Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1919-11-21
STATESMEN PAMPER ROYALTY
WHILE WORKMEN PLEAD
(By John Bush)

protection of the habeas corpus and
trial by juries impartially selected,
these principles form the bright con-
stellation which has gone before US
and guided US through an age of re-
volution and reformation"
This paragraph from Thomas JEFF
ferson's first inaugural address shows
the character of the men who planted
and cultivated the tree of liberty and
Justice in this land of the free and
home of the brave. When we note
the attitude of our statesmen of today
and the conditions existing it is ap-
parent the first has become imperfect
and the beloved tree is decaying at
the heart. In the writer's opinion the
grand old garden is in need Of a
Washington to WELD the hatchet as
he did on the cherry tree and to sever
political combines with foreign ma
tons To have our American soil
contaminated by the invasion of in
bread immoral balnacles is the most
debasing plight Americans have ever
encountered.
The pampering and humoring Of
these imbecile royalists by our states
men and wealthy citizens while the
coal miners are being denounced for
their efforts to secure a living wage,
is demonstrative of Americas waning
democracy. The writer spent a num-
Der of years in the Allegheny Valley
where he had an opportunity to OBJ
serve the depIorable conditions in the
coal fields and knows whereof he
speaks.
Our government rests on public
opinion. Whoever can change public
opinion can change the government.
| Consequently they who mould public
sentiment go deeper than those who
enact statutes or pronounce decis-
ions. The public press is the power
that creates public opinion, and if the
press would tell the plain truth about
|
autocratic operators would, through
public sentiment and not by strikes,
be forced to comply with the request
of the President and the A. F. of L.
To explain fully the tactics of the
coal magnates of Pennsylvania re-
quires too much space, but a few Of
them will give some idea of the in
justice upon the miners and their
| families. | paid a visit to my old
home last May and June and found
conditions but little changed in the
last twenty five years. The miners
told me they had worked two days
from January first till June second.
The old board shacks and novels
among the hills are just as poverty
stricken as ever, the school houses
are far apart and poorly kept, and
general conditions far below those of
the many English and Welsh mines
| have visited on some of my Euro
pean trips.
While the miners are being de-
nounced for demanding a six hour
day and a five day week the public
is not familiar with the facts. With
this clause in effect they can all work
the stipulated time the year around.
The mouth of the mines is not on the
public square, and most of the miners
live in kennels stuck on a hill side
and are compelled to travel miles each
day in all kinds of weather to the
scene of their toll. | know many
miners personally, who in order to
own their home and live like civilized
men and educate their families, walk
five and six miles to the mine not
knowing whether they will get to
work that day or not. In many
localities the men never know till they
get to the mine whether they will
work one hour or ten, or perhaps not
at all. In some mine centers the
companies have their own stores,
their goods are more expensive than
in other stores and the quality not as
good, but the men have to deal with
the company or they don't work
Though the operators have tried to
fill the mines with foreign labor in
an effort to reduce the cost of produ-
tiOn they have not accomplished their
aim, and there are thousands of
bright, intelligent and honst Ameri-
cans in the mines of Pennsylvania
who should be in Washington while
some of our statesmen, like Mr.. Cum
Minis and his supporters should be
oiling mine cars. If the Federal Gov
ernment would do nothing more than
dry the tears that l have seen pour
ing down the faces of poor destitute
women and children in the mining
districts of Pennsylvania it would be
performing a task far more perfer-
able than sending soldiers to die on