Arizona republican., 1920-12-06
GOAL q RIKE RS
 WILL CON I |NUE
 WEST VIRGINIA ALABAMA FIGHT I
[Republlcan A. p. Leased WIreI


 INDIANAPOLIS Dec. 5-The United Mine Workers of America plan to carry struggle with the coal operators of Alabama and Mingo county, West Vir- ginia, ito a finish" said a statement issued tonight by the union officials.
 According to the statement, the miners international board has adopt ed unanimously a declaration promis- ing tho Alabama and West Virginia miners, "the full moral and financial assistance of the international union"
 The text of the declaration as adopt ed by the board was made public. It criticises the West Virginia governor for calling out federal troops and as- serted that If he were thruthful to his oath of office he would disarm private detectives, who, it was said, are em- ployed by the operators. Regarding the Alabama situation, the declaration said 1t was questionable whether the people of Armenia, whose sufferings have shocked the world, were in any worse circumstances than the op- pressed mine workers of Alabama.
 The text of the declaration follows:
 The international executive board is impressed with the spirit of self-sac- rifice displayed by the mine workers of Alabama in their wonderful fight for the right to establish the principle of collective bargaining and compel rec ognition by the coal operators of rIle award of the United States bituminous coal commission. The 1000 men, women and children who are engaged in sthis struggle are suffering from the most intense persecution heaped upon them by the arrogant coal operators of that state. Every conceivable method has been used against incarceration from their homes, foreclosure upon their household and personal effects, ! false arrests and imprisonment pro- hibition of the right of assemblage. de- 1 nial of the statutory and constitutional | rights, unwarranted use of the state troops in the coal fields, denunciation by an unfaxorable press, and most malicious public campaign of misrep- resentation have all failed to break their dauntless spirit. It is indeed questionable whether the people of Ar menia, whose sufferings have shocked the world are in any worse cirCtm- stances than the oppressed mine work CTS of Alabama.
 Tn Mingo county, West Virginia, a
 struggle of equal importance is being
 waged The miners of that territory ! were locked out by tlSS,r employers because of their desire to organize and LnclE request LCE Lnt IEtOE iiAAibI VI
 collective bargaining. They have wageC a remarkable struggle against over whelming odds despite the innumerablC
 outrages inflicted by the private army
 of hired gunmen employed by the coa
 operators of that region. Many meI 7 have been shot in cold blood by thes' modern Hessians while in multi plicity of instances others have sui fered from brutal assaults upon thei j persons without having rerdess in tn |. law. The governor of that common ' wealth has utterly failed to give pro
 tection to these citizens and has dis
 played his shameful weakness by re gently calling for the use of fedora
 troops in the Mingo county stril1 field. Were he true to his oath o
 office, he would at once exercise tn ipower vested in his as governor c West Virginia and compel the COG
 companies to disarm the hundreds c
 gunmen employed by them who hay
 usurped the police powers of the com
 monwealth and exercise these power T in tho interest of the coal operator and contrary to the welfare of the cit
 zens of West Virginia.
 "The international executive boar t declares that these industrial strEF = gles in Alabama and West Virgini .s must be continued until the coal oper V Iators recognize the rights of their em n ployes. The principle of human right V recognized by the enlightened publ
 opinion of our country is at stak r There can be no compromise of tn Q principle The full moral and financi a assistance of the international unio = representing is membership of one -ha
 million mine workers will be place ,e behind the mine workers of Alabau e. and West Virginia in this fight"