Evening star., 1900-10-09

union organizers that politics should not
enter into the deal This was to be a
ment of the conditions of the miners and
their families Whether it wins or loses
1t is to stand upon this basis and none
other.
Absence of Political Agitation.
There is a notable absence of political
agitation about here. The great issues of
the day are overlooked in the nearer and
more imminent issue of bread and butter
for wives and children. One is impressed
Immediately by the sense of gravity and
foreboding which broods over the teemng
population. 1t is apparent in the anxious
faces of the women, who know how the
little stock of potatoes is lessening. Even
the boys who work in the breakers by thou
sands reflect the general uneasiness in their
grave little faces.
In such a situation men care little for
Presidents and political policies. The prob
able termination of the strike and what
the result will bring is enough for them.
There are probably 130O0N mine workers
out of employment. That means close upon
half a million human beings directly affect
&c by the existing conditions. More than
one family in the anthracite region went
breakfastless this morning, and the number
will grow until the labor unions inaugurate
measures of relief. The local unions are
doing it now in a quiet way and the public
is not apprised Of the actual extent of des-
titution.
Withal, the strike has been conducted
with great peacefulness. considering its
magnitude and the opportunities for trou-
BILE. The most surprising. feature has been
the unanimity of action among thousands
of men, speaking different languages, and
the most of them not even members of
union at the time the strike went into
effect.
Bound by a Common Tie.
They are bound together by the tie of
their common necessity. The extent and
unanimity of the movement bears strong
witness to the existence of conditions which
were intolerabl to the workers. 1t Is folly
to claim that such a movement as this could
take place if there were not good grounds
for their action.
l was impressed by the remark Of one of
the young strikers, a thin, sad-faced youth.
Il don't believe in strikes he said, for
1 don't think they accomplish much. But
there is something wrong; L don't know
what it is, or whose fault, but l know we
are the victims. l don't know how to go
about righting it, but the strike gives
chance, and we take it.
There must be something wrong in our
conditions when things turn out as they do.
There is my father, who has worked for
company for thirty years, and in his
old age has not enough to support him and
his wife. So he has to go on the breakers,
with boys, and pick coal at boys wages.
When his old hands are too feeble for that
he will give way to a boy. And there is my
in our fathers steps, and we cannot make
enough to support the family and keep him
off the breaker. l don't know what is the
trouble, but l know it exists, and it ought
not to be So.
Voices the Common Sentiment
This young man doubt voices the SEN
timents of thousands of patient, plodding,
toling people, sensible Of injustice and
cropping about to find a remedy. 1t is not
to ha hat in DIS of he Str
ers are men who are not dissatisfied, who
are earning enough to live on, after the
fashion which they were brought up on.
The English and Welsh miners, many of
them, who have education, are training
their children to better things than going
in the mines.
But here is the main point; they all are
convinced that they are not getting a just
proportion of the wealth which they pro-
duce. They get the crumbs from bounti-
full table at which others feast.
Take this little strip of anthracite coal
region; there Is not a richer section of land
in the world. For thirty years it has been
producing coal and now turns out about
60,O9O0OO tons year. which ultimately
brings from So to So ton. In the various
stages of the ton of COAL from mine to
kitchen range. many hands get rake off
of profit. The miner claims that he gets
the least for the work performed.
Then, there is no doubt that there are
many among the workmen who do not get
a living out of their labor. The mine work
ers are not confined to the skilled miners
who are paid something, but there are
thousands of iaborers who get their S11O
and Sl.25 a day and have to keep famli.es
on it. But above and beyond the fact that
they do or do not get enough, is the greater
one that they believe they do not get their
just dues. THE, laborer is worthy of his
hire is the way they put it.
1t is no part of my purpose to go into the
details of the miners grievances, or to tell
the operators side of the story for there
a I'd
you will say with the young fellow that
something is wrong, somewhere, and
whether you find the cause or not will de-
pend upon how much you know of the in
side workings Of the few close corporations
which control the entire system. n O. NJ