The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-06
LAW CRUSF1ES HUNGRY MINERS
Iron Hand Beats Dozen Kentucky Workers Uprising
BY ROBERT TALLEY
NEA Service Writer
wright. 1882. NEA service. Incl


(copyright. 1882. NEA Service. Ine.l
DINEVILLE, KY, April 6.-That
l. there is a trying and difficult
economic problem facing coal op-
orators in this Kentucky area today
is as clear as the fact that the faE1i-
lies of jobless miners are near the
hunger line, and employed miners
are working only part time, at fal
less wages than formerly received
Collapse of the coal business is
as clear as the manner in which the
coal operators, business men anc
Acknowledgement officials of Bell
and Harlan counties are trying tc
solve their problem.
Their method is one of complete
suppression of human rights anc
civil liberties.
Such interests in these communi-
ties have banded together to crush
unioniSm among the miners. They
have used every means at theil
command-the power of the law
deportation Of unwelcome visitors
they even have taken a monopoly
on food relief, refusing unions anc
their sympathizers permission tx
send any food in here for the job.
less miners.
In Harlan county things are be.
ing run by Sheriff John Henry
Blair and County Judge D. c. Jones
who recently have drifted apart po'
litically, but not on this subject.
In Bell county, County Prosecutor
Walter B. Smith, only 20 years old
is the one-man dictator.
Il n
DOTH Sheriff Blair and Prose-
ID cutor Smith tell you that they
are defending the mine region
from Communists, bent upon over
throwing established government
with a revolution, and Smith ex-
plains it this way:
Kentucky is state of pioneers
and we Kentuckians are pioneer
ing here today against a Com
munistic menace that, if permitted
to take root here, may flourish
and spread until it engulfs and
wrecks our nation. The National
Mine Workers is a Cognmunistic
union.
I'VE are engaged in choking a
well-organized movement that
aims at the destruction of our gov
eminent, our homes, our courts,
our industries, and everything else
that is American.
I'm the wake of these Bolshe.
viks, feeding upon the publicity
attendant to the furore they have
created, have come a lot of half
baked emigres from New York
who call themselves journalists
and novelists.
"They say they came here to
help the miners; the truth is that
they came here to get publicity
for themselves, or for the red pub
locations they represent or for
books they plan to write.
Theodore Dresser, for example.
made lot of noise, but never I'M
til this day has he aided anybody
in Kentucky"
That explains the situation as
mine operators and public officials
here would like to have it ex-
plained-that they are fighting a
red menace.
THE grave economic problems
4 that face the coal operators
i'll these days of depression were
outlined to me by operators whom
1 interviewed, and the high
points in their statements were:
NINETY per cent of the coal
4 operators here have gone broke,
or are as good as broke. q saw
stocks of commissaries of bank
rupt coal companies being auc-
toned at sheriff's sale in front of
the courthouse at Pineville.)
O-They are trying to sell coal
- that costs $1.25 ton to pro-
duce on a flooded market where
1t is going begging at ST ton. as
against $40 for this same coal a
few years ago.
0-The independent operators
= not only are fighting the de-
pressed market, but they also are
engaging in cut-throat competi-
ton to get what little business
there is in sight. They can't make
a