The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-12-13
The Stories of Oppression.

THE VALUE of publicity as an in
itiatory measure to expose fraud
and prevent injustice is being
demonstrated every day at Scranton
ia. The testimony offered by the
miners before the arbitration tribunal
could be obtained in no other way.
In no other court could miners. under
oath, obtain a fair hearing. In no
other way would it be possible for
employees to overcome fear of discharge,
come forward and tell their story in
spite of that fear. In no other hear
ing would their stories be believed. be-
cause of the prejudice against labor
unions and the lawlessness too often
accompanying strikes.
The testimony offered, in the main,
Is pitfful story. of distress, a tale of
oppression which shocks the country
ana arouses Indignation in every hon
est heart. The wonder is, now, that
lawlessness stopped when it did; that
these striking employees of Baer, and
Markle, and the rest, did not hurl
themselves against the bayonets of
Governor Stones militia; that some
ore, crazed through pitiless injustice,
did not seize firebrand and appIv it
to the nearest colliery. We wonder
now at the forbearance. of men whom
we accused before of riotous behavior
and bloody inclination. Leaving out
the few black spots in the strikes his
tory, the conduct of the miners is an
example of heroic fortftude, of moral
restraint, of Christian patience.
Strange words, these, to apply to la
Dor unions or to any organized move
ment of the common people, and
stranger yet to contemplate that such
words and their meaning will likely
appear in the record of the arbitration
tribunal.
The daily papers contain the stories
Of the past week told at Scranton. We
need only mention two. The first is
the case of a Mr.. Coll, evicted with
his wife and her century-old mother
from the poor shack they called home.
A sleety rain was falling, but the
stony hearted brutes who represented
the operators threw their few sticks
of furniture out into the weather and
the human beings along with them.
There isn't dog owned by one of
the operators that is not better treat
ed. As a direct result of this inhu-
man abuse, the wife sickened and died.
. The other is the case of the widow,
Mrs. Kate Burns of Jeddo. Her hus-
band was brought home to her dead
one day, killed in mine. He left her
with four children, the Oldest only 8
years of age. With these babies she
began struggle for existence No
words will ever be coined that can
paint a true picture of that widows
battle with poverty. At last the old
est boy reached the age of IA years
and was sent to the mines. With his
lrst pay envelope he received a state |
nent from the company of an in
1ebtedness of 1896 for house rent. Not !
one cent did the boy or his brother, /
Who followed him into the mines, re-
;eive until this obligation was dis
And it was not a legal obi /
CATION, either. There were other cases
almost as tragic, and so far no at
empt to question the truth of the evil +
ience was made by the attorneys for I
he operators.
Wayne MacVeagh, perceiving that if
testimony was allowed to accumulate
against the operators their case before
he commission would receive serious
injury as well as arousing bitter pub
ic sentiment, sought to bring about
settlement between the operators and
heir employees at a conference in !
Washington. But the obstinacy Of the
Independent operators proved an OBJ
tacle to Mr.. MacVeagh's plans. Now
hese Independent operators are pill
Dried by the public. through the pub
icity given daily reports from Scran-
on. If more execrable lot of OPP
ressors exist anywhere outside Amer
"a, we must hunt for them among
heir other assumed partners of the AL
mighty in Turkey, in Morocco. or
mong the landlords of Ireland.