South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-06-26
ACTION TO SETTLE
MINE DIFFICULTIES
URGED BY DR.. BECK
Says Public Should Not BE In
different TO Issues Which
caused killings.


up and help settle the dlmculues .n-
voIted IN the coal strike. was the
opening remark 81 ket. -. ID. Beck
sermon al Grace 81. j.. church sun
day morning. He further said. Cen
erdl Indifference 90 the issues ln-
lolved b. partly a cause OF the dis
graceful happenings IN southern Till
uoa last week. More viii follow UNI
less more Is done 20 stralshten ont
the dlmcuites. The situation ls sIch
shat public sentiment and govern
ment act0n must assist the opera
tors and the miners.
The pains are growing pains and
not the result OF disease. The birth
OK anything new is painful pro-
cess Something new ia industrial
life is trying o. be born. IL is i'm
dgstrlal democracy When il is born.
history Will record not only suffering
and sacrifices. strikingly like those
IN tho struggle for political democ-
racy. but an order ln which capital
and labor share together as they
now do in government Toward
that We are moving fast.
'W has is the trouble with coal?
Several things have caused the trou-
BILE we have two great industries
in coal the anthracite and the biz
luminous. The troubles for the
last 20 years have been in the soft
coal fields They are bigger. for one
reason. They are Jour times larger
than the anthracite. employing $780,
600 and 10000 men respectively.
49,. e.rH a.
used for domestic purposes. while
50 percent of soft coal is bought by
one percent Of the population for in
dustrial use Consequently any rise
or fan in business affects the soft
coal market.
Mines Idle Much.
The anthracite fields are confined
TO $50 square miles, mostly I'm Penn
sylvania. The bituminous fields are
one thousand times larger. or 49,
600 square miles. The greater diff
Guilty in mining hard coal has de-
Veloped a system OF efficiency more
like factory. The ease with which
much soft coal can be mined and
the profits it Yields I'm good years
have resulted in an OverdevelOpment
OF the industry. The capacity OF
soft coal mines at present is $780,
900. 900 tons a year. We never have
used over $4,000, 900. The worst
result of that has been that miners
are idle 50 much Of the time. Ia 20
years they have averaged 215 work
ing days out of a possible 3OS. In
1917. during the war. they were idle
65 days In 1921, during business
depression. they were idle 1873 days.
Anthracite coal is mined by a few
companies who have regard for
each other in the markets. The soft
coal Is in a competitive market.
Price Is the thing that counts. As
labor is the highest item of cost in
producing coal. the operator seeks
to get his labor at the lowest figure.
The miner wants the best wages.
To augment the difficulties some
mines are organized and some are
not The organized mines pay the
highest wages In a declining mark
et the organized mines feel the pres
sure first and close first if it comes
10 that. That Is what happened lass
year. Two things resulted. The
National Mine Workers endeavored
to organize all mines so that the
same standard Of wages would pre-
vail in all The operators of nom
union mines. particularly in West
Virginia. fought that. 1t would take
away their advantage over the union
mines in the coal markets. At the
same time the operators Of union
mines endeavored 10 adopt an open
shop policy so they might employ
cheaper labor in order 10 compete
with non-union mines. The union
miners fought that. That is what
the trouble was over In southern
Illinois.
Un-American Condition.
The great non-uuiou center is the
West Virginia mines. A very unique
and very un-American condition
exists there. Nothing but noun
tains existed there recently. These
promoters went IN and opened the
mines. To do II they provided ev-
erything. The land Is company
owned. The houses belong TO the
company. even the roads often. The
company owns the stores. the thea
tiers. and practically the schools and
churches When men work for the
company they live In their houses.
When they quit they are elected.
There is no place TO so. nothing else
10 do, and not even q road on which
10 move out on in some cases. 1t
is a state Of paternalism not eQualed
since the days Of feudalsm. The
organized miners and operators OF
union mines IN southern Indiana and
Illinois must compete in an open
market with men who live under
conditions Ike that
Economically something VIII
have 20 be done, either in West Nir-
einia or over here. The cost OF
producing coal must be lowered in
southern Illinois or raised IN West
Virginia To lower it in Illinois is
10 reduce the miners there 20 the
standards OF the West Virginia min
ers. What then viii prevent the
West Virginia operators from lower
ing their wages another notch2
.'The social service departments OF
the Federal Council OF the Churches
OF Christ in America and the Nation
az Catholic Welfare Council have de-
clsred that three things are essen
tial 90 the solution Of the coal prob
lem. viz: A full knowledge Of facts
made public, cooperative relations
between miners and operators and
the organization OF the industry on
the basis OF maximum service
Requests lid of Police
In Search for Spouse