coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
REPORT OF VICE PRESIDENT HAYES TO THE MINERS
The report of Vice President Frank J. Hayes
to the miners' convention at Indianapolis was
received with much interest and enthusiasm. He
discusses the campaigns in non-union fields; comments
on the West Virginia situation; gives a detailed
report on the Colorado strike; discusses the
indictments of union officials under the Sherman
law: outlines the defense in these cases; urges
political action to amend the law; and applauds
the status of the union. Much of the text of the
report follows:
In compliance with the oft repeated desires of
our members, we have, during the past two years,
waged a vigorous campaign in the non-union fields.
The organization of the non-union fields is one of
our chief tasks and the culmination of the campaign
we have started must and will result in the
complete organization of the coal mining industry
of the land. We must never rest content until
this goal is achieved. Our chief hope of future
preferment, better wages and better conditions
depends upon our success in the organization of
these fields. 1 am firmly convinced that every
non-union field in the country can be organized,
and with the proper sort of financial support from
our membership, because it takes considerable
money to wage these campaigns. I am satisfied
we can take one non-union field after the other and
add them to our movement. When we first
started out on this endeavor, we conceived the
idea that it was necessary to sow the seed before
we could reap the harvest, and in line with this
thought we immediately began to
ESTABLISH BRANCH OEE1CES
in all the non-union mining fields of the country,
and in these offices we placed trusted and experienced
men who could mingle among the unorganized
miners and explain to them the advantages
and ideals of our union. Our representatives in
these branch offices are also distributing a large
amount of literature each week, bearing upon the
necessity of organization and the value of the
same. These branch offices have also given our
movement a certain standing in all the unorganized
fields and our office representatives have
quietly organized and educated thousands of mine
workers. As evidence of the successful organizing
campaign we have waged during the past
two years, I wish to say that two new districts
were formed and 530 new local unions were organized.
AH through the unorganized fields the
mine workers are anxious to enlist in our union
and are constantly appealing to us to wage a
strike, if necessa'-y, in order that their desires
might be realized. Before strikes are declared,
however, we always make every endeavor to effect
peaceful settlements, inviting the operators to
meet with us in joint conference, and appealing
to them, as business men, not to spend millions
of dollars in fighting an organization that is here
to stay and whose members will never rest content
until every miner on this North American continent
is enrolled under the banner of the United
Mine Workers of America.
We have reason to congratulate ourselves on the
progress we have made during the past two years,
and as proof of this progress we have only to refer
to the fact that we have added 121,426 new members
to our union since our former convention.
In fact
HALE OF THE TOTAL GAIN
in members shown by the American Federation of
Labor during the past year came from our union,
and due to our success in recruiting new- members
and conquering new fields, the American Federation
of Labor has exceeded all past membership
records and now has over 2,000,000 paid-up members.
With the indorsement of this convention
and with your expressed determination to support
and sustain the action of your International
officers in this work, we propose to carry on this
campaign with renewed hope and vigor, and will
never cease our activities until the last remnant
of non-unionism in the mining fields is forever
removed.
We have made considerable progress in West
Virginia during the past two years, and at this
time approximately 40,000 mine workers are working
under wage agreements negotiated by our
union. It is evident to all students of the West
Virginia situation that we have laid the foundation
of a strong movement in that state, and that
time will fully justify the efforts we have put
forth.
(The report deals exhaustively with the Colorado
situation, including records previously published).
Your officials have been twice indicted for alleged
violations of the
SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST LAW.
One of these indictments was returned in West
Virginia, and one in Colorado. The particular
charge against us in West Virginia was that we
were parties to a conspiracy in restraint of trade,
i. e., that we had entered into an unholy alliance
with the operators in the organized states to put
the West Virginia operators out of business. As
proof of the utter silliness of this charge I wish
to say that not a single one of our alleged partners
in this so-called conspiracy, the operators in