Evening star., 1937-02-07
BY j. A, FOX.

BY ]. A. FOX.
~ HE floodlightS of swarming pho
tographers beat harshly on the
stage of Constitution Hall.
i Down in the cushioned re-
cesses Of the vast auditorium, only
dimly outlined in the early dusk Of
January afternoon, year ago, 1,7o0
members of the United Mine Workers
of America hunched forward-tense,
silent-gripped by unfolding drama
as the long-smoldering struggle for
mastery between two conflicting
philosophers in the labor movement,
was whipped into flames before them.
With the final curtain was to come
q new force to be reckoned with in
employer relationship in this
country; one that thus far has tied
up a good part of the automobile In
dustry: promises to go into steel-and
further.
For an hour these toil-marked
miners had listened as William Green,
stocky president of the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor, alternately pleaded,
cajoled, by implication threatened
as he sought to sway them from the
new standard to which little while
before they had sworn allegiance
the cause of industrial unionism,
espoused by their own president. John
L. Lewis.
Plea by Green.
In the binding glare Of the lights
Green, q product Of the Ohio coal
fields, exhorts his audience with evan
gelistic fervor::
II have spoken to you as coal
miner and as president of the Ameri-
can Federation Of Labor. some
times wish I were still with you as
a coal miner, whether in the ranks
or as your spokesman. never sought
this position. I was drafted into it,
and those who drafted me, the Execu-
tive Council, might have done better
I don't know; I cannot answer that,
but I thought when I was selected
that it was not only personal tribute
to me, but it was an honor to the
United Mine Workers Of America, with
whom I have lived all my life. That
is the way feel now, and that is
whether with the American Fedora
ton of Labor as its president, or out
and finished with my work, let it be
soon or far in the distance, I shall
give to the United Mine Workers Of
America the best I have, until time
shall be no more!"
He sat down, wiping away the per-
spiration, and battery Of cameras
clicked.
From the side OF the stage, Lewis
massive and shaggy-haired, moved
ponderously to the front and began
to speak, measuring carefully his
words as though he weighed each
syllable.
1.-THE president of the United Mine
Workers Of America will permit the
delegates to the thirty-fourth con-
stitutional convention Of this organiza-
ton to render their answer to Presi-
dent Green of the American Fedora
ton Of Labor. Let me call upon al
delegates to this convention who have
changed their minds on this issue or
account Of f-the address of President
Green, to rise to their feet"
A pause.
1.-The chair sees two delegates.
Gets Rising Vote.
again. the question recurs upon the
fiat of the executive council Of the
American Federation Of Labor, read tc
this convention as an ultimatum by
President Green. It demands that the
president of the United Mine Workers
Of America. with his associates or
the Committee for Industrial Organ.
ization, like quarry slaves at night
scared to their dungeon, dissolve. dis
band, cease and desist with reference
to the Committee for Industrial Or
ganisation. Let those delegates OF thil
thirty-foufth constitutional conven'