Evening star., 1949-12-27
Miners Blame Fund Depletion
On 'ChiseIing and Corelessness

'On'ChiseIing'o d
By Robert J. Dr.
North American \
ATHENS, Ohio, Dec. 27.-John
L. Lewis miners welfare and re-
tirement fund, which ran through
$3.50, ,000. 900 to a point of virtual
bankruptcy in IA months, was dis
sipated by careless administration
and squandered on a multitude Of
benef1ciaries of questionable quail
ifications, in the opinion of Ohio's
coal miners.
Case after case Of "free riders
who helped to milk the welfare
fund dry was cited by miners,
both active and retired, by their
officers of the United Mine Work
ers and by businessmen inter-
viewed in week-long, 700-mile
swing through the mining COM
munities within a 50-mile radius
of Athens County.
Miners at every stop were found
clamoring for tighter restrictions
to eliminate the sunny-day min
er who found it more comfortable
and profitable to live on the dole
than to work.
Tell Of Reinstatements.
Staunch unionists told Of:
Former miners, out of the coal
fields as long as IS or 20 years,
reinstating themselves with a
week or two of work to become
eligible for relief.
Disabled" workers who went on
the dole until the well ran dry.
then foune. themselves able to
swing a pick again.
Entire communities almost
wholly dependent on welfare and
pension payments.
"Socialized" medicine with fea-
lures that would not be allowed in
England.
But this is only half of the pic
ture.
The other half deals with re-
tired miners who worked in the
mines for SIS or go years. with the
widows and orphans left In the
wake OF mine disasters, with wom-
en- dying Of cancer and tubercu-
losis, with the cripples who are
the trade mark of every mining
town. Along with the chiselers,
they have been without benefit
checks since September II.
Many Are Stranded.
Many of them cut themselves
free of all other forms OF relief
to qualify for Miners Welfare,
and now they are stranded high
and dry.
Misery-accentuated as never
before by the contrast Of a brief
year of fairly steady work and
welfare fund largess-stalks the
valleys where both hills and men
have been SCARED by the quest for
coal. But on this return visit,
misery finds hot and rebellious
welcome.
The miners viewpoint was pur-
sued off the main highways in
Athens, Jackson, Vinton. Hooking.
Perry, Belmont and Harrison
Counties, and in the West Vir-
ginia Panhandle. The inquiry led
from hillside shack to town house,
from bank to pool hall, from COM
pany store to supermarket. from
the strip mine near Cadiz to the
deep-shaft mine on the banks OF
the Ohio, to the drift mine in the
hill country and the burning
mines of New Straitsville.
All willing to Talk.
Everywhere, miners and Their
merchants were not only willing
but anxious to talk.
"They rode our fund to q
frazzle, said a Buchtel miner Of
the "cheaters" he named.
"They tossed thousands Of dol.
lars around like confetti" said 9
Merchants Association president
recalling last summers boom days
1--WE filed orders for a year.
supply of earache OIL" said
Nelsonville druggist.
| "They shelled it out like they
were throwing corn to a flock o.
chickens, and everybody grabbed
for it," said a 78-year-old Chaun'
cey pensioner.
"a lot got it that shouldn't,
admitted UNIV field representa-.
tive from District 6 heaquarters
in Bellaire.
Resentful of Welfare Plan.
Resentment was aimed chiefly
at the welfare benefits, although
many miners openly questioned
the propriety Of pensions granted
to retired workers Of their &C
quaintance.
The miners pension is {
straight 500 q month gram
given retired workers Of at least
20 years service in the mines
after the age of so. Retirement
must have been after May 28
1916.
| OF q more nebulous nature |.
4 the welfare program, which Mr.
Lewis bargained for to benefit
some hardship cases." The indi.
A