Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-04-30
The HQSkin Letter 81 , : 2sss=
THE PROBLEM OF COAL UNIONS
try's coal requirements, or at least
1000, 900 IONS q week.

/ try's coal requirements, or at least
100000 tons a week.
1t is undoubtedly true that the coun-
try could worry along en- that amount
of coal, supplementing the reserve
stocks on hand April 1. for quite a
period, especially in the spring and
summer when fuel needs are lightest.
This is the basis of the claim of the in
dependents that they are able to come
to the rescue of the public because they
have persisted il fighting the union.
As against this the union officials
contend that the Independents will
make the public pay dearly for this
coal, that the strike will be unduly and
unnecessarily prolonged by reason of
the fact that all the mines in the coun-
try cannot be closed down and the is
, sue between the operators and miners
brought to an immediate decision. and
that while the independent mines NAV
be a guarantee to the public against an
absolute coal famine they are also the
one big obstacle in the road to perma-
tent peace in the coal industry.
Questions of Rights and Ethics .
No one denies the right of miners to
join q union. AS President Harding
said in his message to congress on De-
cember 6 last, The right of labor to
organize is just as fundamental and
necessary as is the right of capital to
organize Independent coal operat-
ors, however. and some employers in
other lines. insist that while the work
ers have a right to join their unions,
employers have an equal right to re-
fuse to hire union members and to in
sist upon THE individual contract in
which each mar 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 continues
in the company's employ. Union min
ers call these contracts yellow dog
contracts and insist that these operat-
ors in carrying out their anti-union
program go TO such extremes as to in
wade the constitutional rights of the
workers as to freedom of speech and
freedom of assembly. but the operators
answer that they are only safeguarding
themselves and the u~norganized work
ers in their constitutional right of free
dom of contract.
II remains to be seen whether the
walls which the courts have reared
around the West Virginia independent
fields are to be surnountcd or battered
down by the union. but in the light of
past events it is probable that unless
the union is completely destroyed it
will continue its efforts to bring unor-
ganized miners into the union ranks.
That means a more or less constant
state of industrial warfare, 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 expert
ence, intelligence and efforts toward
solving problems of production and
marketing TO the end that the public
would get its coal cheaper and more
regularly, but there are few present
indications of a trend in that direction.
In England far more has been done
toward the elimination of controversies
over the question of unionization than
has been done in the United States. |
When the Whitley scheme for indus |
trial councils was adopted as q part Of
Great Britain's postwar reconstruc- !
ton program it was agreed. according
to an official bulletin, that the coun-
els would promote organization by
taking measure TO secure that all en-
ployers in an industry belonged to an
employers association and all the
workers TO a trade union" This agree
meut was effected between EMPLOYERS |.
and employed, with the government
to protect the public in
terest. Such q movement toward the
closed union shop is in marked con
traSt with the postwar Developments /
in the United States. where important
interests have united in an
open shop movement.