The Connecticut labor news., 1923-10-20
THE MINERS STORY

Declaring the United Mine Workers proud of never flinching in the fight for progress, President John L. Lewis ad dressed the A. F. of L. convention i'll terms that mral1ed the miners down as unalterably opposed to exper1mentalis1ns and fanciful doctrines
 President Lewis took the platform upon invitation of President Gompers to the accompaniment of enthusiastic ap plaus.. -. -...
 We are burdened and opposed by many foes," said MT Lewis, Aside from the opposition, and the expected opposition, of the organized employers of the country, we find ourselves being made the victims and the trial ground, and perhaps the breeding place for great many false philosophies, for a great many ideas for the emancipation of great many policies which, designed like some patented nostrum, are pre- stunned to be able to lead the workers into those days of prosperity and sue cess which will come only with the mil lenniurn Many of those policies run counter to the policies of the organized labor movement and to the laws and policies of the United Mine Workers.
 Our union has long stood for the validity of contracts and respect for contractual obligations, and has insisted on its members punctiliously carrying out such obligations when properly as- stunned. And yet from time to time those teachers of false philosophies are able to imbue a certain number of our peo- pie with a desire to depart from the established conditions and policies of the organization and follow after these false gods. He then rehearsed the strike of 1919.
 'In 1921 1t again became necessary for the United Mine Workers to inter cede in the mine workers of the State of Kansas. This was necessary because of the obligation of the organization to carry on its contracts legally and prop erly made, and the charter of that dis trict organization was dissolved and the district was reorganized and the Kan sas organization rehabilitated upon al basis where the membership hold ale glance to the trade union principles of the United Mine Workers of America
 Again, while our representatives were engaged in the recent conferences with the anthracite operators i'll the east, seeking to made a contract tor time period covering the wages and conditions of the men III the anthracite coal indus try, we were faced, in the maritime pro- vinces of Canada, in our District No. %, with what practically amounted, in solar as the men who were engineering the proposition were concerned, to rel volt against trade unionism as we De- lieve Ill 1t and to revolt against the es- tablished institutions of the Canadian government, directed straight from Moscow by individual officers of the Red Internationale, if you please.
 Agents in Nova Scotia brought nh fba Il of ton i'll that area through an illegal and un- warranted strike of our members and caused defiance, not only to the officers of the Provincial and Doninian gov ernment of Canada, but to the principles and the contract obligations and the laws of the United Mine Workers. And in the eastern provinces of Canada, as elsewhere the International Union step ped i'll, revoked the charter, rehabilita- | ted the district, put the mine back to work, and is discipling the men who are responsible for that situation today.
 ''The United Mine Workers of Amer l ica, if 1t owes its success to any one factor, owes that success to its long record of respect for contracts and the | carrying out of its obligations.
 There needs must be a complete rec ognition upon the part of labor of its l obligations properly assumed if labor expects to be the recipient of fair treat ment from others whom we hold to be l under obligations to accord that fair treatment.
 "The United Mine Workers is tre- mendously burdened with great amount of litigation, which I will not discuss in detail at this time, litigation in many states i'll the state and federal 1 courts, which would stagger an orga- 1nzatlon of less resources in membership and financial support.