The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-26

There is one significant feature of the
coal strike which should not be neglected.
a business man who has been v.sitirg
. the mining region says that the multi
plicitv of tongues spoken among the p.o-
pie rivals the Tower of Babel. Thsre are
Lithuauians, Hungarians. Germans. Folss.
Welsh, and Irish, as we'll as native Amer
leans and English. Some can speak Eng
lish and some cannot, but NEST CT the or
ators who are talking TO them are able
to boast of some linguistic ability.
As the miners are largely of foreign
extraction 1t Will be rather more diff
fcult to pacify them than 10 argue with
people who are all CT oBe nationality and
speech These miners are not too ignor-
ant TO have convictions, and when a Eu-
ropean peasant comes over here with car
tain ideas, inculcated by relatives wh1
have emigrated in an earlier and more
prosperous time, and by some acquain-
lance with American history, he expects
TO find those ideas justified and it is
hard to make him see how the practice
of the Declaration of independence DIFF :
fers from the theory. That is the trouble
with a workingman; he gets one notion
into his head, and it starts logical train
OF reasoning. and it is thu hardest thing
in the world to upset that train. 1t is
particularly difficult to argue the man
out of his cherished belief when, in order
10 appeal 20 him, one must couch all ar
,uments in some peculiar German or
slavic patois, known only to the inhabi-
ants of some one province.
The idea which the foreign immigrant
aas in coming to this country is generally
that he will be more free and more pros
porous than he was at home. He expects
to be his own master. and to get certain
rights which belong to his manhood.
among them living wages and the liberty
10 quit work If it suits him to do so. He
finds. sometimes, that he is denied these
rights. and the @ery foroible arguments Of
hunger, cold. and insult are used upon
is wrong. Then the more thoughtful
among the workmen begin to discuss the
matter and Try TO find out just what is
wrong. They do not take much time in
arriving at the conclusion that they ought
TO be getting wages enough to support
life. and that If powder costs dollar and
n half in open market and the company
makes them pay two dollars and seventy
five cents per keg for it, they are being
cheated. They also reason that If they can
buy sugar, -four, coal, and other necessar-
les of life in the open market for less than
the price charged by the company store
and yet are forced to deal with that store
or lose their jobs. something is very
wrong with the company's ideas of right
These ideas, they are inclined to think
are in radical disagreement with the
principles of free government and the
tcnets of fair dealing
These men are receiving training in
citizenship. What kind of training can IT
be? When they are instructed that in this
free country a man may not buy his
goods where he likes, may not quit work
when his wages do not support him, may
not resent any insult and imposition which
his boss chooses TO put upon him, may not
vote otherwise than as the capitalist wills.
shat are they to conclude except that
free government; Is a failure and force
the only authority? How is the miner TO
hold any sort of principles, when he is so
plainly taught that the men who govern
him have none? What will the children
OF these strikers learn Of free govern