"In the excavation of a bed of coal these petrified trees are not
unfrequently cut off below, when the slight taper of the trunk permits
them to slide down into the mine.

"These 'coal pipes' are much dreaded by English miners, for almost every
year they are the cause of fatal accidents."

* * * * *

The tailors of New York are striking for better wages and shorter hours.
They want laws to protect them, for they complain that their wages are
often left unpaid.

Several of the Unions in neighboring cities have joined the New Yorkers,
and it is expected that the strike will be a long one.

This strike is peculiar in one sense, for, while the workmen are really
fighting the contractors, these same contractors are heartily in
sympathy with them, and hope that they will win.

The contractors are the people who make the garments for the large
wholesale houses, and they declare that the low prices the wholesale
houses pay for the clothes is the cause of all the trouble.

Formerly the contractor was able to get $1.25 for making a coat, now the
manufacturers will only pay 75 cents.

As the manufacturers' prices went down, the contractors had less money
to pay their hands with, and they were obliged in turn to reduce the