The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-11-13

water. They -..r
gave to the an. J.W' FitsPatriek
thracite regions the manual labor
without which coal, In, the LAM
guage Of the trade, could not be
dug" In the days when John
Curran, like many OF his kind,
contributed to the support Of the
family by working as q breaker
boy, "a lad picking slate out Of the
mass Of coal sliding past him for
q iniserably small wage) the peo-
pie Of his race were little better
than serfs. How they lifted
themselves out Of the depths Of
the earth into the light OF day
and the sunshine Of economic
liberty Is an epic which Is one OF
the greatest In all American life.
The sons Of the hard coal dig
gers and their grandsons,. have
had less and less to do with the
mining business as the years pro-
crossed. They are doctors and
lawyers and men Of affairs now
adays. But something Of the
hardness Of their forbears still re-
mains In their makeup with the
result that the Pennsylvania
Americans Of Irish blood and ex-
traction are citizens worthy Of the
respect In which they are held by
all who enjoy the privilege Of
their acquaintance. They have
never lost the remembrance OF
what their fathers and mothers
endured. They have kept, no
matter how high they rose In the
social scale, the common touch.
A remarkable people and, as I
said in the beginning OF this
article, one Of the most remark
able Of them was Father Currail.
It was the writer's privilege TO
know him a little personally and
to hear much about him from
those among whom he had Ia
bored for q full, fighting lifetime.
For fight, in the best sense and IN
every good cause, was his middle
name.
Remembered
Il Is a common charge, not al
together without justification,
that many labor leaders forget
the days when they worked at
the trade" Occupancy Of ONCE.
over long stretches Of years
and the ease which goes
with office holding frequently
results In loss Of perspective. The
accusation Is often made that q
certain type Of trade union OFF,
cial undergoes o species o. trans.
formation. The callouses on his
hands which toll has created are
transferred to another section OF
his anatomy, namely, his but
tocks. He becomes a swivel-chair
thinker. The charge cannot lie
against Father Curran. He never
forgot the days when he worked
In the breaker apd to that re-
snembrarlce was due his love for
the working class not only Of his
immediate vicinity but also Of the
land. Honors, civic and ecclesias-
tic, were lieaped upon him. He
was esteemed and loved not only
by those of his own faith but also
BY those Of other creeds. In the
midst Of It all Father Curran
never forgot his own. With the
exception Of John Mitchell, who
lead the hard coal miners Il, the
strike Of 1902 and made them o
force to be reckoned with as
workers and members Of society,
no other eman In the anthracite
region contributed more to the
successful result Of that struggle.
When the late George =. Baer,
then head Of the Philadelphia
and Reading Coal and Iron Com
pany and q J. Pierpont Morgan
lawyer, assumed an attitude OF
total contempt for basic human
rights, the law, and, In the face
OF the privation Of the nation as
well as OF the strikers, attempted
to put into practice Commodore
Variderbilt's arrogant theory the
public be damned" 1t was Father
Curran who went to the White
House and enlisted the support on
President Theodore Roosevelt IN
the common interest. The effect
Of that support Is too well known
and too old O bit Of economic his
tory to be repeated here. Suf,lce
to, say that Mr.. Baer descended
from his high horse. The strike
was brought to an end with the
miners in q bargaining position
from which they have never since
been removed.
AversiOns
Like men Of similar character