The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1921-06-23

WIS responsible for circulating the
reports and causing the uprising.
the union Officials would not co-
operate or shed any light on st. 4
they had any light
VIC hope Nh Reeney win bs ntle
70 find out the guilty rsrtss tiis
time and bring them To tustfc fof
Il is not Of much credit to the stata
% have thousands Of miners ann
themselves and start out on such
expeditions TO avenge the supposed
murder Of union officials when no
such murders have occurred. The
state Of West Virginia has got 10
get away from that kind OF govern.
ment and attempt at government.
Sooner or later there will come a
clash between such armed expe-
dition on the one hand and civil, Q.
military officers on the other, which
will yield such roll OF human
lives as to stagger the 1tate and
country.
An this leads to the inquiry: Why
Is 1t that the miners in those com.
munities are so credulous as to al
low themselves to be deceived by
such maliciously false rumors Of in
jury to thier union officials, time
after time? They were deceived
and imposed upon ia September,
1919, In exactly the same way. The
writer can see now IN his imagi.
nation, the distressed countenance
OF a miner past middle.age. who
peered into our facas IN fine No.
light UP on Lewis creek T..
tain September night with
flung across his shoulder, as :,
asked: "ls II true they are murder
ing women and children over in
Logan county," He had evidently
been told that. He had been told
that Secretary Mooney had been
murdered over there, SO he threw
down his pick, took up his gun and
with thousands OF his associates who
had heard the same thing, was all
heading for Logan county to clean
up the non-union crowd. In the
mean time the men in Logan were
working away blissfully ignorant of
what was going on across the noun
tatns. forty miles away.
The trouble is not so much in
the fact that lies Of the character
mentioned are set afloat. Rumors
and falsehoods are OF ancient line
age. 1t will be a long time before
the world Is freed from the liar and
the rlmormonger. But most peo-
pie don't grab gun when they hear
IN unverified rumor that annoys
them. The trouble is deeper-seat-
ed. : It is the state OF mind OF the
men who do that on frequent occa-
sions and that state Of mind is due
to the inflammatory and incendiary
utterances that ar epoured out to
them year in and year out.
The Writer knows some OF those
men, quite a few of them. They
think they are doing the right thing
They regard themselves as cruesad
ers, ,as defenders Of liberty and Of
the right to Join a labor organiza.
ton. But they have heard so much
and so often speeches Of threats
and Of violence that they do not
think OF invoking the law but rath-,
er OF fighting the thing OUT
The state has a responsibility and
the people of the state a duty that
OF educating people away from such
primitive and savage methods, for 1t
can only be settled by education
and christianization. Force must
be met by force but clashes OF arm.
ed men aud the splitting OF blood
will not settle these problems only
aggravate them. The right of free
speech must not be carried to the
point OF melting instructions and
civil war.
BY all means find out who starts
these uprisings and punish the gull.
ty, but Mr.. Keeney and his associ-
ate officers coul DIDO much more by
counseling moderation on the part
OF their followers and by allaying
the suspicion and distrust that ex-
lists among them even though they
may feel it is justified in whole or
in part.