| Ten Years ending | Deaths per Year | Number of Persons Employed | Number of Tons |
| 1882 | 1129 | 558,816 | 152,221,629 |
| 1892 | 1032 | 614,200 | 182,646,507 |
| 1902 | 1015 | 666,060 | 215,790,835 |
| 1905 | 1159 | 887,524 | 249,782,594 |
The table is very cheering. The full value of it will be realised if we take the decade ending 1882 and compare it with 1905. There we have thirty more deaths, but we have 300,000 more people employed, and an increase of over 97,000,000 tons in output. The proportionate reduction in the saving of life is great.
Three more changes remain to be noted. First, the political change. In 1869 the political power in the hands of the miners (as of all county dwellers) was a very small quantity. The logic of the situation was curious. Above a certain monetary position or size of a house, or possession of land, or living on one side of a line, men were allowed to vote; without those, and being over the line, they were prohibited. The law of England was an open declaration that houses, money, land, all insensate, could guarantee a man a qualification for doing that which alone can be done properly by the operation of mind, and living within an arbitrary area imparted to him full competency for the right of citizenship. He might have them to-day, and live on the borough side of the line, and be qualified; but the vicissitudes of life might strip him of his possessions—or the necessities of his occupation might compel him to move to-morrow—and he would be considered unfit to take part in the election of those who had to make the laws he was bound to obey, which is certainly a most sacred right. That anomaly was swept away. The Durham miners took their share of the work, and set the example as to the proper use of the power.
Another of the changes we note is the strong desire there is for an improved home life. It is not an extraneous feeling forced upon the miners by outsiders, but is within them. There is a great change in that respect. There has been much done in the direction of the much-needed reform. The present is a long way from being satisfactory, but it is far in advance of the state at the inception of the Association. That only existed because it was born of use. The old-time houses are a standing witness of the opinion those who built them had of the workmen. How should we know that the merciful man regarded the life of his beast except by the manner of his feeding and housing? There is a change in that respect, but there is a more hopeful one, and that is the desire on the part of those who live in them for betterment. The man who is content with a hovel, or room in a slum, will never look higher. To be dissatisfied with them is healthy, and is the sure road to a better state. May the feeling grow until bad houses and insanitation are removed; but it should never be forgotten that a house itself does not make a home—the life in it alone can do that.
The last of the changes, but not the least, is the altered opinion about, and the more accurate knowledge of, the miner there is in the country. Forty years ago, to many of the people of London the northern miner was a dweller in remote regions, and a man of uncouth and rude speech and habits. Some believed he remained down in the mine, never coming to bank except for a holiday. The writer was once asked by a man not far from London how long he had been in the mines. He replied eight or nine years. Then said the querist: "Have you never been up till now?" He was informed that the miner came up every day. With surprise he exclaimed: "I thought you lived down in the mines altogether." That is only one of the numerous instances which could safely be quoted expressive of the ignorance about the miner and his life. They knew his product because it warmed them and cooked their food, but that was the extent of their correct information.
But the change in the geographical and domestic knowledge is not all, nor the most important; the altered opinion of the miner as a man is more. The common name was the "Geordies," and that was used as being indicative of something low rather than a class cognomen. It was the idea as seen in the attitude of many in Durham when the first gala was held—as stated above. That is all changed during the thirty-six years we have existed as an Association. The man who speaks lightly of the class does it in the face of the clearest light, and from malice. It is of the class we speak here. If we reason from the individual our logic will be unsound, and all classes stand condemned. Taken in the bulk, as compared with our start, the miner has been raised on to a pedestal of respect. That is a result of his own self-respect. Without the latter the former will never be attained. It is the compelling force. It is the philosophy of Shakespeare's "To thine own self be true," which finds exemplification in every sphere and grade of life. The Durham miners have shown this in a marked degree. They may be void of some of the polish which is to be found amid the complaisances and conventionalities of the finer trades or higher walks of life—their battle for bread is a rough one—but he who wants honesty, uprightness, and bravery will not be disappointed if he turns to them. He need not seek far.
[IN MEMORIAM]
We have finished our history for the present, and traced it in rapid outline for thirty years. With the benefits we are enjoying from it, the enjoyment must not induce forgetfulness of the brave men who laid the foundations of our little kingdom, for such it is. We enter into their labours, but we will do so with gratitude, and not indifference. Their memory deserves more than a mere casual place with us. We should not be true men if we gave it only that. Let us remember that in reality the position we have realised and the solidity of our Association have been won and made possible by their spirit and foresight, and because we have kept ourselves close to the lines of their procedure. Ours is a great organisation, not because of its numbers (bulk may be weakness), but because of its principles. If it were not so, instead of standing out prominently as we do we should be in a dwarfed and stunted condition, and comparatively useless. The structure we now possess has risen by slow growth from very small beginnings and opposing forces. Every new idea, all the teaching of experience, were used as blocks by those patient builders laying the foundation for those who were to follow them. It is true there might be some mistake and bungling in the building. But in spite of these the structure has arisen with solidity, and from the rubble of that time we have reared up great walls and fair outlines, giving promise of future strength, durability, and usefulness. Truly the little one has become a great nation, and the weak one a strong force, and as long as we do not harm ourselves no power outside can.
How shall we show our respect for them? We have no possible way except by carrying on their work and seeking to give effect and volume to it. The end of their policy was reform, not revolution—not only in a political way, but in every direction where it was needed. Every hindrance in the whole round of working conditions was to them an evil, and as such should be removed. Where immediate abolition was not possible they tried to reduce its magnitude. They preached the ideal life, seized the possible, and made the best of circumstances. And is the wisdom of their action not evident? The spasmodic has been succeeded by the settled and the orderly. Where hate was endangering the general weal by its unreasoning action we now have regular business relations. No doubt to many whose main feature is ardency and rush they were slow-paced. These would have gone faster, but there would have been slower progress. To the Israelites Moses was slow-paced, but the wilderness was their portion as a result of their grumbling. There were grumblers in our start from Egypt to a better position (some of them remain to this day), but these are not the spirits who would either lay foundations or rear structures. The live men before us now were not grumblers. They were too busy; the work before them was too imperative. They were discontented; but in essence there is a wide difference between that and a grumbler. Never since the world began has any grievance been removed by the latter class. They may have hindered, but never helped. They are the drags on the wheels, and complain because more speed is not made. The men of 1869 were men of different mettle, or the fear is we should never have had the Association we have, nor stood in the proud position we enjoy among the trades organisations of the nation. We are reaping where they sowed, and while we enjoy the harvest let us remember the sowers.