The Florida star., 1902-08-15

strike is ended The mules are eating
their supper. Each day they eat a
quart Of corn and a quart Of oats and
seven pounds Of hay per head. and are
sleek and fat Some OF them had not
been up out of the underground tunnels
where they work for twelve years.
None had been up for five or six unless
1t was to go to the well appointed mule
hospital. When they were brought up,
they were stunned by the sunlight.
They were turned out to grass and did
not know W hat to do. They smelled the
air and looked off great distances aud
put their noses to the field, and then,
after awhile, they laid themselves
down and in sudden access of joy roll
ed and kicked and nipped one another
on the neck. 1t must have been lovely.
Outside all this, beyond the palings
and the hedgerOws, are the culm piles.
higher than the st. Paul building (New
York;, some of them like volcanoes in
form and not unlike Pelee in utter bare
ness. and near them. perhaps on a green
slope, are the mining settlements.
We light the automobile and start.
Opportunity for contrasts, you think
the operators villa and the miners
cabin: hOthouse of perfect flowers
here and bunch of paper roses on the
mantel there; everything cOmfOrta BILE
to ones desire within and the harsh
ness of the lot of the common worker
without. But the contrast strikes you
only as the contrast of life everywhere
There are those above us and below us
in fortune in whatever sphere we
dwell. and the teSt-isn't tits Wheth-
er we treat them as we ought, decent
respect without ObsequiOusnesS fer
those above, nothing but kind genpr-
osity for those below. / know operators
and owners in these valleys-unfortu-
nately | am withheld from being spe-
cific-whO have all their lives accepted
''the tax of befriending poverty and
weakness" and have been helpful and
cOnsiderate with their dependents.
Their wives have scWed strong gar
ments and built hospitals and me
chanicS' Institutes for them. and when
there was Il deficiency in the township
school fund. as there Is usually each
Many of the families which own the
mines now lease them TO railroads, but
they retain Il little concern and interest
not perhaps as much as before, in the
workers. Some OF the original owners
were themselves miners or plain farm
ers and by industry, thrift and special
cleverness were enabled to buy land at
$40 an acre. underneath which. later,
coal was found, and their descendants
thus came by their present ability to
live in villas merely by taking royalty
on each ton their property yields to the
leSSeeS.
There is a band of strikers on the
bridge as we cross in the automobile
The operator grcets them; all of them
answer but one. THAT dark young
fellow who would not speak TO me-"
the operator says, lis one of those who
started the difficulty here. Strikes
come in cycles, big ones about once
in ten years. When we've adjusted
things with one set of workers, the
mule boys and the breaker boys grow
up, and then they get 10 discussing
themselves, and the older ones are in
tluenced, as one is always. by his en-
vironment and companions. Did you
ever notice that strike leaders are al
ways young men,"
The miners houses were roomy and
neat and above the average and bet
ter than many thousands of wOrkmPn
In New York city have to live in even
after the Tenement House association
has prosecuted the landlords. But in
other places, ut Hickory Ridge, out
SIDE Shamokin. and. at Il place between
Shenandoah and Gir"rdville. and at
Ashley. south of WilkcSbarrc. there
are. indeed, some pitiably inadequate
habitatiOns. in what city people would
call the Slum quarters. But | am
speaking of scarcely dozen build
ings altogether of this bad sort i'm the
eighteen mining Villages | have seen
One of the unhappy PHASES of this
strike is that the very persons whom
SuprrintendcntS, owners and opera
tors helped The most are now the most
rabid and melting and most eager Ia
do them injury. There may have been
something wrong with the method oi
caring for them. Frequently we make
our relief To the poor either 81 pain
ful or so ungraci"us that they rather
die than take il. But have heard OF
Il pleasant appreciation, too. how in
the SChuylkill region OH the night OF
the Shenandoah riot an Irish GROOM
paced all night lou-. up and down
on guard. before tie gate of the house
of his employer IA mime operator,
with 4 revolver in his hand ana never
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