Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-03-30
AN EQUAL CHANCE.
THIS is THE ONLY "H6lP" THAT
AMOUNTS TO ANYTHING.
The Experience of n Pennsylvania
Coal Operator Who Thought HIM
self n PhilanthrOpist and Regen-
orator of Mankind.

story about something that lately hap
pened in Pennsylvania.
A certain man came into possession
of coal mine-soft coal.
This man knew in vague, general
way that the coal miner has a hard
time. He had heard so, but did not
know the particulars. He was rather a
good man. He thought he would try to
do something for the benefit of the
miners in his coal mine.
So he made them a model town. He
built straight rows of little houses like
cheap dolls houses, exactly alike, each
with the same tiny square of ground
just in front, prim and rectangular.
Then he built gaudy town hall and
lyceum and lecture hall, where
learned men used to come and lecture
school for the children. He got Mr..
Carnegie to contribute n library. He
used to get singers to come now and
then and sing in the lyceum.
He had other enterprises. There We're
many miners, and they made some
thing of q show as a town. This man
put in gasworks and charged good
round price for gas; also for water
from the waterworks that he estab-
lished.
Likewise he lighted the streets with
his electric light plant and charged for
1t.
Moreover, not being, as he said, in
business for his health, he conducted
in his brother-in-law's name a compa-
ny store and rented his houses at a
rate to insure a profit on the invest
ment
But these were side issues and did
not affect his general scheme of philan-
thropy and a model town in which he
took great pride.
The town hall and lyceum were the
centers of his joy. The rest of the
town was not, as a matter Of fact,
much to look at, but the town hall was
built of pressed red brick, and the
builder greatly admired the style of
architecture and thought it ought to
fill the miners with delight. There was
a fountain in front and a band stand
erected at the proprietor's expense
where a band was expected to dis
course sweet music.
The lecturers used to come and de-
liver instructive addresses of q safe
kind against the dangers of socialism
and pointing out the duty of gratitude
to a good employer, and sometimes
cooking school experts addressed the
housewives on making calf's foot jelly
and different ways to cook quail.
The tenants Of the good mans houses
We're also instructed to beautify their
surroundings, and once on Arbor day
the little children were assembled and
q gentleman from Boston gave them
an address on arboriculture, and they
planted tree.
1t was all very beautiful, but some
how it did not seem to go as 1t should,
and after two or three years Of expe-
rience the benevolent proprietor was
disgusted. He said 1t was no use try
ing to do anything for those people.
They were too ungrateful. He said:
my son was a candidate for the leg
islature from this district, and what do
you think the miners did? Why, they
just went to the polls and voted solidly
against him after all that had been
done for them. Then you would think
that If there was a place in the world
where there would be no strikes this
was the place. But it wasn't so. One
Of my foremen discharged a mule boy
one day for impertinence, and the
whole gang struck until l had to have
the boy taken back. Then they all
Joined the miners union, and they
cared a great deal more for that than
they cared about the beautiful lyceum
l built They used to meet in barn
two miles down the road on the nights
l was having learned men lecture for
them on instructive topics, and when
the union ordered them to strike they
struck and didn't care snap about all
the things | had done for them.
'Then there was trouble about the
houses. Some of them didn't want to
live in the company houses-said they
were not slaves to be herded about and
used bad language-and those that did
live in the houses l built were always
complaining about something. If door
came off or a roof wanted mending,
you would think there was some ething
serious. They used to make sarcastic
remarks about model houses and jeer
every time anything went wrong. The
woren used to go to the cooking lec-
lures at first, but after time they
quit. They didn't seem to care about
them. l had a clergyman come and
give series of lectures on Social Or
DER the idea being to show how much
better things are now than they used
to be and how much can be done by
contentment, and so on, and they in
terrupted him with rude questions, and
the boys threw snowballs at him in the
streets. l am through trying to do any
thing for those people. Model towns
don't go with me any more. l have
sold out the lyceum for a theater, and
anybody can have the houses at cost
and interest on the investment"