The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-14

Q
Madeira Hill, operates through a
subsidiary two mines in the Fair
mont Field. MADEIRA Hill, by the
way, directly and through various
subsidiaries have large anthracite
and bituminous interests in Pennsyl-
vania) Cd
Fourth, Brookes Fleming, Jr., the
West Virginia director of Consolida-
ton Coal, sits on the board of direc-
tors of two minor West Virginia
companies, the Ohley Coal Co. and
the Watson Coal Co. Zone step
further removed is the Cabin Creek
Consolidated Coal, 100000 ton
company, whose directors include W..
A. Ohley, president of the Ohley
Coal Co. and director with Fleming
of the Watson Coal Coz
Whether the $2,961, 900 s'invest-
ment in allied companies" reported
in the last annual balance sheet of
Consolidation Coal carries Rookie
Teller interest into other companies
where the connection is not so easily
traced, it is impossible to guess.
The secretary of the merger COM
mittee, Holly Slower, is currently re-
ported as "Of the National Coal AS
ISOLATION" Inc lentally, he wrote
some weeks ago to the New York
Times defending the conditions at
the Slower Coal Company against
what he considered an unfair COM
parison with the mining village lin
the same West Virginia County,
owned by Henry Ford. Now it ap-
pears that the Slower Coal Company
is direct subsidiary of Inland Steel.
! Unfortunately it has not been pos
sible to estimate the tonnage turned
out by West Virginia mines con-
nected with northern interests. But
it is worth while to list few of the
more important interests besides
Mellon and U. S. Steel, which ere
apparently not represented on this
merger committee. They include the
Allied Chemical and Dye Corpora
ton of which Lord Melchett, better
known as Sir Alfred Mond, is a
director; the insult Peabody group in
Illinois; New England utility in
terests; Bethlehem Steel and many
of the independent" steel COM
panies, including the Lake Superior
Corporation of Canada; and GER
tain northern railway interests.
Perhaps more Immediately i'm
portant to mine workers is the fact
that large number of northern coal
companies besides those already
mentioned have now acquired coal
properties in West Virginia. To
name only a few: Westmoreland
Coal, Independently of its anthracite
connections referred to above; HI
man Coal and Coke; Keystone Coal
and Coke; Youghiogheny and Ohio
Coal; Bertha Consumers Co.; the
M. A. Hanna Co. of Cleveland; the
Cosgrove- Meehan Corporations; and
Old Ben Corporation of Illinois. AL
so the Pittsburgh Terminal besides
having a director in common with
Atwater's American Coal Co. has
Just installed as it's new president,
H. T. Wilson, president of the notori-
GUS, Red Jacket Consolidated Coal.
Liberal writer's are forever stress
ing the chaos of competitive produc-
ton and marketing Of coal and the
advantages in the increase of cap
tive" mines. GA captive mine is one
owned by an industrial or public
utility corporation which mines the
coal for it's own use.) The COM
petitive market does involve genuine
difficulties for the miners. 1t has
been the pretext for wage-cutting
and union-smashing in once we'll or
ganized districts. But the growth
of captive" mines has REINFORCED
| the anti-union desires Of coal opera
tors with the anti-union drive in
other industries.
In spite of the competitive market
we have today united front against
organization Of coal miners. The
three financial giants-Morgan, Mel
lon, and Rockefeller-are all ag-
excessively hostile to unions. They
can guide the labor policy for their
own corporations, for related cor
4 porations, and for companies opera