The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-11-26

the 1uQ0m1E~
 able conviction of his Welsh fore- fathers as well as their stubborn tenacity of purpose. He has nev- CT been addicted to the irritating habit of so many labor Headers, that of running of at the mouth upon the slightest provocation or upon no provocation at all. He keeps the spigot of his oratory turned off until he has something to say. Then he says it in un- mistakable language. His one- sentence letter of resignation is altogether characteristic of the man.
 To the Point
 There is in the A. F. of L. book of etiquette a formality of address to ignore which is to be guilty of trade union heresy. Let ters from one labor skate" to another must always begin Dear Sir and Brother" and wind up "Fraternally Yours" The epis- tie may contain the information to the addressee that his organ ization throat is about to be cut but the news must be conveyed in the fashion which tradition has sanctified. In his letter of resignation to William Green, president of the American Fed eration of Labor, MT. Lewis wrote:-
 Dear Sir and Brother:
 Effective this date I resign as vice. president of the Amer ican Federation of Labor.
 Yours truly,
 JOHN L. LEWIS.
 
 Significant
 The omission of the dash after the colon in the salutation was probably a stenographic over- sight which warrants no com- ment. But the total and com- plete absence of "Fraternally Yours" and the substitution of the glacial Yours truly" is some- thing else again. Evidently MT. Lewis started out to be the con- ventional international president addressing the chief of the A. F. of L. but wound up 8 plain coal miner entering a fight in which the amenities will have no part. When 8 miner fights he takes his pick and his powder with him and the struggle which is beginning in the labor movement is one which means the life or death of the type of union which the United Mine Workers repre- sent.
 The Set Up
 The A. F. of L. is voluntary association of two kinds of unions, craft and industrial. The former contains workers in the same trade and the latter work CTS in the same industry. Car penters and electricians under the craft variety of union belong to the carpenters or the elec- trical workers international. But everyone who works in the mines whether he be 8 carpenter, an electrician, 8 hoisting engineer or any other craftsman must be- long to the United Mine Work CTS, an industrial union. Usually painter or a teamster comes under the jurisdiction of the painters or the tearnsters inter- national. But a painter or a teamster working for a brewery must belong to the Brewery Workers Union, which is also of the industrial kind. For years these two groups were the only industrial organizations in the A. F. of L. and were outnumbered by the craft organizations. By reason of the tremendous mem- bership of the United Mine Workers its delegates to the an nual conventions of the A. F. of l.. were able to take and keep Hu IlucpCAluCllV pOoAvAOA WAAOAA votes were being taken on im- portant resolutions. They were feared, courted, and respected by the powerful craft union organ izations who might need their support. They were also hated for reasons which will appear later.
 No "YeS" Men
 Almost invariably the United Mine Workers delegates voted as they pleased upon anything and everything which did not par- ticularly touch on their own or- ganization's welfare. Some of them were Republicans and some were Democrats. MT. Lewis was actively identified with President Hoover's campaign and was prominently mentioned for the cabinet position of Secretary of Labor. Thomas Kennedy, the