is en-
gagged in an humble avocation in life.
Lincoln was a rail splitter, and many of
our best public men have come from
poor but honorable homes.
s, u. LANYARD.