The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-07-28
EACH SIDE ASKS
VICTORY ENTIRELY
Operators and Coal Miners in West
Virginia are Waging a Bit
ter Contest
ASSOCIATED Pressn

Mlngo county bituminous coal field
has precipitated a situation which
each side declared can only end when
it has won complete victory. In the
conflicts growing out of this move II
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
gel together and, settle this thing
were it not for the question of the
mine guards" said Charles F. Keeney,
president of the District No. II, Unit
ed 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 sit
uation is powder mill"
There is not mine guard In Min
go county, and there has not been for
years." said George Bausewine, sec
retary of the Coal Operators Asso-
citation, of Williamson. Private de-
tectives are employed as other cor
polations employ detectives for intel
ligence 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 adop-
tion of this scale would increase the
earnings of the miners In Mingo,
while the operators insist that their
miners, under the scale now in force,
are being paid more than it is possi-
bic for the Kanawha miners to earn.
However. little attention is being paid
to that phase of the controversy. Rec
ognition of the union is the big issue.
The Mingo field includes all Of
Mingo county and the mines along
the Kentucky side of the Tug river,
shallow, narrow stream which for
miles in this region forms the boun-
dary between Kentucky and West
Virginia. High mountains rise alb
ruptly on each side of the river, their
sides covered with heavy growth of
bushes. Along the mountain sides
are the drift mines from which comes
the coal, and nesting in the narrow
valley are the little towns where live
the miners and their families.
Fully Is per cent of the miners IN
the region are native born, many of
them the descendants of pioneers who
entered 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 small acreage
for which in the planting and harvest
ing he will abandon the mines.
In some places the miners live in
brick cottages, each having its gar
den plot and front porch. Such a vii
lage is Bordertown, where early this
month miners were fired upon from
the mountainside while going to work.
In other villages the houses are of
frame construction, each set in it's
own garden plot, and for which the
miners pay at the rate of 50 per
month per room.
Williamson, the center of the re-
gion, is pleasantly placed in the val
ley, with substantial buildings and
good stores. The Mingo county court
house is one of the best structures,
but the city hall also is & complete
of1ce building, while there is in course
of construction theater which viii
cost S250.000. The 5000 residents of
the town very generally enjoy the
prosperity which has come to the coal
trade in the past few years.
Early in the year the movement to
organize the United Mine Workers
was inaugurated by President Keeney
from district headquarters at Char
lesion, and organizers were sent into
Mingo county. They met with such
success that demand was made upon
| the operators for the enforcement of
the Kanawha scale and recognition Of
the union. This demand the operators
refused, and the union called a strike.
The order, mine operators say, was
answered by from 1900 to 1900 min
ers, but the union officials put the
figure higher.
The companies, through their law
yers, took the position that the houses
built for the miners who had gone on
strike reverted at once to the owners.
The miners, in some instances,
held that If the companies wanted the
house of man they must obtain pos
session of it by due process of law.
| Numbers of miners were evicted
from company houses, and it was for
that purpose private detectives, or
"nline guards as the miners term
them, were sent to Matewan, June 70,
and where in the fight which followed
the eviction of FIVE families. 10 per-
sons were killed.
Many miners, however, moved from
company houses without protest. and