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Show Labor Scarcity and Coal Prices. Wo hoar every day about the tyranny of capital cap-ital over the poor working man. That was almost a revelation which was published last week that men cannot bo obtained In tho coal mines In Utah and Wyoming. Of course coal minora do not receive re-ceive tho wages that gold, silver and copper mi- ners receive In Utah, but they receive enough to H enable them, if single, and If prudent, to lay up In H tyreo years enough money to got them a little H farm or enough to oetaull.sli a little business. H The accpunt developed another fact, that H workingmen are no more careful to keep their H engagements than any other class of men. Mr. H Bancroft's statement that he had paid the fares H of 2,500 mon to Omaha from Eastern towns, ana H then brought them here free of expense, the lm- H plied contract being that they would work at least jH a reasonable time, but that he had not been able H to retain 8 per cent of them, Is a commentary on tho integrity and sense of right of some working- H mon, and a most visible evidence of the opportu- H nities that await tho workingmen in this region. Tho Western Pacific has been equally unfor- IH tunate. It cannot get the needed men to rush Its work. And the danger of a coal famine in this jJ state, a coal famine for the people and for tho smelters, is but another proof that all who want work in this country can got It, and the man who really wants it, and cannot get $9.00 a day, as Is demanded in Goldflold, should work for less. H Thore is plenty of coal around us, tho rail- Hj roads are ready to haul it, but one of the most promlnont mines, & was explained, is producing only one-half what it produced a year ago, simply because it cannot get men to mine the coal. Mr. H Bancroft is bringing in 20,00 tons from Australia, H which costs $7,50 laid down In San Francisco. The San Pedro, is bringing in coal from Illinois to run its engines; what it costs we do not know, H but the fact that a railroad has to send 15,000 miles for coal when all around us, within a day's H ride, are coal measures bigger than any In Penn- sylvania, is. such a commentary on conditions in H the West as was never made plain before. There H was a timo when, if a working man could not H get $5.00 he worked for $2.00 until he could do H better. That time seems to have passed and as H a consequence all this region is liable to be in the throes of a coal famine before next spring. H But there is still anothor side to it. Coal has H been advanced here to $6.50 per ton. The excuse HI is more has to be paid in wages and for supplies. H Now it does not take much of a mathematician ro Bfl figure out that if coal miners were paid what is H I paid In. gold, silver and copper mines, still tho profits loft on coal at $6.60 per ton would be big: ger than ooal baron's, exaot In any other spot oh earth. SJ and a half dollars pdr ton for coal Is within half a dollar of what ft dosts to lay down Australian coal In San Franqlsco. It Is about time for a revolution. |