The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-02-17

stay, n the burden is on you and not
upon US. There is neither the power
nor the disposition in this court, I take
it. to destroy the union. And If these
agents of the Almighty cannot SEE the
union, they had better blunder along
still a few more years, and possibly AZ
ter a while they will know it is here
and recognize it themselves"
Passing to the wage statements hand
ed to the commission, Mr.. barrow said
the operators have been deceived by
their own accountants and hat when
MIR. Baer informed the president of the
United States and the commission how
much wages his men were getrlng. he
rave them information at least thirty
Or forty per cent. beyond any facts that
| really existed. IF, at the end of a |
this time and labor, he is willing to
give US five or ten per cent. on figures
which he represents as our earning"
said Mr.. Darrow, I'VE will be very glad
indeed TO take it."
Counsel then spoke Of the skill re-
quired by the anthracite miner and the
! dangerousness of the occupation. He
brought in review the crippled and
blind miners who took the witness
stand and called the commissions at
tention to the fact that six out Of every
thousand are killed in the mines each
year. Five hundred dollars a year is
a big price for taking your life and
your limbs in your hand and going
down into the earth to dig coal to make
somebody else rich he said. II have
had a computation made covering every
company that has filed schedules with
this commission n in Mr.. Baer's com
pany, only about a third of them got
over four hundred dollars in the year
Of 1901" Only "a per cent. of all of the
Readings killed women, he said.
got 5000 Il year, 3 per cent. got between
$500 and 5000, and IS per cent. Of all the
men who appear on the pay roll az
contract miners get less thar $500 a
year. OF these So per cent, a large
number worked only a small fraction
Of the year.
Mr.. barrow said the average earn
ings of the miners of the Reading
company who earned between $500 and
$500 in 1901 was s52S. He said the min
ers expenses for supplies averaged $40
a year which would only cave the av-
erage miner s4SS. These figures, he
said. were based on the 1901 average
which is 10 to II per cent. above the
average of other years. Mr.. barrow
then analysed the statements of the
other companies and said that as near
as he could make it out. the figures
We're at least ten to fifteen per cent.
too high and said the wages paid by the
Reading We're the lowest in the region.
Turning to the mine laborers, he said
more than five out Of every one thou
sand are killed every year Ito say moth
ing of the manned and the crippled and
the blind who are turned out under the
beneficient laws of the state of Penn
s~ylvania to the aims houses and high
ways and by-ways. These laborers got
last year 1888. Princely wages and yet
We are TOLD that all was peace and joy
and happiness in the anthracite region,
until Mr.. Mitchell came"
In discussing the child labor question,
Mr.. barrow said: eff the work of this
commission does not result in getting
rid of this abominably disgraceful evil
of child labor in Pennsylvania, then I
think the people may we'll say that it
has been a failure. The evidence in
this case shows that in the vicinity of
Scranton are at least twenty mills
where little girls from Il to Ii or IA
years Of age are working ten and
twelve hours a day, n twelve hours at
night as we'll. Is there any man so
1AAAA& NAA"t IN NO>' ~ IN why I'm
anthracite region is dotted with silk
mills. They went there because the
miners were there. Every mill in that
region is a testimony to the fact that
the wages hat you pay are so low that
you sell your boys to be slaves of the
breaker and your girls to be slaves in
the mills.
when these railroad presidents were
finally called TO book before the presi-
lent of the United States, one of them
shed tears because the United Mine
Workers allowed these boys to join
their organization, because they taught
these poor babes doctrines Of anarchy
and dis~obedience to law. This railroad
president shed tears because the Unit
ed Mine Workers were spelling the
souls of these poor children, and yet
he was willing to take the earnings OF
these poor children, that he and his
family might be richer because Of their
toll. These men max a living out of
these children and if they can do MOTH
ing else in this region, this infamy
should end. These little children get
S165 a year"
Mr.. barrow quoted the late Abram
s. Hewitt. to the effect that during the
Molly Mcguire days. he found men in
the anthracite region living like pigs
and dogs under wretchedly brutal con-
d~itions." and then took up the famous
order of the union for the steam men
TO strike. and closed by saying: If
these gentlemen were stupid enough 10
let their mines fill up with water rath-
er than grant this eight hour day, all
right. Keep still about it. After all you
have DONE, the more you talk of it. the
more contemplate it make you look In
the eyes of all men who think"
Z. :. Courts mt Wilkesboro