The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-04-26

1 but the anti-union operators in
| West. Virginia have gone into court
and secured injunctions restrain
Ting the union from taking any and
/ all steps toward blishIng locals
| there. Government experts esti-
mated that the total production of
/ the independents in the strike
emergency might approximate 40
{ per cent of the country's coal re-
quirements, or at least 1000 600
tons a week.
1t is undoubtedly true that the
country would worry along on that
amount of coal, =.ementing the
reserve stocks -. nand April /.
for quite a period, especially in the
spring and summer when fuel
needs are lightest. This is the basis
of the claim of the Independents that
they are able to come to the rescue
of the public because they have
/ persisted in fighting the union.
| AS against this the union off
Gals contend that the Independents
will make the public pay dearly
for this coal, that the strike will be
unduly and unnecessarily pro
longed by reason of the fact that
all the mines in the country can
not be closed down and the issue
! between the operators and miners
brought to an immediate decision,
and that while the independent
mines may be a guarantee to the
] public against an absolute coal
| famine they are also the one big
obstacle in the road to permanent
peace in the coal industry.
Questions of Rights and Ethics.
No one denies the right of miners
to join a union. AS President
Harding said in his massage TO
congress on December s, last,
THE right of labor to organize is
, just as fundamental and necessary
as is the right of capital to organ
ize." Independent coal operators,
however, and some employers in
other lines, insist that while the
workers have a right to join their
, unions, employers have an equal
right to refuse to hire union mem
bers and to insist upon the indi-
vidual contract in which each man
agrees not to join the union or do
anything that might in any way
encourage or assist in the forma-
ton of a union so long as he con
tinues in the company's employ.
Union miners call these contracts
! yellow dog" contracts and insist
that these operators in carrying out
their anti-union program go to
such extremes as to invade the
constitutional rights of the workers
as to freedom OF speech and free
dom of assembly, but the operators
answer that they are only safe
guarding themselves and the unOr-
ganized workers in their constitu
tional right OF freedom of contract
1t remains tC be seen whether
the walls which the courts have
reared around the West Virginia
Independent fields are to be sur
mounted or battered down by the
union, but in the light OF past
events it is probable that unless the
union is completely destroyed il
will continue it's efforts to bring
unorganized miners into the union
ranks. That means a more or less
constant state of industrial war
fare, and is 'one of the inevitable
results of an industry part union
and part non-uniOn. With the
question of organization out Of the
way it is possible that both miners
and operators might direct their ex-
perience, intelligence and efforts
toward solving problems of produc-
ton and marketing to the end that
the public would get its coal cheap
err and more regularly, but there
are few present indications OF
trend in that direction
In England far more has been
done toward the elimination or
controversies over the question OF
unionization than has been done IN
the United States. When the Whit
ley scheme for industrial councils
was adopted as part OF Great
Britain's postwar reconstruction
program, it was agreed, according
to an official bulletin that the
councils would promote organize
ton by taking measures to secure
that all employers in an industry
belong to an employers association
and all the workers to q trade
union" This agreement was ef-
fected between employers and en-
pIoyed, with the government par
ticipating to protect the public in
terest- Such a movement toward
the closed union shop is in marked
contrast with the postwar develop
ments in the United States, where
important employing interests have
united in an open shop movement