Howat and Lewis at a Convention, circa 1922
The image above focus on the minutes from Feb. 15 and 16, 1922, which are over the Fifth Biennial Convention for the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). Howat and Lewis were present at the convention, but Howat had been dismissed from the organization prior to the convention due to his preference toward wildcat strikes. Howat was at the convention, because he wanted to rejoin the Union. The words “Howat,” “Lewis,” and “union” are the main focus of the image above. The image shows what words are most associated with the three main words above. “Convention” is the only word connecting Lewis and Howat together. This makes sense, because unless it was under a professional sense, these two never spoke to each other. The image also shows that Howat and Lewis’s priorities concerning the miners and their safety were different. “Howat” is connected to “union,” while “Lewis” is connected to “workers.” In context “workers” is from UMWA and “union” is referring to local districts. This means that Lewis’s main actions concern the organization as a whole, while Howat’s actions are for local districts.
