The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-03-24
By p. FRANKFELD


A 7 the present time of the two so-caed Con
"A ventions" of the L. NJ. w. fakirs taking
place in Indianapolis and in Springfield the
entire capitalist press of the anthracite is
solidly backing the Lewis convention" as
against the Peabody Springfield convention"
This is nothing but the operators expression
Of gratitude to John L. Lewis and his crones,
The coal cOmpany's press in the anthracite Is
meeting its payments to the United Mine
Workers. which are moral as we'll material
ones. For John L. Lewis has well earned this
unstnted endorsement and unqualified support
Of the anthracite operators and contractors.
Lewis recently made a visit to Scranton.
On Feb. 20, he spoke in the high class Hotel
Casey before well mixed audience of business
men, operators, contractors. and labor" bust
ness men. The speech of John l. Lewis was
broadcast. The following day screaming head
lines announced with gleeful satisfaction that
"America's greatest labor leader predicts con-
tinued peace and prosperity in the hard-coal
region"
Lewis speech was most brazen one. There
was no superficial veneer Of phrases intended
to create illusions in the minds of the anthra-
cite miners. There wasn't the slightest men,
ton of the most pressing problems that face
the hard-coaI miners. Insofar as Lewis was
concerned, wage-cuts, speed-up, lay-offs, and
general worsening Of conditions of the hard
coal miners may have taken place on Mars
for Lewis these things did not exist.
There To Support Bosses.
Lewis was in the anthracite in order to
pledge himself and the UMWA for which he
speaks to a definite policy of going the full
length to meet all conditions that the operators
will demand to be included in the next agree
ment. The coal companies fear nightly
head-on struggle with the miners. The coal
companies want to put across their policy of
rationalizing the anthracite, with minimum
of resistance from the miners. They have
seen and felt the result of the last struggle
in 1925-1926. They have seen and feel that the
National Miners Union is force to be dealt
with in the mining industry. The fear of los
ing their markets, and the fear of the NMU
are the determining factors insofar as the
operators policies are concerned.
Lewis had the following to say in his speech:
% That a series Of secret conferences had
taken place between the operators and the
L. NJ w. A; CD that within 80 days, he ex-
pected the execution of another anthracite
agreement that will run for a Substantial
number of years; 90 that the coal companies
and the UMWA have been working most close
ly since the 1925 strike in order to prevent
strikes from developing in the future, and es-
pecially to avoid struggle in Sept, 1880; az
that he approves of the policy of the operators
to lessen the cost of production of coal but
without decreasing the wages of the miners.
Officials Lying
The anthracite misleaders of the miners, of
the type of Boylan, Hartneady, etc, have been
constantly denying the fact that there have
been any secret conferences with the opera
tors. On Feb. 4, Boylan made statement to
the Scranton "Sun" in which he called for mo
Strike in Sept; but who nevertheless said
that there had been no conferences between
mine officials and oprators relative to the
signing of the agreement" Lewis fatty de-
cared that there were and are.
Right now, the operators and their agents
are "conferencing" behind closed doors draw
ing up their new agreement. The coal COM
panles and the company union are preparing
to shackle the hard-coal miners to another 5
year Cor even more, for who knows what
substantial number Of years means to Judas
L. LewisD agreement. Every miner has seen
the last agreement work out in life itself No
miners wage has remained the same-from
that of years ago. No miners working con-
dtions have remained the same-in fact have
become considerably worse. Prices on cars
have been in most cases reduced by more than
90 per cent. Tonnage rates have been de-
creased.
The miners were formerly paid for dead
work" Hardly any miner at all receives pay
for dead work now. And all of this has been
accomplished during the reign of the Holy
Agreement
Only recently, the decision of Umpire Cor
man of the Cancellation Board, that every min
er must remain in the mine the full hours
is direct attack on the working hours of the
miners, and means in effect a ~, 2, and in