The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-10-17
By EMIL GARDOS.

The anthracite tri-district, with
its over 100000 organized miners,
has always been the financial
stronghold of the Lewis machine.
During the last strike, the $500
monthly relief assessments coming
from the hard-coal miners, virtually
forced to scab on their brothers.
helped to raise the millions Lewis
spent to pay his own and his Of
ficials' salary, to hire thugs, deputy
pickets, to give strikebreaking re-
lief to those miners who refused to
picket and fight. The anthracite
miners by giving nearly two million
dollars to the strikebreaking Lewis
machine have helped to preserve the
vicious machine in power.
Today, with the practical elimina-
ton of the United Mine Workers in
the bituminous fields, the anthra-
cite districts l, Z and 8 are the fl
nancial basis of the Lewis machine.
Their special assessments, still
forced upon the membership months
after the sell-out of the strike, their
per capita taxes going to the In
ternational treasury furnishes the
life blood to the dying machine. The
defeat of Lewis in the anthracite
will mean the virtual end of the
U. M. w. A. Lewis knows that and
hence the renewed interest dis
played by him towards the hard
coal miners.
Machine Due to Smash.
Another reason is to be found in
the developments in the industry.
The naturalization process carried
on by the operators is going hand
in hand with weakening of the union.
There is no doubt that it will end
in a year or two with the smashing
of the U. M. w. A. as happened in
the bituminous. The handful of OPP
orators, having a monopoly over
production, will probably seek to
eliminate the union, especially now.
when their competitors are produc-
ing soft-coal under the worst open
shop conditions. Or they may adopt
another well-known program.
Mr.. Lewis knows that too and
as a leader with foresight and with
real love for his union and his per
capita tax, he recently came to in
vestigate and to negotiate, to pre-
pare the ground for a real sell-out,
more successful one than in the
bituminous districts.
Towards a Company Union.
Since the 1925 strike, the opera
tors have been making systematic
efforts on the one hand to win back
their markets lost during the five
months suspension, to regain ground
lost to substitutes, etc, and on the
other hand, to eliminate future labor
troubles by Transforming the union
into a company-controlled organlza-
ton. They have been quite success
full in both directions.
Thanks to extensive publicity
drives, sales services, the employ
ment of combustion engineers, the
construction of special stoves and
boilers for the small, steam-sizes,
the introduction of installment plan
of selling coal, ETC., the operators
have regained considerable ground.
Operators Name Lewis Official.
Through debating elections, on
local and district scale, through brib-
ing small group of local officials
at the expense of the rank and file,
they gained the control not only over
the districts, but over no less than
90 percent of the local unions.
1t is well-known fact, for in
stance, that the election of John
Boylan as the successor of the COM
pletely discredited Cappelini, took
place in the offices of Mayor Inglis
and Mr.. Demnick of the Glen Alden
Coal Company. The fractional strife
in district No. 1, was to great ex-
tent doe to the efforts of the COM