The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-08-26
State Labor Secretary Advises
Kansas to Buy Coal Now.
Mines VIII Close When HOWat
Goes to Jail, He Says.
.RIDICULES INDUSTRIAL COURT
Taxpayers Face Digging of
"SI75 a Ton Dirt'' This Fall.
Miners VIII Be Pleased to Re-
ceive Higgins Advice(?)


Kansas State Federation of Labor, to-
day warned Kansans to buy their coal
earIy-the mines will close. he de-
clares, the day Alexander Howat goes
to jail. Neither will they be reopened
until Howat is released. Howe, who
is himself a miner. finds much home
ly comedy in the industrial courts re-
cent discussion of coal mine situations.
He urges Judges Huggins. McDermontt
and Crawford to come to visit Craw-
ford county and give the miners a lit
tie practical instruction.
Everything is peaceful in the coal
fields now" said Howe today. But
some people can't stand it," he sar-
castically remarked. He expressed
confidence the industrial court would
undertake to run the mines when they
close. And we are going to have the
taxpayers dig some more $175 a ton
dirt" Howe scoffed. For the day
they put Howat in Jail coal digging
will stop in Kansas and there won't
be any more coal dug until the day
they turn him out.
sit Pays to Advertise"
Henry will be telling the people of
other states about his court stopping
strikes and the Industrial court will
be busy putting the 1900 miners in
jail. We may also have a special ses-
sion of the legislature. 1t pays to
advertise
Howe expressed marvellous surprise
at the knowledge of coal mining
which Presiding Judge Higgins Sc
cured during his recent visit to the
coal fields. Discussing the courts
coal report he declared:
''Huggins said the miner doesn't use
skill. 1 am at a loss to know where
they get all their knowledge about
tunnelling and eXcavating around the
seams. The state is paying these
three wonderful men $1,000 a year
each. l don't know what they do
to earn their salaries. 1t would be a
wonderful help to the miners to know
how to tunnel and excavate around
the seams. The taxpayers of the state
ought to make these three wise men
put on overalls and go down into the
mines and teach the miners how to
dig coal s-
"Facts Not Bunc"
Get some real facts about a mine
and stop putting false bunc into the
newspapers. And incidentally Judge
McDernott is going to stop using
dynamite in the mines. That will only
increase the cost of coal SIS a ton to
the consumer"
Howe challenges the industrial
courts report to the effect that it
costs $3.50 a ton to produce coal in
the Pittsburg field He asserts that
the expense is $2.45 a ton. He places
the responsibility for high fuel costs
THE miners know you are paying
too much for COAL" he said, but they
don't like to go down into their hell
holes and take the chance on being
crushed to death mining coal for $1.25
ton and then see the head-workers
rob you and make you believe it is
the Miners
Higgins Scheme Not Practical
Howe said the Higgins scheme of
tunnelling was impra ctical
Where he wants a tunnel we make
what We call a horseback" he said.
These horsebacks are four to twenty
feet thick and the Kansas coal fields
are we'll supplied with them. A miner
will never go over forty feet without
striking horseback formation. In
some cases it has taken a miner six
days to cut a horseback of six feet and
he gets only $1.75 a foot or $1.75
day.
but here is the whole thing in a
nut shell. Every one of the horse
backs is full of gas and water. Now
what the miners cannot understand is
how some of the men who have
worked in mines forty years do not
understand how to put black powder
in the water found in these horsebacks
auG make it explode. But the miners
are greatly elated because these three
wise men say in their report of the
coal industry that they are going to
show the miners how to do it. OF
course, when they do this they can do
away with the use of dynamite if they
can find any miners crazy enough TO
fire black powder shots in faulty
works without electrical shot-fir -1S
devices"
Howe has been in Topeka much of
the time in the last few months. He
vas one of the legislative agents of
the mine workers union in Topeka
during the recent session of the legis-
lature He declared there was no
question but that the miners would lay
down their tools and quit work when
Howat went to Jail September s.