Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-08

flicting testimony has been brought out
in the West Virginia treason trials,
which have been dragging along at
Charles Town for weeks, that the gen
eral public is more mystified than ever
as to the facts in this great labor con-
flict. Today the average man knows
little about the situation other than
that there has been prolonged contro-
versy between West Virginia miners
and min operators, that there have
been disorder, lawlessness and loss of
life and property, that conditions ap-
proximating civil war have existed,
and that it has been necessary to send
in Federal troops to restore and to
maintain order.
Growing out of all this have come al
most countless injunction proceedings
and lawsuits in the courts, and the in
dictment of several hundred miners on
treason and murder charges. Viewed
from any angle it Is an ugly mess.
Opinions as to which side is right
and which is wrong are based largely
upon ~prejudices. Information and evil
dence upon which to form a conclusion
are subject to the same bias. 1t is
possible, however, to present back
ground for the current news from
West Virginia. Thanks to the investi-
cation conducted by the senate COM
mittee of which former Senator Ken
yon was chairman, we can get at just
what each side contends for and seeks
to establish as the facts in the case.
The contentious of the operators as
shown by the record Of this investiga-
ton have been summarized as follows:
THE operators. have a constitutional
right to operate their mines on q non
union basis, to substitute the individual
contract for collective bargaining in
their relations with their employees,
to prevent all efforts to ~unionize their
employees, to bar union members from
the mining camps and properties and
even from the counties in which those
properties are situated. and to refuse
to deal directly or indirectly with the
union. Their employees are contented
and do not desire to join the union.
and therefore. there is no controversy
between them and their employees.
"All the trouble in the non-union
fields has been due to the efforts Of
the union to organize the workers
therein.
"Unionization near frequent strikes
for imaginary causes, with resultant
increased costs of production, less Of
efficiency and higher prices for coal.
1.-THE union has resorted to violence
and to the destruction of property in
an effort to intimidate the operators
and force their employees to join the
union.
Claim Union Is Unlawful
1.-THE United Mine Workers of Amer
lea is an unlawful organization because
it aims as shown by it's constitution.
to appropriate the properties Of the
operators.
There is a conspiracy between the
union and the mine wner and op-
orators of the central competitive field
to unionize the non-union fields of
West Virginia in order to handicap or
to destroy the non-union operators as
competitors in the markets which they
their lower production costs and great
tage over the unionized central com
p~etitive field"
Turning from these contentious of
the operators we have the claims of
the miners ms %epitomized by Vice Pres
ident Murray. of the union, as follows:
1.-The miners have the constitutional
rights of free speech and free assem-
blage in which they should be protect
ed. They have also the right of col
%lective bargaining. the right to join
the union and the right to engage in
legitimate trade union activities. Their
rights. if not specifically guaranteed by
the organized law of the nation, are
contemplated by the fundamental guar
antees of the constitution. and have the
highest sanction Of all law. organic and
common practice in all industries in all
civilized countries.
"The problem In West Virginia is
not a question of unionism versus nom
unionism. but is a question OF the es-
adjustment, acceptance and observ.
ance of fundamental principles and
practices which are essential to peace
and orderly progress in all industry.
1.-The trouble is due solely to the
denial BY the operators of the right OF
their employees to join the union. and
to the methods adopted by the operat-
ors RI enforce that denial-methods