St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-01-28
lIII.--CoNTINuED.

''Are We listenin'?' Mike inquired,
seeing that Darcie was eying his pa
pers in meditative way. "Beca'se av
ye are not, I'll not waste me breath"
go on said Darcie. Il was only
comparing what I have said myself
with what you are saying. It's odd we
should look at it in the same way.
You're hot-headed Irishman, like all
the rest Of them, Mike. Why aren't
you swearing vows against the oppres-
sors2"
"Beca'se I'm wan ay thin meself.
Its not hobo I am, packin' me blank
cts from camp to camp. I've shtake
av me own in the country; and if this
foolishness goes on, I'm clane ruined.
There's no man can run a mine in the
Cor de 'Lane-no nor sell it. av he was
to give it away-the gait things is go
in now.
"Ah, it's not a question avsthe miner
at all! They wants TO run things here
the same as they does in Montany. Ye
wouldn't believe the power ay the
union in Butte. Things was gettin'
mighty quare last spring before the
n1ine-owners TUX the defnsive. Faith,
there was little law in the Corsde Lanes
that could how'd above the law av the
.sHieH! A
"Whin Hogan, the shif'boss, was
murdhered IN the Caltrop mine
shtabbed in the breast wild the prong
nv miners can'le-shtick, an him
comm out g. the tunnel to the dhryin'-
house in broad day-there was plenty
that saw it; but him that done it was
a union man, am divil a witness c,u'd'
be found to say he Seen it. They
wouldn't dast, for the union can pro-:
tect its own, be they lambs or wolves.
The hand ay it was that heavy on the
owners, a man couldn't be seen shpak-
in fri'ndly on the street with wan az
them but the union TUX note ay him for
a thraitor. There was not thing the
mines c'u'd do but combine, or quit
business, or be dictated to by the
union bosses, like childher! Last au-
tumn, whin the mines shut down by
common consint, it was partly to get
betther rates for transportation; but
that wouldn't go down with thesalnfon
BOYS. They had it the owners had
turned the tables on them, and gone on
ashtrike themselves; and that wouldn't t
do ye know; for the first principle av
the unions is that nobody shall COM
bine but themselves. Ssss.
"Well, the shuttin' down didn't work
in all ways as they hoped. Fightin It
out is bad; whichever Side makes the
kick, the wrong ones is sure to get
hurted. The best mem wint off seekin'
work where they could find its the
vans that shtayed am growled, they
was the worst as the lot, and all winter
they was cussin' an BLOWN an gettin'
up shteam for a big fight. Take town
full av idle men, an free whisky flow
in by the gallon, and a set av bull
headed chumps that never did an hon.
est days work in their lives talkn'
about the wrongs ay the lab'rin' man
we know what'll be the end of that.
f.The mines gey out in the spring
they was ready to reshume, and pub
lished their scale ag wages: three for
unshkilled and three and half for
shkilled miners, the same as It was at
first. And then the union put forth its
last word: livery man workin' undher-
ground sh'usd get three fifty and no
man sh'u'd take less and work wild
his life in the Cor de Lane. Twas
then the owners SHE'D their hat into
the ring, and both sides shtripped for
fight.
TWAS aisy bringin' In men that was
willin' to work for three dollars, and
glad to get it, but It wasn't aisy kapin
them here. They couldn't biee the life
they led, with the union putin it,
shpite on them. Some was sediueed
into j'inin'. but more was scared out
ay the country entirely, They Leaked
away faster than they was fetched IN;
and thim that stayed was that harassee