The Company Store
Tom Juravich| Original | Il testo originale di Isaac Hanna (1895) |
| THE COMPANY STORE The lot of the miner, At best, is quite hard; We work for good money, Get paid with a card; We scarcely can live, And not a cent more, Since we’re paid off in checks On the company store. The coal operators Are growing apace, They are making their millions By grinding our face; Unto their high prices The people pay toll, While they pay fifty cents For mining their coal. They keep cutting our wages, Time after time; Where we once had a dollar, We now have a dime; While our souls are near famished, And our bodies are sore, We are paid off in checks, On the company store. We sign then a contract, As agreed between men; Though it holds us like slaves, It never holds them; And when they’ve exhausted The old contract score, They capped the climax With the company store. But while I am anxious Our case to make plain, Sore cramped are my fingers Uncertain my pen, My paper’s exhausted I cannot write more, For paper comes high At the company store. | THE COMPANY STORE The lot of the miner, At best is quite hard, We work for good money, Get paid with a card; We sarcely can live, And not a cent more, Since we're paid off in checks On the company store Those great coal monopolies Are growing apace, They are making their millions By grinding our face; Unto their high prices The people pay toll, While they pay fifty cents For mining their coal. They keep cutting our wages Time after time, Where we once had a dollar, We now have a dime; While our souls are near famished, And our bodies are sore, We are paid off in checks, On the company store. Though hard we may labor But little we have; We are robbed of our rights, Though we fought for the slave. Monop'ly keeps grasping For more and still more; They will soon own the earth, Through the company store. We sign then a contract As agreed between men, Though it holds us like slaves, It never hold them; And when they've exhausted The old contract score, They capped the climax With the company store. The old pirates and brigands Who fought hand to hand, Who would scuttle a ship, Or pillage the land, Have formed a collusion And all come on shore, And now ply their trade Through the company store. But when those old worthies Are called to their doom, I think honest business Will enjoy a great boom; And when they are finally Called from our shore, I hope they'll take with them The company store. |
