The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-04-07
ASK FEDERAL
ATTENTION TO
COAL MINING
Miners Back Up Their Ma
tional Officers in Appearing
Before House Committee to
Urge Reorganization.
READY TO NEGOTIATE
tBy Associated Press)

NBy Associated Press)
WASHINGTON, April miners
| union representatives now on strike
in central Pennsylvania backed up
their national officers today in appear
| ing before the house labor committee
to urge federal attention to the indus
| try.
| Our belief is that an industry
which gives only 100 days work a
/ year, needs reorganization" Pres-
dent John Brophy, of District 2.
! United Mine Workers testified. ITO
get this we must have the facts ascer-
| tanned by an impartial federal com
mission which will sit ih the case OF
coal.
Restrictions are such that prac-
tices as to the opening of new mines
/ by shoeString spectators" was said
| by Mr.. Brophy to be desirable because
there are not too many mines and too
many miners. Mr. Brophey took is
sue with T. Fl. Watkins, a Pennsylva-
MIA operator, who testified before the
committee yesterday as to wages.
approximately $1,000 miners in
ctnral Pennsylvania last year earned
$1461 week or S2.0S a day for the
year because there was hardly two
| days of work a week for them," Mr.
| Brophy asserted
I Ready to Negotiate.
Chairman Nolan asked if the union
stood ready to negotiate with the
operators generally.
The witness replied the statement
OF John l.. Lewis, president of the
Mine Workers union before the com
mitee to the effect that he would ne
i gotlate could stand for all of its mem
bers.
The hearing was adjourned until to
morrow when A. l.. Gould, of the In
diana Operators association will be
heard.
4 Attorney General Daugherty. in a
letter to Representative Bland, Repub-
mean, Indiana, member of the com
mlttee which was read into the record
yesterday, intimated that the mine
owners would face no prosecution
under the antitrust laws if they again
saw fit to fix wages in the industry on
the basis of central field agree
ment. Mr.. Daugherty stated that he
considered it was the duty of the op-
orators and miners to hold such nego-
.tiations and asked if after taking that
position it was "likely that the depart
ment of justice would undertake pro
| secution.''
INDIANAPOLIS, April THE firs;
week of the nation wide suspension of
work in the coal mines, ordered by
: the United Mine Workers of America
ended today and was marked at union
headquarters here by William Green.
, secretary-treasurer, asserting that the
+, strike is gaining strength in non
; union fields" particularly in central
, Pennsylvania and West Virginia
He said. however, he had no detailed
figures, adding that reports from the
; coal field were going direct to Pres
[ dent John Lewis, at New York.
Not the slightest suggestion of
7 change in the situation is apparent.
: and none is to be expected until the
operators meet the union In cor
: ference and a wage scale is worked
: out" declared Mr. Green.
Il NEW YORK, April T. Statements
? defending bituminous coal operators
in refusing to negotiate q central
agreement with the miners union
made by T. H. Watkins, bituminous
: mine operator of Pennsylvania, before
i the house labor committee at Wash
ington yesterday were attacked here
today by John l.. Lewis, president of
the United Mine Workers of America
Mr.. Lewis said Mr. Watkins declara-
tions served merely to intensity the
confusion and bitterness now ex-
isting"
Mr.. Watkins was quoted as having
said that it would be financial sui
eide" for operators to enter any
agreement with the miners not based
r on conditions in each district thai
innncnnprs hauo crrn cd with
L the constant failure to get deliveries
e from unionized mines; that Mr. Lewis
n testimony before the house body had
been very misleading" and that in the
anthracite field these labor lords
X have been guilty Of an abuse Of power
& in calling strike when the mine own
/. ers were meeting their every call for
q meeting and negotiation"
Lewis Replies
To these charges Mr.. Lewis replied:
S Statements of Mr.. Watkins were
s characteristic and typical of policy
: which he has followed for some time
He is engaged in factional quarrel
u with the other operators of central
l. Pennsylvania, the other faction being
e headed by Ben Clark. The loss of
tonnage of which Mr.. Watkins so bit
terly complains, is largely due to
J. fierce competitive warfare with his
r competing rivals"
q The miners chief declared that Mr.
Watkins, for some time has been en-
gagt in frantic effort to destroy the
u relationship between operators and
If miners in Pennsylvania His utter
Il ances are dictated solely by his selfish
personal interests.
"His testimony and his attitude are
e of a destructive nature and serve
e merely to intensity the confusion and
e bitterness now existing" asserted Mr.
Lewis. ''The reactionary attitude of
a. such men is largely responsible for
-e the abitrary attitude of coal operators
20 in refusing to meet representatives of
Ig the mine workers and causing them to
is assume their indefensible policy OF re-
N pudiating their contract obligations. -
Iv Flags Separate Pacts
!" Mr.. Lewis answered Mr.. Watkins
10 plea for negotiation of separate wage
ID contracts by districts when he said
last night before tho Central Trades