Hell in Harlan - front page

"That when a majority of the miners engaged in digging or mining coal inany coal mine in this state, request the owner or owners, or operator of said mines toallow said miners to employ, at their own expense, a person to inspect the weights atsaid mine, and see that all the coal digged and mined by said miner is properlyweighed and accounted for, and do and perform only such other duties as willinsure that said coal is properly weighed and correctly accounted for, said owner orowners or operator or operators shall permit such person to be employed by saidminers making the request. Provided, the person so employed by said miners hasthe reputation of being an honest, trustworthy, discreet, sober and upright man.Said checkweightman shall be duly elected by a majority of the employees engaged inmining and loading coal and said election shall be properly conducted by secret ballotat the principal entrance to the mine."The union’s national leaders discouraged local strikes in protest againstcontract violations of this kind because they recognized the fact that the post-wardepression made strikes of any kind virtually impossible of success. As a matter offact, although the Harlan County operators said that they had reached an agreementwith the union, no union-management relationship existed in Harlan County afterWorld War I. By 1921 even the wage provisions of the contract were openly ignoredby the operators.It was reported in one of the leading coal trade journals that operators inthe southeastern Kentucky districts, including Harlan County, had cut wages from27 to 30 percent. The article went on to indicate that while many operators paid theunion scale during the latter part of 1920 and the early months of 1921, the unionwas never officially recognized and operators disregarded the dues check-offentirely. It was further reported that the miners in the district were so desperate foremployment that they readily accepted the pay cuts.A vivid indication of the inroads made in the union ranks in HarlanCounty during the depression of 1921 was reported by the government publication,"Mineral Resources of the United States," which showed the maximum extent towhich the important coal producing districts were shut down by the great strikes of1919 and 1922. As against 60 percent of the productive capacity of Harlan Countyrendered idle by the strike of 1919, only 21 percent was affected by the strike and onthis account over-emphasized the shutdown in the district. In the official summaryof the coal industry for the strike years, it was stated that strike losses in the Harlanfield "were insignificant in 1922."14