Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-09-25

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ers, representatives are in prison cells
in Vancouver for nothing but assem-
bling for a good time. But before
long they will win a remarkable vic.
tory. Therefore, you see if it is not
one place it is another. In all the non
union fields in this country the spirit
Of unrest is felt. The coal operators
in these fields wish nothing but to
dominate over your domestic life. They
make you live in shacks built by them
and make you deal in stores owned by
coal companies, and they have no
schools in which to educate your chill
dren. What we want is to lay the
foundation for better manhood and
WomanhOod. We are all inbued with
the spirit Of independence and he who
lsubjects US to the conditions here ex-
planned is an enemy. Had it not been
j for the United Mine Workers fighting
as they have for the past nineteen
months, there would be no ray of
hope now. So it is to be hoped for
the good of all concerned, that the hor-
r1ble lessons and terrible struggles out
OF which we have passed is gone to
never more retrun and we will witness
in future years the operators in West
Virginia, like in Ohio and elsewhere,
meeting around a conference table and
recognizing the legitimate rights OF
their employees to say what they shall
sell their labor for
But, my friends, you have in this
country seven hundred and fifty thou
sand men who are depending upon the
coal mining industries. For that fact
you have work ahead of you. You
have probably four hundred and fifty
thousand men organized into the IN
ion. There is a great field in which
your organization can employ itself. It
will be the plan of the United Mine
Workers of America to devote their at
tention mainly to the .non-union fields
in an effort to organize the workers
there, and the fight will go on and on
until the victory will be achieved. !.
Cabin and Paint Creeks.
In Cabin and Pain Creek the organi
cation has been lost and driven out for
ten years. In Kentucky another i'm
portant field. the organization was
driven out there many years ago, and
the organizers had not been there until
this spring.
So, my friends, might go on indefi-
nitely with the mission of this organi-
cation in the non-union fields. Had it
not been for you, men the United
Mine Workers of this state would have
been much in the same way as the man
with the anvil
Pat took an anvil and started to
cross the water, but he foud out the
anvil was not as heavy as he thought
and that he could carry two. So he
went back and got naother. But before
he started across the water he forgot
to test the gang plank and when he
started out on the plank it broke and
let him fall in the water. The crowd
gathered around and waited awhile,
and finally Pats head bobbed up and
he said, If you fellows don't throw
me down a rope TIL let go of these
are much of the same thing. Had it
not been for the men and the organic
ed workers of this coutry the poor
devils would have been in that condi-
ton until the time would be no more.
It is up to those people just as long as
our organization keeps it course and
until there will be no non-union fields.
We take great deal of pride in the
fact that our organization has made
such progress. These movements are
one of the most important industries
in the land. Our great railroad trains
would cease to ri if it were not for
you men who brave the difficulties Of
the mines. The steamships, factories
andu mills would not exist were it not
for you men, And 4 say in all spirit of
'airness that it should be the first con-
sideration of the governor to give
every highest consideration to the
United Mine Workers of America.
What Union Has Done.
My friends, l often hear our people
say that this organization has not been
instrumental in accomplishing any
thing for them. l went ito the mines
at the age of eleven years to support
my widowed mother, for 55 cents a
day and eleven hours at that, Then
Fat those times you worked util you
dropped from exhaustion. But that
time has passed out of the miners life,
and what institution has done it? The
United Mine Workers Of America. It