OCR Text |
Show WW fPFIfl Governor Must Make Good i on His Industrial Court Law or Fail GJflARD, Kan., April 10.-r-What-1 ever tho next move of officers of district dis-trict 14. United Mine Workers, may bo, It will be dlrectod toward forcing Governor Jlenry J. Allen to "make good on his industrial court law he. has talked so much about, or to fail," Alexander Howat, president of the district, said in the Crawford county jail, in which he was placed for contempt con-tempt of cour.t. "I do not know whether he shall appeal this case to the supreme court," Howat said. 'That is a matter mat-ter in which we will be guided by our attomey Phil II. Callcry. There is another an-other way to bring this thing to a showdown. That other way is a strike of the miners of the district. "The workers of "Kansas arc not going to submit to this law. It Isn't a law; it's an outrage." StalcmcnL to Press Howat gave the following statement state-ment to the press: "Our position now is the same as it has J)c.en from the beginning since the indVstrial court law was passed at the instigation of Governor Allen. This law is Intended to enslave the working work-ing class of this state and to ' destroy de-stroy organized labor and is intended to put the minc workers and all other classes of labor back where they were years ago before we had an organization. or-ganization. The mine workers of district dis-trict 11 were compelled to strike, for four years in order to compel the coal operators in this stato to recognize our right to belong to a labor organization. organiza-tion. , The miners and their families suffered untold hardships to establish our organization here. We were fighting fight-ing then for a principle and we hoped that when the fight was won wo could stand up and proclaim to the world that at last we were free men. Governor Gov-ernor Henry Allen and the Kansas legislature leg-islature have deckled now to put us I back where we 'wore years ago. Allen Would Make Slaves J "Governor Allen has decided thati our struggles of tho past amounts to j nothing and. that wc arc again to be chained 10 our jobs like a' pack of slaves In this country, which is called free America. Our altitude toward the industrial court law is like that of Wendell Phillips regarding the fugitive fu-gitive slave law before the civil war, when if a slave escaped from his mas-tor mas-tor to a free state he could betaken back to his master and chained to his Job. They said that was the law at that time and they say the Industrial Indus-trial court law Is a law at this time, but any law that makes slaves of hon- est workiugmen should be trampled 1 under the feet of' the people, and re-J ceive T10 more consideration at the hands of the men who arc affected by It than they received at the hands j of those wh'o passed 1U j "I am determined that the mine workers of this district shall never submit to thi3 form of slavery which 'is provided for in the court of industrial indus-trial relations. "Wc have committed no crime of any kind. Wo aro put in Jail merely because we refuse to loll three corporations lawyers something about mining business In this state. These throe men woro appointed by Governor Allen, the slave driver: Governor Gov-ernor Allen, the politician: tho would-be would-be destroyer of organized labor and the oppressor of human rights. Will Uiw in Own UuihIs "The fight Is on and I believe tho time is near at hand when toiling masses of the country will take the law into their own hands and refuse to continue to submit as they havo in the past to. the outrages that have been imposed on them by the large employers of labor and tho legislative bodies of this country. Wo suffered under tho Iron heel of oppression for many years. Tho working classes, however, aro beginning to undorstand that it is in their hands to right tho wrongs that have been imposed upon them in the past and r believe 'at the next general election that they will demonstrate that fact. Whatever move Is made toward our freedom, T don't know, as It is entirely in the hands of our attorney. "I expect to remain in jail indefinitely indef-initely from present indications." .Mr. Howat declared he and his associates as-sociates did not question the constitutionality constitu-tionality of the industrial relations court act. "We declaro it & qlavory," he added. add-ed. The statement was made here lato tonight by a county official that every mine in the district will be closed tomorrow to-morrow and that the miners would go on strike Indefinitely. 00 : |