The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-09
PUBLIC INTEREST
 SUPREME IN SPITE
 OF THE AG|TATORS
Eugene l.. Brown Analy zes Coal Strike and Its Re- latiOn to General
 Situation

Before and since the armistice the people of America have been in a state of uncertainty and unrest" said Eugene L. Brown yesterday. 'Indivi- dual and family extravagance have been the rule, rather than the excep- tion. We have seemed to feel that the world owed us living of luxury, and that work and economy had no part in our scheme of existence. Class prejud- ice and class dominance two sources of national decadence, have apparently been the sole aim of considerable element of our people.
 This has been time unusually suited to the efforts and ambitions of the natural and professional agitator. and day, he has piled his trade. Stirred by the unusual and abnormal condi- tipns brought forth by the great war the sound common sense, discriminat- ing judgment and innate fairness and honesty of our people as a whole seem yet to be quietly and helplessly sleep ing.
 Tt is not my purpose to attribute to any one class the present situation. To my mind, we are all in some way guilty. Some of us have seen nothing, 1 felt nothing in the last few years OK l blood and sacrifice, but sickening and mad desire to accumulate and dis sipate wealth.
 Some of us, drunk with temporary authority and power. are now bending every effort to perpetuate and enlarge it. Bewildered by conditions, abnormal and oppressive. that great middle class, which comprises the bulk of our popu- lation-allied to neither labor or capi- tal--struggles on blindly and helpless ly, groping for some way which will lead to better and brighter time. That away should and can be found. when 1 this great class recognizes it's own | power and realizes that 1t is the pub | lie, and that before it's settled will ev- | cry class must bow.
 During the great war, when the profiteer was reaping his harvest, and l union labor was dictating its pay and 1 hours even to the government itself, 1 this great class, without murmur or | protest, was paying the profiteer and
 
 burdens and giving to the county freely. the blood and lives of it's sons and brothers.
 Now that the war is over. these sacrifices cannot be demanded and should not be given, for in this hour 1 the interests and welfare of the public l are supreme.
 Human nature has not been essen | tially or permanently changed The great body of people are still l honest fair and courageous. Blinded and bewildered they have been. by strange doctrines of greed and the selfish and ruthless exercise of tenn porary authority and power.
 l "Profiteers have unblushingly robbed 1 them; politicians have blastantly lied to them and union labor. dominated by ambitious and unscruplous agita' 1 tors, have made them stand and de | liver When thorough awakening 1 comes. as it is fast coming, selfish | profiteering union labor agitators and | the kindred ills which follow and feed 1 upon them will quickly and surely l disappear, and human contact and ac- ton will swing back to a sounder and 1 saner basis.
 | ITO me unwise, selfish and person | ally ambitious leadership exercised | over any class of our people is perhaps | the most dangerous and stubborn o1 our problems.
 "In this district, as winter approach | es we now have coal strike, whicf l fear is more serious than we suspect 1 understand that wages and workins l conditions are not involved, and tha' l contracts made in good faith have beer | wilfuuy broken. Production of a com
 modity. on which our comfort ant
 prosperity largely depend, has been se l rously curtailed. in order to force tho
 coal operators of this district. not only
 to recognize the union but to place | themselves and property under th'
 dangerous control of union labor lead
 CTS, whose manifest object is not th'
 welfare of the men in their organiza | tions. but the qualification of an in
 sane lust for power. which had it'
 birth amidst the travail of a worlt
 conflict and is now seeking growth ant
 strength through the sacrifice an'
 privations of timid end frightened
 public.
 "In this controversy the facts seen
 clear This strike is only one of man, l throughout the country in which th l ouestion of union labor domination
 and the control of the public and tn
 government itself is at stake. For ths
 past few years, both the public ant
 the government have meekly suomit
 ted to it's temporary authority, and l
 now proposes to make it permanent
 We. as the public, are called upon L
 sit in judgment and upon our decision
 the future happiness, comfort and pro 1 sperity of the nation depends.
 l Nationally the one important ques
 +;on to be decided is whether unio i Iabor leaders or the people themselye . shall control this great country. am
 in this district. whether the closed Q
 open shop shall prevail. One way lead
 to peace and prosperity; the other lead
 n unrest. bitterness and stagnation.
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