The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-01-31
LEWIS REF USES
AID TO MINERS IN
KENTUCKY HE'LL.
Appeal to Convention
Sent Thru Daily Worker

Spouse to your invitation to coal
miners to make themselves heard
thru the columns Of the DAILY
WORKER, by the delegates at the
convention of the United Mine Work
ers of America, now in session at In
dianapolis, Ind, am asking permits
sion of little space to present the
case of few thousand wage slaves
who belong to a coal field that is not
represented at that convention, due
to the fact that it has never been or
ganized. The coal field | am refer
ring to is Eastern Kentucky's.
1t would be impossible, within the
space to which | feel obliged to limit
myself, to give anything like an ade-
quate description Of the miserable,
deplorable and degrading conditions
Of the poor coal miners in that Sec
ton. Wages are shamefully low, con-
ditions in the various mining camps
where the miners live are filthy and
unsanitary beyond imagination, and
the tyranny of the autocratic coal
operators would make Judge Gary's
steel mills seem like a pure democ-
racy.
Oene0 elbow Dog
l was born and raised in Eastern
Kentucky, and am here in Chicago
today because it is impossible for me
to find a job in any of the coal mines
along the Kentucky river, owing to
the fact that I have been blacklisted
because wouldn't lock my mouth to
keep from thinking out loud about
unionism, because I denounced some
of the slavish conditions to some Of
my fellow wage earners, and because
/ refused to sign an infamous pledge
known as the yellow dog contract"
which all the coal companies in East
ern Kentucky showed in the faces of
their employees about a year ago
because l refused to sign that in
famous pledge and persuaded others
to refuse to sign it.
The coal miners of Eastern Ken
lucky resent these conditions. They
would like to organize and thus be
able to make a successful fight
against their tyrannical masters. I
receive letters almost every day from
friends down in that section. One
of the letters, which came few days
ago, gave the information that the
coal miners at Mayking, little camp
about fifty miles of Hazard, KY, the
center of the coal field, had gone on
strike, unorganized as they are, in
protest against % per cent wage
cut. They are rebellious, and would
like to break their chains, but the in
ternational officials Of the United
Mine Workers of America sit calmly
back, with folded hands, and effer
them no assistance or encouragement
whatever.
Lewis Deaf to Miners Calls
The international union cannot
plead ignorance of the situation in
Eastern Kentucky. For months a
constant stream of letters has been
pouring into the international offices
and into the office of the provisional
president of that district, at Ash
land, KY. President Lewis treats
those appeals with quiet indifference,
while Samuel Pascoe, provisional
president Of that district-district 30
treats them with insolence and con-
tempt. Pascoe has held his present
position, to which he was appointed
by President Lewis, for more than
four years now, and during that time
has made no effort to organize the
coal miners in his district. Conse-
quently, the coal miners have nearly
all, quite naturally, arrived at one of
the following conclusions:
Whose Collar Does He Wear?
/. Mr.. Pascoe wishes to hold his
present position as provisional presi-
dent long possible; he knows that
as soon as the coal miners in that
district are organized, district presi-
dent must be ELECTED from the
ranks of the coal miners; therefore,
he believes it to be to his own per-
sonal interest to delay organization
just as long as he possibly can; or
2. Mr.. Pascoe is in a secret con-
spiracy with the coal operator in that
field to delay organization Of the men
as long as possible.
Are the men right in their conclu-
sions? 1t is up to the international
officials to exonerate themselves, and
to force the district officials to ex-
onerate themselves in the eyes Of
Eastern Kentucky coal miners by
giving those coal miners an oppor-
tunity to enter the ranks Of the Unit
ed Mine Workers Of America.
Appeals to Convention
In behalf Of the thousands of coal
miners who dwell in the rugged
valleys of the Kentucky and Sandy
rivers, who are daily grinding away
their lives for the heartless monsters
Of greed, without gratitude or
sympathy, for mere starvation pit
lance, whose prayers to the powerful
organization Of the United Mine
Workers Of America, have thus far
been completely ignored, and for
whom no voice can be raised in this
convention by their own authority, be-
cause they have no delegates there
in behalf Of those men and their
wives and little children, many Of
whom sicken and die every year from
typhoid and other diseases brought
on by the unsanitary conditions in
which they are forced to live. an