Evening star., 1948-04-28

vast amount Of our so-called legal reason
ing is utterly fallacious. P.H.C.
Speaks for the Miners
To the Editor Of The Star:
John L. Lewis and the United Mine Workers
have been fined for contempt of court splen-
did! Splendid fodder for commentators,
columnists and petty editorial writers seated
In the plush chairs of Washington. Yes,
they're eating it up, and they're gloating over
the plight of the men who helped make our
industrial greatness possible. without the
slightest tinge of shame they speak of court
orders as clubs being held over the heads Of
the miners" They praise the Taft-HarrIes
slave" Act. condone the findings of an openly
biased "fact-nnding" board; they praise the
juridical decision of . man who looks to the
health, safety and welfare" Of the people As
basis for his verdict.
Health safety and welfare" beautiful
emotional words indeed. Did his honor or your
predetermined leaders ever consider that the
health, safety and welfare" of the American
coal miner were superior to the interests of
your wealth. amassing operators? Did they
look into the coal fields to see men who had
devoted 40 years to the industry languishing
away on charity? Did they consider the
health, safety and welfare Of the thousands
OF miners who died for the industry, or the
starving, ill-clothed, poorly educated children
Of the coal towns?
No, for you who never have tasted OF 4
miners life there Is no explanation. Strikes,
lockouts, iron police, bread lines. Yes, they
are mere memories today. But they existed In
an era when nobody gave q darn about the
dumb hunkies" of the coal fields. They could
starve, die by the hundreds or live in ignorance,
be abused. You're pushing them back down
that road again today.
Yes. 1t was wonderful when the miners rolled
up an unprecedented war record You needed
them. 1t was too bad when the boys from
Portage and Centrala sat awaiting death
miles beneath the ground. 1t was regret
table mistake when negligence snuffed out
their lives. No one bothered about corrective
action few Senators got their names in the
papers, and a few editors squeezed out 4 few
dollars In expense money to have some re-
porter write few quck-selling sob stories on
the fatherless children and grim-faced wives.
In August, 1910. an inquest found that neg
ligence was the cause OF the Somman explosion
which took the lives Of 63 men. The penalty,
500 fine and a dozen pamphlets OF promised
reforms. Where were the Tafts and the
Goldsboroughs then with their health, safety
and welfare?
These are but random comments from . per-
son who feels that, OF all injustces COM
mitted upon the miner, the greatest is the
unfair reflection of opinion now being spon-
sored by press and radio. No doubt you
will be reluctant to break the monotony of
unfair attacks upon the miners but I could
no longer refrain from telling you how shame
full the current antiminer campaign has been,
and voice the opinion of those who have so
appropriately been called the forgotten men Of
industry. FERDINAND BIONAZ.
Says Mr.. Truman Is Growina Biaser
To the Editor Of The Star:
1t begins to be apparent that Harry s. Tru-
man is the man we want for our next President
He Is growing by leaps and bounds Any man
that can hold q curb on the bunch that have
gone "hoS-wlld" since the war and stand
right behind our Army and Navy to take care
of our interests anywhere in the world, am
behind 100 per cent, plus
GOODYEAR A. PITTS.
San Diego Calf
Countries With No Death Penalty
To the Editor of The Star:
Your editorial on Capital Punishment"
overlooked not only that the Swiss Federal
Code OF 1899 abolished the death penalty, but
so did Romania $3.50, Portugal Q86D. The
Netherlands Q870), Italy QS8s) until Mus
soni restored it. However, it is of greater
Importance that the rate of murder did not
increase in any of these countries
On the contrary, in Italy until 1875 it was
on the average 9.6 and in the last decade OF the
18th century 4.S. Similarly 1t declined in
Romania and Norway after the abolition.
Professor Sutherland who made a very care
full study Of the available data in this country,
arrives at the conclusion that in the States
which abolished capital punishment there was
no unusual increase in the homicide rate
Unfortunately, these arguments are Of little
avail until the unshakable faith of noncrim-
irals in deter1ence persists 1t will take some
time until the prediction of Victor Hugo comes
true that the cross shall displace the gibbet."
because people are not ready yet to forget that
the cross itself was once a gibbet.
RUSTE1N VAMBERY.
Ernie and the Bagpipes
To the Editor Of The Star:
In your issue of April 16 there was printed
rfnl,f f,o,, I~Ji,