March 14, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S3869 Thereupon, the Senate, at 12:37 p.m., Fayette Counties—all of which were tation methods improved, the thick recessed until 2:15 p.m.; whereupon, the big coal producers—and my uncle, who Pittsburgh coal seam, prominent in Senate reassembled when called to raised me, worked in the mines of Mer- northern West Virginia, assured the order by the Presiding Officer (Mr. cer, McDowell and Raleigh counties. area of a steady growth in coal produc- COATS). Therefore, I shall reflect in my re- tion as transportation methods im- f marks today, on the conditions under proved. I quote from Mr. Cohen’s work: which the coal miners worked when I Mines were operating in the Fairmont re- EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL AP- was a boy and which led to the union- PROPRIATIONS AND RESCIS- gion by 1850 for local consumption. When the ization of the miners. I shall refer to Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reached Fair- SIONS ACT the social conditions under which the mont in 1853, markets opened up as far East The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under coal miners labored to raise their fami- as Baltimore. The coal fields around Wheel- the previous order, the Senate will now lies, and I shall also speak of the trials ing, and the Northern Panhandle, were also resume consideration of H.R. 889, which and turmoils that attended the coming mined prior to the Civil War; the coal was the clerk will report. of the union to the southern counties needed for a fledgling iron industry in that city that had begun before the War of 1812. The legislative clerk read as follows: of my State. To fully comprehend the The Baltimore and Ohio reached Wheeling in A bill (H.R. 889) making emergency supple- importance of the ability of workers to the early 1850’s, providing access to eastern mental appropriations and rescissions to pre- collectively bargain—in other words, to markets. serve and enhance the military readiness of strike—and to belong to a union, no in- The northern coal fields assumed greater the Department of Defense for the fiscal year dustry is more illustrive than the min- importance during the Civil War, when sup- ending September 30, 1995, and for other pur- ing industry in West Virginia. plies from Virginia were cut off. The larger poses. Geologists place the beginnings of cities of the East needed a steady supply of The Senate resumed consideration of the Coal Age at about 315 million years coal for heating purposes and war-related in- the bill. ago, at the start of what is known in dustries. Union forces were able to keep the Baltimore and Ohio and the Norfolk and Pending: geologic time as the Pennsylvanian pe- Western railroads open to Washington, D.C., Bumpers amendment No. 330, to restrict riod. This, together with the earlier and Baltimore, notwithstanding constant the obligation or expenditure of funds on the Mississippian period, make up the Car- raids by the Confederates. The end of the war NASA/Russian Cooperative MIR program. boniferous Age. The first Coal Age is Kassebaum amendment No. 331 (to com- saw the expansion of coal mining in Marion, mittee amendment beginning on page 1, line thought to have lasted approximately Taylor, Preston, Monongalia, Barbour, and 3), to limit funding of an Executive order 45 million years. Almost all of the val- Harrison Counties. that would prohibit Federal contractors uable coal seams were laid during the The coal fields in southern West Virginia— from hiring permanent replacements for Pennsylvanian period. These deposits those in Logan, Mingo, Wyoming, Mercer, striking workers. stretched from the Canadian maritime McDowell, Wayne, and Summers—had to wait for the coming of the railroads to that The PRESIDING OFFICER. The provinces south to Alabama, generally section in the late 19th century to realize chair, in his capacity as a Senator from paralleling the Appalachian Mountain their vast potential. chain. West Virginia was blessed with a the State of Indiana, suggests the ab- Mr. President, coal mining in south- great concentration of this natural re- sence of a quorum. ern West Virginia is a vast storehouse source, and from the beginnings of coal The clerk will call the roll. of history. It is a story of struggle, of- The legislative clerk proceeded to mining in the early 1800’s, the econ- tentimes violent struggle—a story of call the roll. omy, welfare, and political life of West courageous men and women demanding Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unan- Virginia had been largely dependent and fighting for their rights, for their imous consent that the order for the upon this ‘‘black gold,’’ which dignity, and for their freedom. As quorum call be rescinded. underlies a great portion of my State. David Alan Corbin, relates in his work The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Coal was not a very important resource titled ‘‘The West Virginian Mine objection, it is so ordered. in West Virginia until after the Civil Wars’’: Under the previous order, the Sen- War, when the advent of the railroads ator from West Virginia [Mr. BYRD] is made the coal fields accessible and Like the Civil Rights movement of the recognized. brought thousands of miners into the 1960’s, the miners’ organizing effort had good and bad characters. Each story involved bru- Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank State. tality, destruction, and death. And both the Chair. Since the advent of coal mining, movements are stories of oppressed, ex- What is the pending question before West Virginia has been fertile ground ploited people fighting for dignity, self-re- the Senate? for outside exploitation, massive labor spect, human rights, and freedom. Both are The PRESIDING OFFICER. The busi- confrontations, union organizing, and a stories of courageous men and women doing ness before the Senate is the Kasse- multitude of political intrigues. The heroic things under extraordinary cir- baum amendment, No. 331, to H.R. 889. coal fields have provided great wealth cumstances against extraordinary foes. Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair. to individuals and to corporations— Corbin refers to the Matewan mas- Mr. President, although this amend- many or most of which, as I have stat- sacre in 1920 as having parallels to the ment only directly affects workers in- ed, were outsiders—while many of the Old-West-style shootout on the main street volved in Government contracts, there miners and their families have known of town. The killings of Sid Hatfield and Ed is a deeper principle—a principle which equally great poverty. Great wealth for Chambers on the steps of the McDowell goes to the rights of other workers to the outside interests; great poverty for County courthouse in Welch was a gangland act in concert—in other words, to the men who toiled in the mines to type ‘‘hit’’, and the ensuing march on Logan strike—to bring about improved work- bring out the coal. West Virginians was Civil War. ing conditions, better wages, safety have seen their State’s landscapes al- And if ever my colleagues have the and health protection, and so on. It is tered by underground mining and more opportunity, I hope they will visit a principle for which many men have recently by the impact of strip mining, Matewan, in Mingo County, the south- given their lives, and, as one who grew and the State’s economy has been buf- ernmost part of West Virginia. up in the southern coal mining coun- feted by the up-and-down cycle brought McDowell County is an adjoining coun- ties of West Virginia, I rise today in on by vacillating prices and other eco- ty. I lived in McDowell County as a lit- opposition to this amendment. nomic factors, many or most of which tle boy, and my coal miner dad worked I was raised by a coal miner; I mar- were beyond the immediate control of in mines at Landgraff. ried a coal miner’s daughter; my days the coal miners themselves. There on the courthouse steps, as- as a boy and as a young man were As Stan Cohen states in his fas- cending the hill leading to the spent in coal mining surroundings, and cinating treatise, titled ‘‘King Coal, a McDowell County Courthouse in Welch, as a young man I worked in the coal Pictorial Heritage of West Virginia can still be seen the bullet holes. Sid mining company stores in Raleigh Coal Mining,’’ coal was sighted as early Hatfield and his wife, Ed Chambers and County and Fayette County, West Vir- as 1790 in the northern part of the his wife, were ascending the steps. Sid ginia. I lived at various times in Mer- State, which, at that time, was a part Hatfield and Ed Chambers were shot cer and McDowell and Raleigh and of the State of Virginia. As transpor- dead by the Baldwin-Felts gunmen. VerDate Aug 31 2005 04:33 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S14MR5.REC S14MR5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS S3870 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 14, 1995 Mr. President, the West Virginia tough, clannish, and, while normally slate so that he would not be ‘‘docked’’ mine wars involved nearly every form friendly, they looked upon strangers for sending out ‘‘dirty’’ coal. Lump of violence. Automatic rifles, machine with suspicion. Life on the whole was coal sold at a premium price while pea- guns, shotguns, handguns, and gre- simple. sized or slack coal sold for a lesser nades were utilized, and there was a In the early days of the mining in- price.