Year: 1877




The fact that there is lorge surplus Of
ordinary labor in this country, and TINT it is
to be found in the cities and towns; that
this surplus is represented now By d
million Of unemployed and partially
employed men and their families, is
of such character as to demand the
attention, and if possible the action, Of the
general public The bulk Of this labor is
unsldlled; it is adapted to the rougher occu-
pations, requiring but little experience or
training, and the men arc as ready and as c.
pable of working at one unskilled thing as at
another. Moreover, the greater part Of these
persons, especially those Of foreign birth,
were engaged before they came here in agricul-
tural work. These people are now in the cities
and towns; they are unemployed, and likely
to remain SO, and poverty, want, and suffer-
ing are inevitable. They must either earn
their own bread or it must be given them
out Of the earnings Of others; there is
not work enough to employ them all,
and they must remain here, where there is
no work, or they must go where there is work
to be had. It is useless for these men
to move from one city or town to the other;
the same surplus Of laboring men prevails in
all these places alike. There is only one field
Of labor not fully occupied, and which in the
necessity Of things cannot become over
crowded, and for the product of which there
is always a market and sa1e, and that is
agricultural labor and the only certain en-
ployment afording comfortable and per
manent living open to these surplus common
hbcrers is to abandon the cities, and find
upon the land that home and that support
which is not possible elsewhere.


The case of the coal-nliners in PENNSYLVANIA
is O lamentable one. They as class are hard
working people, and all have families. They
arc mostly foreigners by brit, English,
Irish, and Welsh. Their numbers have been
largely recruited by immigration and By
natural increase. Their work is laborious,
and unfortunately their habits are not
such as to encourage thrift or say
ing for the future. There is a limit
to the consumption of coal, and
SO great is the number Of coa1-miners that SIX
months mining will produce more coal than
is consumed in the year. The result is that
for six months the whole force is unem-
p1oyed OF one-ha1f the men are ont of work,
This condition of things has been aggravated
by the suspension of other industries, which
have thrown other laborers out of employ
ment- The misery, suffering, and hardships
Of these people are pitinble, and these have
been made worse by the general intemper-
ance, and by the resort to secret societies in
which violence and murder have been in
stgated, and general spirit of 1awlessness
encouraged. What is to become of these
people? A similar excess of labor prevails
in all the other coal-mining districts, and
there is constant struggle between employ
ers and employed over the effort to find re-
muneratiye wages for the labor of ten men
when there is but scant work for five men.
There is but one relief for this surplus of
labor, and that is for the surplus to 20 else
where and find the living in working land
they can no longer earn where they are.
=. The chief objection urged is that the great