Evening star., 1928-03-04
Miners Faith in Government at Stake:
''Mailed Fist" Needed i'm Coal Fields

The wages vary according to the number Of days
the miners choose to work.
That is another side of the picture.
Back to the hotel room again. The president
OF a coal company is speaking we believe our
men are working now under good wage scale
They are making $40 and $l2 a day. They are
warm and we'll fed. They are making good
living Where can men go and make that much
money in any other industry? We provide work
for them 900 days year.
That Is another side OF the picture
Picture With One Side.
But there is a picture that has only one side.
It shows woman. weeping Historically. Shc
stands in the door of her barrack rOom her dirty
children trgging at her skirts, and she waves at
the procession OF shining automobiles bearing
committee from the United States Senate Shc
knows nothing of dividends to be paid TO stock
holders She knows nothing OF the highly tech-
nical and difficult business of operating a mine
in the face of ruinous competition. She knows
little OF the theories. the PHILOSOPHERS or the
stand the strict, colorless law of supply and de-
mand. What she does know Is that her husband
belongs to the union. The union has said, DO
not work" and her husband does not work II
he does not work he is not paid but it is wrong
to work when the union says DO not WORK
Some other family, aliens in the community.
lives in the home she and her family once oc-
cupied. Somebody else gets the wages her nus
band used to get II. driven frantic by the sight
Of her children, she runs into the street and
makes faces or curses at the dirty Scaos going
volver and jack. employed by the company.
threatens her away. She is told she must not
interfere with those who want to work. for that
world she knows are allied against her.
But here come the Senators! They are from
Washington! They are from the main Govern
ment! Now, thank God the Government Is
coming here to do something! Now everything
will be all right again. no more strikes. no more
fights and there will be food and shoes again
for the children.
ot.t,,
her tears
Turn Eyes to Washington.
There are thousands OF embittercd men and
women in the mining camps OF America who are
turning their eyes to Washington with faith
that is tragic because IL is such implicit faith.
Destroy that faith. and what is left? Whether
they are right or whether they are wrong makes
little difference. They are victims Of involved
economic situation. They are looking to the
Government TO untangle it. That Is only one
reason why the hearings which are to begin
Tuesday before the Senate interstate commerce
committee investigating the soft coal situation
are vitality important.
The rather abecedaran facts uncovered by the
subcommittee OF the interstate commerce COM
mittce In It's fve-day tour Of the coal fields will
do little toward diagnosing or suggesting cure
for the coal industry. which Is sick from COM
bnation OF deep-seated diseases. All the sub
committee did to hit the first pages with
some human interest stories. and a lot of these
stories were one-sidcd. The reason they were
one-sided was because the committee centercd Its
attention on human beings instead OF upon sta
tistics relating to costs of production. II bare
foot. hungry child and statement the eco
nomcs of mining competing for place In
the headlines. the barefoot child will win every
time. What the subcommittee did was TO obtain
very human and graphic picture of some OF
the sore spots. which demonstrated beyond
doubt that there is something very wrong and
very dangerous lying beneath them.
Wrong May BE Ri.hted.
As far rs the facts relating to the coal In
d'iStry generally are concerned. the United States
Government spent more than a million dollars