The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-04-21
Why Be Scared At Miners
Demands

The country still stands In danger of Just
such an upheavai in the coal mining industry a.
that which struck terror to industry when Roose-
welt interviewed, appointed q commission and
stopped the great strike few years ago.
The miners demand the recognition Of their
unions, and some different conditions OF labor.
The operators refuse to recognize the union, and
will not consider the miners demands. They say
It would revoutionise the coal business and work
terrible damage and wrong II they did 1t.
Would It? Do the miners demand any
thing that IL on the face of it unreasonable?
We are all vitality interested in Industrial
peace. We all hope that the strike, which coal
magnates and labor magnates both say Is still
imminent in spite Of the present truce. may be
averted. Our livings depend on 1t. The welfare
Of the nation depends on 4. You and ] are
though we may live thousand miles away, as
the men and mine-owners themselves.
To see ourselves as others see us is good
thing; but sometimes 1t Is still better to see
other things as others see them.
Let how this matter of mines and
miners is looked at in Germany.
The kaiser is not a radical or labor agi-
tator. or partisan of the masses against his own
class. Quite the reverse. He is in fact as great
an upholder of privilege and the rights OF "the
Lords Amounted" as Divine Right" Baer him.
self. But the kaiser takes quite different view
from that of Baer and his friends on the matter
of the recognition of miners unions and their
right to have something to say as to the condi-
tons under which they work.
There a terrible mine horror at Radbod,
In Germany, in which hundreds of men were
killed. The emperor sent Eitel Fritz, his son,
to look the scene over and report the causes and
conditions. The emperor said nothing. but when
bill presented to him for signature govern
ing the mining business, the kaiser refused to
sign II unless 1t amended so as to provide
for something which would send Baer into fits.
THE KAISER INSISTED THAT THE BILL
COULD NOT BECOME LAW UNLESS THE
MINERS UNION WAS RECOGNIZED, AND
GIVEN THE SUPERVISION OF ALL AR
RANGEMENTS FOR THE SAFETY OF MINERS
IN THE PITS
The mine owners and their representatives
kicked The kaiser was firm. The capitalists
yielded to the emperor, and the miners union
now runs the mines as to the important matter OF
safety devices.
No trouble has resulted. After all, the peo-
pie who are the most interested in the proper
management of mines are those who do the suf-
fering when they unwholesome, and the
dying when they blow up.
Are not employers too easily scared by
5 the thought of recognizing the unions?
Are any Industries when unorganized more
stable as to conditions than those in which the
unions are strong and able to treat on something
like equal terms?
Isn't 1t possible that the laborers have at
least keen a realization of tho mutually OF
their interests with those of their employers as
the employers possess? And IL Germany isn't
afraid of miners union why should we be
scared? The answer to this question may make
a difference In your coal bills or the operation
of your factory next winter.