Year: 1877

MINBRs-PRosPECTs FOR RESUMPTION IN OTHER
! CoLLIERIEs.


| lFRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF rHE rRrBUSB.I
| WuKFsBARRE, Sept. 25.-The strikers who live in
| Wilkesbarre and the surrounding mining villages
are not able TO give to a stranger very exact or
satisfactory idea of what their exact grievances are
Nine ont of ten of them will tell you that "wages
have been cut down and cut down until it is no
longer possible to live upon them," and that if men
have to starve anyway, it is better to starve in
ideness than while working long distance under
ground" If the workmen at a coliery like those in
most manufacturing establishments. could be d.
vided into few distinct classes, the members OF
which each received the same wages it would not
be so difficult to get from the men an intelligent
statement of the causes of their discomfort. But
this is not so, as explained in my last letter. Ii
you stop to with a group of adozen strikers
half as many grades of labor likely TO be repre-
sented, and if you ask the men what wages they re-
ceve, you will probably get six or eight separate
answers.


But while my walks and talks with the strikers
have not been productive of very much valuable or
exact information, they have given me some insight
into the spirit and feeling Of the men, and have In
that respect been instructive. Crossing the rail-
roads and walking up either of the streets that lead
to that part of the city known as Brewery Hill"
RIOupS OI nltu Hllsli nave Dctu iOhhh ao any
hour of the day, before the resumption Of Mr..
Parrish's men on Tuesday, standing about the
corners and lounging on the steps of the houses.
noticed that the doors were closed, and the shut
ters were up at many places that formerly
drinking salOons-the strike stopped whiskey
drinking among the wOrkngmen to wonderful
extent, and suspect that not few OF the bar
keepers have gone into bankruptcy. The little
shops, too in which groceries and provisions are
sold have had sickly look though they had been
gutted of their stock and the proprietors Of them
have been standing in their doorways with de-
jected look upon their countenances, waiting for the
strike TO end. Hard times and low wages make
dull trade with this class Of petty merchants, but
the complete stOppage Of the income Of all OF their
customers for two months leaves them very little
excuse for remaining IN business. | suppose they
cherish the hope Of better If not of good times when
the strike ends entirely.


have referred in a previous letter to the char
acter of the houses in which the miners and labor
ers live. They are all comfortable, should think.
seeing them only from the outside and some of them
are very neat and attractive in their surroundings
There is none of that crOwdng OF many families into
tenement houses as in some Of the larger manutact-
uring villages and there is attached TO each house
garden large enough TO supply the family with veg
etabes believe, too IL IS the practice OF most OF
the companies to supply their employees with the
coal they need, that two large items OF expense
to workngmen elsewhere are not known TO those
who work at the collieries. Since the suspension of
the Mines Of course the supply of free family coal
has been cut off, and as the mornings and evenings
have become cool, men. women, and children may
be seen swarning like ants on the sides of the i'm
mense heaps of refuse which surround every breaker
digging among the coal dust and slate for the stray
pieces of coal accidentally overlooked in the separa
ration At the gasworks, too, the idle men are given
as much coke as they viii take away, and hundreds
of families have kept their fires gong with this ma
terial.


In walking about through those parts Of the city
in which the miners live. have during the past
week taken advantage of every opportunity to con
verse with the strikers and to listen to what they
have To saw. They claim, without exception, that
their wages have been too small for their support.
"There have been no good times here since 1s74,'
said a striker to me on Saturday. up to that time
we had fair wages and steady work, but since then
things have been getting worse and worse. Wages
have been cut and cut until there is very little Of
them left /; and then if tho rates were not so low,
and we could get along with them, don't get work
much over half the time. So we had our choice, to
strike or starve"


How much do you earn'' asked.


Glow much can we earn. is it ~ said another IN
the group. IN tell you how much l earned the
last month worked. | was in the mine twenty
three days, and | got just S1S. That was better
than any other laborer in the shaft did and it
was more money than the man | worked for got"


What kind of work were you doingi"


Loading cars IN a breast. What do you think Of
SIS for twenty three days work underground


replied that man could hardly save anything
on such wages.


''You may well say that" said an old man clad in
a ragged coat and with his face full of powder
marks 1t was two dollars less than the cost of his
board and bed.0


But" remarked, che was 500 behind on his
board in August. and will be again this month"; un-
less work is resumed


well" said the first if have got to die any
way. would rather die on top of the ground where


can see the sum- and the stars, and the trees than
a mile underground where see no light all day but
that of the small lamp on my hat.'


This man was a brawny freshman, about thirty
years of age and he was dressed in blue-hannel
shirt with trousers held in their place by strap
buckled about his body | could discover no evil
deDces that he was suffering from want of hearty
food One of another knot Of men with whom l
talked half hour, the other day told me that he
had only "S7 coming TO him nc the end OF June,
after paving two months rent and this is about
the character of all the information about wages
and earnings that have been able to get from the
strikers. | asked a miner, who had told me, the
other day, that hundreds of men had gone down to
Schuylkill County to work. how 1t was that men
were willing to accept or per cent less wages ID
the Schuylkill region than they had received here
and 20 per cent less than they demanded. lie re-
Piled that "Mr. McGowen lhe meant Mr. Gowen, OF
the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad gave his
men steady work, and that they could earn more
,I,oro ar tba low wares than here at the higher