From Hiding Place Forkin Writes Press

Sought by Police, Organizer of Estevan Strike Issues Lengthy Document on Situation

Martin J. Forkin, organizer for the Workers' Unity League, who is wanted by the police as one of the agitators of the Estevan riot, has raised his voice to plead again for the cause of the owkrers, and he has risked arrest by communicating Tuesday with the Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg.
A fugitive since the riot in which three were killed and 12 injured in Estevan September 29, in the security of his place of hiding Forkin has reviewed in a lengthy document the tribulations of the coal miners of Bienfait and Etevan preceding the demonstrations which resulted in violence and bloodshed. He also writes in defence of himself, repudiating the operators of the mines, who "are issuing statements blaming agitators as the whole cause of the trouble."
Forkin, as he reviews the case, states that he was sent to Estevan by the Workers' Unity League at the request of the miners of the region for an organizer. He describes the conditions he found in Estevan and Bienfait as incredible. He couldn't believe that the mine operators would pay the miners so poorly and that the men were practially slaves until he was convinced by his own investigations. Previous attempts to organize the men had been blocked by the operators, but Forkin says that within three days every miner had been signed by the Workers' Unity League.

Schedule Prepared "When President Sloan (James Sloan, the head of the Workers' Unity League and now a fugitive like Forkin) arrived, a schedule of wages, hours and conditions were drawn up, and a letter sent to the coal operatrs asking them to meet the miners' committee in a joint conference, and discuss with it a view toward an agreement being reached," Forkin writes. "They refused, claiming that the union had 'Red' affiliations. Another letter was sent informing them that a strike would be called if they again refused. They again refused to discuss matters with the miners. The strike was called, resulting in a complete tie-up, only the safety-men being left at work by orders of the union."
Forkin declares that attempts to work the mine with "scabs" were futils. The strike continued despite the efforts of the provincial and Dominion governments to end it. Even when a Royal commission was proposed, the miners refused, as they "would have to work two weeks pumping water from the mine...and they would die rather than go back to work under the old conditions."
Blames Operators Forkin's letter at this stage places the responsibility for the resulting developments with the mine operators, who demanded increased police forces to "protect property." The additional police protection made use of the first opportunity of using their armament on a peaceful parade of the miners on September 29, he states.
It is a significant fact, in Forkin's opinion, that the police made no attempt to use their loaded clubs and tear gas bombs. "Only the heroic action of the miners' wives in placing their bodies against the muzzles of the guns preventeda larger list of martyrs.
"The strike is still on," says Forkin, and he adds that funds must be obtained to provide defence for those arrested after the demonstration.
The R.C.M.P. have searched for Forkin, the James Sloan mentioned in the communication, and S. Scarlett. These men were the organizers of the Workers' Unity League in Estevan mining region, and they had fled the town when mounties started in search of them on the day after the riot.