Sliding Scale, The

DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye jolly miners who love to hear a song, I will unfold a circumstance which to us all belongs." The owners have proposed pay based n a sliding scale. Now everything is being done by a sliding scale. The singer wishes sarcastic success to Gowen
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Korson-MinstrelsOfTheMinePatch)
KEYWORDS: mining money hardtimes trick
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Korson-MinstrelsOfTheMinePatch, p. 222, "The Sliding Scale" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blacklegs" (character of Franklin Gowen)
cf. "Muff Lawler, the Squealer" [Laws E32] (subject: the Long Strike and the Molly Maguires) and references there
NOTES [213 words]: For Franklin Gowen, the evil genius of the anthracite coal bosses, see the notes to "Muff Lawler, the Squealer" [Laws E25]. The "sliding scale" arose out of a labor dispute in 1869. According to Kevin Kenny, Making Sense of the Molly Maguires, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 132, labor was at that time trying to raise the price of coal by reducing the amount mined. They went on strike on May 10, 1869.
This work stoppage lasted about five weeks (Kenny, p. 133). They wanted "to tie the price of labor of coal. The proposed a 'sliding scale' whereby fluctuations in the price of the commodity produced by miners would be reflected in the remuneration they received," although with a floor below which their pay would not go. Most mines agreed to this by the end of summer, although there were holdouts.
The whole thing was rescinded unilaterally by the owners in 1870 (Kenny, p. 134). Since the song dates itself to 1869, it was presumably written before the scale was rescinded.
Franklin Gowen was already running much of coal country, so he played a large part in this. His part would be even greater in years to come, as he created the situation that resulted in the Molly Maguire violence and trials (for which, again, see "Muff Lawler, the Squealer" [Laws E25]). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: KMMP222

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography