Republican farmer., 1920-07-30
MINING FIGHT IN WEST VIRGINIA CROWS SERIOUS Question of Wages Takes
 Second Place In Bitter Struggle. Both Sides Insist
 on Complete Victory Recognition of Unions and Employment of Guards Cause of Trouble

Employment Of Guards
 Cause of Trouble
 Williamson, W. Va, July 2S.-The campaign of the United Mine Workers to organize the 5000 miners in the Mingo. county bituninous coal field has precipdtated situation which each side declares can only end when it has won complete victory. In the con- hicts growing out of this move 12 or more persons have lost their lives Wages, apparently, form a secondary consideration, the battle being >waged around recognition of the union and the right of mine owners to employ private detectives in and around the mines.
 "The men and the operators could get together and settle this thing were it not for the question of the mine guards said Charles F. Keeney, pres ident of District No. 1T, United Mine Workers, who is in command of the union forces But in their present temper these men are not to be fooled with. Right now this situation is a powder nnil1.''
 f"There is not mine guard in Mingo county, and there has not been for years,' said George Bausewine. secre- tary of the Coal Operators AssociaL- ton, of Williamson. 'Privtte detec- tives are employed as other corpora tionS employ detectives for intelligence work in and around their properties. They are not used for guarding the mines"
 The question of wages hinges on the scale paid in the Kanawha field. The union leaders declare that adoption of | this scale would increase the earnings of the miners in Mingo, while the -op- orators insist that their miners, under l the scale now in force, are being paid l more than it is possible for the Kan awha miners to earn. However, little attention is being paid to that phase | of the controversy. Recognition of the 1 union is the big issue.
 The Mingo field includes all of Mingo county and the mines along the Kentucky side of Tug river. shallow narrow stream which for mtles | in this region forms the boundary be- tween Kentucky and West Virginia. High mountains rise abruptly on each side of the river, their sides covered with a heavy growth of bushes Along the mountain sides are the drift mines from which comes the coal, and nest ling in the narrow valley are the little towns where live the miners and their families. J l Fully 75 per cent. of the miners iii the region are native borg many of them descendants of pioneers who en- tered the county more than 100 years ago, and who are proud of their lineage. Some foreign-born miners can be found in the camps, while numbers of negroes are employed. Often the miner owns a small acreage, for which in the planting and har-
 vesting, he will aba ndon the mines. In some places the miners live in
 brick cottages, each having it's garden
 plot and front porch. Such @ village Doy, a3rJEr
 miners were fired upon from the mountainside while going to work. In tother villages the houses are of frame construction, each set in it's own gar den plot, and for which the miners lpay at the rate of two dollars per month per room.
 Williamson, the center of the region.
 is pleasantly placed in the valley, with
 substantial buildings and good stores. The Mingo county court house Is one
 of the best structures, but the city hall also is a complete office building, while there is in course of construcdoA a
 theater which will cost $250, GOO The
 5000 residents of the town very gen.
 orally enjoy the prosperity which has
 come to the coal trade in the past few Vears.
 Early in the year the movement to
 organize the United Mine Workers
 was inaugurated by President Keeney
 
 ton, and organizers were sent into |Mingo county. They met with such
 success that a demand was made upon the operators for the enforcement ot the Kanawha scale and recognition o1 l the union. This demand the operators } refused, and the union called a strike The order, mine operators sayl waA answered by from 1,50O to 1.S00 miners but the union officials put the figure ) higher.
 The companies, through their law yers, took the position that the houses b1iFt for the miners who had gone on strike reverted at once to the owners ) The miners, in some instances, held t that if the companies wanted the house of a man they must obtain pos , session of it by due process of law. , Numbers of miners were evfoted 7 from company houses, and it was fol , lthat purpose private detectives, "n1ant guards" the miners term them, wers
 sent to Matewan, June. 19, and where in the fight which. followed the evic-
 ton of five families, 10 persons were killed.
 Many miners, however, moved fron \ company houses without protest, and / the United Mine Workers established flor such persons tent colonies alone [ Tug river near the places of their for. 3 mer employm lent. There the Strj1xerz f and their families live in army he1a4s
 and there they declare they will Stay luntil the strike has been settled and y they have returned to work : BRIEF NEWS NOTES