the Democratic Watchamn. BI LI,EFONT E. P A he Hard Road A new book by Mrs. Phelps is just published, and the following extract from it 18 a conversation between a young man and a young woman, both born and bred in a factory. She oh. jects to marrying him, on the ground that she will not incur the responsibil ity 01 bringing into the world children to undergo the miseries she has en dure The two young people turned a cow, ;le of corners on the way to the stone house in thoughtful silendb. They were almost too young to be so thoughtful and so silent; more especi• ally the young man, growing nervous, and taking furtive, anxious glances al the girl's face. It WB9 an inscrutable face. Sip had shut her lips close; she looked straight ahead ; the brown 01111 tints of her cheeks and temples came out like a curttun,and folded all young colors and flushes and tremors, all hope and rear, all longing or purpose, need or fullness in her, out of sight. She only looked straight on and wait ed for Dirk to speak. She quite knew that and what he would steak When lie began. pres entl),a till a quivering lace, 'Well, tiip, don•t see that 11n gelling on any in the mills, alter all,' she was neither surprised nor oft her guard. tine was not yet twenty three, but sh^ was too old to be put off her guard by a young man with a quivering face. If she had a thing to do, she mean t to do it ; put her band together in that way she had, bent at the knuckles, resolutely. 'No,' she 4nld —'No; you'll never get any further, 'hut I meant to,' Paid Durk, hotly 'I thought I should! Mehby you think it's true that's the trouble, riot the get ting ou !' 'Perhaps there is a - trouble about you,' maid Sip honestly ;'1 don t know; and I don't much care whether there is or not. But I think most of the trouble is in the getting on. Mills ain't made to get on in It ain't easy, I know, Dirk It ain't. It's the stay ing put of 'ern that's the worst of 'me. Don't I know v It's the stet ing put that's the matter with most 0' folks in the world, it seems to me. For we are the most 9' folks—lle that stay put you know.' 'Are we?' said Dirk a little puzzled by Sip a social speculations. 'Rut I'm getting steady pay now, Sip, at any rate; and I've a steady chance Gar rick's a friend of nuuc, I belie% e, and has showed himself friendly. He'll keep me the watch, at least—Mr liar rick. I Might be worse olt than on watch, 'I) yes,' said Sip, 'you ' ve got agood place, Dirk ' 'With a chance!' replied Dirk. 'With a chance? Ma‘ be,' answered 'And now,' Paid Dirk, iremblingeud den!}, 'what with the place and the chance —maybe, and the pay and the eteadinemi, anre. I've been thinking, Rip, an the time had come to ms k you p. All young colors and flumben and tre mor..., hopes and fears, longing and Levi, broke now out of the brown cur lain of Sip's race. In the instant site was a very lonely, very numerable little riot by any memo over twenty three, aria the young man had even so cruelly kind! Itut slie tt.iid •Dm 't Dirk ' plense, don't 'R'yll,' said Dirk lie stopped anti drew breath as iftdie had pilot hint They had come to the atone tiont.e now, a nd Sip began walking back and forth in front of it But I was going to ai.k you 'o be my wife !' paid Dirk 'lt's en long that I haven't dared to ask you, and now you say don't! Don't' Bnl I will , I'll ask at any rate. Sip, will you marry toe? There! I should choke if I didn't ask. You may...my what you please.' '1 can's say what I please,' said Sip, in a low voice, walking faster. 1 don't know what's to hinder,' said Dirk, in an injured tone. 'I always knew I wasn't half tit for you, and I always knew you'd ought to have a man that could get on But consider ing the steadiness and the chance, and that I—l set such a sight by you, Sip. and sometimes I've thought you—liked me we,l enough;concluded Dirk, can dilly. _ . . 'J like you, Dirk, said Sip, slowly, well enough.' 'Well enough to be my wi'e 7' 'Well enough to be your wife.' 'Then 1 shouldn't think,' observed Dirk, simply, and with a brightening face, 'that you'd find it very hard say ing what you please.' 'Maybe I shouldn't,' said Sip, 'if I could be your wife; but I cau't.' Her bent hands tell apart weakly ; she dud not look at Dirk ; she fixed her eyes on a little clup of dock•weed at her feet, beside the fence; she looked sick and faint. _ 'l'll not marry you,' said the girl feebly ; I'll not marry anybody. May be it isn't the way a girl had ought to feel when she like • young fellow,' added Sip, with • kind of a patient, aged bitterness crawling into her eyes. 'But we don't live down here so's to make girls grow up like girls should, It seems to me. Things as wouldn't trouble rich folks trouble us. There's thing!. that troubles me. I'll never marffranyhody, Dirk. I'll never bring a child in the world to work in the mills; and if I'd ought not to say it, I can;) help it, for it's the truth,and the reaetn, and I've said it to God on my knees a many and a many times. Vve said it before Catty died, and I've acid it more than ever since, and I'll say it till I die. I'll never bring chil dren into this world to be factory chil dren, and to be factory boys and girls, •nd to be factory men and women, and to see the sights I've seen,, and to bear the things I've borne, and to run the risks lie run, and to grow up as I've grown up, and to stop where I've slop ped—never. I've heard tell of slaves before the war that wouldn't be fathers and mothers of olyldren to be slaves like theirs. That's the way I feel, and that's the way I mean to feel. I won't be the mother of a child to go and live my life over again. I'll never marry anybody.' But they needn't be factory people,' urged Dirk, with a mystified face. 'There's taades and—other things.' 'I know, I know,' Sip shook her head—'l kiiMy all about that. They'd never get out of the mills. 'lt's from generation to generation. It's in the 'But other folks don't take it co,' urged Dirk, after a disconsolate pause. `tither folks marry, and have their homes and the comfort of 'cm. ()tiler folks, it they like a man, 'II he his wife someway or nigher.' 'Sometimes, s seem to think that not like other folks. Things conic tgintoomeway that other folks don't Understand nor care for.' She crushed the dock weed to a wounded mass, and du her foot into the ground, and stamped upon it. 'l've made up my mind, Dirk. It's no nine talking. It—it hurta me,' with a tender motion of the restless foot against the bruised, rough leaves of the weed which she was covering up ith sand 'l'd rather not talk any more, Dirk. There's other girlk Some other girl will do.' 'I 'II no other girh it I can't have you!' said poor Itirk, turning away. 'I never could I it such a eight by molt)» r g rl ac I've set by yon. II you don't. marry, Sip, no more Sip smiled but did not speak. ippon my word, I won't!' cried Dirk. 'You wait and see. I've loved you true. If I can't have you, I'll have nobody But Sip only viii ihel. A GUESS FOR LIFE A volume could be filled with the strange delusions entertained by mad men—the remarkable pertinacity and cunning they display in carrying out the whims of their disordered minds. In their wild freaks, Man la Cs frequent. ly evince a method ui their planning, an adroitness and coolness, that would do credit to the shrewdest sane person. We give below a thrilling incident which actually occurred as related, one of the parties to it having been a prom• inent American army surgeon : When my regiment was disbanded I bade adieu to my old comrades and to the army, mid commenced business in the flourishing town of I,- AA I was starting to the supper-ta ble, on the evening of the third day of ter my arrival, the door bell rang vio lently, and soon the boy came in and said that a man wanted to see the doc tor. The visitor was standing by the tire when I entered. Ile was a tall, powerful man—a perfect giant com pared to my 'live feet six,' arid his great bushy black hair and whiskers were well fitted to the monstrous form. 'lt you are at liberty, doctor,' said he, 'please come with me. It ix but a few steps, and von will not need a car riage.' I put on my coat and hat and follow ed hum It was my first call in L and I fondly hoped st would be the forerunner of many others. The wan strode on ahead of me all the Lime, notwithstanding roy enileftv ors urkeep at his P 1.11., /111(1 spoke not It word, not even answering my toes tions. Stopping before • substantial look• trig residence in one of the principal streets, lie applied the latch-key, and led ine into a pleasant little room on the second floor (a rawly I thought it), hung shout with good paintings and elegant chromos, and lined with books of every description. 'Take a seat, doctor,' said the man; 'I will step out a moment. Take this chair, by-the fire; it's a bitter cold The chair was a great unwieldy thing, but exceedingly comfortable. I threw toy feet upon the fender, and leaned back on the cushion, well satis fied to warm myself a little before see mg the patient. I heard the man approach the door, which was directly back of where I eat, and heard the door open and close again. I supposed he had gone out, but did not look around to see. In deed I had no tune, for a stout cord was thrown over my wrnits and men.. my Errant, and a handkerchief bound over my mouth so quickly that I could not prevent it. When I was perfectly secure, toy conductor stepped in trout of mewnd looked with much interest at my vain attempts to free, myaelf. 'Good stout cord, isn't it?' he asked. 'lt has never been broken, and many a stouter man than you has tried it. There, now, be quiet • while, and I will tell you what I want. He went to a cabinet that stood in the corner of the room, and taking a long knife from one of the drawers, ran his thumb over the edge, and felt the point, all the time talking in the most commonplace manner imagine ble. 'I have for years studied the art of guessing,' raid he. can guess any that is my guessing chair that you are sitting tp now ; end I take great pleasure in imparting my knowl edge to others. This is what I want of you to-night. I did intend to make you guess that, but I have thought of something better.' He bad become satisfied with the edge and point of hie knife, and wee pacing up and down the room, giving me a full history of the world, inter spersed with facts relative to the art of guessing, at which time. he always stopped in front of ms. 'Old you ever study it, doctor?' he asked. 'I know you hextet. I em the only one that ever reduced it to a ecience. Since I left nryi noble veter ans I have deloted my whole time to it; and now I am about to initiate you Imo its mysteries, if you are worthy.' ',. Ile woe standing before me so very calm, that I did not think he intended to harm me ; but when I looked into his eyes, burning with the fire of in sanity, I felt that, my situation was desperate, indeed. 'I must test yOn,' he said. ni a hst see whether you are naturally gilled or not, before I waste much time with you. If I remove the hundkerdilief, will you answer my questions?' I nodded an affirmative, and he re moved it. 'Now, my dear doctor, you are nn entire stranger to me. NVithout doubt you have often heard of me, but it will lie a hard task to distinguish my name from all other great men of the time. Von it guess it, doctor. What la it 7' Ile had brought hie face so near to mine that I could feel him hot breath, and I fancied I could feel the heat in those terrible eyes. The long, keen blade he was holding over me—for what? To take my life if I failed. 'Guess I Guess I .Ile screamed. 'lf you lad, it will be your last guess in, this world,' I dared not cry out—the kt*e was too near. I could not escape, for the strong curds bound me to that chair I could not lift, and I could not lie:there, and lose my life. What could I do?' 'lt is a hard guess,' he said. 'and I will give you three minutet answer I summoned all my courage, which Imtl never yet laded me, even in the swill! hour 01 battle, and, looking Idol steadily in the eve, said, know you, sir; so where is the use ol guessing? I hate seen you on the battle field, mar shalling your men to victory ; I have seen you cot down a score ol men with your own single arm. I have seen you put to flight a whole battalion. I know you—everybody knows you; your name is in my mouth.' I remembered what he had said about leading his veterans, and had tried this harangue to divert his atter). tun). I paused to mark the effect. 'Yes, yes, doctor. But what is it?' lie exclaimed again. 'Thirty sec onds Great heavens! What would I riot have given for a clue to that inadinan's fancy ! Thirty seconds, and how short a second ! The knife was raised higher, that it might gain momentum by the distance. Hut body was braced for the stroke, and his eye upon the mark. 'Ten seconds more I' he cried. What is it?' There was only one hope for me,and that was to guess. I lelt that he con sidered himself some great man—as he had spoken of veterans—some great military chieftain. I thought of our own heroes, and the names of many of them were upon my lips, but I dared not utter them It was the greatest chance game that I had ever played— my hie depended on the guessing of a name I thought of all the European Generals, but cast them as it again, and came hack to our own side of the water 'Two seconds I' screeched the luna Without a thought, almost without a ‘ohtion, Ispoke a name, breathing a prayer that it may he the right one: 'Napoleon Bonaparte!' 'Hight!' said tile madman, throw ing aside his knife, and undoing the cords that held me. 'I was mistaken in Ina, doctor You have true genius ; th i s i s you's first lesson; crone at this hour every ev ening, and I will teach \MI the beautiful art—the way to 1171. mortal lame.' An I arose from the chair, weak and trembling, the door opened softly, and Tour strong men entered and secured the maniac. I started for home, well pleased that I had got through with my first guessing !tenon, and fervently hoping that I should never be called upon to take a rtother. FC.II•I.e SOCIETY. —What in IL that makes all those men who associate with women superior to others who do not? What Makes that woman who in accustomed to and at ease in, the society of men; superior to her sex in general? Solely because they are in the habit of free, graceful, continued conversations with the other sex. Women in thin way lose their frivolity, their 'acidities awaken, their delica cies and peculiarities unfold all their beauty and captivation in the bpirit of intellectual rivalry. And the men lose their pedantic, rude, declamatory, or sullen manner. The coin of the'un• demanding and the heart changes con tinually. Their asperities are rubbed oft, their better materials poliehed and brightened, and their richness, like the gold, in wrought into finer workman sbiirby the fingers of woman than it ever could be by tlisise of men. The iron and steel at - Their characters are hidden, like the character and armor of a giant, by etude and knots of good and precious stones, wben they are not wanted in actual wellare. A NEW Itat.sviotv.—A man was divorced from Ilia wife and elie mar vied another, whereupon husband No. 1 inquired of No 2: What relation are you to me?' 'None, that I know of.' 'Yes, you are,' said No. 1 ; 'you are my stephusband —1 stepped out and you stepped in.' —The colored legislature of South Carolina have ordered two dozen "jar spittoons" for the assembly chamber, at the cost of eight dollars each. They are so thickly planted on the floor th a colored member who wears a eli. .f ordinary negro power can find • i see for the soles of his foot on t carpet. —The boy whose mother bed promised him a present, wu saying hie prayers preparatory to going to bed; ..t his mind ruing on a horse, he began as folio Father 'who art in Heaven—ma won't you give me a horse—thy kingdom come—with a string in it? ARGUMENT OF FRANKLIN B. GOWEN, Before the Judie[ail Committee of the Senate of Pennsylvania, otrße half of the Railroad and Mining In terests of Pennsylvania,Maroh 30th, 1871. • GENTLEMEN: We, who aro Penn sylvanians, have always been under the impression that our State derived great benate from having within her borders the only accessible deposits o anthracite coal yet discovered in the United States. I have been taught to regard the possession of this vast min ernl wealth as a great blessing; hut I can assure you, that in consequence of two years of anfTering under the con trol and mismanagement of the leaders of the Workingmen's Benevolent As sociation, I am almost tempted to doubt whether all this treasure upon which our Commonwealth has so largely de pended for her revenue—which has given such an unexampled impetus to our manufacturers, aiijj has attracted to us an aggregation clf capital that has supplied employment for, and led and clothed so large nt proportion of an industrious laboring population line not been n great evil and n great curse; and I tear that you, gentlemen, who have spent so much tune in an earnest endeavor to fathom the causes of the present unfortunate condition of afrairti in the coal regions, will be will ing to agree with me in this conject ure. fur neighbors of New York derive their prosperity from, and boast of the supremacy of, commerce, but when we recall to our minds how fleeting and evanescent has been the reign of commercial prosperity in all the coun tries of the world, arid remember that at the beginning of this century Salem was one of the roost important ports in the United States, who can tell wired'. er, ere the close of the century, Salem or Boston may not have regained its supremacy, or whether the ships whose sails now whiten the bay of New York may riot float upon the waters of the Delaware, or ride at anchor in the liar bar of Norfolk? But the prosperity derived from the possession of mineral treasures is more enduring ; arid in her coal fields our own great Common. wealth has control of an unfailing source of wealth, which, if properly fostered by the Stare, will be more last. mg than that which depends upon the diamonds of Brand, or, Is derived front the gold of California. You may be surprised to learn that the coal traffic alone has within the past ten years paid into the treasury of the State between five and six millions of dollars; and that, notwithstanding the difficulties with which we have had to contend during the past year, the corporations for whom I sow ap pear before you have paid, as taxes to the State in the year 1870, nearly eight hundred thousand dollars. Why is it that our farmers have been relieved from State taxation upon their 'ankle, the State debt has ceased to be a bur den upon our population, and the finances of the Commonwealth are in so vound a condition? Simply be cause the Interests for which I appear before you —which have been stricken (101111 by the unlawful combination of anignorant faction, and are now strug gling to be heard, in a cairn, judicial vestigation, against the wild clamor of the demagogue and the fanatic--- have paid into the coffers of the State so large an amount of taxes that other interests and other industries have been relleted from the payment of any. Having called your attention to the great iinirortance of the subject under coneideration, sod f.illy conscious that the result of your deliberations may be either to rescue We.,- great interests from the evils that vo, iron them's, or to consign them Nom to the control of a tyrannical association, I now propose (because it is necessary as part of the argument I shall make in defence of the course pursued by the railroad companies) to give, as succinctly aA I can, and with some regard to the chro nology of events, a statement of the causes which have led the several cor porations to adopt the course which has called forth this investigation, and then to present a legal argument in de fence of their action, together with some suggestions as to the mode of ad justing the present difficulty and pre venting its recurrence in the future. It ie well known that 'luring the late war the demand for coal was greatly increased. The navy required a large supply, and manufacturers—who are always the great coneumers *vre prosperous and active; coal-mining Inecartie exceedingly profitable - ;; the coalsEarving railroads all made mon , ey ; the miners and laborers were paid high wages; and it was no uncommon occurrence for a good miner to earn several hundred dollars a month. In consequence of this, a great impetus was given to the coal trade. New col lieries were rapidly opened; now coal regions were brought into connection with the markets by new railroads, which were extended into every valley that contained a deposit of ooal; and the high wages earned by the miner attracted from other countries a large immigration of skilled workmen, and diverted to the business of mining many who left other trades and , o- pations to gather the golden liar eot which was spread before aim.. he natural result of thim was that after peace was declared, and the war de mand had ceased, the productive capa city of the anthracite coal regions' , MBl far greater that wne,requireil to mind) the coneutnption 46°0, and the lahor ing population had iticreaped PO rapidly that employment could not be given to all. The natural remedy far this elate of things would have been enforced by the law of demand Jand supply. The badly-constructed and illprentilated collieries that could Iy:it priiduce coal at the rile the niaaliti *as witting to pay for it would have been abandoned, and the better else. ol oollieeira that ,0u.,1 base .ntplted the 'market would have continued at work and given em ployment to as' many men as were ne cessary to produce the amount of coal required by the wants of the cofnmu !lily. The surplus population that Could find no employment at mining would have gone track to other occupa tions until the increased demand (or coal, resulting from low prices, would have calleltheni again to the coal re gions. Thus a year or two of low pri ces would have supplied the cure for all the evils that were felt at the close ir the war. But about this time there ante into prominence an organizatiqn which is now'known ns the WorkiPt. 11101 ' 8 Benevolent Association. Em bracing originally several distinct soci eties in the different regions, it gradu ally became a united and compact or ganization, chartered first by the courts and subsequently by the Legislature; and by the year 1868 it embraced near ly the entire population of the anthra cite coal region. The object of this organization was to secure employment for all its mem bers, and prevent the reduction of wa ges which every other class of labor bad to submit to at the close of the war. Well knowing that if all its members worked a full day during the year, the production of coal would be inueli greater than the demand, they insisted upon an increased rate of is ages and decreased amount ct work, which would enable a Man to earn in six or seven months as mu, b as hind previ ously been earned in a year—so flint the entire population should receive employment without increasing the supply of coal above the demand. As it was also well known to them that such %wee could not be paid unless - the price of coal was kept up at a high rate, they suspended work whenever the price reached such a sum as made it impossible for their employer to comply with their demands. We, who thought we understood something about the laws of trade, and knew that natural causes would soon bring relief, remonstrated with the leader of chi organization in vain. The law of supply and demand, mead, and every eound maxim of trade which experience bas demonstrated to be correct, were thrown to the winds ; and from the bowels of the earth there came swarming up a new school of po litical economists, who professed to be able, during the leisure hours of their short work days, to regulate a great industry and restore it to vigor and health. In the wildest flight of the imagination of the most pretentious charlatan there never was conceived such a cure for the ills with which we were afflicted se was suggested by these new doctors. In their hands, however. we were powerless; and with the es• gernesa of a student, and the assurance of a quack, they seized upon the body of a healthy trade, and have so doc tored and physicked it that it is now reduced to the ghost of the shadow of an attenuation. The first dose of the new panacea was administered in the year 1868; and a general suspension of work for many weeks, resulting in advanced prices and higher *ages, encouraged them to proceed with the treatment. Again in the early part of 1869 a gen eral suspension in the regions was in augurated, accompanied by a demand fora rare of wages based upon the price for which coal was sold ; so that as coal advanced the wages of the men were also to ad%ance, but a minimum rate of wages was demanded, which was never to he lower than when coal was sold at five dollars at Elizabeth Port an three dollars at Port Carbon. When coal brought these prices it was possible for the coal operator to pay the minimum rate of wages without los ing money ; but as these prices were about from fifty to seventy-fliva,.cents a ton higher than coal could Possibly be sold for when all the regions were at work, and consequently that much higher that the public should be asked to pay for it, the operators of all the regions refused to accede to the demand. After six weeks of idleness, when it was apparent that the strike in the Wyoming and Lehigh regions would be of long duration, the operators of Schulk ill county agreed to the terms demanded by the ruen,and commenced work at the three-dollar basis as a miniinum. Both of the other regions being Idle, the price of coal was very high at Port Carbon; and so long as the Schuylkill county operators had the entire market to themselves they could afford to pay the wages. The awl the minern and oper ator., of the oilier regions were the on• It siitleri-r-. After five momlis ot tale leo. it, I I e ()der regoo, whet, the d pletton of the suppl , had increased prices to a high F. e, and it was evi dent that Schuilkill county wag tak ing customer- away from the other districts, both the Lehigh.and Wyoin• ing regions resumed work—the former upon the terms demanded by the men, And the three larger companiee in the tits u.dhoul a basis, but at a rate of wagee far greater then had been origi nally asked. During the few weeks of the close of the season of 1869, when all the reg'one were producing, it be came ruident that the price of coal could not, and ought not, be sustained at such a rate as would enable the operators in all the coal-fields to pay the wages which those of one could pay when the others were idle; and, accordingly, in the winter of 1869.70, a new basis was Naked for by the oper ator* of Schuylkill county, which would enable them to produce coal as low es $2.25 and $2.50 per ton. This was refue, l by the Workingmen's Be nevotent As.oeistion, and the result was. " long strike of 1870, which kei t t ,e Set region idle for 'went) weeks., Lehigh and Wyoming continped at Work in 1870; and in con• sequence of the large amount of Bch uy I. kill coal kept out of the market,jhe operators of the other region realised high pious, and were able to pay the high rate of wages—the only sufferers being the public, as in 1869, and the operators, workmen, and carrying com• p r imes of the Sehu,lkill regio n . In it, hitt, r pirt ot July, 1870, the Work iatonrni Beeseroleot Ase6cht- Lion agreed to a modification , of their demands; and in the Schuylkill region s work was resumed August Ist, 1870, at what has so frequently been alluded to in the course of this investigation a 8 the 'Gowen Compromise,' which, while it adopted the same rale of wagesat as was paid the previous year at s'3, permitted the rate to decrease in the same proportion as it advanced, and established the minimum at $2; so that when coal sold for $2 at Port Carbo n the workmen received thirty-three per cent, loss wages than when it sold for $3 ; and when $4 per ton at Port Car. bon was realized by the operator, the workmen got an advance of thirty. three per cent. above,what lie was en titled to at $3. Under this new basis work was continued kin Schuylkill county during the remaining five months of 1870, and the amount of coal then sent to market, in addition to what was mined in the Lehigh and Wyoming fields, was suqh that prices fell to $2.25 and $2.50 per ton at Port Carbon. As this 'Gowen Comproin• ice' was only to last during the season of 1860, it became necessary to adopt some basin for 1871, and in the month of November last the regular commit tee of the Workingmen's Benevolent Association arid operators met and agreed upon a rate of Wages for 1 8 71, which was entirely satisfactory to both parties and which had been called the $2 5o basis. You will remember that during the whole of 1870 the three large mining companies of the tipper Wyoming re 'von had been paying the exorbitant rate of wages which they agreed to, rather than submit to the claim for a basis. It must be evident to all et you, that at this rate of wages the emit o f these three companies was rooting them more than than they could real Ise for it during the months of october and November last. Accordingly, they announced a reduction of wages intake effect on December let, and though this reduction was not greater than was required to make the rate about equal to what other mon in adjoining collieries were working for, the men re fused to submit to it, and on the let of December, 1870, they struck and qutt work. I now desire to call y2ur particular attention to the fact—which is 'lndia puted—that at thin time there was no diffeulty whatever existing between the Workingmen's Benevolent Association and their employers, upon the question of wages, in the Schuylkill, Lehigh or Lower Wyoming districts. In the Schuylkill region the men were work. ing under the 'Gowen Compromise,' which was to continue during the year 1870, and their representatives had agreed with their employers in recom mending the adoption of the $2.1/ basis for 1871. In the Lehigh an& Lower Wyoming coal fields no Intl mation had been given by either side of an intention to change the basis en• der which the men were working. Not withstanding this, however, a gener al suspension was ordered by the Work• ingmen'e Benevolent Association to take place on January 10, 1871, and this order was literally obeyed. The object of this suspension, as stated by the officers of the Working inen's Benevolent Association, and publiehed in their organ, the Aritioa cite Monitor, was to deplete the mar ket, reduce the merely, and advance the price of coal ; and there can be no doubt that it was resorted to in the first instance to Resist the men of the three large mining companies, who hail been upon a strike since the let of December, and who could not hope to hold out very long in their demands for exorbitant wages if the coal mark et was being supplied from other re gions. I presume that the considera tion to be given by these men of the three COM pa r) leg for this assielanee was an adhesion to the Workingmen's Benevolent Association, and obedience to its demands, that no work should be done except upon the basis. The suspension, therefore, became general in all the districts! on January 10 On the 15th of Febuary the (tenors! Coen• chi of the Workingmen's Benevolent Association ordered a resumption of work ; but this order was accompanied ,hy a claim in the upper Wyoming die teictst for the high wages of 1870, and in the Schuylkill region it had been pre ceded by a d emand for the old $3 mi nimum basis. These demands were not acceded to, and the suspension still continues. I him. thus gone over two years of alternate suspctinions Rini strike., lir which, OCCH.II nails, the workingmen of mie region would realise exorbitant waq e n, but Klan) /I lit the expende of their auffering bcgthern of another, who were kept in idleness by their own ac tion,. Out of the last twenty-two months the workingmen of Schuylkill and the Upper Wyoming districts have been idle for nine months--and those of the Lehigh region have been idle for eight months—and yet, with mod. erate waggis and low prices for coal, they cotild, have had Wendy. employ. Tent. Let me now ask n hat hall been the effect of thin control of the coal trade, so relentleanly exercised by the Work ingmen's Benevollint Association du ring the last two years—l. mean its of recut upon others than theninelven— upon the operators, upon the railroad companies, upon the coal trade, upon the iron interests, and upon:the State? Before entering, however, upon this stiliject, I desire to say a-few words in behalf of the coal operator.. I do riot mean in behalf of the one put of the re hundred who has appeared here Be the a pecinlchirinp.n cir the n orlcing men, but on behalf of the remaining four hundred nod ninety-nine whom the one referred to has characterized, out of hie choice vocabulary of abuse, as "lying thieves and scalawag opera tors." I will take Mr. Kendrick as an example I.le 'commenced life as a laborer in the mines, became a miner, worked for twenty years as such, 'sir made a anperintendent,saved out of his hard earning. Ptiotlig.l,lo (nal le him to poeseiin a colliery of his own, and ICONTIN USD ON THIRD l'AOll
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