The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-09-13
By SIEGFR1ED D. WEYER International News Service, Staff

(Copyright, 1921. by the International
 News Service7
 New York, Sept. 13.-The attempt ed March to Mingo, which result ed in bloodshed during recent weeks ard finally forced he Government to send troops into the ''battle zone, part of the union miners in West Vir- ginia- Twice before the latter have moved in force to spread the gospel of the right to Gz1a not nrn6a wnlon. gate by peaceful means because of the coal operators guard system.
 The worst warfare ragged in 1912 and 1913, which arose from the un- ] ion miners efforts to organize the Paint and Cabin Creek districts of Kanawka county. How comparative i be judged from the casualties in that bloody struggle eight yearss sago.
 Nearly TOO men were killed. of detectives and 200 deputy sheriffs and armed citizens opposing unioniSm.
 Since then the United Mine Work CTS Of America have made great head i way in organizing the West Virginia coal fields, but the richest of all that in Logan county - remains to j this day a thoroughly "open shop. It i is the bulwark of the coal operators i defended, as was seen recently, by an ] invincible army of anti-un1on men, ] private detectives, state troopers and i armed citizenss. A good many people
 
 ! supposedly "uninterested" citizens to i the coal operators and by the readi- i ness of hundreds of inhabitans who, i on the face of things, have no part in | the controversy between miners and | operators, to take up arms and risk i their lives in the battle against the i union men.
 The answer Is simple: Those citi- ! zeus are, for the most part, in lines of i trade or profession which are directly , CT indirectly dependent upon the coal +1,- DP ie /, sauxiliary army" are traders whose !; business has fiourished for years un- i der the open-shop rule They dread ! the union as spectre that vii! de { prive them of their prosperity. They ! dread. above all strikes, which, they fear, would paralyze trade and indus try in their sections.
 Situation Pregnant With Trouble
 Strikes, too, are the main bugaboo i of the operators in their determined [ last stand against unionism. It is the : workers unorgantzed, the operators ] are the dictators. With the union trt- i umphant in that richest of the coun- i trys "black diamond" field, the em- ] ployes would sooner or later be in a, i position to turn the tables and distate i to the employers
 | That is why the war has been call 1 ed dn these dispatches an Armaged- don between labor and capital It 1 may be proper to state at this june | ture that the purpose of these articles l is not to argue the right or wrong of l either side. but merely to set down i the fundamental facts and to give the background of the struggle. which is i destined, before it is settled, to play :. economic history of the United ! States, for the present military occu- patton is merely an armed truce. The Coal Operators association, ir submitted to the Senate committee l now investigating the Mingo troubles l set forth eight main points in SUD- l port of it's own case
 Briefly summarized, they are:
 First-That to recognize the unior in this. coal field would put the coa industry in this section at the mercy of it's competitive fields.
 Second-That it has been repeat 1 edly demonstrated that mine work CTS, when organized, frequently, fol thus interrupting the output of coa and thereby increasing the cost O production.
 Third-The production of coal. i all miners are organized in one union is put at the mercy of the officers O i such union.
 Fourth Strikes cause the failure O the producer to fulfill outstandin: 1 contracts, resulting in direct loss.
 Fffth-The United Mine Workers ot America is not a corporation, a part nership or 6 legally responsible enti ty Any contract made with it, o ! with any subdivision thereof. cou1t not be legally enforced, and no ade ] quate damages for a breach thereo
 Unionism DevitaIizing
 Sixth-The miner, working unde individual contract of his ow j making, has both the incentive | ] better his condition by efficient wor !: and the sense of responsibility unde his contract. while, once a member c i the union, he is made to feel that h , can do as he pleaSes, and the organi i zation will stand behind him, all ( which results in a lowering of the in 1 dividual standard of honesty and e1 1 fciency.
 l Seventh-Many mine workers ar ] definitely opposed to the union and q f not want to join it. Likewise, man t mine owners are opposed to it; and l union man pr the non-union man wit
 the rights of the other should not tolerated.
 Eghth-The policies and method l of the United Mine Workers of Anne,
 ica, being based upon force and vi' i lence, are unlawful and make dea
 ings with that organization imposs
 Obviously the most important these points are numbers 3 and s.
 all resolves itself to this:.. .. ..
 The coal operators will fight tool and nail to- prevent the balance their power slipping from them in the hands of the union. and the unic will fight with eqIp1 determinatic to complete it's conquering circle
 unionizing the district that holds u
 key to Americas coal industry
 The operators charge of force al
 vioIence'' is met by the miners cou
 ter-charge that the owners make
 utterly impossible to carry on peac
 full union agitation, which they clai
 as an inalienable right. recognized
 the courts and embodied hE tn
 powerful American labor body, t
 Federation of Labor. The mine
 aver that there isn't a chance of ev
 whispered word for the uni
 reaching the "open shop" workers
 long as the latter are surrounded
 an army of armed guards.
 seThe Barried'' Impregnable
 Tlnnn those armed guards is ce