Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-10-22
FULL DINNER PAIL CANT
COAL STRIKE PROVES "M'KINLEY
PROSPERITY" A SHAMELESS LIE,

Has Startled the Republican Leaders
Lives Passed in Pathetic Poverty,
Despair and Degradation.
The strike of 10000 men in the coal
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-
tion 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 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 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, few days ago, Hanna, with
an unction worthy of Uriah Heep,
said:
'If 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 Il happy home and
a happy tireside, in the interest of the
future greatness of our country, God
forbidr'
Could anything to q manly citizen
be more nauseating? There was Il
time when every little child in Amer
lea could go to school and return to
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 sun
shine ever enters, and wearing out
their hopeless young lives at a maxi
mum wage of seventy-two cents n
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 a 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 S2.15 to 500; in.
crease of about ~ per cent
Sugar, per pound, ) to Z cents; in
crease of about 40 per cent.
Oil, per gallon, II to Is cents: in.
crease of about % per cent.
Tobacco, per pound, 2S TO 50 cents
increase of about 36 per cent.
Soup meat, per pound, to II cents
increase of about 90 per cent.
Veal, per pound, - to 1G cents; in.
crease of about 33 per cent.
Beefsteak, per pound, u to 10 cents;
increase of about 33 per cent.
Ham, per pound, IL to 10 cents; in.
crease Of about So per cent.
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