The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-12-10
Every Tub on Its Own Bottom.

%HE HEARTLEssNEss Of the
eviction process as repre-
sented in the testimony be-
fore the strike commission
concerning G. y. Martle & Co., Will
profoundly impress the country 1t is
indefensible. because it is inhuman.
Small wonder that where 1t is practiced
there is bitter feeling between employer
and employed.
on the legal side it may be argued
that the tenant who refuses to
pay Overdue rent is liable for
eviction everywhere. But surely
humanity calls for some element of
mercy in all circumstances, and doubly
so where the conditions Of employment
restrict the employe to tenure of COM
pany houses The testimony which has
been offered with regard to Marklc &
Co. has as yet to undergo rebuttal.
Therefore final opinion must in fair
ness be withheld pending the completed
hearing.
But. as matter of equity to coal
operators as class. who differ little
from other men in their prejudices and
sympathies. it should be borne in mind
that heartless eviction is by no means
general. Whatever may be the truth
concerning the methods of Markle &;
Co. instances abound in which operat-
ors have dealt generously with tenants
in misfortune. not only carrying them
on credit over tight places but even sup
porting them and their families over
periods when employees were on strike.
aud cancelling many charges which
might legally have been pressed We
do not think that this will be disputed
by men familiar with anthracite indus
trial conditions.
The company house, like the company
store, is not an unmiXed evil. Whether
il is an evil at all or not depends upon
the calibre of the management. Where
mines are opened in out-of- the way
places, establishing suddenly new in
dustrial communities, it is often con-
venience to have the company from its
available capital invest the money
needed to build homes for it's employees
and open well-equipped stores in which
they can purchase the supplies for daily
living. With anything like fair and
honorable company management the
men themselves are benefited by this
process. But where avarice and unkind-
ness characterize the management the
evils become serious and eventually un-
bearable. and the problem is where 10
draw the line.
To large degree, at least in this Sec
ton, the company store has disappeared
or exists as purely voluntary institu-
ton, resting fairly on it's commercial
merits. Company houses, too, are fol-
lowing in its footsteps, though in per-
haps n majority Of cases the company
: house Still presents II more economic
and satisfactory proposition than the
independent tenement. But in view of
the abuses to which these forms of
company enterprise are liable and the
prejudices which these abuses call into
being, it is seasonable TO consider
whether both should not be abandoned
uniformly Where the worker can get
steady work at fair pay he can well be
left to paddle his own canoe in the mat
ter OF finding house to live in and n
store to trade in. And certainly the
coal business will never be satisfactor-
lily adjusted until there shall be steady
WORK at fair pay for all honest and ef-
fcient workers needed in its prosecu-
tion..