Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-11-01
j. S. 70 PUSH
Mine CASE TO
s FINISH FIGHT
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whore the coal miners are most
numerous, hs II found enforcing
the law against the very men he has
50 often defended. Again and again
while . leader In congress, Mr..
Palmer fought against the abuse Of
the Injunction power in labor dis
putes. But he has unhesitatingly
erfpped the reins in the present
controversy and while he insists
that the. general right to strike 10
not impaired and that this 10 q
particular situation affecting . war
time law, nevertheless many Of his
friends pointed out today that he
was mAnfully facing the situation
regardless OF the direction which
his 6rs must take. Similarly an.
other member Of the cabinet-Wil-
liam B. Wilson, himself q coal min
or and . Pennsylvania, appointed
to the cabinet as secretary OF Ia
bor after u term Of service - an
onlcial Of the miners union--is now
In an unhappy position as he, too,
Is . party to the enforcement OF the
govarnmsnt' position against his
ON friends and former associates.
But the secretary Of labor has not
WINGED and one gets the impression
that throughout the negotiations
which he struggled to conduct With
the miners and operators, be found
the position Of the coal miners I'M
reasonable. -
Thus it IL largely . question Of
the wisdom or unwisdom OF the
men In control OF the miners.
Believe Il Internal Fight.
The fact that they dared not sub
init the matter Of strike to
referendum vote but stood pat en-
the action Of their convention even
though later ON reQuosis had come
from the government itself put
ting new phases into the situation
Econvinces most people here that the
Noders we're fearful OF their Cwn
prestige In the ranks Of the ln'ners
and that they are now desperately
stalking all on the Issue Of Q sue
cessful strike.
There are those who believe on
the other hand that the strike lead
crs are preparing ultimately to
square themselves with their men
on the ground that the government
used all its power to defeat the
strike and that the blame could not
therefore fall on the strike leaders.
Internal politics in the miners
union has much to do with the Stub
born insistencs Of the leaders to
carry out the strike.
Conservatives Fearful.
But conservative leaders In other
unions are fearful Of the conse-
Quences. A strike OF such magni-
tude - the coal strike. they think,
may have. such an adverse effect on
the labor movement that the whole
country may begin swinging back
toward positions adopted long ago
Ia reaction OF the most far-reach-
Ing character. The more radical
labor leaders welcome the tight and
are hopeful that they can enlist Ia
Dor organizations generally In
sympathetic action. But the gov
ernmeht IL not inundated by any
such intimidations. Confidence
prevails throughout the executive
branch Of the government that the
right thing has been done in decid-
ing to light the coal strike to . nm
ish. The legislative branch Of the
government has expressed . con-
currsnt view and happily there IL
no suspicion that party politics will
enter into the controversy for
usually the Democrats were the
Qb1S accused Of stimulating the Ia:
S6or leaders and today both Demo-
Gratis and Republicans are united
on the proposal to use the power
Of the courts and the military II
necessary to protect those who
wish to continue working and to
limit the activities OF those who
are seeking 70 keep men from
working.
Briefly. ohicial Washington is
most Overwhelmingly against the
attitude taken by the coal miners
leaders. Rarely has such unanim-
ity been witnessed. The feeling
10 that while there may be legal
merit In the miners contention that
for one purpose the war 10 declared
ended and that for another purpose
It 10 not. the fact remains that ir-
respective Of the points in the con-
>Atroversy itself. the miners have re-
1eed to sit down at . table and
tSflk things over and at the same
time withdraw or postpone their
strike order. When the working
men finally get all the truth about
what happened in Washington In
the efforts to settle the strike. they
will learn that a fundamental err
ror was made by their leaders in
rejecting Secretary Wilson's frst
proposal and later on the sugges-
tons made by President Wilson
himself. The operators expressed
q willingness to negotiate and
even arbitrate but they, too, con-
tended that the strike order must
be rescinded as Otherwise they
would be compelled to 60 in con-
ference with q virtual ultimatum
requiring agreement within the
few days preceding Nov. !.
Refusal to extend the time for
the calling Of the strike to give
sufficient time to negotiate has i'm
pressed the government as unrea-
sonable and that circumstance az