 |
 |
 |
| Return to Index | Go back to Page 3 | Continue
on to page 5 of 5 |
Conflict at Coal
River Collieries:
The UMWA verses the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers...
Page 4 of 5
Stone warned BLE members against being taken in by such propaganda. "The BLE as a labor organization was in existence years before any of these other organizations were thought of . . . and will probably be in business long after some of these other so-called labor organizations are forgotten."(39)
Stone's suspicions that political motives and Republican money were behind the UMWA propaganda campaign were not unreasonable. John L. Lewis had, in fact, built a strong relationship with the Coolidge administration. Lewis's work on the Jacksonville Agreement won the praise of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who urged Coolidge to congratulate Lewis for his efforts in negotiating the agreement which was intended to produce stability in the industry. Using his Washington connections, Lewis "acted as the nation's most eminent labor Republican," and was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Republican National Committee. The UMWA president was also one of those talked of for vice-president and for secretary of labor. The A. F. of L. added fuel to the political fire by endorsing Lewis for the position of Secretary of Labor. Even though he did not receive a major political appointment, Lewis's standing with the Coolidge administration was, nevertheless, "unsurpassed among trade unionists."(40) While links between the UMWA and the Coolidge administration have not been uncovered, such an association is not beyond possibility.
Given Lewis's political prominence within the Republican party, many BLE officials suspected the UMWA propaganda was directly supported by the Coolidge campaign, and that attacks on Stone and the CRC were due to BLE support of LaFollette. Just prior to the election there was a flurry of negative publicity directed at the CRC. Several trade unions and labor federations attacked Stone and CRC labor policy, and UMWA officials scurried about speaking against the CRC, the BLE and Stone to union meetings and other workers' organizations. In Cleveland, home of the BLE headquarters, UMWA officials induced the Central Labor Union and the Cleveland Federation of Labor to pressure Stone and the CRC to revise its labor policy.(41)
After the election, the CRC issue refused to go away. The A. F. of L. issued resolutions criticizing Stone and the CRC. While there was some concern that the issue would only "wash dirty linen in public," resolutions were passed without debate or dissenting vote proclaiming that if Stone did not change his policy toward the CRC and UMWA, the A. F. of L. would inform the membership of the Federation "of all the facts in the premises," a euphemism for a boycott.(42)According to the A. F. of L. Committee on Boycotts, which was chaired by UMWA official Frank Farrington, a boycott by the A. F. of L. would include "the withdrawal of trade unions from association in all capacities with the engineers' financial enterprise, such as banks and mines."(43)
As the pressure intensified, Stone fought desperately to deflect criticism of the CRC and drum up financial support for the troubled coal company. Repeatedly he insisted that any miner, union or non-union, could secure employment with CRC and denied there was any discrimination whatsoever against union miners. The company simply could not pay the wage scale dictated by the Jacksonville Agreement and remain in business. (44) Referring to the CRC as a "cooperative" venture where the miners were stockholders and shared in its earnings, Stone professed that "there are no better satisfied men employed anywhere than in the Coal River Collieries." Stone wrote he had the CRC payroll in his hand, and wished "it were possible for each member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to secure the amount of money paid the lowest class of workmen in the mines," citing wages of $22.50 to $27.50 a day for machine cutters and $10.00 to $12.50 a day for loaders. Stone's figures were false because the basic rate set by the Jacksonville Agreement was $7.50 for an eight-hour day which he claimed the CRC could not afford.(45)
As was common among many operators in southern West Virginia during this time, Stone's counteroffensive against the UMWA blamed the intransigence of the miners' union for CRC's financial problems. Stone also claimed there were tremendous overhead costs at CRC mines. The Chief Engineer wrote of a "rough and mountainous country" where it was "necessary to clear off the timber on a lot of land, ship in all kinds of material to construct the plant, experience more or less delay in receiving same, then purchase equipment and build residences for the help, together with hundreds of other things, before operation began."The outside plants did not include "cheap wooden tipples which would have lasted eight or ten years," but rather "good fireproof tipples"which would last for years with less upkeep and lower insurance rates.(46) Given the successful financial and real estate empire controlled by Stone and his exaggerated wage figures, such hand-wringing strains credibility, but as a sales pitch it was impressive and undoubtedly convinced many union investors.
Throughout the winter of 1924-25 the strike held, evictions of miners from company-owned houses continued and strikebreakers were brought in from Alabama, Virginia and Kentucky. Drawing on its own limited resources, the UMWA provided some shelter and food for the striking miners and their families. In a report to the UMWA International Executive Board, Percy Tetlow painted a grim picture of evicted miners living in shacks and tents, and the pathetic joy of their children when they received union-supplied gifts of candy, nuts and a Christmas tree.(47)
Members of UMWA Local 5717 issued their own report on the condition of striking CRC miners. As might be expected, they refuted Stone's proclamation of happy, contented workers, and wrote instead of being "ten miles from the post office," and that "Mr. Stone has a monopoly on the whole country and will not let us ride on his wonderful train to and from the post office." The miners also reported that the CRC had hired gun thugs, such as "Two-Gun Billy" who was "allowed to go through the camp and abuse striking miners wives" and disrupted meetings. As for Stone's wages, the machine men acknowledged they were paid $9.75 for a fourteen-hour day and maximum two-week earnings of $136.55 for fourteen hour- days. The miners closed their report with "let our watchword be on to victory."(48)
In accordance with the resolution passed by the A. F. of L. the previous November, Stone, John L. Lewis and representatives of the A. F. of L., UMWA and the CRC finally met in Washington, D. C. to discuss the situation at Coal River Collieries. The conference convened on February 25, 1925, and the first item of business was to create a committee charged with reaching an agreement satisfactory to both parties.(49) A second committee met in Charleston in March 1925, but failed to reach an agreement.
---------- BIBLIOGRAPHY ----------
39. "Ibid"., 58(October 1924): 730. back to text
40. Melvyn Dubofsky and Warren Van Tine, "John L. Lewis: A Biography" (New York: Quadrangle, 1977), 108-09, 111. Even with the support for Lewis' appointment, Coolidge remained with James J. Davis as his Secretary of Labor. back to text
41. "UMWJ", 15 November 1924, 15 January 1925.back to text
42. "New York Times", 19 and 23 November 1924. At this convention another resolution was passed requesting that Coolidge name John L. Lewis as Secretary of Labor. "Ibid"., 19 November 1924. back to text
43. "New York Times", 23 November 1924; "UMWJ", 1 December 1924. back to text
44. "UMWJ", 1 January 1925. back to text
45. "The Locomotive Engineers Journal" 59(January 1925): 10-11. In a report to the International Executive Board, Percy Tetlow refuted the notion that CRC was a cooperative venture. According to Tetlow, the stock was sold predominately to BLE members. "There are not two per cent of the men working at these mines who can own any stock in the company," and the strikebreakers were not offered the opportunity to purchase stock. Miners who did hold shares of CRC stock were not guaranteed employment. Employment was contingent on accepting the 1917 wage scale, not the Jacksonville scale, Tetlow reported. "UMWJ", 15 January 1925. The basic Jacksonville scale was $7.50 for a eight-hour day and $1.08 a ton for piece workers. Homer Morris, "The Plight of the Bituminous Coal Miner" (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1934), 13. back to text
46. "The Locomotive Engineers Journal" 59(January 1925): 11. back to text
47. "UMWJ", 1 and 15 January 1925. back to text
48. "Ibid"., 1 February 1925. back to text
49. "Ibid"., 15 March 1925. back to text