The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-22
Social Equality Talk
 EpiI Feature Of Strike
Since Operators Refuse Positively to Recognize Unon the Strike Leaders Are Only Persons Benefited By
 Continuation of the Fruitess Struggle
BY FRANK V. EVANS.

That was a wise and timely warning given to negro Masons by their grand master, Henry c. Binford, when he an- nounced to them that if any negro Ma son is killed while affliating with the mi ners' union his heirs will not be entitled to benefits from the endowment depart ment; and especially when he further said that he considered every member of his order in the Birmingham district con nected with this union fighting the laws of the state a murderer.
 This man Binford is a negro of intelli- gence and of property. He is well known in Birmingham and throughout the state and enjoys the confidence and esteem of numbers Of white people. Ills advice to his race should be needed. It Is more wholesome advice than that given the ne- groes by the white leaders of this coal miners strike, who are daily instilling into the minds of the blacks ideas of so- cial equality, which if they do take root soon will result In a worse condition than even now exists-a condition of bloodshed and absolute annihilation. A worse page will be written in history than the stories recounted in the late COS and the early 70s. when political carpetbaggers came among us to disturb the amicable rela- tions which had existed In the south be- ] tween the white and black races. The spirit of socialism and archy are even more dangerous and damning than po- litical error, blunder and darkness. The Negro and the Union.
 Speaking on this matter Hon. A. T. London said to me;
 1 My information Is that over half of l the miners in this district are negroes. and large percentage of these people i have been admitted into the union. l am also informed that north of the Ohio river negroes arc not permitted to join the miners union; and if this is true think MT. .Fairley and MT White are call 1 ed upon to make known why this discrim- 1 ination is made against the negro miner elsewhere, and why it Is that negro union miner in Alabama ceases to be a union man when he crosses the Ohio l river
 i "Is the present an adroit move to get rid of the negro miners and if they are l eliminated from the Alabama district does anyone imagine that the district of Alaba- i ma would be improved?
 We have shut our eyes to the fact, un- i consciously, perhaps. that the future suo- i cess of the coal mining business in this ] state rests very largely upon negro la l bor. and, apart from any sentimental sense of duty, but from. a purely economic ] standpoint, it~iss at once our duty and in- terest to protect these people in the exer- else of their right to earn living ana l MT Fairley and Mir White should both l be made to understand that neither they ] nor any other men can come into Ala l bama and, by the creation of combina- ton and the inauguration of reign or | terror, not only dominate labor but break l down the government.
 "I can already hear the cry made that | I am simply giving vent to the claims or property. This cry is spacious. for if It's l truth were conceded the labor of a miner. white or black, is just as much l property as the mine owned by the op- 1 orator, and he Is entitled to just the same ] right to sell his labor to whom he de- i sires, and on such terms as he pleases' i as is the operator to sell his coal. once destroy the right of property and you have practically no liberty left. The gov l ernment rests upon this very foundation. and personal liberty is just as much in yolyed in the right to contract as 1t is in the right of exemption from wrongful in- l generation in jail.
 Woman's Auxiliary.
 | I am reliably informed that the latest movement of the leaders of the strike in | this district Is to organize the women or l both races whose husbands, fathers ana brothers are members of the union in fe- male unions known as the woman Auxiliary" m, l greater dangerous picture. Knowing as do a great many strikers, members Of the miners union, as simply misled fol- lowers of false teachers, but respect ably inclined as native whites of this section. 1t is hard to believe that these would thus permit such social admixture, no matter how strongly urged to do so bv the agitators who have come among | them to wreck their homes and their so- cial status for the purpose Of getting gam. am sure that the caucasian blood Of this state would rebel against such desc cration of the home fireside for any pur- nose And yet. evidence can be present. ed that the organization of these wo- mems auxiliaries'' Is being urged as part of the iniquitous plan of those who have brought about this disorder.
 Here and Elsewhere.
 information comes from East Tennessee that racial feeling runs high against the negro miners there, and that they are or | dered out of the mines by whites who ob- 1 feet to their presence. Last Monday morning notices were found posted in Ten nessee ordering the negroes to leave, and notifying the manager that if the negroes were not removed at once his blood would | nav the price The sheriff was called to | nrotect the negroes, and the white min ers all armed, fired many shots during ! the night and placed a search light on the mines at intervals. It required a nosse of 200 deputies to protect the ne- qroes. The story goes that the white miners. fearing to attack such we'll | guarded mine, left. It is said that the whole trouble lies in the fact that the negroes will not join the union.
 And this Is the way the white union miners of East Tennessee treat the ne- gro for whom they here express such de- 1 voton.
 The Neeros Value.
 No reasonable man, white or black, can | doubt for a moment that the negro Is a | valuable asset of these southern states.
 As A race they are useful productive. and l when exempt from the false teachings and | domineering influences of bad white men | thev are always in a happy condition. l | naan so long as the social line is strict iv drawn between whites and blacks. 1 In the south they have their separate l ,burcbes. their separate schools, their
 sanarate fraternal orders and lodges, and
 in all the unions composed of skilled me- l nhan,cs this line is distinctly and wisely | drawn.
 l Tbe leaders of this miners strike are l ottamnting every day to obiiterate this l line They are causing close social af-