The voice of labor. (Cumberland, Md.) 1938-1942, 1938-12-15
Steel Leader
Halls Gains
Of Unionisnn
Little Steel Strikers Are
indicated

Here is the teri OF the speech
made TO the closing session OF
the CIO Maryland and District
Of Columbia Industrial Union
Contention by Ddrid J. Nc
Donald. Secretdry-Tredsurer OF
the Steel Workers Organizing
Committee.
Mr.. Chairman and Friends: Ger
tainly there was q little tug at my
hcartStringS to hear my very good
friend. John T. Jones, call me our
own David Mcdonald He means
the United Mine Workers own Da-
yid Mcdonald. l believe. because
that happens to be the place where
| learned all know about unionism.
During our drive down here.
Father Rice said 70 ME that lot Of
these scatter-brains up and around
Pittsburgh say that. well. Dave Nc
Donald is just another one OF those
United Mine Workers guys He
doesn't see things the way We do"
Well. want to say TO these gray
haired veterans Of the United Mine
Workers. and I want to say to all
OF you, that / thank the Lord that
the only unionism that ! ever
learned was United Mine Workers
unioniSm. learned all know from
the Mine Workers.
started with the United Mine
Workers when I was a pretty young
fellow. didn't know much about
anything in those days. and bright
and early in my career was sent
down into West Virginia TO do a
little work with that great organ
izer Of the Mine Workers. Van
Bittner took me around West Vir-
ginia and showed me the ropes. He
took ait TO the mining camps OF
West Virginia. He let me see the
United Mine Workers being pushed
all over the lot because forces of
unfair competition were in the
steel industry and they were being
beaten from pillar TO post in that
section of the country. Well, as this
thing developed and as the thing
progressed, l saw the people, the
miners. growing poorer and poorer.
Several years later. l think 1t was
along in 1928 or 1929, during the
great. golden age of America. when
the Mine Workers Union was prac-
tically extinct in West Virginia. /
went back down into that country.
and saw lot OF things that were
almost unbelievable. Maybe some OF
you miners of Maryland know a lit
tie bit about those things. Well.
what l saw was this:
Organize
The miners didn't have q union.
II had been taken away from them.
1t had been destroyed, and when the
miners didn't have q union, they
didn't have wages. The miners
down in West Virginia and other
parts OF the South which / was for
tunate enough to visit were poor.
Why. you couldn't find q calico or
Bingham dress on a miners wife in
the entire South. Why? Because
the miners weren't making any
money and they couldn't buy calico
or gingham dresses for their wives.
These miners wives we're wearing
discarded overalls. And the chill
dren? There wasn't child'S pair
of shoes in a mining camp i'll the
and that went for winter and
summer. l was in the South with
some Of these gray-haired veterans
who are here. and I saw little kids
going around in their bare feet in
the snow. And. l tell you. as sure
rs I am standing here that more
than once ! saw blood from their
feet on the frosty ground-all be-
cause the miners didn't have
union.
Well. along In 1888 the NRA was
born, and in 1888 the United Mine
Workers OF America threw its re-
serves and its skeleton forces into
action. and 1t didn't take many
weeks until the Mine Workers
Union was reborn in the South.
When this union was reborn, things
began to shape.
Now, II you go down into West
Virginia, women have calico and
Bingham dresses. Yes, and they
nave silk dresses. and they have
and shoes. and the chill
iren down in those camps have
hoes and clothing. Their stomachs
ire no longer distended. Their legs
ire no longer bent from ricketts, be-
'ause their fathers are making
money. Their fathers are able to
,uy the things which they need, and
{ is simply because OF this Miners
Union down there.