The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-12-03

be hard to get capital to develop the of the
region. Miners the most irresponsible people in
the world They are gamblers by instinct and spend
thrifts and faalists as result of their calling They
live we'll while the money lasts, but seldom have
homes and are ever ready to pull up stakes to move
to another camp as soon as the report of new
strike" reaches them. In short they are not the
men to give backbone to a new commonwealth.
The miners run the Rocky Mountain states
They are at present engaged in running Colorado
into the ground just as they did decade ago when
Davis 81. Waite was made governor. They are
organized to man and strike the slightest prov
ocation. Holding the balance of power in their
hands, and making and unmaking public officials at
will they do not pay too much heed to the rights OF
others when their blood is up Cripple Greek has
been in the throes of strike for nearly half year,
the mines shut down, much property has been
destroyed and for several months it has been neces
sary to keep the state militia in the district in order
to preserve order The governor had the courag to
order out the soldiers, but he committed political
suicide when he did So Had he consulted his po-
litical future many valuable mines would have been
dynamited or otherwise destroyed the indicator
was last week. for the county officials of Teller county
for the most part examiners themselves and con-
sequently sympathize with the strikers. AS it is,
the business is concluded.
Through most Of the Rocky Mountain states
similar conditions prevail Everywhere the miners
are running things with high hand and more than
one big property has been shut down until the time
comes when the Western Federation of Miners is
not quite SO omnipotent It is only matter of time
however, before much Of the region will be under IT.
rigation and when the farmers get foothold things
ho in mr.
way than they are at present, and the garden spot
of America will to be the rendezvous ofcranks
neer-do-wells and malcontents.
COMMENTING upon italian immigration, the
Worcester Sly says the much abused children of
southern Italy doing more than building rail-
ways and working as laborers in ditches-large
numbers of them settling on the abandoned farms
of New England and are working them prohtably.
That native of sunny Italy should deliberately.
choose bleak New England for his place of residence
seems anomalous, but if these people can again make
that portion of the country populous and can make
the barren sterile hisides produce something more
profitable than boulders, they should by all means
be encouraged to do SO.
The Sly naively admits that the immigrants
themselves are not the most desirable neighbours as
their morals are low from the American standpoint
and their verge the nasty; butthe second
generation, the children born in this country and
forced from their infancy to accommodate themselves
to American habits and customs, develop into men
and women about as good as the average citizen.
They go with the crowd just as the average man
Does and if the general tendencies good they
good. They can live more economically than can
members of the Anglo-Saxon race and when once
they get firm foothold in New England they are
not likely to desert the country for new pastures.
In recounting the benefits that will accrue to
America through Italian immigration, the S1y has
overlooked a bet It is possible that century
hence the narrow and self-satisfed New England
character may be modifed-by the assimilation and
absorption of the picturesque dago and become al
most human For many years the genuine dyed-in-
the-wool New Highlander has been the most intoler-
ant man in America He considers himself superior
to all the rest of the world in BIRTH education and
culture; he has rugged little corner in religion and
ethics, and seated on his papierm Olympus he
views with an amused pity the struggle of the bal
ance of humanity The ichor of the Pilgrim Fathers
his peculiar property and the thought that flows
through his veins is satisfying to him that wheth
er he knows il or not all other things paltry
The italian blood is fluid in which there is too
much water; the pure New England article wenld
somewhat more agreeable If it were diluted Each
can modify and improve the other and it seems as if
this may occur in time.