648 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



per capita of $525. In 1892 the value of the 

 product was $228,217,050; in 1893, $194,034,177. 



The year 1894 was not prosperous for the iron 

 and steel industries. Work was very slack until 

 the opening of spring, and even then the trade 

 was not as good as had been expected, but the 

 summer was better than that of 1893, until the 

 strikes and the accompanying coal famine of July 

 and August. There was fairly steady work lor 

 the next two months, when the drop in prices 

 began to be felt. The Pennsylvania steel works 

 made more girder rails and street railway cross- 

 ings and switches this year than ever. Two 

 thirds of the rails made were girders. There was 

 an encouraging activity in bridge and struc- 

 tural building, and a fair demand for slabs and 

 blooms. 



The report of the Commissioner on Agriculture 

 shows that, in January, 84 farmers' institutes had 

 been held for the season of 1893-'94, and dates 

 were fixed for 38 more. The average cost of an 

 institute was $63, while that of those of 1892-'93 

 was $83. An important part of the work is that 

 to prevent the spread of contagious diseases 

 among domestic animals. 



Floods. Heavy rains in May swelled the 

 rivers so that great floods swept down the 

 Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Juniata, and Lehigh 

 rivers. Travel was interrupted by washouts, 

 collieries were closed, . houses flooded, dams 

 broken, and property swept away. Cloudbursts 

 in several places caused the sudden floods in the 

 streams. " Booms " broke at Lock Haven, Wil- 

 liarnsport, and other places, and millions of feet 

 of logs were carried away. On May 21, at Wil- 

 liamsport, the Susquehanna was 33 feet above 

 its normal height ; every foot of ground in the 

 town was under 4 feet of water, and some was 

 15 feet beneath the surface. The great boom, 

 which held 175,000,000 feet of logs, broke, and, 

 rushing down the stream, carried away bridges 

 in its course. The logs were worth, on' an aver- 

 age, $10 per 1,000 feet. The greatest damage 

 seems to have been done in Williamsport and 

 Lycoming County. The amount of property lost 

 in the city was estimated at $3,000,000, and the 

 entire loss in the county at $10.000,000. Dam- 

 age was caused also at Johnstown, Altoona, 

 Huntingdon, Belleforite. Ebensburg, Etna, Al- 

 lentown, Reading, Phcenixville, Sunbury, Steel- 

 ton, and other places. The water was not quite 

 as high as in the great flood of 1889. 



June 18 a cloudburst broke over Turtle Creek 

 valley, G miles from Braddock, destroying crops 

 and buildings. Three lives were lost. 



Mine Disasters. An accident by which 8 

 miners lost their lives took place at Stockton, 

 near Hazelton, July 17. On account of its iso- 

 lation from the main breaker, it had been cus- 

 tomary to send the explosives in boxes to Stock- 

 ton colliery X<>. 8, and distribute them to the 

 workmen at the bottom of the second shaft as 

 they appeared in the morning on their way to 

 work. An explosion occurred during this dis- 

 tribution. A terrific roar filled the place, the 

 earth trembled, and the drivers in the stables 

 were thrown about the place, some being knocked 

 insensible from contact with the floor and walls. 

 The bodies of the unfortunate miners were blown 

 into fragments in an instant. 



The little mining town of Scotch Valley, near 



Lofty, was swallowed up, Sept. 5, by the caving 

 in of a deserted colliery. About 50 men were 

 working in a new mine, the entrance to which 

 was through the deserted mine. They were res- 

 cued through a tunnel that had been used as an 

 air shaft. The few houses of the hamlet were 

 ingulfed. 



The caving in of a mine at Plymouth, Feb. 13, 

 buried 13 men. Four men were killed at Scran- 

 ton, March 6, while sinking a shaft. Two were 

 killed at West Pittston, July 26, by the breaking 

 of the cage guides in a shaft as the cage was 

 being drawn up from the mine carrying officials 

 of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, who were 

 on a visit of inspection. The division superin- 

 tendent and the foreman lost their lives. 



An explosion of gas in a colliery at Gilberton, 

 Aug. 24, killed one man, fatally injured another, 

 and hurt 10 others. 



A mine at Shamokin was swept by fire Oct. 8, 

 and 5 men lost their lives. The fire was due to 

 the carelessness of a carpenter who carried an 

 unguarded lamp. 



Labor Interests. The report of the Bureau 

 of Industrial Statistics, published in July, gave 

 the following items for 1893 : 



There were 52 strikes in Pennsylvania during 

 the year, or twice as many as occurred in 1892. 

 Thirty-four of these were by the coal miners in 

 the bituminous coal regions, 9 among iron and 

 steel workers, 4 among carpet weavers, 2 among 

 cotton weavers, 1 among chinaware manufac- 

 turers' employees, 1 among cloakmakers, and 1 

 among the journeymen plasterers. Not one of 

 these strikes succeeded. The number engaged 

 in them was 950, the number of persons involved 

 was 17,308, and the estimated loss in wages was 

 $1,395,423. (See STRIKES.) 



Political. The date of the city and town- 

 ship elections, Feb. 20, was set for the election 

 of a Congressman at Large to serve the remainder 

 of the term of Gen. William Lilly, who died in 

 December, 1893. 



In convention at Harrisburg, Jan. 3, the Re- 

 publicans nominated Galusha A. Grow, and 

 adopted a platform calling on the State's repre- 

 sentatives in Congress to oppose the Wilson bill, 

 and denouncing the policy of the Government in 

 reference to Hawaii. 



The Democratic party was divided into two 

 factions. The convention of September, 1893, 

 reassembled in Harrisburg Jan. 10, and nomi- 

 nated James Denton Hancock for Representative 

 at Large on a platform attributing the depres- 

 sion of business to Republican legislation and 

 calling for prompt passage of the Wilson bill. 

 The opposing section of the party organized 

 itself as the " Pennsylvania Democracy " in con- 

 vention at Philadelphia. Jan. 11. The nomina- 

 tion of Arthur D. Markley for Congressmen at 

 Large by nomination papers was recommended, 

 and the following reasons were given for such 

 recommendation : 



Impossibility of securing redress under the present 

 party rules. 



Because of the unquestioned incompetency of the 

 present boss and ring management of the Democratic 

 party. 



Because of our belief that the time has come to 

 challenge the confidence of the Democratic masses 

 as to whether or not they desire u continuance in 

 power of a body of men whose rule has wrecked the 



