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lynching of Robert Prager, the United Mine Workers, and the problems of patriotism in 1918, The

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Winter 2003 by Schwartz, E A

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The St. Louis Smelting and Refining Company got a federal injunction on 24 September aimed at restricting the activities of a number of men, among them Moses Johnson. Also named were the president of UMW Local No. 685, Robert Bertolo, who had been the Socialist candidate for mayor of Collinsville in 1917, and Ed Franek, secretary of the trades council and the former Socialist candidate for fifth ward alderman.33

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The smelter opened the following day under the protection of a deputy U.S. marshal; "Sheriff Jenkins had informed the company when the strike was first called that he would withdraw all protection from the plant if any attempt was made to operate."34 On 30 September a thousand union men, by the account of the Herald, marched in protest against "the attitude of the St. Louis Smelting and Refining company in employing non-union labor," and thousands more watched the demonstration. The parade was described as "one of the most orderly ever seen here."35

Moses Johnson went to Washington in early October and returned with word of a wage increase negotiated with the operators and the federal fuel administrator that was expected to continue in force until the end of the war or 1 April 1920, whichever came first. The operators would be allowed an increase in the price of coal on 15 October and the new wage scale for the mine workers would go into effect the following day. The Herald said, "The increases are thought sufficient to keep all the mines working uninterruptedly so far as the miners are concerned. They will mean an end to the sporadic and unauthorized strikes such as have prevailed in the district within the past two months."36

Instead, both the price increase and the wage increase were delayed, and the miners walked out 16 October at every mine in and around Collinsville. The Herald observed that the strikes in Collinsville and the Belleville area had been the beginning of a shut down throughout the central and southern parts of Illinois.

Robert Bertolo told the Herald, "They've been promising us a raise for weeks. In September they told us to wait until October 1. When October came they promised us the raise on October 16. When that day came they told us they could not give us the raise because they hadn't been able to get a raise in coal prices. We simply decided to quit until they gave us what we want." Moses Johnson "was non-committal. ... He rather indicated he doubted the legality of the strike, but he did not order the men back to work."37

H.A. Garfield, the federal fuel administrator, hit back at the strikes as soon as they began. The New York Times reported in a story datelined Washington, 16 October, that, "Operators and miners in the coal industry were warned tonight by Dr. Garfield, the Fuel Administrator, that all who participated in strikes and embarrassed the Government would be considered unpatriotic in view of the war crisis."38

Frank Farrington, president of the Illinois UMW district, agreed, in effect, when he said the following day that the strike would "resolve itself into a fight with the Federal Government" if not settled. The Herald said he declared that "he believes pro-German influences are backing the strike."

lynching of Robert Prager, the United Mine Workers, and the problems of patriotism in 1918, The

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Winter 2003 by Schwartz, E A

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