The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-11-22
Fight for Miners Best Interests


to work in while the other committee
men got the best places in the mine.
They never backed me up much I'M
less made 'em.
Then one day the district office
called up and wanted our committee
to inspect buttons at another mine,
to cut down expenses, they said.
had my own mine to tend to and
this meant getting down an hour or
two earlier and seeing that everybody
in the other mine had their due
buttons before we went to our own
work.
Tells Takers to Do Some Work.
Il told the officials that if they
wanted to cut down expenses they
could get up in the morning them
selves and that wasn't going to save
money for bunch Of crooks.
1.-THE next day got telephone
call to be at the hall at seven o'clock.
| went down and here was the district
president, the vice president and the
auditor.
"They asked me what | meant by
calling them crooks and | took the
quarterly report and showed where
they had got 5000 wages-$1O a day
for three months and then from
$1,100 to $1,000 for expenses. The
auditor had done the best of all. He
had an expense bill for $1,440 for
three months.
None of them ever went out of
town except maybe over to Shen-
andoah (about an hours ride) but they
charged up expense just the same.
"The president said l ought to be
expelled from the union for question
ing the honesty of the officials. They
took the case up with the union and
then they found that an I. w. w. or
ganizer had stayed at my house one
night and they claimed that was
trying to split the union but the
local didn't expel me.
Rubbing 1t In.
"Since then | only land job in the
worst places in the worst mines and
never for very long"
There is a long list of cases similar
to the one described. They vary only
in detail.
The operators are powerful, the I'M
ion officials do not fight for radicals"
who are victimized by the blacklist,
the bulk of the miners do not want
to risk mourning the same kind of
discrimination but nevertheless there
Is an under-current of unrest that
crops up at unexpected times and
causes much worry on the part of the
officials.
Such an incident occurred night
or two ago on an interurban car.
Strembo, vice president of the district
for. II years, since 1908 to be exact,
was on the car, as were two young
miners.
Strembo is Hungarian. a church
member and is known as the boss"
of large bloc of Hungarian and Slav
miners. He is one of the most enthu-
siastic "red-baiters" in the valley.
He was putting his pipe compla-
Gently when one of the young miners
said in broken English:
"Mr. Strembo, you smoke pipe but
maybe some striking miner amt got
tobacco to smoke in pipe. You get
paid wages right along, don't you?
Strembo Moves.
Strembo looked at him angrily but
then got up and moved TO the back of
the car. When the two miners left
the car at the next stop the conductor,
evidently trying to curry favor with
Strembo, said:
"Those two young fellers don't be-
long to the church, do they?"
Church hell" said the outraged
Strembo, they probably come from
some Communist meeting"
It seems that both the operators
and the reactionary union oficialdom
have the same idea, correct one by
the way. that red" is person who
thinks first of all Of the interests OF
the miners.