Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1912-12-12
Special Commission
Reports On Strike

The commission appointed by Gov
ernor Glasscock to investigate the
conditions of the miners and the
causes leading up to the present I'M
holy conditions in the Kanawha coal
field, has reported, and 1t is patent
from the wording of the report that it
was suggested, if not actually written,
by the Coal Operators Association.
The commission, composed of a
catholic priest, a tin soldier and
politician mote the absence any
representative of miners on it,. after
several months of junketing at the ex-
pense of the state, reports the fol-
lowing wonderful discoveries
That every man has right to quit
his employment
But
He has absolutely no right to try
to prevent any other man from taking
his job. RI
Labor has the right to organize
Its organization has no right to in
duce people to become members of
it.
That the miners are clearly in the
wrong in trying to induce others not
TO work on the terms they themselves
reject.
That the miners seek Ito destroy
company property,
| That the effort to arouse the work
ers by public speeches be condemned
with emphasis.
That it is "imperatively necessary"
that the hands of the governor be
strengthened so that he may compel
local peace officers to perform their
duty.
That the chief cause of the trouble
on Paint and Cabin Creeks was the
attempt by the United Mine Workers
into unions in order that they might
act comparatively in; lettering their
hard conditions.
That the West Virginia coal miners
receive the lucrative sum of 1854
per year and there was absolutely no
reason in their demand for higher
wages.
Taken all in all the report is just
what could have been expected from
the Coal Operators Association-or
| from the men WHO made it. It proud
ly points to thefact that the average
miner receives nearly $500 for a
years hard labor-but touches lightly
| on the cost of living as per coal
/ company commissary prices.
AS for the guards the inhuman
hyenas which camped in the kennels
of thecoal operators-the commission
recommends that they be called
"watchmen" in the future.
The commissioners incorporate in
| the report that old, threadbare howl
Of the West Virginia coal barons,
"that the operators of the adjoining
states are behind the move to union
lie the West Virginia fields" 1t ad-
] mits however that there was no evil
dence tending to show this-then why
circulate the lie?
To prove conc1usively that the re-
port was dictated by the coal mine
owners, it advises the operators not
to recognize the union on the same
| basis as other states, but to make
local contracts, instead. How much
longer are the workers of West Virgin
| ia willing to be considered below the
level of theworkers of other states?
| The commission recommends that
the governors arms be strengthened.
| We say yes-and his entire constitu-
ti0n-both physical and mental.
| The local peace officers are scored
for not doing their duty and breaking
the strike for the coal barons in its
incipiency. We suppose they should
have chased the first man who dared
raise his voice in protest, into the
woods, together with his wife and
children, and starved them till such
time as he indicated willingness to
produce coal for the kind-hearted cap
| italists for anything they saw fit to
give him-or inf1iet upon him.
The report says: