The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-09-10
Determined Miners in Old FHvves Make Way Pittsburgh to Build N1
DELEGATES FROM
ALL over u. S.
ARRIVE HOURLY
Many Come From the
Open-Shop Territory

PITTSBURGH. Sept. 9.-The
Kansas miners delegation has forced
its way in well-worn Fords, the first
CT the auto caravans across country
to be or time for the National Min
ers Convention, which will launch a
new miners union, a fighting, in
corruutible organization of the rank
and file on a national scale TO win
back living wage and decent con-
ditions in the industry Other dele
cations are arriving hourly from
the anthracite, Central Pennsyl-
vania. Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky,
Maryland, Missouri, West Virginia,
and other fields.
A hundred and fifty delegates
from the Pittsburgh district are in
town. You see these rugged work
ers around on the streets and in the
offices of the Convention Arrange
ments Committee; they are men that
hunger and the II months struggle
against operators and police and
state troopers and the gangsters,
and the starvation policy of Inter
national President Lewis and his
minions have not been able to
break. The advance guard arrived
Saturday from Mcdonald, from
Avella, from Harwick, from the
Portage section and other towns
scattered about the district.
From Open-Shop Territory.
Tom Wray and his brother dele
gates come from the territory of
the Pittsburgh Coal Co., which has
locked out its miners since 1925, and
whose open-shop policy, they re-
port, was recognized a few weeks
ago by Lewis when he calmly with
drew pickets from those mines.
The Indiana delegation had a
little road trouble. The first cars,
which contained among others
Mother Bloor, active organizer for
the Save-the- Union Movement in In
diana, and one of the only three
women members of the old United
Mine Workers of America, also some
active Negro delegates. were stalled
at Englewood, Ohio. Mother Bloor
and some of the others came on by
train, and the whole caravan came
on into Pittsburgh in time for the
convention.
Ready to Walk.
IF the tires had given out, ="
Thomas S. Wakefield, white haired
delegate in the Kansas group, said
of his caravan. Eve would've walked!
You see. the locals back in Kansas
are waiting for charters from the
new union, and we promised to
bring them back. The Kansas dis
trict has been shot to pieces ever
since Lewis threw out our officers
and put in a provisional set, and
whenever we put a progressive on
the slate to oppose them at election
time. they Just cross the name off"
Wakefield was member Of the
Knights of Labor and helped to or
ganize the United Mine Workers of
America Now that he has seen
it wrecked by the Lewis gang he is
helping to organize another union
ale has proved himself a good union
man.
New Locals.
- Wakefield told of the organiza-
: fior of pa11- ,,,,iOr IooaIa IN s0r,,o
towns, where they only await their
.charters to begin to take every
thing over, and of the refusal Of the
Lewis local officials to permit any
meetings of their few remaining To-
seals for fear that if they ever meet
they will join the new union.
I The Lewis district administration
has signed up the state on the 1917
iscale, much under the Jacksonville
sscale, but even so, the mines 90 not
sopen as they were expected to on
Sept. /. The Kansas delegation
thinks that this is because the op-
.erators are not certain that the re-
dictionary district president, Skahan,
has anything to sell to them that he
swill be able to deliver.
Threaten Blacklist
: Dan Coffee, district board mem
.ber for the old union, appeared at
meetings of two locals in Arma,
kansas, the center of the coal in
sdustry there, and in the course of
his argument with the boys of IS
and 1880 pleaded with them not to
Join the new union. because the
United Mine Workers is terribly
weak in Kansas"
Another tactic of the machine in
Kansas is ths blacklist. An open
threat to blacklist any, miner who
went with the new union was made
at the U. NJ. w. A. district conven-
ton during the last week Of August
by district officials on the platform