Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 18

(I pBlack Lung the Silent Killer of the Coal Mines 1 I and suffering from severe breathlessnesa at the lightest physical exertion. These are the symptoms of pneumoconiosis, the medical term for the chronic pulmonary disease which miners since the early 1800s have called "black lung." The disease acquired its layman's name when autopsies performed on dead miners revealed that their lungs were invariably black. AT FIRST, THE condition was referred to as "coal miners' asthma." Later, doc tors identified it as silicosis, a respiratory ailment caused by breathing the harmful dust, silica. Then, in after live years of research, Dr. Jethro mm iv.

LI coal several day before it is mined. When the vein Is cut, a wet spray is thrown out instead of dut. DR. CiOK.ll SAID the "water infusion" method is believed le the reason that the number of new compensations paid to disabled English miners suffering from "black lung" was reduced by more than 2.000 between I960 and Miners in the U.S. who became disabled by the disease have been paid little, If any, compensation.

And to qualify for compensation, the minors had to show "conclusive medical evidence" they were uffcring from the disease. TliU hai been the source of much controversy, because it has been proven the disease does not always show up on X-rays. The dimal "black lung" picture ix begining to change, however. In Congress, a bill that would set limits on atmospheric coal dust in the mines is being pushed by the Nixon administration. In West Virginia, which produces by far more coal than any other state, an extremely liberal compensation bill for "black lung" victims was passed Saturday by the state Legislature and will go into effect as soon as Gov.

Arch Moore signs it. Irk M- III Miners disabled by the disease in the U.S. have been paid little, if any, compensation. By STEVE CLARK, Dally News Staff Writer CHARLESTON, W. to the National Safety council, coal mining is No.

1 on the council 'i list of most dangerous occupations, that is. In 131)7, about 7311 miners were electrocuted, aphyxiated, crushed or killed in other ways in coal mines throughout the world. Alxut 250 of those deaths occurred in the United Stales. The 'tiS returns are still coming in. EACH DAY.

2 miners suffer disabling usuries. That's about 10.000 a year. Small wonder that songwriters and singers such as Johnny Cash and Harry Eolafonte have been inspired to compose and sing such mine lyrics as the following: God, it's dark n.J a dungeon And damp ai the deu: Where danyr in double And pleasures are fen: "I worked one day in the mines." Graham Newton, a professional soccer player from England's coal mining region, once Nd me. "After that, I learned to kick the bloody football a helluva lot harder." New ton learned in a hurry that there are better ways to make a living. Ad I ALLY, it is not the noisy killers such as methane gas exploding or slate caving in that make coal mining such a God-awful way of life.

With a lit He bii of luck, a miner will never exericnce those sudden forms of death. It is. borrowing former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall's phrase, "the quiet kili'-is" millions of coal dust particles whirling through the artificial air he breathes flay after day that make the miner's job so unenviable. When a miner sues home from work, he is covered with black dust. It is in his hair, his clothes, bis skin, the rims of his eyes, his nostrils.

It between his teeth. He inhales it into his lungs and swallows it. AFTER 1EARS Of going home for dinner like tbii. a miner is highly likely to start wheeling, coughing up large amounts of inky black spittle, losing weight, having chest pains Cough, a pathologist In Wales, identified the disease as pneumoconiosis. Medical authorities in Pennsylvania have estimated that nearly 1.000 miners active and retired in that state die every year as a result of the "black lung" disease.

Surgeon General William Stewart has said "at least U.S. miners suffer from the disease. WHAT HAS BEEX DOXE to improve the lot of the coughing, wheezing miner? In the U.S., very little. High-speed, continuous mining machines have been allowed to continue to whir away at the coal, creating excessive amounts of dust. Dr.

Ciough, recently testifying before a "black lung" hearing in Charleston, told about one method in England to keep down coil dust. The method is known as "water infusion," in which compressed water is shot into a vein of W. Va. Miners Return But Keep Up Fight BECKLEY. W.

Va. Striking coal minors have agreed to return to the pits after Gov. Arch Moore signes a "black lung" compensation hill but say they'll continue their fight for stronger legislation. The three-week strike by 41,000 miners halted the state's coal production. MORE THAN 2.000 delegates from about two-thirds of West Virginia's United Mine Workers union locals meeting Sunday first shouted down a motion to end the walkout as soon as possible, then later agreed to end the strike when the bill is signed.

Miners said their food and coal to heat their homes are in short supply. Othenel Bennington, a strike leader, told the delegates: "We didn't get what we wanted, but we got something. I say let's go iiack to work and replenish our coffers. We'll be out on vacation July 1 and we'll keep at it again." The state legislature approved a measure late Saturday night. THE BILL provides workman's compensation benefits for miners with pneumoconiosis, or "black lung," and lib 1 Spy- A Daily News Drill Dust Swirls Around Miners eralizes requirements for determining a man is suffering from the ailment, which is caused by breathing coal dust.

Moore is expected to call the legislature into special session in July. The miners will be on their annual two-week vacation and are expected to resume their lobbying for a more liberal bill. OiE MiiV STOOD UP 1 1 Union Doors Open to Negroes Page 20 Mar. 10. 1969 mm UK v-j tt 1 Blind Jose Feliriano Stirred Up People Over World Series Version of Anthem RIGHTS COMMISSION LISTS BIAS FIGURES The Ohio Civil Rights commission in 1953 -Invesliaaied alleged racial discrimination in the building trades in Cincinnati.

The commission concluded there was a pattern of racial discrimination in the building trades evident among contractors, union and joint apprenticeship committees. A statistical breakdown shews 16 of 24 unions had no Negro members at the time, Among the so-called "elite" unions in the building trades; Si Membership White Negro Carpenters 2,639 99.6 0.4 Electricians 725 10(1 0 Operating Engineers 1,100 100 0 Painters 167 100 0 Sheet Metal Workers 750 100 0 Ironworkers 41S 100 0 Plumbers 1,245 100 0 SiiiiitTS hale it "Our thrilling, patriotic national anthem is not a torch song." Our Anthem: Should It Be Replaced? for being clum-silv written and hanl to sing. Continued From Page 1 told of the existence of the referral book, nor permitted to sign it, although a number of Negroes had gone to the union office seeking work. In the same time period, hundreds of whites had been informed of the referral system and had been sent out to work, at $5.55 an hour. Some of the Negroes turned away had considerably more experience and qualifications than some of the whites, Judge Hogan THE REFERRAL SYSTEM, as.it then existed, contained no guidelines for its application.

There was no way to tell whether an applicant was "qualified." As a result, a number of systems were in use. Under one system the local's business agent asked the applicant whether he was qualified to work as an electrician. The business agent took his word for it and sent the applicant out to the contractor for a test of his ability. Another involved questioning by the business agent, who one worked for a contractor. IN PRACTIC the referral system was applied arbitrarily In the history of Local 212, no iegro had ever been told of the existence of the referral hook, at the whim of the business agent, Hogan said.

One of the business agents who testified during the trial said it was his "prerogative" to adjust the examination by "whim." Hogan said it was this "whim" that had been discriminatory. "The referral system as presently written is in fact deficient and continues a dangerous potential in the discrimination field," the judge said. DOBBINS' MAJOR contribution to equal employment is the referral procedure. Dobbins contended the referral gave preference to electricians who had worked under the union contract previously and who had passed the union examination. No Negroes could meet those requirements, he said, because Die union had refused to refer Negro electricians to contractors and had refused to give examinations to Negroes.

Terms of the contract merely perpetuated the effect of the "blatant discrimination," Dobbins argued. the way the song can be sung. "Our thrilling patriotic national anthem," he insists, "is not a torch song." drive for equal' employment by the Cincinnati chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In the early IDfiOs, the NAACP complained about the lack of opportunities for Negroes in the building trades. They protested when construction was started on a new federal building in 1963.

"Open up the building trades to Negroes or we'll picket the job site," the NAACP Md ihe building trades, according to Dr. Bruce Green, chapter president at the lime. "THE Bt I1JJ1NG trades agreed," he said, "but by the time the building was completed, no changes had been made." The NAACP called for negotiations with the building trades. "We met and we just talked, really," Green said. "That's all it came to." The NAACP decided to picket and conduct sit-in demon-strations.

GREEN LED the first sit-in at the building trades office Electricians no longer need be members of the union or pass a union examination. By NANCY BALL, Newsweek Feature Service Never in our history has one song caused so much bother to so many people as "The Star-Spangled Banner." Singers bate it for being clumsily written and hard to sing; congressmen and veterans are outraged when it isn't sung exactly as they it; and one composer. Igor Stravinsky, was almost thrown in jail by the Boston police for rearranging it and "tampering with national property." TEMPESTS OVER the tune arise periodically. The latest blew up last fall when 22-year-old Jose Feliciano, a blind Puerto Rican singer, gave forth with his ow version of the song befoie the 54,000 spectators at the fifth game of the World Series. Feliciano's national anthem was a slow and soulful melody, bereft of the usual majestic harmonies and martial beat.

Clearly, many Americans missed the glare of rockets and the burst of bombs. "Totally unacceptable," snapped the director of the U.S. Army bund. Angry letters and phone calls poured into NBC, which had broadcast the game. Most musicians were startled by the flood of criticism of the Feliciano anthem.

"When they asked him to do said Bob Caudio, one of the Four Seasons, "surely they knew he wasn't going to sound like Jan Peerce." BIT SOME professionals shared the public's concern that a national asset had been violated. Lucy Monroe, the "Star-Spangled soprano" who has sung the song more than 5.00C times at public gatherings, declared that "our national anthem should be sung traditionally." The catch is that there is no traditional rendition. The lyrics that were written by Francis Scott Key in 1S14 were fitted to an ISth century English drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven." Since then, the tune has served several different crusades. In 1S-13, for instance, the Temperance version cried out: Who has not seen by the dawn's early light Some ponr bloated drunkard, to his home weakly reeling, With blear eyes and red nose most revolting to sight. Yet still in his breast not a throb of shame feeling ALTHOUGH THE SOG had been used in several U.S.

mili Almost every singer who has had to perform the song In public ishes that the music had long ago been put to the torch. "It's a terrible piece of music," says Frank Sinatra. "If you took a poll among singers, it would lose a hundred to nothing." George London, the Metropolitan Opera's great bass-baritone, admitted that most singers try to avoid "The Staf-Spangled Banner" in public because "it's just too hard it covers a range of an octave and five tones, far too great for the average untrained voice. In terms of phrasing where one breathes it is awkwardly constructed. The words do not antomatically (a test of good lyric writing) communicate their message." SOMETLMES, THE WOKDS don't communicate their message even to the singer.

Aretha Franklin simply forgot them during her somewhat, unusual rendition of the song at the Chicago Democratic convention. And whenever Enrico Caruso had to sing the song, he carried with him a phonetic version, which began seiken in see bai dhi dons erli lait." Sinatra believes that the lyrics to the anthem are totally meaningless in the context of today. "They have no relation to what this country is all about," he says. "In this time of trouble and misunderstanding, they talk about guns and bombs and all that jazz." He has suggested that "America The Beautiful" be declared our national anthem. Others campaign for "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and "God Bless Ameiic." AS roil FELICIANO, he is standing by his version of "The Star-Spangled Banner." It was released by RCA Records and moved swiftly up the charts.

He now opens every show with the song. "A man can express a love for his country any way he feels," maintains the young singer. "The song had practically passed into oblivion. Now it's back in every home as it should be. I don't think the kids dig it.

So I changed it to suit the new generation." The eventual verdict on Feliciano's "soul-spangled banner" will probably agree with what one music critic wrote: "What disturbs any who claim to be disturbed is that the soul singer tries to give the song's sentiments some meaning to his listeners. That, in anthem-singing circles, is treason, and Feliciano stands convicted." EXCLUSIVE employment agreements between contractors and unions are permitted under provisions of the Taft-Hartley law and are not discriminatory in themselves, Hogan said in his 86-page ruling. Hiring hall agreements, he said, "are reasonably related to the fundamental obligations of the labor union, which are to provide maximum bargaining power and, through it, the employment of its members for the maximum possible time, at the maximum possible wage." Discrimination, in this case, prevented Dobbins from gaining experience to qualify for referral and could be corrected by decree of the court, Hogan said. DOBBINS SENIORITY was ordered dated Sept. 14, 1965, the first time that discrimination could be determined and the judge ordered him referred for employment.

For others, though, Hogan ordered the referral system changed. Under terms of the redrafted procedure, accepted by Hogan three months ago, the union remains the sole and exclusive source of referrals for employment and agrees to refer applicants without discrimination. Electricians no longer need be members of the 'union or pass a union examination. Preference for referral now goes only to those who have four years' experience in the trade and live in the Cincinnati area. DOBBINS CAME along unexpectedly to give impetus to a and was among the first of 78 arrested.

Later, the NAACP led pickets at the rom.truction site of the cily's exhibition cenler. They attracted so much attention the Ohio Civil Rights commission agreed to investigate. Green was the first to testily at the commission's public hearing. He was followed by Herbert Hill, national labor director for the NAACP. WHEN ALL the scheduled witnesses had completed their testimony, commission representatives asked whether anyone else in attendance wanted to be heard.

"Dobbins stood up," Green said, "and we thought he was a ringer." Dobbins told his story. The NAACP was convinced, and backed him in court. IT CONVINCED the judge, who said Dobbins "is in a class by himself, at least from an educational point of view We have no hesitancy in finding that in September. of 1963 he any test, thoroughly eligible for referral and the union's failure to include his name on the referral books is found to have been discriminatory by reason of race and color," Hogan 's derision did move for the cause in Cincinnati than a thousand pickets and a hundred sit-ins. Rachl discrimination in the building trades in Cincinnati was on the way out.

TOMORROW: Battle Won, War Lost. tary campaigns over the years, it did not become our official anthem until 1931, and even then Congress refused to specify the key, tempo or harmonies. Rep. Joel T. Eroyhill, the conservative Virginia Republican, has been trying unsuccessfully since 1955 to make the Congress establish some standards for.