Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 29, 1921 Alabama Coal Miners Continue to Live in Tents, Are Without Food
From the Duluth Labor World of May 28, 1921:
RUN ‘AGITATORS’ OUT OF ALABAMA! ————— Governor of State Joins With Mine Owners in Attempt to Crush Miners’ Union. ———-
-from the United Mine Workers Journal of March 15, 1921
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., May 26.—It is estimated that 40,000 men, women and children in the coal district of Alabama are without food. They are housed in tents furnished by the United Mine Workers of America.To relieve this situation, trade unionists are contributing funds and the [Minnesota] state federation of labor has forwarded $500. The coal owners deny that starvation exists, while they force miners to make oath that they are not, and never will be, members of the United Mine Workers.
A statewide blacklist is being conducted against the union miners with the approval of Governor Kilby. The state executive acted as arbitrator in the recent mine strike, and supported the coal owners in every point.
Governor Kilby also ruled that the coal owners are under no obligation to re-employ these miners. The governor has been called upon to relieve the distress that his decision created, but refuses to act, and has publicly declared that he “sympathized with the miners.” This statement has brought a withering reply from Van R. Bittner, representative of the United Mine Workers, who tells the official that “such hypocrisy makes men wonder.” The trade unionist refers to a public statement by the governor when the strike was on, wherein the people of Alabama were called upon to “run the agitators out of our state.”
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