The bee., 1901-03-28
EXPERIENCE A TEACHER.
How the Oak Hill Coal Operators Grad
uated from the Union.
Racy Experience With Bank Committee
Told by Jabez Trathen.


Mine Workers and their few Hop
kins county followers call it,
THE BEE recently interviewed
Mr.. Trathem, of the Oak Hill
Coal Company, as to his past ex-
perience with the union men be-
fore he announced his independ-
ence and began employing non-
union men entirely.
Mr.. Trathem talked freely of
his varied experience and gave
THE BEE memoranda of dates
and facts concerning the evils
that he once suffered but has
since escaped.
Some months ago the Oak Hill
people in self-defense put in a
machine mining plant and on
Monday they filed articles of in
corporation with capital stock of
thirty thousand dollars.
As given to The BEE, Mr..
Trathem's experience is in part
as follows:
/. We had orders from COM
mittee to keep the store opened
till nine o'clock \ Our usual time
has always been to close at seven
O'Clock. The Bank mittee
said they would strike if we did
not keep open.
2. When members of the union
refused to pay their dues or as
sessments, we had orders to make
them pay or pay them ourselves.
They had to be paid OF a strike
would be ordered by the Bank
Committee.
3. The drivers did strike on
one occasion because we hired a
man that did not belong to their
union. We did not know whether
he was a union man or not. We
knew he was a good driver
/. The sulphur pickers were
ordered not to dock any cars for
sulphur or slate or bone coal. No
miner was to lose q pound, no
difference what he loaded. The
consequence was we lost $17S in
two months. We paid that much
more TO the miners than we could
realize in the market. Six agents
were affected.
.. We were threatened with
strikes every week for six weeks
because we discharged a man for
breaking in the face of a mule
with an iron bar, that he deliber-
ately picked up and hit the mule
with for nopurpose that we know
of only spite. He was not a
driver and had no business with
the mule.
6. Miners refused to load
mixed coal or run of mines coal
at 100 pounds and their scale
price at the same time figured
106 pounds. The consequence
was we could not work more than
half time and we had plenty of
orders for coal.
I. The Bank Committee asked
Fred COLON, an assistant in the
store, to join the union, promis-
ing him if he would join that the
miners would strike on Will Hall,
bookkeeper, and Collom should
have his place. They were after
COLON on two occasions.
8. About January 3, 1900, the
Committee stopped two places
for two days each for sending out
bone coal and sulphur. One of
the places was worked by Pearee
Roberts, the other place was
worked by William O'Bannon.
Roberts was a union man and
was in North Carolina at the
time. The Committee put Rob-
erts' two boys back to work. The
two boys made their turn good
and O'Bannon with a sick wife
and SIX children was kept idle.
O'BannOn was non-union man.
8. Every night in the store the
miners and check-weigher had a
wrangle and growing
about their weights of coal. The
scales were always wrong or their
own weigher was cheating them,
SO much so that they had three
different men qualified in five
months with no satisfaction.
10. The Bank Committee or
dered a strike because a man,
Fate Garrett, had two powder
kegs of water in his room. The
hc.,lr H.. lw-o-,. AAo -oo,~. 4.