The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-10-18

COAL STRIKE PROVES "M'KlNLEY
PROSPERITY" A SHAMELESS LIE,

Despair and Degradation.
The strike of 10000 men in the Goa
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
strike. 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
oratorical bomb. He tried it 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
a 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 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
to 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:
eff Mr.. Bryan-God forbid-should
be elected say God forbid in the in
terest Of every man who works with
his hands. in the interests of every
little child who goes to school and
comes back to meet a happy home and
a happy fireside, in the interest of the
future greatness of our country, God
forbidw
Could anything to manly citizen
be more nauseating? There was a
time when every little child in Amer
lea could go to school and return to
q happy home and fireside, but this
was before the days Of trusts and coal
barons, who have already reduced
millions in our industrial life to the
European condition of pauperism. In
the coal mines of Pennsylvania, chill
dren Of tender years, who ought to be
in school, are delving in deep, black
shafts, where no ray of Gods SUI
shine ever enters, and wearing out
their hopeless young lives at a maxi
mum wage of seyenty-two cents a
day. And blasphemous Mark Hanna
petitions that God should forbid any
change in these conditions. In the
same unhealthy shafts, 100000 or more
full grown men, their blood thinned
for want of fresh air and sufficient
food, are hopelessly toiling for an aver
age wage of less than So week. In
the cabins, which they call homes, the
wives and little sisters Of these under
ground hungry toilers are passing their
! lives in pathetic poverty, despair and
degradation. And it sis in the inter-
est of the future greatness of our
country" and for fear that these con-
ditiOns might be changed, that Mark
Hanna asks God to forbid the election
of Bryan. Was ever prayer offered
by any shadband of the centuries more
heartless, impertinent and blasphe-
| nous?
Here are Il few items, illustrative of
| Republican 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, 81. to S2.75; in
crease of about % per cent.
Sugar, per pound, to cents; in
crease of about 40 per cent.
Oil, per gallon, ~ to 10 cents: in
crease Of about % per cent.
Tobacco, per pound, IS to 80 cents;
increase of about SO per cent.
Soup meat, per pound . to II cents;
| increase of about SO per cent.
Veal per pound, u to 1G cents; in
crease of about SO per cent.
Beefsteak, per pound, II to Is cents;
| increase of about SO per cent
Ham, per pound, II to 10 cents; in
| crease of about 30 per cent
ed Crackers, per pound, to 10 cents;
increase Of about 100 per cent.
Condensed milk, three cans for %
cents; two cans for % cents; increase
| of about 80 per cent.
Shoes advanced, increase of about
! 80 per cent
Rubber boots, per pair, from S2,2J
| to 1928; increase of about Al per cent
Stove coal, per ton, $1.50 to $3.50; in
| crease of about GO Der cent