The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-18
REPORTS YESTERDAY
INDICATED INCREASE
IN MINERS WORKING
Still Denying Positions to
Some Men Who Return.
Mine Workers Secre-
tary Wires Palmer

they belong to the union.
| According to statements made by some
J of the operatois they are re-employing
the strikers wherever there is a vacancy
in their mines except when the person
applying is a known agitator or trouble
maker. These. they say, they viii not
employ again.
Reports from Ribb county and parts
of Tuscaloosa county yesterday stated
| that very few OF the union men had Of
fered to return TO work. the mines in these
| counties still being closed down or run
ming with short forces.
| The Spsey mine in Walker county
operated by tho DeBardeleben Coal com
/ pany, turned out oven 500 tons of coal
last Saturday, the largest tonnage, with
| the exception CT the first day of the
! strike, en- a Saturday in several years
| 1t was pay day also at the mine, ana
usually the output is very small on suea
occasions. The output at the Payne
| Bend mine, also operated by the De-
Bardelehen Coal company, was over Ut
| tons last Saturday, which is larger THAI
usual on the last day of the week.
TELEGRAM TO PALMER
| j. l. Clemo, secretary treasurer OF Dis
| trict No. 20, United Mine Workers, ast
| night sent tet gram to Attorney General
| Palmer denying that production in the
| Oh I'D III UlStilCl ltit llIol MtSh VI thi~
strike was 10 per cent of normal, as
claimed by the operators in their telegram
of last Saturday to the attorney genera.
He also denies that the men who nave
| been refused tleir old jobs are agitators
and interlopers His telegram follows:
Birmingham, Ala, Nov. IL, 1919
| Hon. A. Mitchell Palmer. Attorney
| General, Washington D. c.
Telegram sent you Saturday by
l Il IOo1 ifle.nn A a b3
Coal Operators association, claims 50
| per cent production for first week Of
strike. The weekly report of coal pro-
| duction in Alabama published in Mo-
vember l issue of the Alabama Coal
| Operator for the week ending october
| 25. gives 334,329 tons. Issue of Noveh-
| Der reports 2e1,9s1 tons for the week
| ending November /, which includes
one day of the strike and was really
| only 8. five days production.
Issue of November 10 reports H.
Gil tons for the first week of the strike
ending November S. Contributing to
this production are fvesconyict mines
working 1887 men, operating full Gag
pacity, and which would produce APP
proxmately st, 900 tons of that amount
"On Friday, october 81, the last day
worked before the strike, thousands of
tons of coal were left in the mines and
loaded during the first week of the
strike and is naturally included in this
report of production for that week. 1t
doesn't take a close observer TO see
| that this is rot SO per cent produc-
ton as claimed by the operators. 2
Tine telegram claims that the men
refused work or turned back by the
operators are agitators. interlopers AMI
disruptionists. We assert that these
men are law abiding and patriotic.
These men are among those who did
the most for the country during the
war in accomplishing record coai
| production ara urging the miners to
their utmost capacity of production,
and during those days the operators
did not hesitate to praise these very
men for the wonderful work they had
performed IN getting greater pre-
duction than ever before
ARE NOT INTERLOPERS
1T would seem very strange, II.
after the armistce, was signed their
fidelity to the government and their
patriotism should cease. A large ma
jority of these men have been em-
ployed by the companies for number
of years and could hardly be called
interlopers. These men are looked up
to by the rank and file as their lead
ers Ii they are forced to leave. then
the companies would be at liberty to
force any conditions upon the men
without any one raising a shand or
voice to protect them.
1.-THE telegram claims that these men
in many instances are demanding the.
discharge OF those who remained at
work We deny this. L do not know OF
one instances where the discharge of
any man has been demanded. There is
work enough for all and our men, ask
only to be reinstated to their former
positions and they feel that the gov
ernment is obligated to force the OPP
orators to resume pre-strike conditions T
just as the government forced the
miners to abandon their winning fight
and resume their work as before.
~. l.. CLEMO,
Secretary Treasurer District No. 20
United Nine Workers of Amer;
George Hargrove, International gan
izer, yesterday gave out the following
statement in reply to the telegram of
the operators:
THE Coal Operators association OF
Alabama, through their secretary. J. l.
Davidson, have seen fit to send the At
torney General Of the United States a
lengthy telegram couched in fine Ian
guage and misleading terms, purporting
to inform the Attorney General of the
facts in regard to hundreds of their
former employees who are idle by reason
of the coal companies refusing>to allow
them to return to work. They say they
are accused of restricting production.
Who is accusing them? Attorney General
Palmer said in a telegram which has ,ap-
peared in all the Birmingham papers that
he would take prompt action against any
operators who adopt such methods to re-
strict production.
REASON FOR RESTRICTION
ssThere is no question but that produc-
t;on is being restricted by reason of this