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That act gave the miners of West Virginia an opportunity to organize and belong to the United Mine Workers of America. after the passage of the act, on June 16, 1933, 99 percent of the coal miners of West Virginia had organized into the United Mine Workers of America.

Senator NEELY. What percentage of the West Virginia miners had been organized before the adoption of the National Industrial Recovery Act?

Mr. BITTNER. Prior to the adoption of the National Industrial Recovery Act, out of approximately 100,000 coal miners in round numbers, 3,000 of them were members of the United Mine Workers and were working under contract while the others were working without any wage agreement as nonunion miners.

Senator NEELY. What was the general attitude of the operators of the State toward the organization of the miners by the United Mine Workers prior to the adoption of the National Industrial Recovery Act?

Mr. BITTNER. Prior to the adoption of the National Industrial Recovery Act, through the "yellow dog" contract, protected by Federal court injunction and mine guards, it was just an impossibility to get into many mining fields to even talk to the miners.

As one instance of that, we had what is known as the red jacket" decision where the "yellow dog" contract was protected by Federal Court injunction and where 40,000 coal miners in one area of West Virginia were entirely isolated and insulated from any sort of labor organization. The injunction went so far as to say that if they even talked of organization of any kind they were in violation of the injunction. So in that one instance we had 40,000 men who just could not mention the word "organization." If a man went home at night, after working in the mine all day, and wanted to talk to his wife about bettering his conditions through organizing and anybody heard it he was subject to contempt of court for violating this "red jacket" injunction.

Those were the conditions with respect to the mine guards. There were not only hundreds of mine guards in West Virginia, but there were at least more than a thousand of them employed for the distinct purpose of preventing the miners from holding any meetings or organizing in any way. In fact, it was just impossible to organize the miners of West Virginia under the conditions that prevailed prior the enactment of the National Industrial Recovery Act.

I have been in West Virginia for 11 years now. I have spent all of that time in West Virginia and I know just exactly what the conditions are there. In fact, I made a survey of large southern nonunion fields back in 1925 or 1926. I think it was 1925. The reception that we received was not any reception at all. We were just told by chambers of commerce and mine guards and anybody that we met upon the streets that we were just not wanted in the community and to leave town. That was the general sentiment prevailing, especially in the coal fields of southern West Virginia.

Senator NEELY. What happened when you and others who were interested in organizing the miners failed to respond to the admonition that you leave town?

Mr. BITTNER. Well, it sounds sort of like a fairy story. I do not repeat it any oftener than is absolutely necessary. For instance, we went into the town of Logan. This was, of course, before the pas sage of the National Industrial Recovery Act. Logan is a mighty decent place for a man to live in now, since it has come into the United States.

Myself and several of my associates went to Logan. The president of the chamber of commerce notified us that they wanted a meeting. They met us about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, about 40 gentlemen representing the chamber of commerce. The spokesman for this group of men said we were not wanted in Logan, notwithstanding the fact that there was a sign just as you go into town reading, “Welcome to Logan ", and put up by this same group of gentlemen. They told us that we were not wanted in the town; and, furthermore, we were not going to stay because they were not going to allow us to stay.

These mine guards followed us everywhere. In fact, we went into a Greek restaurant to get some lunch and mine guards were thicker in this Greek restaurant than the flies were. They were there by the dozens. They surrounded us and stayed with us morning, noon, and night. That is just one instance of what happened. That was just the general scheme of things down there, and the regular method was to see that no one connected with the United Mine Workers of America had the least possible opportunity of talking to any of the coal miners about anything.

I might say also that the fight to break down the wage scale between the United Mine Workers of America and the coal operators, the wage scale negotiations being known as the "Jackson wage agreement" which was negotiated in 1924-the fight to break down that wage agreement was inaugurated in the southern coal fields of West Virginia when the Kanawha district and the other districts refused to sign an agreement with the United Mine Workers of America, and the operators in northern West Virginia, with whom we had a wage agreement, which was to run from 1924 until 1927, ruined and abrogated that wage agreement and locked the miners out.

As I say, this started in southern West Virginia, moved up to northern West Virginia, and then went into the Pittsburgh district, and, finally, resulted in the breaking down of the labor standards in the coal-mining fields of practically the entire country.

Since the passage of the National Industry Recovery Act, as I said a moment ago, the miners have been organized, but with the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act we were months before we could even get a meeting of the coal operators relative to deciding upon any labor provisions that should be in the code. The facts are that they were not in favor of any code, even under the National Industrial Recovery Act. They were suspicious of one another, just as they are today. You talk to these operators individually and they will tell you they are for this Federal regulation, but they will also tell you not to say anything to anybody about it because they do not want their position to be known. First, they were against the National Industrial Recovery Act; secondly, they were against the making of any codes, and then they were against the making of any wage agreement with the United Mine Workers of

America. Finally, they accepted the National Industrial Recovery Act; they finally accepted the code; they made an agreement with the United Mine Workers of America, and there is not a coal operator in West Virginia but what will tell you that they are better off now with contracts with the miners' union and a code for fair competition for their industry than they ever were previously, except maybe just during the war.

Before the enactment of the National Industrial Recovery Act they made no money. Since the enactment of the National Industrial Recovery Act they have made some profit. Prior to the enactment of the National Industrial Recovery Act the miners were receiving as low as $1.50 a day for 10 and 12 and 14 hours. Since that time, with the agreements made with the United Mine Workers of America, they are now receiving $4.60 for a 7-hour day. That is just a general outline of conditions as we find them before and after the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Wayne Ellis of the N. R. A. testified here relative to the breaking down of the code, the price structure under the Bituminous Coal Code. I just want to point out to you that more than a year ago the railroads inaugurated a campaign to break down the price structure, the L. & N. Railroad being the chief malefactor. The only way we stopped it was due to the fact that we just decided we were not going to mine any coal for any operator that sold his coal below code prices.

As a result of this campaign of the L. & N. Railroad to break down the price structure under the Bituminous Coal Code it was necessary for us to have strikes at 8 or 10 mines in one particular district in the southern coal fields where the operators had made contracts with the L. & N. Railroad below code prices. All the other railroads were looking at this L. & N. situation, knowing that if the L. & N. Railroad was able to get its coal below code prices they could do it also.

There was no method, and there is none at the present time, of enforcement in the National Recovery Administration; at least, nobody has ever been able to tell us of any; and, as I say, the only method we knew was the old cat and dog proposition of striking the mines. where the operators had made contracts with the railroads to sell below the cost of production as set forth in the price structure of the code.

Senator DAVIS. Did the selling below the code price bring about a reduction in wages?

Mr. BITTNER. That is what we knew eventually would happen. That is why we were so intensively interested in the situation and that is why we were striking the mines, to prevent the wage reductions which we knew would come as a result of breaking down the price structure of the Bituminous Coal Code. That was more than a year ago.

Senator DAVIS. That wage reduction had not been suggested?

Mr. BITTNER. No; it had not been suggested, but we knew it was coming and we nipped it in the bud, simply stopped it in the beginning.

That case finally came before the Compliance Board of the National Industrial Recovery Act, and as representatives of the mine workers' union there we took the definite position before the Com

pliance Board that if they wanted a general strike at the mine in that field, due to these railroads breaking down the price structure of the fair-competition provisions, we were not going to stand it.

Now, I simply state that to show you that if it had not been for these strikes of the United Mine Workers at the mines of these coal operators who had made these low-price contracts below the code price with the L. & N. Railroad at that time, more than a year ago, the price structure of the Code of Fair Competition in the bituminous coal industry would have broken down and been dissolved.

So that the attempt of the large consumers of coal and the attitude of coal operators to have code prices prevail is not due entirely to the fact of uncertainty, as has been said, or due to no one knowing what is going to happen after the 16th of June of this year, because they had nearly 18 months of it then when they started to break down the code prices, so far as the large consumers of coal were concerned; and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad has always been one of those railroads that has been among the first, especially in the southern part of our country, to break down prices and have their coal furnished below cost. I have an idea that you will find as these hearings go on that the Louisville & Nashville Railroad will be one of the chief opposers of the enactment of Federal regulation for the coal-mining industry. Senator DAVIS. At the time these strikes took place did you have an agreement with these mines?

Mr. BITTNER. Yes; we did.

Senator DAVIS. Had the date for making a new agreement arrived? Mr. BITTNER. No; everybody knew what we did. The mines simply stopped because we were not going to wait until our wages were reduced and then strike. We decided that while the majority of the miners were under contract in these fields that we were not going to allow them to start sniping at us; that if there was going to be any warfare it was going to be a general warfare and not an operator here and there starting the thing, just as they did in 1924, and break down our wage standards. That was the thought back of the whole thing, and we were successful and received the commendations of the National Industrial Recovery Administration for doing something for them that they could not do for themselves.

Senator NEELY. Mr. Bittner, I suppose you anticipated that if a number of coal companies in the area to which you have referred cut their prices below those fixed by the code, such action would necessarily result in unfair competition against the operators who were obeying the code, and that ultimately the latter would be obliged to reduce the wages of their miners?

Mr. BITTNER. That would be the natural result of such a condition. Senator DAVIS. Did I understand you to say that now the coal operators, anticipating the expiration of the N. R. A. in June, are soliciting and getting business at a reduced price?

Mr. BITTNER. My understanding is that that condition-
Senator DAVIS. Do you have any real information on that?

Mr. BITTNER. All I know is what information we received from the Coal Division of the National Industrial Recovery Administration. I think it is authentic, and coal operators tell us that is going on right along.

Senator NEELY. Mr. Bittner, will you state whether the coal industry of West Virginia, and particularly of southern West Vir

ginia, has been more or less prosperous since the adoption of the Coal Code under the National Industrial Recovery Act?

Mr. BITTNER. There is not any question about that, Mr. Chairman. The industry generally has been more prosperous under the National Industrial Recovery Act and the code of fair competition for the bituminous coal industry and the agreements they have with the United Mine Workers of America than they have ever been over such a period of time that this law, the code, and our agreement have been in effect. There is not any question about that. They are all agreed. The operators themselves agree as to that proposition. Many of those operators who are most bitter against the union, against any sort of what they call Government interference with their personal rights, are just as strong now as anybody you find in any industry in this country.

Senator NEELY. In your opinion, has the relationship between the operators and the miners throughout West Virginia been more or less amicable since the adoption of the Coal Code?

Mr. BITTNER. Since the passage of the Recovery Act, the adoption of the coal code, and the signing of the agreements with the United Mine Workers of America, the relationship, with the exception of just three companies in West Virginia, has been wonderfully improved. You cannot tell anyone in words just what the improvement has been. With the exception of the United Coal Co. of Gary, the McKell Co. in the New River field in West Virginia, and the Elk River Coal & Lumber Co. in Clay County, W. Va., which is controlled by Mr. Bradley, all the other companies operating in southern West Virginia are operating under contract with the United Mine Workers of America.

Senator NEELY. Subject to the exceptions you have mentioned, is the relationship between the operators and miners happy or hostile? Mr. BITTNER. It is a happy relationship. I have been told repeatedly that if the United Mine Workers had done nothing in southern West Virginia but removed the mine guards from their backs, they would owe us an everlasting gratitude for rendering that service.

These mine guards were just as much a detriment to the coal operators generally as they were to the United Mine Workers, because you know if you get a mine guard to go out and beat up an organizer for the United Mine Workers, it is pretty hard to get rid of him.

Senator NEELY. How does the unemployment in the mining industry in West Virginia since the adoption of the Coal Code compare with that which prevailed in the industry in the State during the 2 years preceding the adoption of the National Industrial Recovery Act?

Mr. BITTNER. Mr. Chairman, the relief administrator in West Virginia notified me just before coming here that there were only 9,000 coal miners at the present time, that is, adult coal miners, on the relief rolls. There is probably less unemployment in the coalmining industry in West Virginia than in any other State in the Union.

Prior to the enactment of the National Industrial Recovery Act there were at least 20,000 men unemployed in the coal-mining industry, and with the coming of the 7-hour day the men have gone to