Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1914-11-26
TIE STRUGGLE
IN ARKANSAS.

r.
! But now we find ourselves in the
!. midst of struggle so spectacular thai
United States troops are stationed in
what is known as Hartford Valley and
with them have come coterie OF
magazine and newspaper writer's, in
Iclding the moving picture man and
his camera.
+ How. Trouble Started.
The direct beginning Of affairs
which led to the sending of the troops,
WAS Franklin Bache's violation of his
contract with the union, his Withdraw
al from the Southwestern Interstate
local Operators Association, which
embraces all the larger companies o.
1.-THE Southwest; and which does bust
mess with the miners union, and an
announcement that he would operate the
mines on an open shop basis.
This was only half surprise, f
WAS not the first such announcement
land attempt on the part of Bloche.
/ OF Czar-Iike disposition, he was al
ways in trouble with the union. On
the other hand. Bache stood high in
the councils of the Operators Associa-
| ton. He was one of committe Of
nine which in 1910 outlined the das-
hardly plot whereby five million dol
1 lars was contracted by the coal trust,
/ to destroy the United Mine Workers
in the Southwest.
/ On May 6, 1914, through drilling
rain, headed by a band, between tif-
teen hundred and two thousand people
marched to a school house near the
open shop mine, then in operation
Merchants, as well as unionists, adj.
dressed the gathering. Business
houses in the three nearest towns
were closed and their representatives,
| if not proprietOrs, in attendance at
| the meeting which was meant as an
orderly and peaceful protest agains,
the purpose of Bache. "A committee
was sent to the sup rintendent, per
mission secured to see the employees,
the promise Of the latter to unite with
the union forces gained, and amid
general rejoicing the crowd departed
But, through paid witnesses and by
virtue of the usual attitude OF federal
judges, Bache secured an injunction
restraining anyone from interfering
with the operation Of his mines, under
whatsoever conditions it pleased him
to operate. ss..-
Imports Private Guards.
Unsuccessful in his attempt to Sc
cure United States guards to enforce
the terms of the Injunction, Bache
Imported private guords-men OF the
lowest type. Feeling themselves Sc
cure in the protection of the court,
these men became brave. They parad-
ed the highways with their guns, in,
suited the wives and daughters of the
miners, shot into the homes of the
miners at night and pregnant women
were compelled to fee to nearby
towns fR protection.
There is limit to what men will
endure. Sometime the worm Will
kurn. The union men in the valley
compelled to live on So per week,
many of them with large families,
their homes threatened, their wieves
and daughters unsafe-rebelled The
result was the burning Of Bache's pro-
perties and the routing OF the gunner,
as related by ComradeI Debs.
Bache's next move was to bring suit
against the miners union and many
individuals, including local, district
! and national officers, for twice the
value of his property. He asks 1udg-
ment for 81 ESQ, 900 and the case will
tbe heard in Federal Court, in January,
1915, before judge intensely hostile
to the union. On the same day this
suit was filed the funds of the union
were seized. All the banks in Arkan-
sas which held union funds were gar
lnisheed, not excepting the old age pen
sion and sick funds. The suffering
tthis accustomed the sick. aged and
lhelpless among the miners has doubtt
Hess been very gratifying to Bache.
The company Of which Bache was
president was declared bankrupt and
Inc was appointed receiver became an
officer of the federal government. And
tthose who thereafter might interfere
lin any way with his maneuvers might
expect punishment for crime no lass
| than that Off conspiracy against the
government. All the liberty the min
ers of this district enjoy, all that
makes their hard and dangerous, lives
endurable, they owe to the union. And
mere we have the man who seeks to-
destroy that, who would reduce them
to the lowest level, an officer of the
government.
The Bache mines cannot be made
ready for operation for at least three
months. New buildings must be erect
ed. The mines are full Of water. New
machinery must be purchased and ex-
tensive repair work DONE. Open shop
operations cannot begin, much less
prove successful and be extended to
other fields, for several months. There
lis no immediate danger of the open
shop proving successful In Western
Arkansas. And this accounts for the
belief among many OF US that the
union men were not a party to the
lraid Of last week when the boarding
house in which were CHARTERED eleven
scabs and two United States marsnals,
VISA fred into. and the occupants LETT
yvhreurriedly.
Resourceful and Heartless-
Bache, clothed with the authority Of
Ia Federal officer, needed but one thing
,I-troops. He could get them, as has
eeb demonstrated, on the slightest
provocation. He is as resourceful as
he is heartless; as clever as he is das.
hardly. And It is not aecredfting him
with too much ingenuity to say that
the raid of last week was very likely
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