The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-10-27
now active or prominent in politics or

now active or prominent in politics or
war. T.. -: .-<'- :&7,Es' ~ y.
In Wall street I know. of only one |
of the manipulators Of the great miners
strike, and he an old man who
never smiles. On the other hand I
know of more than hundred men
and women who were active open
friend of the miners who are yet in
the enjoyment of smiling, sunny old
age, and to me 1t points pleasing
moral.
Among intelligent observers of those
events there Is no doubt that the
whole terrible drama ofthe coal strike
and the Mollie Mcguire troubles had
their origin in Wall street for the
iron hand of the oppressor had been
bearing down on the miners for some
years harder and harder until in May,
1869, the arrogant and naughty master
spirits of the coal "combine'' came to
Scranton to set the match to the mag
|azine or see the miners surrender
to terms more arbitrary than any
lever offered to them before. The
writer saw the delegates enter the
hail. and there was only one opinion
among the spectators which was that
the strike would be declared at once
And 50 it was. And although it ended
in September, yet that was only the
beginning Of the trouble. For three
years murder, rapine and bloodshed
run their course in the beautiful val.
lev till ruin and waste and poverty
frowned on every home in the valley
and thousands fled to the west and
set out to begin life anew. At last, in
1873, the storm of that awful calamity
wore itself out to become bitter
memory of the past. He who prays
for the wind may expect the whirl-
wind" proved true proverb in this
lease, and those who sneered at the
miners at the start were often seen to
cringe and bow to them in after years.
It is thirty-one years since the
great strike" as it is still called in
the Wyoming and Lackwanna val
lleys, and yet thousands recall it
with horror to this day. 1t is part of
the history of great state but proba-
| bly, no correct history of its dread de-
tails will ever be written, and 1t is bet
ter that they should not be narrated,
| for, like the history of the French revo-
luton, the story would not be believed
! for it's unutterable atrocity. But, while
no attempt has been made at apology
for the part played by the coal barons
| in this sad and wretched tragedy, the
apology often offered for the Mollie
Maguires is no doubt true, that they
were goaded to desperation by want
and misery and like lion robbed OF
Its young. they made no pause till
their vengeance was satisfied.
Seventy-five millions of dollars was
the estimate of the loss of time and
product and property in this disas-
trous struggle, and this was a low
figure in the opinion of experts, while
lover three hundred men lost their
Lives by violence and many died OF
starvation and exposure. Four great
railroads lost their entire coal traffic
Iduring the whole summer of 1869 as
we'll as the trade in freight of the mer-
lchants in the two rich valleys, 'Wyom-
ling and Lackawanna, with the Schuyl-
kill and all the vast farming region In
circuit of two hundred miles all ut
slterly paralyed in it's product, 4 while
the face OF the country bore the look
Of the havoc Of war, and pilage and
murder ran riot day and night. It was
lin truth a reign of terror.-Dr. U. M
tWeideman in the Connecticut Crafts
imam.