Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-08-27
YOUR WINTERS COAL

Have you taken thought of your win
ter's coal?
1t is still under ground awaiting the
activities of the men about the mines to
bring it to the surface, load it on the cars
and start it toward your bin.
The activities of the men at the mines,
here and elsewhere, have been suspended
by order of the United Mine Workers.
We profess to be nothing more than
spectators of what is going on in the coal
fields of Illinois and Kansas, but the pro-
ceedings there have such bearing upon our
condition in the Williamson field, that we
are constrained briefly to bring them to
notice.
The strikers there are under solemn
contract, guaranteed by the officers of
the United Mine Workers, to perform
certain service at a stated rate of wages
for given term of years. In spite of this
contract to which miners, operators and
the government of the United States were
parties, the miners, under sanction and
protection of the United Mine Workers,
laid down their tools and quit their work.
So fragrant was the violation of
contract in Illinois that the President of
the United States when asked to provide
a way of settlement, rebuked the United
Mine Workers organization for it's re-
peated violations of contract. He said:
at is with feeling of profound regret and
sorrow that l learned that many Of the men,
bers of your organization, particularly in the
state of Illinois, have engaged in a strike in
violation of the award of the bituminous coal
commission, and your agreement with the gov
eminent that the findings of the commission
would be accepted by you as final and binding.
I am distressed not only because your action in
refusing to mine coal upon the terms which you
had accepted may result in great suffering in
many households during the coming winter
and interfere with the continuation of indus
trid and agricultural activity, which is the
basis of the prosperity which you in common
with the balance of people have been
joying, but also and what is of far more i'm
portance, because the violation of the terms Of
your solemn obligation impairs your good name,
destroys the confidence which is the basis of
all mutual agreements and threatens the very
foundation of fair industrial relations. No gov
ernment, no employer, person having any
reputation to protect can afford to enter into
contractual relations with any organization which
systematically or repeatedly violates its
tracts"
In Kansas, the contention has not been
for higher wages, as in Illinois, but for
the acceptance of a five-day week and
six-hour day.
The contract in Kansas provides that
"pending final settlement of any dis
pute the mine shall continue in operation
and all miners, mine laborers and parties
involved shall remain at work, except dis
charged employees"
The interest of the Williamson field
operators in these strikes, as well as the
705 other strikes called and maintained
by the miners in Kansas during forty
five months, is the evidence that the
United Mine Workers do not keep their
contracts. This fact has been observed
by us, just the same as by the President
of the United States, who made it the
subject of stinging rebuke.
The cessation of work in the William
son coal field is due to a contest over the
organization of this field by the United
Mine Workers.
The Williamson field operators find
themselves influenced by many valid OBJ
iections to the control of the miners of
this field by the United Mine Workers.
We might, safely and easily, rest our
case with the public upon the charge
lodged by the President of the United
States and justified by multitude of cir
cumstances that they do not value and
enforce the contracts that they made No
business concern will, voluntarily, or un-
der pressure that it can avoid, accept
contracts not safeguarded by reliability
and good faith