On January 22, 1920, the department addressed a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives inclosing a draft of proposed legislation which would increase the limit of the amount of collision claims which the Secretary would be authorized to determine and adjust under the act of June 24, 1910, from $500 to $5,000, strongly urging that it be enacted. However, no action on the request of the department was taken during that session, but on April 27, 1921, the chairman of the Committee on Claims of the House introduced a bill known as H. R. 5349, which was the draft suggested by the department. The bill was referred to the Committee on Claims, which on May 13, 1921, gave a hearing to a representative of the department and later ordered a favorable report on the bill after making some minor amendments thereto. The bill is now on the House Calendar. Senate bill 2674, a copy of which was inclosed with your letter, is identical in language with H. R. 5349.

The proposed legislation is not only in the interest of claimants who are justly entitled to be paid what may be due them without being required to resort to the long drawn-out procedure of first securing authority of Congress to sue the Government and then prosecuting their claims in the courts, but it is believed to be in the interest of the Government as well. It would save the time of Congress, which is called upon to enact special legislation, the time of the Department of Justice, which is required to protect the Government's interests by defending the suits brought against it, and would prevent further congestion of the calendars of the Federal courts.

Furthermore, it is believed that the legislation would result in the compromising of many claims in excess of $5,000 which would be paid in full if determined by the courts, resulting in a large saving to the Government and at the same time giving satisfaction to the claimants by reason of more prompt settlement.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, 36 suits were brought against the Government under authority of Congress to recover collision damages. During the same period 46 bills introduced in Congress for the relief of claimants in collision cases were referred to the department for report and recommendation. The department's recommendation with respect to 40 of these bills was favorable.

In consideration of the foregoing, I have the honor to recommend that bill S. 2674 receive favorable consideration and action.

WEST VIRGINIA COAL FIELDS

PERSONAL VIEWS

OF

SENATOR KENYON

AND

VIEWS OF

SENATORS STERLING, PHIPPS, and WARREN

JANUARY 25 (calendar day, JANUARY 27), 1922.-Ordered to be printed

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1922

WEST VIRGINIA COAL FIELDS.

JANUARY 25 (calendar day, JANUARY 27), 1922.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. KENYON, from the Committee on Education and Labor, submitted the following

PERSONAL VIEWS.

[To accompany S. Res. 80.]

On June 21, 1921, the Senate passed the following resolution: Whereas there have been conditions of violence in the coal fields along the border between West Virginia and Kentucky: Therefore be it

Resolved, That the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, or any subcommittee thereof, to be appointed by it, is hereby authorized and directed to make a thorough and complete investigation of the conditions existing in the coal fields of West Virginia, in the territory adjacent to the border of West Virginia and Kentucky; that said committee ascertain the causes of the recent acts of violence upon said border and of the conditions which have existed and do now exist in the said coal fields, and generally investigate thoroughly the causes which have led to conditions which have obtained in the past, and which now exist in said territory, and report its findings and conclusions thereon to the Senate. The committee, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit at such time and place as it may deem necessary; the expenses of said investigation to be paid out of the contingent fund of the Senate.

Pursuant to this resolution the Committee on Education and Labor, acting at times through a subcommittee, and at other times. through the full committee, made a thorough investigation of the matters embraced within the resolution. Two members of the committee visited the region of trouble and secured first-hand information. A large number of witnesses were examined on both sides, the hearings occupying about three weeks.

This is not the first investigation by the Senate into industrial troubles in the State of West Virginia. In 1913 a committee was appointed to investigate conditions in the Paint and Cabin Creek districts. Different members of the committee filed reports at that time, and it may be said that from then up to the time of the present controversy there has been very little industrial disturbance in West Virginia.

The present controversy arose in a different section of the State, being that portion of the State near the Kentucky line. There is little use in reviewing the evidence or of entering into an elaborate

3

discussion of the causes of the present industrial controversy in West Virginia. While the evidence is voluminous the causes are

few.

THE ISSUE.

The issue is plain and perfectly apparent. The operators in this particular section of West Virginia under consideration openly announce, and did before the committee, that they will not employ men belonging to the unions, for, as they say, they believe they will become agitators; and further, that they have the right, and will exercise it if they desire, to discharge a man if he belongs to the union, and in making these claims they believe themselves to be within their constitutional rights.

On the other hand, the United Mine Workers are determined to unionize these fields which are practically the only large and important coal fields in the United States not unionized.

Here we have the situation of two determined bodies trying to enforce what they believe are rights, which rights are diametrically opposed to one another, and we have the situation of an irresistible force meeting an immovable body. In such case there can be nothing but trouble. The situation may be pictured better by statements of both sides. In the brief filed on behalf of the United Mine Workers it is claimed as follows:

THE DIFFERENCES OF THE MINE WORKERS AND THE OPERATORS.

The contentions of the miners in the nonunion fields and of the United Mine Workers of America are as follows:

1. The miners have the constitutional rights of free speech and free assemblage in which they should be protected. They have, further, the right of collective bargaining, the right to join the union and the right to engage in legitimate trade-union activities-rights which, if not specifically guaranteed by the organic law of the Nation, are contemplated by the fundamental guaranties of the Constitution and have the highest sanction of all law, organic or statutory, namely, the approval of enlightened public opinion and common practice in all industries in all civilized nations.

2. The problem in West Virginia is not a question of unionism versus nonunionism, but is a question of the establishment, acceptance, and observance of fundamental principles and practices which are essential to peace and orderly progress in all industry.

3. The trouble in West Virginia is due primarily and solely to the denial by the operators of the right of their employees to join the union and to the methods adopted by the operators to enforce that denial-methods that were coercive and intimidating in the extreme and that resulted in the invasion of the constitutional rights and recognized economic rights of the workers as enumerated in paragraph 1.

4. Conditions in the nonunion fields of West Virginia and the controversy there constitute a menace to the public welfare, prevent the stabilization and orderly development of the entire bituminous coal industry, and tend to foment discord and unrest in all industry.

5. Recognition of the right of the workers in the nonunion fields to join the union will not result necessarily in the unionization of those fields.

6. The United Mine Workers of America is a lawful organization.

7. The nonunion operators of West Virginia are part of a conspiracy by the United States Steel Corporation, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and closely affiliated great financial and business interests in the so-called "open-shop movement" which aims to break down and destroy all trade-unions.

8. The United Mine Workers of America and the operators of the central competitive field are not parties to a conspiracy directed against the nonunion operators in West Virginia. No such conspiracy exists. The United Mine Workers are attempting completely to unionize the West Virginia mining areas. The operators of the central competitive field obviously urge that this be done as a protection to themselves because of the competitive advantages which accrue to West Virginia operators because those of the central competitive field and other union districts have, through