Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-05-22
SAYS FEAR BECETS LABOR
TROUBLES IN AMERICA
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

their every faculty is impaired. Their
vision is distorted. Their judgment
is unsound. Their reason gives was
TO impulse, and their strength, aleit-
ness and skill are Slapped.
A Case In Point
A specific illustration hat Is very
much a case in point as TO be found
in the West Virginia coal contro-
versy. which has been featured by
a little bit of everything from strikes
to civil war, with a climax of MUIR
der and treason trials now on the
stage in old Charles Town. West
Virginia independent coal operators
decided that their employees should
o be ~unioniZed and that the United
Nine Workers of America should De
barred from the counties in which
their mines are located. Certain OF
the employees, on the other hand,
decided that they had a right to be-
long to a union and that they would
exercise that right. The union, as
an organization, decided that il had
| a right to send organizers into these
| counties to assist the miners in per-
fecting their locals, and that 1t would
exercise that right. Thus an I'M
passe was established.
The first of the operators
a TO intimidation. The operators
do not call it intimidation; they say
that they merely exercised their con-
| stitutional right to refuse to employ
| anybody who belonged to a union.
Whereupon, according to the opera
tors. the miners and their organizers
instituted a campaign of coercion
and reprisal against which the oper-
ators were compelled to take mea-
sures 10 protect themselves and their
properties.
However, whatever II 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 evict-
ed 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 prospect 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
l never uttdul OE uolHS uHueT nor maj
conditions, for fear begets hatred
and revenge. Therein lies at least
a partial explanation of much of the
lawlessness rampant in West Vir-
ginia.
Turning to the other side, ii is
clear that many of the things done
by the operators which contributed
to Observation-Disclosures and led 10
trouble were directly or indirectly
the result Of fear none the less real.
One of the operators told the SEN
ate investigating committee that the
impelling motive back of the posi-
ton he took in the controversy was
a fear hat the radicals in the min
ers' union in conjunction with other
radicals throughout the country
might bring about a revolution as a
result of which industry would be
taken over by the workers. His
testimony showed him to be essen
TALLY just and fair, a man of broad
vision, and sincerely desirous of es.
t%ablishing and maintaining good re.
lations with his employees. IL such
a mar Ear be actuated by such a
fear it can be readily understood
how other operators may have been
led into hasty decisions and made
to take drastic measures by the fear
that their properties might be dam.
aged or destroyed.
None Has Escaped IL
Apprehension. anxiety, worry and
suspense are but shades or degrees
of fear. and 1t is not too much To
say that no man. operator or miner
who has been involved in the Yves
Virginia debacle has been free from
them and their sinister and harmful
effects. When the worker though
his job was in jeopardy. fear begaI
gnawing through his very entrals
When the operator believed hi
property. or the property for which
he was responsible to scores of in.
v~estors, was about to be ruined o.
appropriated, he was beset by tn
worst fear that could assail him.
In such circumstances. II is no
surprising to observers that the en-
suing warfare in West Virginia soor
became what has been termed civi
war, necessitating the sending in o
Federal troops TO restore law ant
order. There was little use talkini
about bringing the miners and op
orators together. The only way the,
would come together was in a head
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