Evening star., 1923-04-05
SOFT COAL FAMINE
(. CREATED BY UNION,
. OPERATORS CHARGE
Brief to Coal Commission As
SertS Railway Workers
Helped Boost Prices.
ARSON AND MASSACRE
Is LAID TO LABORERS
United Mine Workers Accused Of
Systematic Plot to Obtain
Monopoly Of Labor.

Representing bituminous coal opera
tors Of the nation. q special committee
informed the United States Coal Corn
mission IN a brief filed today that IN
their opinion. policies followed by tie
United Mine Workers Of America
constituted the chief deterrent -
satisfactory conditions in the coz.
industry.
Recent periods Of coal shortage and
high prices, the brief declared, coald
be directly traced" to the miners
union and the railway unions ass
ciated with il.
1t was charged also that acts -
intimidation and violence on the par
Of the United Mine Workers are no.
sporadic, but systematic" and tt.
70 resort 70 such methods is caIcu1a,.,
TO perpetuate a monopoly" II MR.
labor
Open Hearings Asked.
II. l.. Stimson. former Secreta,,. rr
War. and g. IL. Dorr. counsel for .n4
coal operators. prepared the br,es
give the employers an opportunity ~
open hearings TO prove their charges.
the committee attached to the br,er.
setting forth these charges and ger
eral conclusions, a full statement "f
a series Of incidents in coal mine
labor controversies. including those
At Herrin, Ill, in West Virginia.
ONO, Arkansas, Oklahoma ana Utar
Responsibility for these outbroah<.
the committee charged, lies Sguareiv
with the mine workers union
Tale of Massacre.
''it is tale Of massacre. arson ard
insurrection." the statement OF the
committee said, ''vltalIy important ill
the aspect OF weapons OF attacL
used by the United Mine Workers or
America in its efforts 10 monopoliza
mine labor
ITO effect that monopolistic purpose.
system has been created which for
bids under peril or death any man
from working in a mine unless he is
member OF that organization ard
submits to deductions from his pay
of dues and assessments which II
eXacts: which seeks to destroy any
organization of mine laborers other
than itself; which seeks to drive out
Of the industry by violence and dc
struction any operator who is unwil1-
ing TO limit his employees to members
of this organization: which seeks 10
obstruct or overawe any effort of
civil authority to enforce the law
against violence.
Charge Acts of Intimidation.
Acts of intimidation and violence
-
of the United Mine Workers are not
sporadic. but systematic. They are
not accidental outbursts Of mob v,o-
lence, but calculated lawlessness in
spired by false loyalty to a central
lied ystem and its tenets. They fame
up from the fundamental determine
tion of this organization that no one
shall be permitted to mine coal in AN
organized district or one under at
tack without its leave"
Out of this alleged monopoly OF
labor by the union, interrupted only
in d degree by existence of non-union
fields in West Virginia and other
states. the report added. have grown
years have caused public complaint.
1t was charged that a wage scale
twice a $ high as that in other in
dustries" had been put into effect in
strikes shortages in coal had hee1
brought about. with consequent high
prices. and that by these methods
100000 miners more than are actually
needed to do the work have been hold
in the industry.
Meeting Artificial Shortages.
The transportation machinery "f
the nation has been deranged. the
statement continued, by the necessity
Of constantly moving coal to meet
artificial shortages. Although the
industry was declared TO be highly
competitive in character, the law Of
supply and demand had not been al
lowed to work itself out toward the
maintenance of low pricas which
would normally force hiGh-cost mines
out of existence and release their
labor forces.
THE effort TO eXtort an artificial
and economically unjustifiable wage
scale by nation wide monopoly with
nation wide strikes as the weapon liz
directed solely against the public
the brief said. "It is not organiza-
tion against an employer; it is direct
action against the nation. 1t is tho
use of force for political ends. The
resort of such a monopoly to calcu-
late violence in the carrying out OF
its ultimate purpose is not accidental;
it is inevitable"