OCR Text |
Show CONFUSION !fl CDIHTil IF HKjps; Uproar Caused by Recognition Recogni-tion of Illinois District President After Debate Had Been Closed. GOMPERS TALKS FOR 7-HOUR DAY Suggestion That Shorter Hours Would Serve the Same Purpose as Closing Clos-ing Down Mondays. . INDIANAPOLIS. Jan. 23. After a spirited contest, tlie proposition to give all districts in the coal industry of the country representation in conferences whore a basic wage agreement is made or a policy formulated that is applicable to other districts, was defeated in the convention of the United Mines Workers today by a vote of 95S to 354. The proposition propo-sition had been before the convention for three days and was opposed by district and international officers as a menace to the life of the organization. The fight was resumed today after Samuel Gompers of the American Federation Fed-eration of Labor had made a speech in which he suggested a universal seven-hour seven-hour dav during tlie war to conserve fuel insteari'of the present plan of having idle Mondays. ) Uproar in Convention. Great confusion attended the closing of debate. Many of the 1652 delegates had clamored for recognition since Monday. When a motion to close debate was carried. car-ried. President Frank J. Hayes recognized recog-nized Frank Farrington. president of the Illinois miners, to speak in accordance with a promise made yesterday to give him the floor before debate was closed. This caused an uproar. For twenty minutes min-utes Mr. Farrington stood on the platform plat-form ready to begin while President Hayes pounded for order. There were arguments argu-ments among the delegates all over the hall. One big miner, shaking his fiat at a gallery where some of the noise was coming com-ing from, characterized the delegates there as a "wild mob" not fit to represent the men back home. When quiet was restored, Farrington told the delegates the adoption of the resolution to change the procedure ot making wage contracts w-ould be one of the most serious blows that could be struck at the union. The change, be added, would cause, trouble and possibly lead to the dissolution of the organization. Change a Menace. District President John T. Dempsey, Scran ton, Pa., speaking for anthracite miners, said the change would be a menace men-ace to the interests of the union. He said the fundamental opposition of the great anthracite companies of the east to negotiating nego-tiating a contract with the union was their fear . of bituminous coal domination, because be-cause the larger part of the organization's membership is in the soft coal fields. He did not think it wise to tie down the officers of-ficers of the union by writing the policy into the organic law of the organization. There were but two speeches made today to-day in favor of the proposition, the delegates dele-gates declaring it only fair that the out-lving-districts be heard when a rate Is fixed in one territory that will be the basis for negotiations in other districts. The answer to tills was that the policy committee representing all districts must approve the basic rate before it is applied elsewhere. Demands for Roll Call. There were demands for a roll call when the standing vote was announced. President Presi-dent Haves informed the delegates it would cost about $25,000 to do this as it would consume more than a day's time. Under the rule of the convention it takes the assent of 300 delegates to call the roll, but that many could not be mustered when the chair asked if a roll call was insisted upon. The convention then considered a resolution reso-lution to make the appointment of organizers organ-izers by the president subject to the approval ap-proval "of the district in which the appointee ap-pointee holds membership in the union. John P.. Lawson. Colorado, wds making a fight for the resolution when the convention con-vention ad.1ou.rned until tomorrow. He charged that organizers misused their office of-fice and tried to defeat him for the presidency presi-dency of tlie Colorado federation of labor, i . |