The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-01

Had Mr.. Lewis cared less for ma
man., who will not bend to the coal
miners, than for doing his dirty
work against the delegates he could
have restored order in five minutes
by conceding the right Of recount
which is the privilege of any DELHI
erative assembly when there is the
slightest doubt Of the accuracy Of
the count.
Lewis Abusive
"You can shout until you meet
each other in hell" he shouted at
more than fifty per cent of that
great gathering which demanded a
square deal. The delegates however
were just as determined as he was
and refused to allow any more use Of
the high handed methods that have
enabled Mr.. Lewis to pose as victor
in this convention until now.
There was considerable i'll feeling
at the end of the mornings session
when the result of the roll call vote
was declared. 1t was asserted that
locals that exist only on paper had
votes and that along with the pay
rollers, the wishes Of the rank and
file, the men who pay the dues, were
ignored. But tho the rank and
file may be inarticulate, they will
not always tolerate the dictatorship
of any one man, particularly a man
who is more concerned with the OBJ
servance of agreements with the |
boss than he is of the rights of the
miners.
A Vital Issue
The question of election versus
appointment Of organizers is a vital
one for the miners union. The
miners feel keenly about this. They
are determined that an ambitious
president shall not have the facilities
for building a machine to perpetuate
himself in Office, machine built by
the dollars of the miners.
After the official count was an
nounced it was freely stated that the
progressive elements were gypped |
out of victory as Alex Howat was !
few years age. On reconvening in |
the after noon session a delegate de-
sired to lodge protest a/iinst this
kind Of roll call but Mr.. Lewis |
ignored him.
The powerful Illinois district has
always been thorn in the side of |
the Lewis machine. Harrington and
Lewis fought each other for years,
now they have kissed and made up.
But the district of which Harrington
is president voted almost solidly
against the appointive power and it
is freely predicted by the Illinois
delegates to this convention that
/ Harrington is done for as president
of District II. He voted for the
administration and SO did his other
executive officers.
Progressive" Reps Shattered
The socalled progressives have
shown up in their true colors at this
convention. One could not expect
very much from man like Frank
Harrington whose only association
with anything Of progressive nat
ure was his fight for Howat so long
as the latter was useful to him in
| fighting the Lewis machine, but men
like John Brophy, Thomas Kennedy,
and G. F. Keeney who enjoyed a
reputation for standing for some
thing beyond "a fair days work, for
fair days wage" have proven
themselves to be lackeys Of the capt.
talist system ready to do anything
that would please the bosses. They
have never uttered peep at this
convention when such questions as
the labor party, naturalization,
amalgamation and the recognition Of
Soviet Russia were assassinated by
the reactionary labor lieutenants of
capital who now control the official
machinery of the miners union.
Dove Of Peace Was lowering
The afternoon session proceeded
smootly with Van H. Bittner report
ing for the resolutions committee
until he got as far as section two of
article ten. At the last international
convention the constitution was
amended to prohibit local unions with
membership Of five hundred from
sending over one delegate to the
convention. As this would give
tremendous convention power to
small locals the large locals felt that
it was discriminatory clause and
several resolutions were introduced
calling for its amendment.
Hardness Opens Battle
delegate William Hardness, pres
ident of the Peoria sub-district, took
the platform and read a resolution
adopted by that sub-district provid-
ing for the direct election of dele
gates from the local unions they re-
present, that each delegate shall
have one vote for each one hundred
members OF less and an additional
vote for each one hundred members
or majority fraction thereof.
Delegate HARNESS declared that
the insertion Of this clause was due
to Lewis fight on the Illinois district.
This was not denied.
For the first time since the OPEN
ing Of this convention the officials
Of the Illinois district lined up
against Lewis. George Mercer,
statistician for the Illinois District,
said that the present section was
undemocratic.
! Secretary Green, and one or two
IN mn ~ -