The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-08
PROGRESSIVE LAUNDERING.
Methods of United Mine Workers i'm
Their Propaganda.

Brooklyn Eagle.
The case of the United Mine Workers Of
America. as il is understood by President
John Mitchell, has been given 10 the pub
lie. According 70 the author. IT has been
withheld until the close of the sixth week
of the strike. lest any word uttered or any
position taken by the mine workers should
impede or embarrass easy reconciliation
with the coal operators. Assuming that 10
be the reason. IL might as well have been
withheld altogether. For certainly IL viii
carry no conviction 10 the mind Of an OPP
orator. 1t says that for twenty-five years
the mine workers have groaned and chafed
under the most intolerable and inhumane
conditions imaginable. These conditions il
describes. 1t contends that the operators
can afford TO ameliorate them. supporting
the contentious with statistics. II resents
the employment OF "a perfect army OF coal
and iron police. who proudly display their
revolvers and rifles and faunt their author
ity In an effort to overawe peaceful strikers
or to provoke them TO acts of violence
Finally comes the declaration that, should
the operators win. another organization
will spring from the ruins of the United
Mine Workers of America and the contest
between labor and capital will continue.
1AAS - a An SS loGSlS VI lAC
For the information OF those who desire
10 know more about il, a inns of II is
printed
President Mitchell takes into account
only his own side. As a matter Of fact. he
scarcely enters into controversy. His state
nent cannot be called a reply. The mine
workers demanded a scale that would APP
ply 10 all anthracite regions. In this de-
mand an increase of pay was included.
they also sought TO establish a uniform
day s work, experimenting this by insisting
that the union Shnnld he more generally
recognized. These demands provoked an
unequlVocal response. They were peremp-
not even being debatable. The operators
sald In substance that no uniform scale
couId possibly apply 10 all the regions,
varying conditions making each mine a
problem by itself; that as unions do not
discriminate, as they do not differentiate
one locality from another, recognition was
impracticable. This may be called the
foundation stone of the operators case. To
this 1t might reasonably have been expect
ed that Mr.. Mitchell would devote his at
tentlon. He has virtually nothing to say
on the subject. He practically ignores the
Hamlet of the operators play. His letter
is an addition TO the list OF labor curios-
tiles: 1t is infinitely more remarkable for
what II does not say than for anything il
sets forth, laboriously or otherwise. In
short, it is an evasion, pure and simple.
Obviously Mr.. Mitchell discerns the hand
writing on the wall. Obviously he realizes
that the impossible having been demanded,
compliance is out of the question. His OBJ
Jeclon 10 the employment of coal and iron
police might well have been omitted. The
police contemplate no aggressions. They
are employed TO keep destroyers at a re-
spectful distance. Assuredly that employ
ment can do harm TO nobody. On the other
hand, 1t will surely have a tendency TO hold
IN check, 10 preserve. to protect. Possibly
there would be no more disturbance in any
event. but then history would fail TO re-
peat itself. The properties protected are of
great value, and much has happened in the
past TO warrant the precautionary meas
ures taken. AS the leader of a great or
ganization Mr.. Mitchell should be the last
man In America to take exceptions to such
measures. He is unfortunate in his cause.
To say that his statement makes the best
OF 1t is not saying much. The operators
offered to continue existing conditions for
another year. IL has now become apparent
that the rejection of hat offer was a fatal
blunder. From one mistake II is proposed
10 pass TO another. 1t is proposed TO ask
that contracts be broken all along the coal
mining line. Compliance will be something
worse than a mistake-the disgrace and dis
honor of il will be absolute. 1t is bad
enough 10 see the cause of labor associated
with anarchism in Paterson. If anything
can be worse than that it will be to see the
miners go into the king bust
ness by wholesale. The mud in the ditch Of
reputation is thick and adhesive.