United labor bulletin., 1909-11-26
A Slaughter of Men
at Cherry Ill.
BY c. A. IRWIN.

The mine horror at Cherry. Illinois,
has been one of the most disastrous
sIaughters of employees in recent indus
trial history. The sacrifice OF human
life has been upon such a large scale
and human suffering has been so intensi-
fed as to fill the public mind with feel
ings of mingled pity and horror. Four
hundred human beings imprisoned in
the bowels of the earth to be burned to
death or to suffocate and starve. Nearly
four hundred families on the outside de-
prived of their bread winners: wives
made widows: children made orphans,
and homes destroyed, on such large
scale that the human imagination can
scarcely grasp the awful consequences OF
it all The sickening details of the 81
gantic tragedy for the living need not be
related here In immediate results. that
mine disaster is OF such consequence that
IL ought to arouse public sentiment 10
just appreciation of the reckless disre-
gard for employees and those dependent
upon them which underlies the Ameri-
can law and American public opinion. The
immediate results. however. are scarcely
equal in significance to the remote con
sequences. Very few OF the dead have
left their families with any means OF
support Their wages and conditions
have not favored the saving of money.
Mine-workers necessarily live from hand
TO mouth.
The Immediate tragedy is great. but
what of the future7 With the head OF
the family gone. the widows must do
such work as they can get The boys
and girls must seek employment in the
coal fields and factories for the mere
pittance which is called wages. Many OF
them will struggle on. from year TO year.
in poverty and want with stout hearts
and unseared consciences. Many others
win fall by the wayside. when the sud
den horror Of the mine disaster has been
dimmed by the lapse Of time the public
will forget the children who are its most
pittful victims. They will be left TO bat
tie with life alone. whether they live or
die. survive or perish the public VIII
little heed and less remember. In the
next generation the annals Of youthful
vice and crime will contain the names OF
many victims of the St Paul disaster
Many sweet. innocent girl viii drift
into a life of shame. Many good-heart-
ed boy will end his days in prison.
II is TO be feared that the American
people have paid little attention TO the
remote consequences OF the slaughter OF
employees Character generally is the re-
suit of conditions. Men and women are
seldom the masters of their own fate.
No one is wholly good or wholly bad
Life f.. at best. mingled skein OF good
and evil. Our characters. like our opin-
ions. are unconsciously but inevitably
shaped by environment. Children reared
in an atmosphere of love. kindness and
good cheer. with their minds filled with
high ideals. seldom go wrong. Children
reared in poverty. want and repelling at
mosphere. which habitually surrounds
those who are not prosperous. become
easy victims to the coarser temptations
of life Children SO situated are de-
prlved OF all the ordinary motives that
lead TO upright living. 1t is easy for
ciety and for law From their ranks are
largely recruited that class OF criminals
commonly called ncorrigible. For these
reasons the tragedy of Cherry. Illinois.
can not be summed up in mere cata-
logue of the dead. II is immeasurably
more farreaching. Ii the mine owners
have been derelect in providing for the
safety of the employees. no punishment
can adequately At the case. We do not
yet know. perhaps we never shall know,
all of the conditions which caused this
great disaster. BY and by, committee
will investigate. perhaps they will pub
!ish the truth, quite probably they will
not.
There is no criminal statute in Him
els, requiring mine owners to construct
n sufficient number of outlets. known as
..escapement shafts" separate and dis
tinct from the shafts or slopes by which
the ore Is brought to the surface. to make
ngress and egress reasonably safe in
case OF emergency. There are statutes
also providing for ventilation and for n
system OF fans to keep the air free from
floating particles of coal. Had these stat
utes been enforced. how different might
have been the result. IL IL easy Ior pis
corporations to escape the penalties pro-
vided by criminal statutes: but II the en-
p'oyer must bear the financial burden OF
the lives that his business wears out and
destroys Ms well as the burden of the ma
chnery that is worn out and destroyed.
accidents would be reduced to a mini
mum. and the social consequences Of