The Washington times., 1922-05-20
COAL WALKOUT
IN WESTERN PA.
|. IS BIC SURPRISE
Waited Fourteen Years to Get
. Even for Crushing Defeat
in Coke Fields.
BY CHARLES EDWARD RUSSELL
(CopyriEht. 1s32. by Cosm mopoiitsn News

business Is an exhilarating sport
but has one drawback. The
blame thing never seems to stay
put.
About fourteen years ago there
was some amusement of this
kind in western Pennsylvania that
looked at the time perfectly
grand. 1t was in the coke region,
the counties Of Westmoreland,
Fayette and Somerset. Most OF
the coking Goals of the United
States are dug out Of that ter,
ritory. The miners there were
strongly organized. This was an
noying. So when a strike came
on. there was a scramble to sup
press the vile labor union.
Terrible Strike.
No one that took any hand in that
strike will ever forget II, for It came
near to being the fiercest in Ameri.
can labor history. All law, with all
all restraint OF what we call civil.
zation. You would have thought
mankind had gone back to the stone
age. Things were done TO make the
wild Ashantis gasp and stare.
In the end the mine owners won
The union was put out Of business
The men gave up their union cards
and accepted defeat. Down went
the far-famed tyrrany of organized
labor; the mining OF coking coal was
| freed from its baneful influence. All
was well.
When the present conflict came
on both sides, lining up their forces.
assumed that all union miners would
quit the mines and all nonunion
miners would hold to their jobs.
This would mean q weekly coal pro
| duction that both sides figured as
| one OF the elements that would de-
eide the fight.
But when the trouble came on,
behold, to the breathless astonish
ment OF everybody. thousands Of
nonunion miners came out with the
rest-led by those Of Westmoreland.
Fayette, and Somerset.
Fourteen years these defeated
union men had waited. At last they
saw their chance to get even and
took II, upsetting many beautiful
calculations and adding to the fight
an element of absorbing interest
For besides picturesque drama, they
had slipped in a question whether
they themselves were not to be the
factor that in a way truly surpris-
ing would end the whole struggle
with victory for the miners.
1t is like this: the Westmoreland
region furnishes most OF the coke
used by the United States Steel Cor
poration. Because OF the strike. no
coke Is being made there now. No
coke, no steel.
Union Revived.
Thus, after fourteen years, the
union that was crushed and annihi-
lated jumps up and hits the annih!.
later a blow that makes everything
reel.
II il a serious situation and chang.
es the whole front OF the battle. No
body counted on anything like this.
No coke. no steel. Already some
steel mills have closed and others
are on the verge Of closing. How
long many others can hold out is
problematical, except that they can't
! 60 on indefinitely. Coke does not
! fall from the skies. even upon the
steel corporation.
Coke II must have, coke IL is not
likely to get while the strike lasts.
1t Is an institution Of gigantic power,
| industrial, commercial, political. With
the lifting Of a hand 1t could end
this strike. II the coal operators
did not heed its first signal. which
Ia unlikely, II has other motions still
more effective. Suppose, for in
stance, the National Government, to
save one Of the country's most vital
and necessary industries, should ask
the operators to meet the miners in
a conference, the conference provid-
ed in the treaty OF March 10, 1920,
which the operators have ignored.
| Would they comet They most as
suredly would, and that would be
the end of the coal strike.
No peace. no coke; no coke, no
steel.
If, then. this should come about
through the part taken In this con-
flict by the once beaten West More
| landers-what a story! No novelist
ever thought up a better.
They would furnish not only n
! theme for drama, but a great bene-
faction to their country. For the
| closing of any considerable part of
| the nations steel production would
be a calamity. Coal. steel, wheat
cotton, transportation-by these we,
the general public, live.
But Il is an odd fact, when we stop
| to think OF II, that the poor old pub
lie never seems to figure in nny OF
these calculations. Why notr It
pays the bills and bears the burden
and digs up the extra coin they cost.
One would think II would come
first, and IL come last-the poor old,
patient, long suffering, silent, grin
ming public--always the last. Coal
is not dug out OF the earth to pro-
vide private fortunes, but to supply
us with heat. light and something to
cook dinner with. Railroads are not
operated to fructify dividends but
to haul us and our truck around.
Such are the incontesuble facts
And yet we always come the last in
any OF the squabbles and bouts.
Always you can find poor old Gen.
eral Public at the ringside, holding
the bag and getting the odd wallop.
So far in this so-called coal strike,
for instance. It is likely that the good
natured old gentleman has paid an
average of rs cents a ton more for
all the coal he has bought for gen
eral consumption since April 1, at
least. I was looking today over some
recent figures from the coal market
and l noticed in four weeks increases
In the Wholesale rates OF 30 cents, 81,
II go I'M IN Il OK n tom II these arc