The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-05-22
Fear Begets Labor Troubles
BY FREDERIC J. HAskIN

! tors, the miners and their organizers
instituted a campaign OF coercion and
reprisal against which the operators
were compelled to take measures to
protect themselves and their proper
, ties.
However, whatever 1t is to be
named, the results of the operators !
policy are unQuestioned. The miners
had instilled in their minds the fear
of losing their jobs. of being evicted
! from their homes without notice, OF
/ being thrown into JAIL of being beaten
or shot by mine guards and deputy
sheriffs, and of being driven from the
communities in which they had lived
for years. There is no nightmare so
horrible to a working man as the pros
/ pect of losing his job, and of being
unable to provide for those dependent
upon him.
Driven desperate by such fear, men
will do things that they would never
dream of doing under normal condt-
tons, for fear begets hatred and re-
venge. Therein lies at least a partial
/ explanation of much of the lawlesss-
ness rampant in West Virginia.
j Turning to the other side, it is clear
that many of the things done by the
i operators which contributed to misun-
derstandings and led to trouble were
directly or indirectly the result of fear
none the less real. One of the opera
tors told the Senate investigating
committee that the impelled motive
back of the position he took In the
!; controversy was fear that the radl-
Gals in the miners union in conjunc-
ton with other radicals throughout
J the country might bring about revo-
luton as a result of which Industry
would be taken over by the workers.
: His testimony showed him to be es-
] sentially Just and fair, a man of broad
5 vision, and sincerely desirious of es-
tablishing and maintaining good re-
/ lations with his employees. If such
: man can be actuated by such fear
r it can be readily understood how
, other operators may have been led
5 into hasty decisions and made to take
D drastic measures by the fear that
/. their properties might be damaged OF
Y destroyed.
/ None Has Escaped
r Apprehension, anxiety, worry ant
! suspense are but shades or degrees
/ of fear, and it is not too much t.
: say that no man, operator or miner
e who has been involved in the Yves
f Virginia debacle has been free from
e them and their sinister and harmful
effects. When the worker though
r his job was in jeopardy, fear begaT
d gnawing through his very entrails
n When the operator believed his prop
l. erty, or the property for which h
e was responsible to scores of investors
Il was about to be ruined or eXpriated, III
/ was beset by the worst fear that coul(
y assail him.
IS In such circumstances, it is no
l. surprising to observers that the ensu
o ing Industrial warfare in West Vii
IS ginia soon became what has beel
termed civil war, necessitating tn
sending in of Federal troops to re
Y store order There was little us
d talking about bringing the miners an
y operators together The only wa
it they would come together was in
il head-on collision, with every prospec
d of somebody's getting hurt
n Political democracy, it has bee
l. said, is founded on a flat denial tina
It people should or could be ruled b
n fear. Equally true, it must be, sa
k the economists, that we can have n
N such thing as industrial democrat
e where men are driven or restrafne
N by fear Therefore they contend tina
ID there can be no permanent solutio
1t of the labor problems now confrontin
lie the American people until that ha
at been done which it is necessary to d
TO in order to eliminate fear as poweI
in full, if not dominant, motive behind tn
it acts of both workers and those VIII
IN employ them. No assurance of tn
fairness or generosity and benevC
RS lence of industrial employers in dea
10 ing with their men will suffice. En-
at ployers whose methods are above r.
u proach will find their efforts checke
~ by suspicion among their employe
H. because some other employer has r
a. sorted to unfair, oppressive tactic