The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-05-27
Frederick Haskin's Letter
tspeasl o
STATUS OF THE COAL STRIKE.
tspedal Correspondence Of


ended before action can be taken
to bring that about. In this case
there can be no such thing as lock
ing the barn before the horse is
| stolen, or, to change the figure, the
| fire must be permitted to get under
such Roadway as to be actually de-
structive before the fire depart
ment can be called out and put TO
work
BY the time this essential pub
| lie sentiment has been aroused all
questions are to the merit or jus
tice of the stand taken by the min
ers or their employers will have
been lost sight of. The public will
not care which side is right on the
numerous issues in dispute. All it
will be interested in will be in get
ting a normal supply of coal under
approximately normal conditions
and prices. The inevitable result
of this, according to economists
and industrial experts, will be a
settlement that is in the main a
compromise, that will be acceptable
to neither side, and that will leave
the real problem of the coal indus
try as far as ever from solution
Railroad Case Handled Differently.
When a great railroad strike was
threatened last fall, and actually
called for Oct. 81, it was not neces-
sary to dilly-dally along until the
calamity had actually occurred. or
until somebody was hurt Thanks
to the labor provisions of the trans
portation act it was possible to
handle that case differently. The
railroad labor board through Ben
jamin w Hooper, then vice-chaIr-
man and now chairman of that
body, took hold of that situation and
succeeded in bringing about the re-
call of the strike order. There was
no interruption of traffic on the
railroads of the country, and 1t
no time was it suggested that the
public should sit back and watch
railway employees and railway man
agement fight a few rounds.
AS a matter of fact the strike
could not have been prevented if
the workers had been determined
to go through with it, for the law
does not forbid strikes and there is
no known way of forcing men to
stay on the job when they are dead
set on leaving it. However, the
law does provide machinery for the
adjustment of disputes between
the railroads and their employees,
and it also establishes certain
bases upon whiCh those adjustments
are to be made This is a guarau-
tee to both sides of a square deal
insofar as a tribunal such as the
railroad labor board can mete out
justice without fear or favor, and
in those circumstances there could
be little justification for a strike
OF course the coal strike has not
progressed almost two months
without the miners being stalked
by the spectre of want and hunge--
Due to part time employment they
were in dire straits in some dis
tricts before they ceased work an
tirely. AS long ago as January.
Governor Davis OF Ohio issued q
proclamation calling attention -
this phase of the coal problem in
his state and urging that something
be done to assist the miners who
wanted, not charity, but work. The
union is not paying strike benefits
and to outsiders it is something of
a mystery how the strikers and
their wives, and children manage
to live.
Last week a church organization
that has interested itself in relief
work took a group of children of
West Virginia miners TO New York
City to be exhibited as human
documents evidencing the urgent
need of doing something at once If
they and their parents are to be
saved from starvation. The piuful
appeal made by the mere appear
ance of these youngsters, emaciated
as they were and with big eyes elo-
quent of suffering, was such that
funds were Immediately provided
for a trainload of provisions 10 be
rushed to the mining regions
whence they came.
1t may be the suffering OF the
miners and their families that will
prove the important factor in ere
ating the popular sentiment re-
quired to bring about the end Of the
strike. The American people do
not like to think of there being
starving women and children even
in far-Off Europe and Asia. and
they will be still less tolerant 0i
such conditions right here at home