The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-29

It is a singular fact that in no other strike of union men than the miners has there ever been anything like blood shed practiced in this section of the country.
 No reasonable man questions the right of labor to organize for it's own protec- tion or for the social and industrial ad- vancement of its membership. Neither can any fair-minded man deny the right of labor to strike when it's membership is dissatsfed with conditions affecting it's employment. What the people do detest, abhor and frown upon is lawless- ness. encouraged by agitators and practiced by the dissatisfied and idle ones, and this Iawlessness will ever meet with the se- verest condemnation.
 The strikes of the United Mine Work CTS of America like those of the Amer ican Federation of Miners always carry with them lawlessness and bloodshed Why this is so can only be accounted for by the fact that their management is bad or that these bodies have in them many undesirable citizens.
 Lest We Forget.
 The people of this district will not soon forget the terrible shedding of blood caused by this strike of coal miners and those which have preceded it. They will not forget the scenes at Blocton several years ago, when the life of Su- perintendent Lang was taken away by leaden ball and when others suffered from shots fired from ambush. They will never forget the shooting into train of state troops, of guards, of innocent men seek ing work, and of mine officials during this strike: nor will they ever forget and forgive the murders, the dynamiting of homes and the tears they have caused innocent women and children.
 Let Us Suppose.
 Supose, in the "black belt of Alabama, where the negro farm hands outnumber the white masters 50 to 1. some dis agreement should arise between proprietor and laborers. That, thereupon, the ne- groes should leave the farms and pitch ing tents close by should there idly dwell, living upon the charity of sympathizers in the cotton fields of other states; and interfering with the incoming of new la borers who desired to take their places; how long would the planters of Alabama permit that condition to exist?
 Just such conditions do exist in the mining district of Alabama. Oh, how patient the people have been!
 As To Arbitration.
 Lately a voice seems to have arisen from an agricultural source urging arbi- tration and a spirit of compromise by the operators. Suppose there should be dispute between farm owners and farm laborers as to what wages should be paid and how paid-what kind of seed should be planted and how much of each kind? Would the farmer who owns that land be willing to submit the question as to how he should manage his own prop erty to arbitration?
 These coal mines in this district are the property of their owners, bought for a price, the titles guaranteed under the laws of the state, and no laborer, no out side man or set of men have the. right to dictate to said owners how they shall use them or whether. or not they shall use them at all.
 The right to strike, of course, the min- CTS have The right to remain in idle ness without effort to obtain employment "a menace to law and order--they do not nossess The law, human and divine, is that men shall work, and if they do not thev become idlers and idleness begets crime therefore it is criminal to be idle even if that idleness is fostered and fed by the bread of others who do toll ana spin.
 Pay of Miners. N
 Tn several of my letters l have shown bv figures taken from the books of the mines that in this district the occupation of q miner is more profitable than that of any other trade, calling or profession. considering qualifications necessary for n discharge of the work or execution of the labor Of course. the best miners make the best pay. This is true in every earthly vocation. There are idlers, drones and inefficients in all branches of in- dustry.
 The miner who by special aptitude or training knows how to econonize powder and other supplies, and who is willing to devote two or three hours more per day than the average to his work, can and