TWO BLACK SHEEP MEET^ BUT ONE DOESN't KNOW THE OTHER.
The mining industry of Colorado is not restricted to the production of silver and gold. The State also produces immense quantities of coal. The coal is Bituminous, and the entire output is practically controlled by three great corporations. The Northern Coal & Coke Company owns the big mines in Northern Colorado, while the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company and Victor Fuel Company virtually control this industry in the Southern part of the State.
At the time of our story, the relations between miners and operators in the Northern coal fields were quite friendly, and the conditions tolerably good. It was otherwise with the conditions which prevailed in the Southern fields, particularly in those camps owned by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company.
The miners working for this company were compelled to labor twelve hours a shift, for wages whicli really averaged above two dollars a day. They received their pay once a month in what is known as "SCRIP," or paper good for its face value in exchange for merchandise only at the company's stores. This system practically prevented the miners from ever accumulating any cash, and placed them at the mercy of the company. These conditions were naturally obnoxious to the employees of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. One cannot blame the miners for hating a system that compelled them to toil twelve hours a day at the dangerous, unhealthy occupation of coal mining, and then to receive their meagre wages, not in United States money, but in merchandise at the company's stores, at prices which often left them in debt to the company.