The Advocate and news., 1898-08-31


ened by the pit boss's orders to take
their tools out Of the shaft" they told
him OF the company doctor, company
blacksmith, false weights, and other out
RACES which made him open his eyes.
He thought on these things from inves-
legations made by himself, and his ac-
tlons hereafter will be as the miners
would have him act, not merely on a
snap Judgment from reports"
But what Of Stanley, the other candi-
date?
Apparently he has not even heard of
the reports. He is on record by Re-
publican newspaper as saying that he
does not believe there is any need for
discomfort on the part of the working
man. He does not believe there is any
labor problem; he is not his brothers
Keeper Governor Leedy comes from the
same class as the miner-the producing
class-and his environment and training
have enabled him to grasp quickly the
conditions the miner faces. BY nature
and environment Mr.. Stanley is on the
other side. He has been in the employ
ment of corporations, but they never dis
charged him because he would not sub
NIT to the indiscriminate dosing of his
children with quinine, calomel or cough
syrup by an undertrained doctor. Oh.
no; Mr.. Stanley selects his own doctor,
nor does he pay any corporation two or
three times over for the privilege.
But what Of penitentiary coal?
This campaign leahet further says that
the State of Kansas owns a coal mine
at the penitentiary," etc. How did that
coal mine get there? 1t was Republican
legislation that provided for the sink
ing of the shaft to bring the convict in
competition with the miner. In the last
fifteen years Republican management
has sold something over 10, 0,434,683 BUSH
els of coal from the penitentiary mine,
and Populist management has sold about
$685. ,806 bushels.
But the Republicans have been longer
in power during that period.
So much the greater, then, their oppor-
tunity for doing away with the competi-
tion of convict labor, so much longer the
time given them in which to acknowl-
edge their mistake. But they did not
dare to acknowledge it until the POpu-
lists came into power, and then they
endeaVored to foist the blame upon Pop
ulist shoulders
What is the best way out?
1t is not so much to limit the product
Of the penitentiary mine to the needs Of
the State institutions, for this market,
too, should be open to the product Of
the honest miner. The convicts must be
taken care of some way; if they do not
have work they will go insane. But
should they be put in competition with
the labor that is already ground down
the hardest by our damnable competitive
system? If it is absolutely necessary
that they should compete with free labor,
let them be set at work making furniture
for the State institutions or doing some
thing else not so evidently in competi-
tion with the man who tolls. If possible,
get the convict entirely out of competi-
tion with free labor by putting him at
some public work, such as public road
building, in which the free worker is not
already employed. If this is not possible,
at least give him employment at a trade
whose free workers do not represent a
large or growing industry in this State
and who are better able than the miners
to bear any such competition.
Is the whole matter worth the fuss
that has been made over it?
No. The penitentiary coal output is
but a drop in the bucket when compared
with the total output in the State If it
were closed up entirely and no coal was
produced at all at the penitentiary, the
real causes of the miners distress would