Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1919-11-13
men Who DIDN'T
FIGHT, QUIT WORK
RECORDS SHOW ONLY FIVE PER
CENT OF MINERS WERE IN
THE WORLD WAR

smoke fires from the leaves for sig
nails | was to gather all the
leaves for my fire and Fred was to
get some matches to light it with be-
cause mother put ours away where
/ couldn't find them. When | was
ready l told Fred to bring the
matches and he. said he wouldn't
bring the matches until | gave him
enough leaves for his smoke fire.
So won't you let me have a match,
Uncle Ted?"
Erred has sort of gone on strike
hasn't he Jack?" answered his uncle
with big, broad smile. Now I'll
tell you, Jack, the wind is blowing
so hard that I'm afraid ii is bit
dangerous for little boys to be play
ing with bonfires. Suppose you get
your sister and we will go in the
house and sit in front of the big
fireplace while | tell you a story.
How's that?"
"That'll be. fine." said Jack as he
pulled Uncle Ted by the sleeve in
hurry to get in the house.
After the trio were seated by the
fire, which was cracking and sput-
tering, Uncle Ted said:
LdoI Wcth L tOIu you SOluttuluB
about the strikes which are going
on in our country and how Germany
may get ahead of us IL We don't all
get to work and produce just as
much as we possibly can. Now I
am going to tell you something
about the men who are striking, who
during the war didn't have to go
and fight because the government
felt their work was almost as i'm
portant as fighting. You see, chill
dren, the coal miners have quit
work and our country may have to
go without coal in a short time IL
they don't go back to work. II we
don't have coal, we can't run our
trains, and IL we can't run our
trains we can't ship food. So it is
a very serious matter. President
Wilson told the miners that their
act in striking was unlawful and
our congress in Washington has said
the same. 1t has been necessary to
bring about almost military law in
the various coal regions. That Is,
the government is keeping soldiers
at the places to see that the property
and lives Of the people are protect
ed from any acts of violence"
"How many of these strikers are
there?" asked Jack.
Before I answer that Jack, you
must know that besides the miners
who are on strike the railroad men
also threaten to strike. In these
two classes there are about 1,000,-
900 men. The point Is that these
million men during the war were
rrnfnafnd w hA
going to fight and received the best
pay that had ever been given. In
contrast to that the other millions
of men were at the front in France
fighting. risking lives and receiving
$50 month. Our congress is de-
termined that the selfish interest of
this one million men shall not come
before the interest of the other 49,
900, 900. The records OF these men,
who are now lighting for higher
pay, which leaders in congress have
been investigating, show that they
are the very ones who received the
highest pay during the war and
fought at home. Even though the
government said their work here
during the war was important, there
were other classes Just as import
ant but who are now loyal and
working and producing. The farm
ers who produce our food are the
best example of this.
General Crowder, who had
charge OF the work of selecting the
men for military service during the
war has records which show the
number of coal mine operatives and
railroad men. There were 706,012
coal mine operatives of all ages and
$4,000 engineers, fremen, brake
men and conductors. This makes
the total of 100000 who are at
tempting to stop all industry by
striking while we have In contrast
to that 43,206,912 men in all kinds
of work. Then there is another
class, the men who work in the steel
mills. These men have been strik-
ing, as told you last week. The
men in this work are mostly for
eigners. A great number of these
they were aliens. That is they were
citizens of other countries. Some
of them had their first citizenship pa
pers which would have later made
them citizens of the United States. A
rule was made that the aliens who
had taken out their first papers were
liable to be called for service in the
United States army. so lot of them
withdrew their papers so as to be
sure they wouldn't have to fight.
Then they could go right on working
and earnig their high wages and at
the same time be safe at home, far
from the fighting front. The same
thing is about true of the coal
miners. A large number of them
are foreigners who send most of
their money back home"
81 don't think IL is fair of these
men to stop work and put our
country in danger when they were
so well protected during the war"
said Jack.
1T is very wrong. Jack" answer
ed his uncle. ''It is wrong wheth-
er their work was important or not
during the war because of the unset
tied conditions of our country now.
We must have coal and our trains
must be run, or we will be in a much
worse condition than we were during
the war. II is certainly not fair
for these men to endanger the lives
of the people. especially when you
learn that out of the $4,000 bitum-
nous coal miners only s percent
were taken into the service under
the draft law, and that the percent
age of those taken from the various
branches Of railroad employees was
In most cases even less. In other
words, very few of the coal miners at
least actually helped to fight the war
with Germany. And 1t seems hard
to understand why the miners are