Indianapolis Times, Volume 34, Number 259, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 March 1922 — Page 13
SAYS OWNERS WISH TO BREAK UP MINE UNION Statement of John L. Lewis Presents Workers’ Side of Contention. POINTS TO RESOLUTION Jv* BY ELLIS SEARLES. - of the United Mine Workers’ Journal. John L. Lewis, international president of the United Mine Workers of American, clearly stated the principal Issue involved in the present controversy between the miners and the bituminous coal operators, when he said in a speech at Shamokln, Pa., on Jan. 17: “We do not expect to follow the non-union worker down the ladder of wage reductions to the morass of poverty and degradation which prevails below; anti we do not propose to have the non-union yardstick applied to our standard of living,” ac-' cording to a statement issued at the headquarters of the union in this city. The statement then goes on to say: “Coal operators are attempting to force the bituminous miners to accept a reduction in their wages which would place them on a level with the non-union miners of West Virginia, Alabama and other fields in which the union is kept out or driven out by armed gunmen and thugs in the employ of~the coal companies. Mine workers in these nonunion fields are helpless. They are nnable to en'er any protest against wage reductions or any other whim of their employers by which their standard of living is lowered. Wages always have been lower In the non-union fields than in the organized fields, because of this fact. Non-union miners have no protection and must take what is offered if they are to work at all. OPERATORS STAND EFFORT BREAK I P MINERS’ UNION. tw 'large and powerful groups or operators n the Pittsburgh field and in southern Oh a served notice that they would refuse to meet with the United Mine Workers this month to negotiate a new wage and working agreement they served notice in effect, that they were cut to break up the miners’ union. Should they succeed In this attempt it would mean that the miners of those two fields would be reduced to the level of the wretched non-union miners of West Virginia. The United Mine Workers will not permit this to be done. ”In announcing their refusal to meet with the miners and work out anew agreement to take effect on April 1, these operators deliberately violated their written contract with the miners, which they signed in New York on March 31, 1920. In that contract was this clause: “Resolved, that an interstate joint conference be held prior to April 1, 1922: the time and place for holding stitch meeting to be referred to a committee of two operators and two members from each State herein represented, together with the international officials of the United Mine Workers of America. "That agreement was as binding as any agreement ever signed by business men. Refusal by the operators to live up to this agreement was a shock to the public conscience and an assault on business morality. It was so indefensible that President Harding denouneed their action and directed Secretary of Labor Pavfs to call upon the operators to live up ta their agreement and meet with the miners in an honest effort to work out anew agreement. TRICE BOOST ALSO ix VIEW. rOne of the prime objects of these I rators In staging their refusal and ir violation of contract was to break j the union. Bnt it must be remem- 1 ed also that there are millions of ! tons of soft coal on hand, and a strike 1 scare always boosts the selling price, I thus giving the operators a fine oppor- J tunity to gouge the public poeketbook and clean up enormous profits. It has
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been done before, and why should it not be done now? “One of the excuses the operators gave' for refusing to enter a conference was that the miners would demand an increase in their wages, and that, therefore, it would be useless to hold a con>, ference. But the miners did nothing of the kind. They do not ask for an increase, but they do ask that the present scale of wakes be continued in effect for another two years. They did not earn a living under present scale in 1921, hut they are willing to take the chance with it for another two years. They pin their faith to the hope for a revival of industry and business In the next two years that will afford them steadier employment and thus enable them to make a living. /. “Bituminous mine workers in ths union fields were employed only an average of about 12a days in 1921. This Is about 40 per cent of full time. As nearly as it can be ascertained at this time, they earned an average of approximately S7OO in 1921, which is about $13.50 a week. Every person who has to buy fotd, clothing and everything else for a family at present prices knows that it is impossible to keep a family above the povertg level on $13.50 a week. EARN LESS THAN HALF OF FIXED LIVING IVAGE. “Statistical experts say an annual wage of $1,570 Is necessary to keep a family of man, wife and three children in health, decency and a minimum amount of comfort in the bituminous coal mining fields of the country. Mine workers earned less than half that sum last year. Yet the operators propose to reduce their wages. “In the six-year period from 1613 to 1918 (and in 1918 more coal was produced than ever before and all records were broken), the average annual earnings of bituminous mine workers throughout the country were $873.74. Surely, It can not te said that the miners are earning too much money at the present rate of wages. “Coal miners are not responsible for the high retail price at which coal is sold throughout the country. J. D. A. Morrow, vice president of the National Coal Association, ccmmonlv known es the "Operators’ Union,’* testified before the Interstate-Commerce Commission a few weeks ago that the average selling price of bituminous coal in the United States in October, 1921, was $10.41 a ton, and that the miners received $1.97 a ton for producing it. In other words, the miners got $) ,7 for producing a ton of coal that w > sold to the consumer for $10.41. v ao got the other $8.44? There is a • yUge, but the miners do not get the rr ney. If the public Is interested in bringing down the selling price of'coal they must look beyond the miners for the way to do it, for the miners are not to blame for the high prices. “Coal companies have sought to arouse a prejudice against the United Mine
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Workers of America because the convention of the union- declared for the six-hotir-day and the five-day-week, and the position of the miners on that issue ha> been bota misrepresented and misunderstood. Operators say the miners want more pay for less work. That statement is not correct. Working steadily thirty hours a week, the miners can prodttce more coal than the country can possibly consume. They say they prefer reasonably steady employment six hours a day rather than irregular and unsteady employment eight hours a day. If they can dig all the coal that is needed in six hours why should they be required to work eight hours, they ask. “They want the assurance that they will have the opportunity to work steadily six hours a day. In that way they can make a living. But they do not and cannot make a living under present conditions. “The check-off is another issue involved in the present controversy between bituminous miners and operators. The check-off is not generally understood by the public. Operators have attempted to make the public believe that thorugt. the check-off they are compelled to contribute to the maintenance and upkeep of the miners’ union, and that, therefore, the check-off is a sinful practice that should be abolished. The coal operators do not contribute a single cent to the union. The check-off does not mean anything of the kind. Here la what the check-off means: A member of the United Mine Workers of America authorizes, his employer in writing to deduct from his pay envelope a small part of his wages, already earned, to pay his dues to the union. The operator makes the deduction and remits the money to the union, Just as he deducts other sums and pays them to the doctor, the grocer, the landlord or any other creditor. An operator has no right to deduct any money from the miner’s pay envelope without the written order of the miner. It is not the operator's money that he sends to the union. It is the union miner’s money. HICI.ER COURT HOLDS CHECK-OFF LEGAL. “Judge Anderson, in the Federal Court at Indianapolis, decided a few months ago that the check-off was illegal and he issued an injunction to prohibit its continuance. But the United Mine - Workers appealed to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals and that court completely reversed Judge Anderson. The higher court held that the check-off was entirely legal and that it could not be enjoined. At that hearing Judge Baker, presiding Judge, said khe check-off was nothnig more or less train an assignment of wnges by an employe, and that any employe had the legal right to make such assignment. , "Operators say they intend to abolish the check-off by refusing to agree to lis continuance. But the United Mine Workers will not permit the operators to do anything of the kind. The check-off is here to stay. It has been declared to be legal. “The public is asking: Will there be a
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INDIANA DAILY TIMES, FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1922.
strike by coal miners on the first day of April? It would be more accurate if the public were to ask whether there will be a suspension of work in the coal mines on April Ist. There is a vast difference between a strike and a suspension. Whatever happens on the Ist of April, it cannot be correctly designated as a strike. When workers go on strike they dc so in protest against some wrong, and because they have a gfievance. But a suspension is an entirely different proposition. If the miners refuse to work on the Ist of April it will be because they have no wage agreement whatever with their employers. They want to know what they are to get for their labor and under what conditions they are to work. They want to know these things before the Ist of April. If they do not find out and they refuse to work on the Ist of April it will be a suspension and not a strike. "The United Mine Workers of America do not want a suspension. They want to work. They must work to live. They have done and are doing every honorable thing within their power to avert a suspension. If the operators deal fairly wltn them there will be no suspension. But there is this difference between the miners and the operators: the operators want a suspension, while the miners do not.” Hollweg Appointed to Welfare Board Louis Hollweg has been appointed to the community welfare board to fill the unexplred term of Frederic M. Ayres, who resigned, and four members have been reappointed by Mayor Samual Lewis Shank. Those renamed, whose present terms will expire May 1, are Mrs. Frank D. Stalnaker, Louis C. Huesmann, Carl G. Hlsher and Walter C. Marmon. The board's duty is to receive bequests and gifts ths city.
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STREET FORCE DOES ITS BEST, AVERSHYLAND Dumps Cinders on Bad Street by Carload, But Kicks Continue. They are making the cinders fly on the unimproved streets and alleys of Indlanupolis, but not half fast enougtf to keep up with the requests of citizens which pour into the city hall, according to Martin J. Hyland, street commissioner. Although there are one hundred men and fifty teams employed under the emergency re'ief for the unemployed ordinance, spreading ah average of ten cars of cinders a day, the complaints come so fast approximately two hundred seventyfive have accumulated. Mr. Hyland asked the public to be patient with the street department because It will take about three weeks to catch up with the requests now on hand. CINDERS SPREAD BY HAND LABOR. The cinders are dumped on the unimproved streets and leveled off in crude fashion by manual labor. As soon as the water gets out of the ground the regular street repair gangs will be put to work grading and rolling the cinders so there will be the basis for real cinder or gravel highways in the future. “We expect thus to make the emergency relief to the unemployed of real value to the citizens as well as to the man In need,” Mr. Hyland said. Citizens owe gratitude to several big corporations which have been furnishing the cinders free of charge, Mr. Hyland said. For more than a month the following concerns have been supplying cinders
In the following quantities: Merchants Heat and Light Company, one to two cars a /lay ; Indianapolis Light and Heat Company, three cars a day; Big Four railroad, two cars a day; Indianapolis Street Railway Company, one car a day until recently when it had 'to divert cinders to its own track repair work; Pennsylvania railroad, one car a day and Kingan & Cos., one car a day. Sewer repair gangs have been put to work earlier than usual in order that the storm water system, may be in readiness for spring freshets. In this way Mr. Hyland hopes to reduce complaints of water standing in streets to a minimum. Finds Lock Box Key; Faces Two Charges Charles W. May, 28, 217 East Michigan street, found a key to a postoffice lock box and realized about SIOO from the venture before he was arrested on charges of forgery and grand larceny. May Is awaiting trial today. The key was lost by N. H. Johnson, 15 Canterbury apartments, Sixteenth street and Central avenue, Jan. 2S. May's downfall came when he wrote to one of Mr. Johnson’s business associates at Covington, Ind., sending him a check for $331 on a Covington Bank and asking him to have it certified, and to mall the certification to the Claypool Hotel. Instead of doing this, the man wrote to Mr. Johnson at his home address. May’s arrest followed. 5 WEEKS IN A GALE. DEAL, England, March 10. Many members of the Danish schooner Hosanna collapsed when they landed here after a terrible ordeal in the North Sea. For thirty-five days they were at the pumps with a tremendous gale blowing.
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