The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-11-22

incoming trains were stopped on the
bridge crossing the Susquehanna
river before entering the city of Phil
adelphia and the transgressors arrest
ed. / asked a mother, whose young
est son, twenty years of age, had left
home, Have you heard from Rich
ard?" "No," she said "he's gone
now ten days, and haven't heard a
word" The boy and twenty-nine
others were arrested on the bridge
and sentenced to ten days imprison-
ment. The boy bravely served his
sentence, and saved his mother from
worry by not telling her of his mis-
fortune. These young men who dig
anthracite coal show a de1icacy of
feeling and flial tenderness worthy of
a Coriolanus. One of them left for
Philadelphia and got work there.
He regularly sent money to his moth
er; but that was not enough /; she
wanted to see her boy. He delayed
coming until week ago, and said,
''I lost thirty pounds from July to
August. Iknew man would worry
if she saw me. In the last month
I've gained fifteen pounds" This
breaking up of family ties because of
the strike is fact seldom mentioned,
but privation and hunger do not rend
the heart as this does. / have seen
young girls from sixteen to eighteen
years of age leaving home because the
family's income was cut off. Can
any heart tell what it means for these
to go into strange city to try to exc
out a subsistence One of these,
seventeen years of age, left for -.
All her mother conld gather was
enough money to buy a half-fare
ticket. The girl didn't have another
cent and was scantily clad. She slept
the first night with friends in the
city, and on the following morning
looked for work. She got it, and
earned $3.50 a week. Before the
month was up she came home, her
shoes worn and torn, and her cloth
ing in dilapidated condition. She
was girl of strong moral courage,
and she came home.
But not only does industrial con-
flict drive men and young women
from home, it also disturbs social
peace at home and sets brother against
brother and family against family.
Two men who left their mother coun-
try together, shared the same bed,
and divided equally their earnings,
are today enemies-they will not ex-
change the time Of day. One of
them went to work, and the other
called him "scab." This opprobrious
epithet sticks and stings most Writ
lently. When uttered it means social
ostracism, and for it there is no REM
edy. There is no sin as grievous as
"scabbing" in the ethical code of
these workers. Half dozen women,
members Of the ladies' aid society of
one Of the churches, were talking of
non-union workers, when one of them
said, II could look at scabs hanged, +"
and the others echoed her sentiment.
To what extent this feeling carries
men was illustrated in Lansford.
Sharpe, a union man, who was shot
by a deputy, had a funeral such as
was never witnessed in that town.
All the union men from the mining
villages came to pay the last tribute
of respect to one whom they consider
ed a martyr for the cause. The union
leaders were in charge, and the pro-
cession was solemn and impressive.
A few weeks after, non union Hun
garian who worked was accidently
killed. On the day of the funeral
the undertaken could not get a man
to remove his remains from the house
to the funeral car. His fellow-co
trymen said, Him die a scab, him
bury scab," and to a man they kept
away from the funeral.
The families of the men who work.
ed are subject to social ban. Some
men left Lackawanna county, where
they would not work, and came to
Sckuylkill to seek employment. They
worked where they were not known,
and kept closely within the stockade
of the colliery. If their neighbors at
home learned that they were work
ing elsewhere in these coal fields, the
lives of their wives and children were
soon made miserable. 1t meant So
cial ostracism. Three wives came
from Luzerne county to Schuylkill
lately in quest of their husbands.
They said they could not stand it
longer. and resolved either to stay at
the colliery with their husbands or
to go home together. The children of
those who worked were subjected to
insults, and many fsticuffs were the
result. One young man whose father
worked in another section was badly
beaten in fight. His mother said,
"Why didn't you let them alone to
say what they would?' "No, mann, J"
he said 81 wasn't going to let them
speak dirt about pap" Little chill
dren would not play with "scab"
children, and most pathetic was it to
hear a child say, CPL be Johnny
Mitchell man, only let me play"
Women anxious to live in peace were
insulted by their neighbors if their
husbands worked. Innuendoes,
sneers, obloquies, are weapons which
hurt, and no civil or military power
can save the victim. A family NOV
ed from one part of town to another
a week ago, and the mother said, Il
couldn't stand it no longer; those
women are terrible" The landlord
said, "I'm glad they're gone. !
don't want dynamite here because of
scabs."
When the Eighth Regiment was
called out on the night of July 80,
antagonism between men residing in
the same town was still further inten-
sifed. Many mine employees who