The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 1, 1919, Page 5

’ injunction against the strike under the flimsy structure of law involved in the food control act. Obeying the injunction, John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers, and William Green, - secretary, had sent out orders, proper- ly vised by the federal judge, telling the strik- ers to return to work. But the strikers are still out. They did not go back according to the orders of their chiefs, de- livered under protest, it is true, by mandate of the court.” This is written exactly six days after.the federal judge vised the order he had demanded and found it in accord with his injunction, on the hearing of which he repeat- _edly denied attorneys for the miners a chance to - not be stored. make a case. : In other words, the coal strike is still on. It is just as tight as it ever was. And now in Washington the federal government, hit by the soundest blow against law and order since the reception of the Dred Scott decision, is staggering around making fine faces of pre- tense and attempts to adjust its misguided pol- icy of government by injunction to force the operators to negotiate with the miners., And before the strike, it will be remembered, the operators refused to negotiate; they would have nothing to do with the unions. The cause of this policy was evident; the strike in the steel mills had been decreed by Gary and it was time to smash the coal unions as it was con- sidered time to smash the new-born mill unions. s By contrast, however, the situation in North Dakota is a real blast of liberty and free govern- ment. You won’t read the fact in the newspapers, either. Not any more than you will read that the miners are still on strike. You will find plenty of buncombe about the “outcome” of the strike be- ing an irretrievable loss for labor unions. Yet the strike is on. A proper perspective of the remark- able position of North Dakota in the coal strike is not possible without an understanding of the situation in the country as a whole. - ; Miners and operators had- failed to agree on the fundamental principle of negotiations. Both sides were obdu- rate. Another epock-making indus- trial conflict was born. Orders had come to the miners in North Dakota to go out with their fellow workers in Montana and other coal-producing districts of the nation the next day. Whereupon Governor Frazier sent a telegram to John L. Lewis. North Dakota, depending largely upon lig- nite coal, already was winter bound. The season was early. They do mnot mine in this state in ‘the summer be- cause lignite slacks rapidly and can Henry Drennen, president of the Montana district, which includes North Dakota, came to Bismarck. He made it plain that because in North Dakota, the -people, the organized farmers, were in power and fighting the same evil - influences in politics as the organized wage-work- ers, that the miners were willing to make any legit- imate concession to see that the people obtained coal, For, he said, the miners knew that under a man of the caliber of Governor Frazier and ‘elected . by the people, instead of by the special interests, they would obtain- justice. ACTION TAKEN ONLY WHEN CONCILIATION EFFORTS FAJL The paramount issue was to obtain fuel, the gov- ernor repeatedly emphasized. With that idea in mind he acted as intermediary between the work- ers and the employers. The attitude of the mine operators in rejecting a pay advance when the word came down to- them from the Twin Cities, although that advance would have meant no finan- cial loss to them, is well known. They didn’t want the state government to bring the strike to a set- tlement. They preferred to beat the men in open struggle. ST . But the operators were reckoning without their host. When at midnight on the expiration of the ultimatum handed down' to the 1piners by the fed- Following the lead of North Dakota, both Kansas and Ohio are planning to take over coal mines in those states to be operated by the commonwealth for the benefit of the whole people. In Kansas, large mining properties in Crawford and Cherokee counties have passed under control of the state when the state supreme court named a receiver. The court order affects approximately 150 mines. court has been asked to direct the attorney general of the state to start ouster pro- ceedings against Ohio coal mining companies for failure to operate and to have re- ceivers appointed for the mines. In North Dakota, the Washburn Lignite Coal company, operating mines at Wil- ton, after promising co-operation with the state authorities to keep the mines run- ning, have suddenly changed their minds and have started court action to regain their possession. The clerks in the mine offices and the distributing agencies were in- 1+ duced to quit work, leaving the day’s books incomplete. eral judge in Indianapolis, it became apparent that the miners of the country would not obey their of- ficers and return to work, the governor acted. Early in the morning he issued a proclamation de- claring martial law around the mines of the state and - directing the adjutant general to enlist such men in the national guard as he saw fit to carry out his instructions. Miners sent word to the governor that they were willing to work for the state; even some operators who had been opposed to the obstruc- tionist tactics of their more influential col- leagues in their conference with the governor announced that they would welcome state op- eration of the mines. The miners returned to their work. And they returned without a cent of wage advance. They were willing to keep at their jobs under state operation pending the outcome of the strike. But they went back on this condition: Profiteering in the mining of coal should be wiped out. ; ; . tAnd profiteering was wiped out. J. E; Deemy, a man of long experience in the coal industry in all its branches, was appointed to direct the oper- ations of the mines. Operators were to be paid a Type of miners employed in . the western fields. royalty—a royalty based on fair profits before the war. They were to obtain from 10, to 25 cents a ton for the use of their pits by the state. Now it happens that before the war, 10 cents a ton was considered by a mine operator as a profit insuring riches. It was not only a good profit, but a top profit! - Since the beginning of the war, how- ever, profiteering in the coal industry has been a curse to the people and a blotch on the patriotism of the operators. Under the deal fixed with the federal government in a time of necessity, opera- tors are commonly reported to have been making a dollar a ton, instead of 10 cents. But, say the operators, the dollar has depreciated—we are liv- ing in an era of high costs. TFhe state of North Dakota took this fact into consideration. Allowing a 50 per cent depreciation in the purchasing power of the dollar, then 20 cents a ton profit now would mean to the coal operators a.profit equal to their best pre-war earnings. And it was upon the basis of a fixed profit in the industry that the state is operating the mines and the miners of North Da- * kota are the only members of their union who are at work as this is written, while the -rest of the country is strike-bound.- - ¢ . : The Ohio supreme .ic and mining conditions, In other words, the policy of Governor Fra- zier has been a recogni- tion that the rights of the people are paramount to the rights of private profit. In North Dakota, there was no exercise of despotic authority. Of course the special inter- ests burst into terrific wails, and their kept press flooded the country with misrepresentations about the situation—but the miners were at work, and satisfied. In a state where, because of climat- the people would have undergone more suffering than perhaps in any other state in the Union, the mines were at work, coal was costing the consumer né more, and this con- dition will continue until the national differences " between the employed and the employer shall have been adjusted. It is an interesting commentary that the national government, having failed in . forcing the men back to work, should, as these words are written, be giving signs of adopting a policy which will make the operators negotiate. In other words, to be following out the common sense policy of justice to all concerned in the disastrous dispute laid down by the farmer governor of North Dakota. hote MINES TAKEN OVER p WITH LITTLE TROUBLE . So long as we have even one man of the courage and fundamental vision of Lynn-J. Frazier we can not-be accused of cheap jingoism when we see in him the one individual in the United States who is sanely .pointing the way to industrial peace when every other instrumentality of govern- ment seems to have goné mad with the idea that force is stronger than ideas. The taking over of the mines by the day withno trouble except legal protests and threats of litigation by the two big operators out of the 30 mines tak- en over. At Wilton, the Washburn Coal company resorted to a trick and sent the cars belonging to the Soo line at its mine back to Minneapolis and later served a legal protest against the state seizure of its prop- erty. Governor Frazier wired to Min- neapolis for the return of the cars and they were back at the mines Fri- day. . operation of the two mines of the North Dakota Coal company at Paster . and Midway, near Minot. The repre- sentatives of this company and sthe Washburn company were the princi- pal obstructionists who prevented the success of the governor’s conference of the owners and miners before the order taking over the mines was is- sued. _ The first word received by the state administration intimating the attitude of the-federal authorities toward the kota was received from Attorney Gen- eral Palmer Thursday. It said: “Receipt acknowledged of your wire advising that you have taken -over the coal mines in your state. As at present advised, I see no oc- casion for action by the department of justice.” Late Friday Governor Frazier received assurance of full co-operation by the federal railroad admin- g istration in the following message: “Hon. Lynn J. Frazier, Governor: “Have your telegram of 12th to director general, and assure, you fullest co-operation. Hope you will i state was accomplished mainly Thurs-’ A protest was filed against the state 4 taking over of the mines in North Da- [ instruct that distribution of the coal be handled i through railroad administration to insure proper ! ‘co-ordination -having in mind the deck and other bituminous coal railroad administration is distrib- uting. - We have brought this matter to the atten- tion of Regional Director Aishton, who is in im- mediate charge, and we are sure he will co-operate to the fullest extent. Aishton.” . g By Saturday 30 coal mines were operating under ¥ state supervision and were turning out 4,000 tons of coal a day., This was within 1,000 tons of the § regular _production. The increase in output has § (Continued on page 15) s I trust you will give the [ necessary instructions to all North Dakota people § that they do their utmost to co-operate with Mr. §