The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-11-29

Of a regular anthracite miner W
a helper in the same field.
The law was passed as a safety
measure but it serves the secondary
purpose of saving the hard coal men
from outside scabs, as long as it is
enforced. Hence the drive against the
law. The propaganda for repeal was
begun by John Hays Hammond, chair
man Of the U. S. coal commission at
a civic federation meeting in New
York earlier in the strike and has
been carried on by the Wall Street
Journal, most outspoken organ for big
money. Repeal the law to break the
strike, is the demand.
Wants Scabs and Says So.
Hammond's speech at the civic fed
GRAFTON minced no strikebreaking
words. "The effect of this law (the
state eertifcation law)." said he, ito
gether with the complete unioniza-
ton of the mines, gives the United
Mine Workers virtually monopoly
of the miners labor. The law makes
it impossible for other miners to be
employed, Notwithstanding the fact
that they have had many years ex-
perience in bituminous mines and are
fully competant to do the work Of the
anthracite miner.
"There are many competant miners
in the bituminous fields, who, owing
to the irregularity of operations,
would gladly seek employment in the
anthracite mines The first step
therefore, to insure resumption Of
mining operations is action by the
commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Mining engineers have repeatedly
shown that the technical problems in
the anthracite fields are different from
those in the soft coal pits and that
bituminous miner may be a source of
danger to himself and others if he
tries to direct operations at a hard
coal face without special training. but
Hammond ignores this in this eager
ness to break the strike
Boasts of Using Gunmen and Dicks
Hammond has been breaking strikes
sor more than a generation. And
sing Pinkertons to send workers to
he penitentiary He tells of such ex-
ploits in the February 1925 issue of
Scribners' Magazine in an article en-
titled Strong Men of the Wild West
The Strong man" he lauds most is
Charles A. Siringo, a Pingerton de-
tective and gunner he employed
against the Western Federation of
Miners in the Occur d'Alene strike of
1892 when Hammond was president
Of the huge Bunker Hill & Sullivan
mine, still the largest silverlead pro-
Queer in the world.
He tells how his Pinkerton went to
work at Gem. Idaho, became record
ing secretary of the union, mailing
regular reports against his fellows to
the mine owners association. How
the union suspected Siringo and the
dick barely escaped with his life.
Siringo continued his stooling under
difficulties, on one occasion using
note book under a sidewalk while
miners posse was looking for him.
Later he took part in the armed war
between the company's rifle mem
armed strikebreakers Hammond had
imported-and the unionists, and at
the trial of several union leaders his
testimony sent them to the peniten-
tiary.
Not Above lt--Maybe Below It.
All this suggests that Hammond, as
chairman on the u S. coal commits
sion OF the Coolidge administration
and old Wall Street man himself.
would not be above using private de-
tectives and proyocateurs in the
union today. But he is not talking Of
that. He asks the repeal of the certi-
hcation law so that the anthracite
union strike may be scabbed out.