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.34 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
The resolution was concurred in.
Resolution No. 19 was as follows:
"Resolved, That the national officers and national
executive board be instructed to adopt such
measures as will enable them to carry into effect
the following:
"lst—That a circular be sent to all local unions
for the purpose of securing information as to the
number of foreign-speaking men working in and
around each mine and colliery in the country.
"2nd—That the national organization have
printed in the foreign-speaking languages a number
of the interstate agreements equal to 50 per
cent, of the foreign-speaking mine workers employed
in the territory covered by the terms of
such interstate wage contracts.
"3rd—That in districts where district or local
agreements exist, those agreements be printed in
the foreign-speaking language so that a sufficient
number may have a copy. The district organizations
to pay half the expense of printing the district
agreements.
"4th—That all official circulars sent from the
national office be printed in the foreign-speaking
languages and copies mailed to all local unions
having foreign-speaking members.
"5th—That pamphlets and circulars be printed
in the English and foreign-speaking languages and
carefully distributed among the mine workers of
every district.
"6th—That in the event of strikes or lockouts
in any district, that advertisements be inserted in
foreign-speaking newspapers, of general circulation,
explaining the cause of the trouble."
The committee concurred in the resolution, and
recommended that it be referred to the national
executive board to work out the details, which was
done.
Resolution No. 20 was as follows: "Resolved.
the sixteenth annual convention instruct the members
in such districts where contracts may be
made during the year 1905, that such contracts
shall not be made for a period extending beyond
March 31. 1906."
A delegate inquired if the resolution meant that
in case an agreement with the operators could not
be obtained if the men were to strike. President
Mitchell replied that if the resolution were made
mandatory it might cause a strike and advised that
the convention recommend its provisions but not
make them mandatory, which was done.
The twenty-first resolution was as follows:
"Resolved, That all mine workers are hereby instructed
to at once affiliate with the Central Labor
Unions in their respective localities."
The committee on resolutions offered as a substitute
for Resolution No. 21 that all local unions
in cases where there are central bodies affiliate
with the same. The substitute offered by the
committee was adopted.
The twenty-second resolution provided that the
organization purchase, furnish and maintain a
home for aged, infirm and injured members of the
oranization to which they could be admitted when
circumstances and conditions require; and that
the national executive board be authorized and
empowered to carry out the requirements of the
resolution. The measure failed.
The twenty-third resolution embodied a movement
for terminating agreements on October 1
instead of April 1 and was lost.
The committee reporting that the twenty-fourth
resolution was covered by a former resolution, it
was stricken from the record.
Resolution No. 25, providing that national assistance,
both moral and financial, be pledged to
District 19, U. M. W. of A., to reduce the differential
between that district and other districts, even
less than it was prior to the present agreement,
by demanding in the next district annual convention
an advance greater than would offset the reduction
last accepted; and in no event to make
an agreement that would leave a wiuer differential
than existed prior to August 31. 1904, was carried.
The twenty-sixth resolution, providing for the
adoption of a grip, password or other secret sign
of recognition among members of the organization,
was lost.
The twenty-seventh resolution, providing that
the present form of the Journal be continued and
a five-cent per capita tax be levied on all members
of the organization to maintain and publish two
separate pages for each of the following languages,
nameiy. Lithuanian. Polish, Slavonian and Italian,
was lost.
It was decided that the twenty-eighth resolution,
which was on the line of providing literature for
non-English-speaking persons, had been covered
in previous resolutions and therefore required no
action.
The same decision and action resulted from the
twenty-ninth resolution.
-The thirtieth resolution was as follows:
"Resolved. That this sixteenth annual convention
go on record to the effect that Districts 13,
14, 21, 24 and 25 be and are hereby recognized as
being part and parcel of what is now known as
the central competitive field, comprising Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania; and be it further
"Resolved, That our national president, vicepresident,
secretary-treasurer and members of the
national executive board use their every effort and
influence with the operators of the central competitive
field to secure the admission of the miners
and the operators of the districts named into the
joint convention and conference to be held in
Indianapolis, Ind., January, 1906."