The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-09-26
Mr.. DEBARDELEBEN
ON RECENT STRIKE

To the Editor of the Age-Herald:
1t seems to me timely for a rehearsal of
the William Farley strike, now that it
is ended and business is adjusting itself
to matters as they now exist, and view
the situation calmly and learn lesson
from the struggle we have passed
through. 1t would not be wise for us to
under-rate the ability of the men who
were the prime actors in the affair.
L am viewing this matter through the
information gotten from the newspapers
while in Chicago. Being detained here
since the early part of July. had but
little else. to think of, apart from the
trouble of the Birmingham district.
which gave me an opportunity to thor
oughly digest the subject.
AS 1 view it, Mr.. Farley organized and
planned this strike and showed marked
ability in the selection of the time. and
in financing the affair in a far better
and more substantial way than any
strike that was ever planned in any pre-
vious time in our history.
1t was at time when the operators
were just emerging from the struggles of
enough to get back a new dollar for an
old one spent, and many of them were
in no condition to stand a long struggle.
He succeeded In having the money ready
as it might be needed to carry on the
strike for a period not less than two
years. His plan worked beautifully, and
would have greatly damaged the district
had his men been as well drilled to carry
on strike within legal lines, as they
were in days gone by. The business of
the coal region would have received a
blow that would have taken years to re-
cover from. He forgot that the bulk of
the miners were no longer English,
Scotch, Irish and Welsh, who were edu-
Gated from childhood to leave alone fire.
arms, dynamite and lawless actions.
The union as it existed, was in a de-
moralized condition and really did not
amount to a union, as the big companies
were working open-shop. When the
union began to take in recruits from the
open shop men, and from the new re-
oruits that had been imported within the
last two years as well from the ranks
of the strike breakers, the union in that
way was filled up with a motley crew
amounting to something like 1900 or TO-
600 men. The members of the union got
ten together in this way were an undis-
ciplined army, totally ignorant of how
they should behave to win a strike in a
struggle like they had on hand.
The union should have had a walking
delegate at each camp to instruct its
members in carrying on strike accord
ing to union principles. No member
should have been allowed to buy a gun
or to do any act that would place them
outside the pale of the law. They failed
to do that and the strike soon drlfted
to what might be termed a guerrilla war
fare. Every old style miner, such as the
district had in the earlier days, should
have known that 1t was the beginning
of the end.
When the lawlessness began It was no
longer a matter to be dealt with by the
union or coal operators; it was matter
for the state to take charge of and set
tie in a manner as seemed best by the
state officers. Up to that time, Governor
Conner pursued a policy of hands-off. He
then took charge of the situation as he
found it and undertook TO settle it by
diplomacy. In that he failed.
The people of the district We're divided.
There was a compromise party who
wanted arbitration. The governor was
not sure of his position. He continued
his lenient policy until the people had
become thoroughly alarmed and disguised
with the lawlessness which surrounded
them. They then stood unanimous IN
their demands to have this guerrilla war
brought to a speedy end
The governor then was In the same
position that President Mckinley was
before the declaration of war with Spain.
He then saw that he had the people and
the money behind him to bring the trouble
to a speedy end. His first step was to
do that which would convince the strike