The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-10-04
County Ticket :
Mighty Anthracite.

1t is possible that our pedagogues
have been wrongly instructing us IN
regard to the origin of the vast coal
fields of the world. Peradventure the
origin of coal is drift, bits of wood and
seaweed washed by the waves of the
ocean and driven into the great veins
and crevices of the earth submerged,
and not endless forests of gigantic
fern as our pueri1e fancy made us be-
1ieve. But whether theories of the
origin and formation of stupendous car
bon fields are correct or not, there can
be no question as to the immensely of
the'coa1 measures and the gigantic pro-
portions of the coal business of the
world. Even the getting and distr1b-
utiou of the carbon has created a many
sided history, the dimensions and his
tory of which cannot be regarded as
insignificant.
The Belgian coal Strata covers an
area of 500 square miles; Austria 1850:
France 1000; Prussia 2000; Great Brit
ain 1900; Russia $4,000; and the coal
acreage of the United States exceeds
100000 square miles. The Allegheny
field alone embraces 58,737 square
rifles. The anthracite output for 1899
was IS, 4O7, 40 tons. The product of
the Pennsylvania mines is 100000
tons of anthracite month. Mighty is
Carbon! Great is Diana of Penn!
Anthracite has proved to be t~e-
u1endous squeeze for the miner. Dur
ing the days of the Civil war, when
thousands enlisted and went forth to
defend the flag and the N~tion's
honor, miners were scarce, and large
wages were paid to those who remained
at home and worked underground dig
ging the black Jumps out of the sand
and the impure rock: then miners
wages ran from $50 to 500 per month.
The war ended and wages began a
rush down the grade. TIE crushed
miner organized for self defense, but
the Working Mems Benevolent Asso-
Citation was stigmatized out of exist
.euce. The knights of Labor came to
the front, they put forth a splendid
effort to lift up the down-trodden, but
were compelled to follow in the wake
of the other society. Most miners are
paid by the car load; a car is supposed
to hold, ton, but is so constructed
that it will carry two tons. The miner
is expected to deliver ton of pure
coal, that is a car load; he is
locked for all refuse, and the
refuse is measurable by the irnagi-
nation of the decker. So, the miner
may work all day harder than any
slave worked on plantation, thinking
his earnings may be fair that day, to
find at night he has earned perhaps
less than a dollar. Yet, it is said, "a
ma iority of the men are better off than
any time since the Civil war; A stu
pendous squeeze! 1t is not unreason-
able to suppose that Molly Mcguire
madness and Hazelton insubordina-
ton, which the world cannot approve,
were IduCOIOuS O1CSSCd OG1
of abject poverty and insane despera-
ton.
Finally, the United Mine Workers OF
America is d great association. 1t has
bearded the lion in his den among the
bituninous mine workers of the West
It has inspired a strike and conducted
it successfully among 142, 900 miners OF
the anthracite regions of Pennsy1
vania. 1t has compelled, and not VIC
1ent1y, raise of ten per cent. for al
mine workers in that territory, and d
reduction of five per cent. in the price
of powder. 1t is to be hoped that other
concessions will be made, particularly
a modification the dockage system
in such manner that dockage will be
more or less under surveillance Of the
miners themselves. Certainly the
miners will not go to work, if condi
ton shall be the extins tion or the colo