The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-06-20
WEST VA. MINERS
UNION SCUTTLED
BY JOHN |. LEWIS
Deal with Coal Barons
Suspected

CHARLESTON, w. Va, June a.
The charges against Frank Keeney
and Fred Mooney, president and sec
rotary respectively Of district IT, Unit
Ned Mine Workers of America, in con-
&nection with the miners armed march
Yin 1921, have been dropped by the
state government, which is, of course,
equivalent to the mine operators of
West Virginia. Similar charges against
sub-district president William Blizzard
have also been dropped. The indict-
ments against hundreds of miners who
participated actively in the armed
march, it is announced, will be fol
lowed up by the state.
MONEYS Statement.
simultaneously with this report
comes a statement from Fred Mooney,
district secretary, that John L. Lewis,
international president of the United
Mine Workers of America, did not sus-
pend the autonomy Of the district but
was requested to take it into receiver
ship on receipt of petition signed by
the district officials and the heads of
the sub-districts. This has been done,
the international having placed one,
Percy Tetlow, in charge of the provi-
sional organization.
These two swift developments in
the West Virginia district are regard
ed with suspicion by the rank and file
of the organization, especially in view
of the strike being carried on in part
of the district and the actions of the
West Virginia delegates to the inter-
national convention recently held in
Indianapolis. At the indianapolis con-
vention, both Blizzard and Mooney
were obnoxiously prominent in sup
porting Lewis in the latter's vicious
attacks on the progressive delegates,
and contributed their dirty bit in cloth
ing the "red" scarecrow for the benefit
of the backwoods delegates.
Operators Refuse.
A part of the West Virginia district
is now engaged in bitter strike, be-
gun on April LIST, for an agreement
with the operators which will bring
.the district into line -with-the national
settlement reached at Jacksonville,
Fla. The operators are politely declin-
ing and demand the institution of the
1917 scale of wages. Thousands of
other miners are still living in tents
and barracks, where they have been
driven since they began their fight
for union recognition two years ago.
In other parts of the district, where
strikes have been won, work is slack,
and the miners have had to contribute
hundreds of their hard-earned dollars
for the defense of their brother union
lists indicated for participation in the
armed march.
What's the Deal?
The question that the miners are
now asking is: What kind Of a deal
was made between Lewis and his
West Virginia supporters, Mooney,
Keeney and Blizzard, on the one side,
and the coal operators, and their kept
government, on the other side, which
has resulted in the turning over of
the district to Lewis personal en-
missary and the sudden dropping of
the charges against the three officials
1t should be noted that Blizzard, for
example, had already been acquitted
on charges Of murder and treason at
two different trials, and was, together
with Mooney and Keeney, slated for
further prosecution.
: These three, after having sue
cumbed to Lewis love for personal
rule over all districts, are now scot
free by permission of the coal oper-
ators' government, while hundreds Of
ordinary" miners, who rose in wrath
to protect with arms, If necessary,
their elementary rights, are still
under charges and in danger of their
lives or their liberty.
The questions raised by the miners
are waiting for an answer.
Gard Standardization TnA~ss