Year: 1877




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THE coal MINERS.


The correspondent who is now describing to
the readers of The TRIBUNE the condition OF
the anthracite region of Pennsylvania is well
known for his clear head, his Ohservant eye,
his frank and fair disposition. and his strong
common-sense The result of his observations
in the most important of the still disturbed
labor fields cannot fail to be interesting and
NAV give us valuable help in considering how
the problem of the day ought to be solved.
In the business of coal mining, it will be
observed that the principle for which the
workingman contends most earnestly, in
the manifest0es of strikers, in the resolu-
tions of conventions. in the haIangues
of communistic domagogUes and the speeches
of more rational reiOrmers, il, and long
has been, fully recognized In this busi
ness-and in no other leading industry-the
laborer shares with The capitalist upon equit
able and well understood terms. If business
is prosperous he reaps a prOportiOnate benefit
from the prosperity if it is dull he accepts
fixed part of the consequent burden. His
wages are determined by the price of
coal. When it goes above certain rate
per ton, he receives two-thirds of the
advance; when it falls below that rate, he
bears two-thirds of the decline. This is
exactly the system which the Labor party de-
mands and yet nowhere are the difficulties
between labor and capital so serious as in the
mining regions; nowhere else are strikes so
obstinate, strikers so violent, complaints SO
&itter on both sides, and the sufel1ngs of both
so severe. This does not prove that the
"basisn plan (Which is only modified co6pera-
tom is a bad one but it shows that no sys-
tenn of either wages or partnership will suffice
to relieve a distress whose causes are deep
rooted, far reaching and. manifold.


The principal cause of the mining troubles
will be found in the fact that the anthracite
deposits have been developed too fast. There
was a time when the activity of the iron mills
and other manufactures stimulated an immense
production, and works were kept going day
and night partly to repair the destruction of
tie war; partly to build on credit n huge net
work of unnecessary railroads. Thousands of
workmen fl0cked into the mining regions, and
all found wages. The reaction was sure to
come after this speculative and Over-produc-
tive period; the mills shut down; the lessees
and owners of coal lands found themselves with
costly machinery on hand. and mines that would
be flooded and ruined if they were left alone.
For a while the price of coal was kept up by
artificial means. Combinations were formed
among the operators to initiate rates on a dull
market, and compel small consumers to pay
for the stoppage of large industries COmbina-
tions were formed, on the other hand, among
the laborers to exact higher wages than the
condition of trade justified. AS a result the coal
region was disturbed by succession Of strikes
and suspensions; collieries ran at their full
capacity one week, and stopped entirely the
next; miners who were flush yesterday were
starving to-day. 1t was a scene Of confusion,
violence, and bad feeling, until at last tho
operators combination fell to pieces as such
leagues always do in time coal could not be
sold at a price which would pay for mining
it and the capitalists found themselves face
TO face with ruin, the men suffering the tortures
of actual hunger.


The number of miners in this or that par
ticular district has varied somewhat, but as
general thing. it may be said that nearly the
whole force which found employment in the
anthracite region during busy times, remained
there all through the period of artifcially



and that more than half the trouble with the
hands has been caused by the fact that
two miners had to be supported on a
Job that was hardly enough for one When
the men complain that, though the rate
of wages is fair enough, they can get
work only two or three days IN the week.
they furnish the key to the difficulty. They
demand that the companies shall hire twice
or thrice as much labor as they need ;or, to put
the case in another shape, that wages shall be
high enough to enable man to live decently
without working on an average more than
two or three hours day. OF course, their lot
is hard one, their sufferings are real and very
bitter. They cannot easily 90 elsewhere and
find work when the industries of the whole
country are depressed, and in most instances if
there were market open to them in some distant