◆ SpookStack

zo house, and we would hold a caucy. . it we used to get along fine until Mothe intervened and made the decision. In thé light of the greater knowledge that comes with increasing years... I can luok back now agd see that Mother was right every time... . UMW officialdom, as a matter of fact, is referred {@ revcrently as the “family.” The ‘ambition of all local miner politicians is to get into the family. Most locals are allowed to elect their own officers, who receive per-diem pay besides wages lost while on official duty. A man who is able to win loca! elections regularly catches the eye of district officials, is brought to the atten- tion of Lewis and eventually pets a chance to move up. Unswerving devo- tion to Old John, head of the family, is the top requirement. 4. The family is important enough to ‘" “‘wacfant a pension system, which the miners themselves still lack. Employees Pay a sum into the pension fund which is matched out of the union treasury. At 65, 2 $6,000-a-year man (a medium- &tade field executive) can figure on somewhere between $150 -and $200 a month for the rest of his life. If fired, he loses pension rights, though he gets ‘ back his own contributions. An aging subleader, with a good-sized equity above his own donations, thinks twice before displeasing Lewis. The allocation of dues also helps to center power at the top. The national treasury gets 90 cents of the $1.59 - monthly total. The Auto Workers take only 65 cents for the national office; - the Steelworkers 75 cents out of an equal sum. Critics of Old John heaved out of the UMW cast an especially fishy eye on this section of the constitution: Any member guilty of slandering or cir- culating, of causing to be circulated, false statements ... wrongfully condemning any decision rendered by any officer of the or- ganization shall, upon conviction, be sus- pended from membership for a period of six months and shall not be eligible to hold office in any branch of the organiza. tion for two years thereafter. . . . The Lewis-appointed executive board decides whether an officer has been “wrongfully” condemned. When Lewis went out to beat Pat Fagan in the Pitts- burgh district after Fagan refused to go Si eet ealanteoaaetneati nn & SRE a rm gem nn ey ea rare ey ee - Koosevelt, several ininers were hauled into the Washington headquarters and convicted, in effect, of circulating cam- paign literature in Fagan's behalf. The literature implied that Fagan might be right, Lewis wrong. Fagan’s popularity Was so great that many observers thou ght him unbeatable. But Old John drove him out of the herd. , Solidarity against the world M™ expect to strike. The press can gloat over what ‘it calls a/ resounding whipping given John 1. Lewis, but the coal diggers see it the way Lewis said—the government black- jacked them. OF course, the miners are not sure they will strike. Old John will decide that. But the man in the pits, angry himself and understanding well the pride of Old John, at the moment sees no other way out. . But not even Lewis’ worst enemies —at least those who know him—pre- dict that he will call a strike for the hell of it, without trying other means of getting victory or something resem- bling it. Labor men are of the Opinion that if the government won't bargain, Lewis will send envoys to the opcrators, perhaps secretly, ° The operators have not signed the Krug-Lewis agreement. When the gov- IN SPITE OF MACHINE AIDS, TO ee came FE et ten trees NEW REPUBLIC “valong in the 1940 campaign ssxnalll — hands back the mines on June 30—4which it must do unless there is new legislation—the operators may try to knock out the welfare fund and other gains. Their hand will be greatly Strengthened, of course, hy Lewis’ bogeyman reputation .with the public, According to Gallup pollsters, President Truman's popularity jumped sharply after his wrestle with Lewis. Congress could find no easier way of passing restrictive labor legislation than under the guise of “curbing” the mine leader. nd ‘so the prospect 6 ohn riding forth to protect what he calls the “defenscless breasts” of his members brings shudders to other leaders of labor. If he and the miners are brought down, can the breach be filled in time? Lewis’. possible successors 110 is heir apparent in the UMW? VW should Lewis die—or, perhaps worse, undergo a long illness? No one, remembering the case of Ray Edmund- son, is likely to step forward as a can- didate. Rumors went around not long ago that Lewis would like to name his younger brother, Denny, as acting president and devote himself to. the AFT. and making war on the C1Q, (The miners did not return to the AFL: the AFL aligned itself with the UMW, according to the Journal.) SOFT-COAL MINERS STILL WORK ON THEIR KNEES