Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-07-31
PRESIDENT WILSON
 APPEALS TO MINERS
 TO RETURN 10 WORK
Promises to Make Effort tO Obtain Adjustment of
 Scale
INEQUALITIES MAY
 EXIST, WILSON SAYS
Declares, However, He Can Promise No Correction Until the Work. CTS Return--Addresses His
 Appeal to the Union


 Washington, July 30.-President Wilson, through the United Mine Workers of America, tonight appeal ed to striking mine iaborers in illi- |nois and Indiana to return to work.
 Inequalities in the existing wage !scale-held by the strike leaders to be the cause of the walk out which closed most of the bituminous mines in the two states, may exist, the iprcsident said. He added that he could not recommend correction of Iany inequalities until the strikers re- turned to their jobs, but that when they did, he would invite the joint scale committee of operators and min- CTS to meet for the purpose of ad- iiustng any such inequalities. The president telegraphed his appeal to the United Mine Workers of Am erica, after he had studied a report on the coal situation submitted by Secretary of Labor Wilson.
 Reports of strikes of mine labor- CTS, particularly in Illinois, the pres- ident said, had been received by him with feeling of regret and sor- row." He declared that he was dis tressed not only because of the fail- ure to mine coal in accordance with the terms of the existing contract would result in suffering during the coming winter, but also because "the violation of the terms of your sol- emn obligation impairs your good name, destroys the confidence which is the basis of all mutual agreement and threatens the very foundation of fair industrial relations"
 Pointing out that the United Mine Workers constituted the largest sim gle labor organization in the world, the president said, "no organization E could long endure that sets up it's own strength as being superior to it's lplighted faith or it's duty to society at large"
 The presidents telegram follows: {
 "It is with a feeling of profound re- gret and sorrow that have learned that many of the members Of your organization, particularly in the state of Illinois, have engaged in 2 strike ! in violation of the terms of the award of the bituminous coal cops mittee and your agreement with tho government that the findings of th commission would be accepted by N1G$ as final and binding. I am distresSed }; not only because your action, in fe- fusing to mine coal upon the terms (which you had accepted, may result in great sufferings in many house- holds during the coming winter and interfere with the continuation of < industrial and agricultural activity which is the basis of the prosperity which you in common with the bal- ance of our people have been enjoy ing, but also and what is of far more importance, because the violation Of the terms of your solemn obligation impairs your good name, destroys the confidence which is the basin of all mutual agreement, and threatens tho very foundation of fair industrial re- tfatieas-- No government, no employer. no person having any reputation to protect can afford to enter into c6Il- tractual relation with any organiSa-s tion which systematically or repeat- edly violates it's contracts.
 Must Return to Work.
 "The United Mine Workers of Am erica is the largest single labor q. ganization in the United sStates HI not in the world, but no organization can long endure that sets up it's own strength as being superior to its plighted faith or it's duty to society at large. It has in the past built up an enviable reputation for abiding hy it's contracts. which has been one of it's most valuable assets in making wage agreements. It may now make temporary gains by taking advant- age of the dire necessities of tho bal-s ance of the people through the vio- lation of these contracts, but what Of the future? How can it expect waGa contracts with the employers to De continued, in the face of such viola- tions, when normal conditions have been restored and the country is free from the immediate shortage of c0alf How will it be able to resist the claims of the operators in the fass
 
 ture to take advantage of the prece- dent which the miners have estak llished and decrease wage rates in q S middle of wage contract undar t lplea that they are unable to sell tk9S coal at the then existing e0st of prd4 duction? A mere statement of theSe questions ought to be sufficient t6S awaken the mine workers to the dall Igerous course they are pursuing alik the injuries they are inflicting ur1i themselves and the country at la1 by the adoption of these unWaYxan} led strike policies. ssIssI l "In the consideration of tho IT || lwide wage scale, involving ma1y s lferent classes of labor h4AttS s minous coal commission in tha time at it's disposal son4 ;. ties may have developed inut
 that ought to be eorreetsd Centinued ~ peQa z