The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1908-06-11
Enjoyed by Miners in Many
Sections of the State.
ONE MAN IS. In CONTROL
OF Fayette County and Rules With
An Iron Hand--Laws are Utter
ly Ignored and Courts Sustain
the Law Breakers-Tyrany
Reigns Supreme.

lin the last issue ofThe Journal
there is a well written communi
cation from Landgraf, w. Va,
stating among other things. that
Mine. Assistant Boyd and Chief
Mine Inspector Paul had closed
down IA mine because it was dan
gerous. The new mining law of
West Virginia conlerS such power.
But the coal company had appeal
ed to the judge of the circuit court
OF the county, who had declared
the section OF the law unconsti-
tutional. If the case is properly
stated by your correspondent the
inspectors were acting as became
their sworn duty, but the judge
possessed no authority to pass upon
the constitutionality Of the law
That is the business of the Su-
premc Court of the State.
Il believe that the section
authorizing the inspector to close
down the mine without hearing
to be unconstitutional, and that
the Supreme Court will set it aside.
But until this is done the inspector
was acting in the line of duty, and
the law should be respected and
obeyed until its unconstitutionality
is passed upon by the Supreme
Court.
aEest Virginia is a peculiar
state. In many parts of the coal
fields miners have no rights that
their employers are bound to re-
spect. AT Least Snat is the way
things seem to be. During a re
cent visit to the state | was in
formed that in Fayette county no
person can secure Il license to open
saloon unless he has recommcn-
datlon of a certain coal operator.
and the applicant for a license
must agree in advance to purchase
all his liquors at a certain whole
sale liquor house in which the said
coal operator has a large interest.
l was further informed that the
aforesaid coal operator controls
every nomination from constable
to judge in the county There
nave been three explosions at
mines OF which he is president and
general manager, at two of which
there was but one opening, and
all of this within fifteen months
l was further informed that he
used to be Il preacher and still dd
nights to hold forth when oppor-
tunlty offers to call sinners to re.
pentance.
lie will not tolerate the organi-
Zatlon of Il local of the United
Mine Workers Union; in this.
however, he by no means stands
alone. For if | have been cred
1tably. informed the majority of
the operators of that state not only
prohibit the formation of local
unions, but keep detectives to
watch the mines and report every
effort made on this line. ii would
be good thing if Teddy would
visit the state with his big stick.
'But all this tyranny is due to
the miners themselves. They pos
sesS the ballot, and this weapon no
man, nor com bination of employ
ers of labor, can deprive them of.
ct year after year they continue
to vote as their employers ask
them. | am a Republican of the
Roosevelt stripe: but if 1 were a
citizen of West Virginia 1 would
support Mr.. LittlepaSe for the
nomination for Governor. and
vote for him, too, not only vote for
hlm but would work for him as
Well, without money or the prom
lse OF Office. Further, if a Re
publican of the Joe Cannon stripe
should get the nomination for
President / would vote for w. J. !
Bryan hundred times sooner.
"When the Civil war broke out
thousands of Democrats threw off
party allegiance and enlisted in
the army to fight for the preser.
walton of the Union. Shoulder to
shoulder, Republican and Demo /
crat, barred their breast to the en-
emy to preserve the Union and !
hand 1t down unimpared to their
children.
''N hen the Civil war burst upon
the country / threw down nv tools
IN an Arkansas mine and hastened
north, enlisting in the first resi-