Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1900 — RUIN FOLLOWS STRIKE. [ARTICLE]

RUIN FOLLOWS STRIKE.

Bare Necessities of Life Seem Luxuries In Coal Reston. A special from Hazleton, Pa., says that want and ruin have followed in the wake of the strike in the anthracite region. Families who lived in comfort while the mines were in operation now feel the pinch of starvation and the bare necessaries of existence seem like luxuries; business men, upon whom prosperity had smiled, have been brought to the verge of bankruptcy; thriving towns have become stagnant, casual travelers have forsaken them, and newspaper correspondents and labor leaders constitute the most important element in the floating population. 'The production of coal constitutes the sole industry of the section. There is no farming in the neighborhood of the collieries. The land is rocky and barren. It has been stripped of timber, and stunted pines, oaks and underbrush straggle over hill and dale. • Vast breakers are scattered about, each one supporting a settlement of miners, with shabby, rectangular cottages. Enormous culm banks show how great the underground work has been. There are miles of subterranean passages In mines that have been in operation for half a century, and in which the supply ts expected to last, for three centuries to come. When President Mitchell’s order for a strike went into effect every mine in the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys came to a sudden stop and work was suspended in many parts of the Schuylkill and Lehigh districts, leaving only the comparatively small Panther Creek section in full operation. Since then the missionary efforts of organizers of the United Mine Workers have resulted in the closing of the majority of the remaining collieries, the neighborhood of Tamaqua alone escaping. Strikers who had some little money on hand for an emergency have cut their living expenses down to a piinimura, buying nothing but food, and little of that. Merchants whfl had large orders outstanding when the strike began promptly canceled them, refusing to make purchases until the trouble ended. Commercial travelers, usually the,’best patrons of the hotels, changed their routes, as they could sell nothing in the coal regions. The theaters have been unable to attract audiences, and many of the best attractions canceled their dates, to the further detriment of the hotelkeepers. As there was little coal to be hauled the coal railroads had to lay off the crews of most of their coal trains. In many towns it is now impossible to obtain coal for domestic use nt any price. Appeals are being made to the United Mine Workers’ organization for funds for the relief of destitute strikers