The Penn's Grove record., 1900-10-05
FULL DINNER PAIL CANT
COAL STRIKE PROVES "M'KlNLEY
PROSPERITY" A SHAMELESS LIE.

PROSPERITY" A SHAMELESS LIE.
The Protest Of Hunger Against Greed
Has Startled the Republican Leaders
Lives Passed in Pathetic Poverty
Despair and Degradation.
The strike Of 12O, 900 men in the ccal
fields of Pennsylvania has put an end
to the cant and mendacity Of Republi-
can leaders about the "full dinner
pail" The protest Of hunger against
greed has startled them. They
thought they had reduced American
labor and manhood to the condition
where it might whine, but dared not
The people remember the eff
fects of the Homestead troubles In
1892, and they cannot escape the con-
viction that results as distasteful MAY
follow the present movement.
Mark Hanna saw the ominous cloud
approaching, and being the chief rain
maker for the Republican party, he
thought he would burst it with an
bomb. He tried 1t at Delphi,
Indiana, the other day. He was too
late.
Any one who says that the condi-
ton of the American laborer to-day is
prosperous one, is an arrant hypo>
critic or an ass. Hanna is in the for
mer category. 1t was under the plea
Of public welfare and the rights Of
labor that he crushed with brutal hand
and purpose the Seaman's Union along
the Great Lakes, and reduced the In
land sailor to a sullen serf. He and
the rest of the trust magnates have
been believing that by starving the
body they could numb the brain. This
Pennsylvania strike against the pol
Icy which would reduce the producer
practical and perpetual pauperism
has shattered their belief that the
hungry toiler can be a satisfied slave.
They see, also, for they are reasoning
rascals, that this revolt in Pennsyl-
vania is but the expression Of what
the people are thinking and feeling
throughout all the country. 1t is the
knell Of Republicanism as interpreted
by Hanna. 1t proves that Mckinley
prosperity" is a shameless lie.
All hypocrites are irreverent and
blasphemous. IN a speech at Delphi,
Indiana, a few days ago, Hanna, with
an JUNCTION worthy of Uriah Heep,
said:
IF MI. Bryan-God forbid-should
be elected say God forbid in the in
terest of every man who works with
bis hands, in the interests Of every
little child who goes to school and
comes back to meet a happy home and
happy freside, in the interest of the
future greatness of our country, God
Could anything to a manly citizen
more ~nauseating? There was a
lime when every little child in Amer
ca could go to school and return to
! happy home and fireside, but this
was before the days of trusts and coal
who have already reduced
Millions in our Industrial life to the
european condition Of pauperism. In
he coal mines Of Pennsylvania, chill
1ren Of tender years, who ought to be
n school, are delying in deep. black
shafts, where no ray of Gods sun
shine ever enters, and wearing out
heir hopeless young lives at a maxi
mum wage Of seventy-two cents a
And hIocpbonorc Maui rT,o-o
petitions that God should forbid any
in these conditions. In the
same unhealthy shafts, 100, 900 or more
'ull grown men, their blood thinned
want Of fresh air and sufficient
,ood, are hopelessly toiling for an aver
age wage Of less than S. a week. In
the cabins, which they call homes, the
wives and little sisters of these under
hungry toilers are passing their
ives in pathetic poverty, despair and
degradation. And it sis in the inter-
of the future greatness of our
country" and for fear that these con-
litions might be changed, that Mark
Hanna asks God to forbid the election
If Bryan. Was ever prayer offered
BY any shadband Of the centuries more
h~eartless, impertinent and blasphe-
nous?
Here are a few items, illustrative of
dinner pail' prosperity,
showing how the coal and other trusts
have increased the living expenses of
miners, taking due care, at the same
time, that there should be no increase
IN wages:
Flour, per bag, $2.15 to $2.75; in
crease of about 81 per cent.
Sugar, per pound, 5 to z cents; in
of about 40 per cent.
Oil, per gallon, 10 to Is cents: in
crease of about 25 per cent.
Tobacco. per pound, % to 35 cents;
increase of about 36 per cent.
Soup meat, per pound, 9 to IA cents;
increase of about Sc per cent.
Veal, per pound, IL to 16 cents; in
crease of about SO per cent.
Beefsteak, per pound, IL to Is cents;
increase of about SO per cent.
Ham, per pound, IL to 10 cents; in
crease of about 35 per cent.
Crackers, per pound, 5 to 10 cents;
Increase of about 100 per cent.
Condensed milk, three cans for "a
two cans for Is cents: increase
of about SO per cent.
Shoes advanced, increase Of about
80 per cent.
Rubber boots, per pair, from $2.2s
to 1925; increase of about A per cent
Stove coal, per ton, $3.50 to $3.50; in
crease of about GO per cent.
Chestnut coal, per ton, 81 to $1.5O
increase Of about so per cent.
Ginghams, per yard, 5 to 8 cents; in
of about 60 per cent.
Average increase Of about so PEI
cent IN the sixteen articles in tn,
above list.
One of the astounding things Of ouI
social life is that in a free countr,
conditions such as exist among miner
and other toiling classes, too, for tina
matter, should be tolerated by tn,
American people for a single day. Civ
ilization such as this is a tramplin;
bully, not a benign uplifter. VIII.
talk of Asiatic degradation, whel
purse-proud looters boast mat the sur
c-l -nr~osw~%l~~ ~,