Montana labor news., 1946-06-06

ditions IN their mines Nlau Richard
Mellon Andy's brothcf and president
of the Pittsburgh Coal company one
of the largest operator l 'Ae hiinm.
mons field. was asked 'y ihr shocked
members of a senait Investigating
committee. headed by Bart Wheeler
what he knew about What als going
on in his mines just uU'. III of his
Pittsburgh home. h. Ns.- genuinely
startled. The mines? Dr. said .nered-
%ulouslv. why. / never - MI there
Before him. the iutiiable George
r-Divine Rights") Bae. president OF
a railroad company ownir. maty large
mems. said about the proved suffer
ings of Il group nj fore -n.haw miners
and their women and CfflIfen.
suffer- Why, they DON'T suffer
They cant even speah tfsi H."
What do You do wit attitudes lhe
this. still held by the ep rata to-day
II was Charles ONcill. lalts htad 81
The mine operators in present he.
gotiations. who said with ~tl.s44~l I'M
his voice. 9TH. miners s'en ie expect
us Ia keep an amhula ee 81 the pit
mouth in every mine IN Kentucky" III
was speaking of that pgeysuiahle ace
cideni Of last year vAtu mon were.
blown 10 bloody bits all iifl.s that
survived had To he taxi - miles or
so to the nearest hospifai
We all know how mad laaie most
OF our rural medical service Is today.
1t reaches a low WHOM il comes Ia
medical service for miners. feN am
bilious. well-trained doctors are MIL.
ing To drag ont their lii,S iii tho drah
monotony Of the mine nrlds A. 4 re-
suit the company doctors are largely
failures who have taksn M practice
in the fields as a last resort and are
helpless before the cnnrmity OF their
task. Many of them tau II 10 be their
job TO rush an injured patient back
to his task with as great speed rs pos
sible. just as lawyers handling compen.
sation eases try to proloue the agony
of mystifying court proceedings
The only competent survey that |
know of casualty rates among miners
showed that the rate was l.SN0 per
10000 as compared With 500 for all
other ~sainfully employed. Many min
ers come %unscathed tlrough eXplo-
sions to fall i'll of such diseases as
tuberculosis and nephritis common To
the occupation.
Lewis's demands for a good sized
sum to be spent annually on the safe.
guarding and medical care Of his men
is Just and can no longer hc ignored
AS Il spokesman for the Bureau Of
Mines put it. the blood on onr coal has
become "a national scandal"
Now comes the question as TO how
the money laid aside for bctier safety
and health measures on every mined
ton is 10 be administered For those
who are afraid that J. l. Lewis will
use it for his own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT uhc
operators alibi argumentl. suggest
that III alternative is presented in an
article by Gilmore Murehuus, l~lerrick
in the New York Herald Tribune of
May 10. She urges that there be
agreement upon the terms Of an ar
bitration award under which the opcr-
ators would undertake TO install safe
ty equipment. modernile hospitals. i'm
prove living conditions, etc. spending
10 cents>a ton FOR an agreed period
for these purposes, with the money eX
pended according To the necessities of
different areas
II would be my idea to SET mp coop
werative hospitals such as tho success
full one under In Shadid al Elk City,
Okla. which care Tor several thousand
farmers at surprisingly low cost. Most
mines are in rural communities any.
way, and such hospitals could provide
caro- for all 'hp community. farmers
as well as Minors in any such prof
Get as Miss Ilefrich suggests. a de-
mand Lewis VIII undoubtedly make.
and representation of the government
as wei. a demand Nlr. Lewis will un-
doubleday not mahe
Though reaelionafies are bitterly at
lacking The BRITISH decentralization OF
their mines. wltfe by the way. the
rate Of |casualties IS only o%ne-fourth
that Of ours -. lp permanent cure
for this rrcu4onily sick industry
short Of naturalization. The safety
and health maiSlses would be On.