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Coal operators and miners both contributed to the antiunion spirit in Harlan County. The coal companies viewed unionism as a northern conspiracy to destroy the southern coal industry. They believed that the northern coal operators used the federal government and the United Mine Workers (UMW) to force the southern companies into having standardized wages and hours. Higher wages and periodical strikes, imposed by the UMW, would cause southern companies to lose contracts to northern competitors. Operators used the "North versus South" imagery continually to keep the miners from organizing. The 1920s also saw Harlan miners prospering. The thinking of the typical miner helped foster antiunionism. Many were first-generation industrial workers and found the activity and fast pace of the coal camp more exciting than the isolated mountain cabin left behind. Trading impoverished hillside farming for mining greatly increased one's wealth. Until the Great Depression, Harlan...
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This section contains 166 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
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