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Do eee ee ok ay os, oe a oe i Re; JOHN L, LEWIS, ET AL yr INTERVIEW WITS See (continued) Rafter Lewis gigned the agreement for a lower wage scale, the minors had some meetings among themselves and decided to establish a new union. I attended some of these mectings and was in synpathy with their ains. I was glad to get away from the U. ¥. W. We established the Progressive Mine workers of america at this time. "Lfter their organization the P. MN. A. secured a closed shop agree= ment with Elshoff, owner of Mine B. From this time wmtil late 1936, Elshoff secmed to be sctisficd with the P. M. A.. Therc was no trouble between P if 4 and Sishoff, There were a fev men who were not satisfied with P. M. A.. and they were constantly ayitating for the rcturn of the miners to U. M. W. Qne that T renemb.r is Frink Austin. There was talk anong the miners that Frank austin reecived money Tron-the 0. 4. W. to help ect the men fron P. BM. a’ back to U. UW. W. There also was talk that Austin was payinz ducs to both U. H.W. and P. Me a. ° "From 1932 to 1936 I was alvays satisfied with the leadership in the P, M&. A. There was no talk thai the officers of the P, &. A, were run- ning a4 recket. Tho members of P La werc satisfied with their officers, Thc members always were permitted to express thoerselves at the necetings. "Jn the P. He a. Meetings there was no talk about the bombines whic. were attributed to P Via members. Mout of the nenbers did not know any- thing about the bombings. To the best of my knuwlegc, the men allcged to bo responsible for thc bombings cre not dismissed from the P. Me a. while I was in the U. HM. W. therc were many extra assessments im-- posed on us. This was one of the major objections by the miners to the U. MW. having to pay many asscssments. This problem was not prcsent in the P, M. A. which imposed no extra assessments while I was in the P. Mw. ~ from 1932 to 1936, One of the reasons we broke away fron the U. MW, was the many extra assessments that were imposed by the U. 1% W. The only thing that co.ld be terned an extra assessment by the p. y, Ae Was an asscss-- ment to take eare of some menbrs of the P Ea who were striking at another mine. "From 1932 to late 1936 there were U. M. W. organizers present in. aa the mine (iine B) but they did not set up a picket line or distribute a propiganda or literature. Frank Austin was one of these organizers. Ih this period I heard storios that Slshoff and Falcetti -were going out on pirties with U. XM, W, men. ata lagi get oe wee eee a