The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-09-24
THOUSANDS JAM
HILLS, VALLEY
! AT Great Meet
Denounce Corruption;
Hail New Union
Continued from PAGE One

spoke, SIT is like the old days, tn
old spirit is still alive"
The crowd filled the large dane
pavilion and spilled out on all sides
Charley Shultz, of Edgemont stoo
on table and proposed that tn
whole crowd should move out to
valley nearby, where the crow
can sit on the hillsides and tn
speakers speak below"
"Atta boy Charley!"
And with laughter and cheers tn,
crowd gathered up chairs and table,
and walked to the new site.
At 2.30 the valley and hills wer,
covered with about 1000 men anC
women and still they came.
Russell Smith of Edgemont opened
the meeting with these words:
"This meeting is called to protest
against the alleged-to-be accepted
agreement"
Then he called on Charley Shult7
as the first speaker. Shultz, very
forceful speaker, brought the crowc
up cheering as he told the story OF
falsehood and betrayal by the takers
in their latest move. First of all, ,
Shultz charged, "Fishwick claimed
all that he wanted was a free hand
from Lewis so that Illinois could
draw up a scale on a tonnage basis
for the loading machine. And when
Lewis gave him this free hand they
brought forth an agreement that
had no scale for machine but huge
wage cut fer all lines of work"
"Fishwick," Shultz continue
promised to stand by the Jackson
vile agreement until hell froze
over" well" said Shultz, "hell
must have frozen over and on a
damn hot day too"
"Union" of Stool Pigeons.
C. C. Williams, of Collinsville, a
charter member of the U. NJ. w. A.
since 1894 said, There are now
1900 stool pigeons on the payroll
of the United Mine Workers. The
union is completely corrupt. 1 am
an old timer hut l am ready to do
my bit. Against arbitration!
Against crooks! For a new fight
ing union! 1t will take a rebellion
am ready"
Bradshaw of Oak Hill Mine spoke
next: "The new policy of Lewis is
the operators must make money
tho the miners starve! All the of
ficials want is the check-off. Ar
bitration means slavery"
Frank Sebeert, of Belleville:
Thirty years in the U. M. w. but
now l am ready to smash it and
rid ourselves of its fake leaders"
Ike Walker, president of a Du
Quoin local, another one of the old
fighters, not yet recovered from a
severe beating given him by three
officials of his sub-district, read Q
letter he received this morning stat
ing, "Get the men back to work at
once or you will not be able to walk
when we get thru with you" Well
Walker appealed for united action
to clean out all fakersl
All for New Union.
One after another miners, young
and old, rose and added their words
against the takers and for a new
union. Their names read like an
honor roll of the fighters in the
movement. James REILLY of Spring
field, Alex Vaughn of f. st. Louis
Pete Mareno of Collinsville, Baum
gartner of French Village, Wilson of
Springfield and many others.
Then came the motions and reso-
lutions. A resolution condemnine
Nesbit, for investing S150,000 of
miners money in scab mines in West
Virginia, was passed unanimously. |
A resolution against payment of
dues to the Fishwick administration I
was opposed only by six hands. The
resolution calling for spreading of
the strike was passed unanimously.
with great roar of approval. Their
the business of electing committees
organizing for the auto caravan,
ETC., was quickly disposed of.
All this time Freeman Thompson,
Dan Singer, George Voyzey, Luke
Coffey and other leaders of the Ma
tional Miners Union, were silent,
The local boys wanted to show that
they could organize the fight against
the machine and they did it and did
it well. All thru the meeting calls
for Thompson and Singer were
heard but now the crowd would no
longer be denied.
Old Fighter Against Takers.
And to a mighty swell of ap-
prevail Thompson mounted the table
that served as the platform. Thomp-
son is an old campaigner. He has
fought crooks and corruption in
Illinois Miners Union for years. At
times he fought lone hand, at other
times he had mass support but sci.
dom did he get such a welcome as
he received from that great crowd
gathered on the hillsides at Bellevue
Park today. The miners knew what
they wanted. They wanted a mil
liant fighting union of the rank and
file. And where can be found man
better fitted to typify such a union
than Freeman Thompson!
Sodden and be-fuddled minds and
overfed bodies have come to repre-
sent in the minds of the miners that
corruption and class collaboration