The labor standard., 1919-10-01
LEWIS DECLARES
 MINERS STRIKE
 IS UNNECESSARY
Statement of John L. Lewis,
 President of United Mine Workers of America-''Mi-
 ners' Demands Simple Justice"

CLEVELAND - John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, has issued the following statement:
 "There is no necessity for a strike in the coal industry. The mine work CTS have no desire to inconvenience the public, halt industry and create stag mated business condition that would paralyze the nation.
 "What the mine workers desire, their demands being but an expres- sion of their hope, is to secure for their labor from the sale of the basic product. of the nation, upon which the wheels of all industry hinges, suffi- cient wage to enable themselves and families to win out in the game of liv- ing decently during these extraordi- nary times of high prices.
 Our demands of today, drastic as they may seem to those who have not kept pace with the times and pro- gressed with the advanced thought of the day, are based upon the same fun, damental principle that first caused men to bind themselves together in a trade union for a common purpose. And that, to elevate themselves to a plane of living, embracing the bless ings of an advanced civilization that by every reason should be theirs"
 "How is strike to be averted p Mr. Lewis was asked, "since the ope- rators have fatly stated that the de- mands formulated will not be acceded to-"
 ''If the operators are determined to force a strike," said Lewis, "then of course there will be nothing left for the miners to do except to use their only economic weapon, strike"
 "But," said Lewis, "the public should not condemn the miners for ex- ecuting their only alternative and happening"
 "The public in general is not famil- far with mining, as they are with other industries The citizen can pass the factory or workshop, store or rail road properties and there see the workers in action. a When an employe of any of these industries makes com plaint, the public has an understand ing of their employment. Not so with the miner, who is employed hundreds of thousands of feet underground in the dark pits of the earth. Few citi- zens who tread the surface understand the hazardous conditions surrounding his occupation.
 "The whole situation," said Lewis, "nnay be summed up briefly as fol- lows: The miners have never been paid an adequate wage for their labor consistent with the wages paid in other industries. ~......-..
 Isolated in remote sections, their living costs have always been consid- erably higher than that of the work CTS of the thickly populated cities and towns.
 "'Miners have been prevented from forcing the issue to secure an adequate wage by the steady inflow of immigra- tion and the over-development of coal fields, controlled by the largest com binations of capital in America in some instances. "'During the war, when shipyard workers, building trade workers and other lines of employees were receiv- ing weekly and monthly increases, the miners were held in check by the Fuel Administration from striking for in creased pay, thereby forfeiting their opportunity to secure an equitable wage such as fell to the good fortune of other tradesmen.
 "'The war is over The miners played their patriotic part in winning the war by breaking all production records with reduced mine forces. And now since these United States have successfully passed through the war period, they propose to secure the con- ditions of employment and wages to which they are entitled.
 "'But mind you, they will not at- tempt to commercialize their war per formance to gain these ideals.
 "'What they did in the war was from patriotic standpoint. Good Americans that they are, they stood by their country and do not now seek to cash in on dutiful performance. "'Again 1 repeat that strike is un- necessary. Every industry should charge for it's product a sufficient sum to pay it's employees decent wage. Conditions of employment under which this wage is earned should be in keeping with the times and by all means humane.
 elf the coal industry will grant such conditions, coal strike will be averted.
 "'The public should not be alarmed by strike talk. The miners are not seeking strike, but simple industrial justice, that's all.