OCR Text |
Show GOAL fllRS ALL GO OUTON STRIKE P8E8IDENT LEWI& DECLARES UNION IS DETERMINED TO MAINTAIN DEMANDS , Coal Supply Will Last But Few Weeks In Opinion or Strike Leaders; Utilities Will bs the First to Suffer Washington. Tho national coal etrlko Is 100 por cont offcctlvo In the unlonlzod bituminous nnd anthracite minos of tho country and Is getting support In nonunion territory, John L. Lewis, prosldont ot tho United Mine Workors, doclnrod Sunday on his arrival ar-rival horo to nttond congressional hearings. Thoro nro 000,000 minors roady to stay out ot the minos "Indefinitely, until tho operators aro roady to discuss dis-cuss with us the quoatlon ot now wago agreements In tho contral competitive com-petitive fields," Mr. Lowls doclnrod, adding that, while tho union "courted "court-ed investigation for anthracite and tho bituminous industry, it Books no government gov-ernment Intervention, but docs ask for tho support of public opinion la forcing tho operators to contlnuo col-loclvo col-loclvo bargaining with minors ovor wages and working conditions." Discussing coal roserves and tho of-foct of-foct of tho strlko on tlio Interests ot consumers, Mr. Lowls strongly ox-prossod ox-prossod his opinion jtbnt "u iplnch would corao earlier than oxpoctcd." Ho declarod nonunion mtno production produc-tion had boon "groatly oxuggoratod," und that operators had boon more or less oponly following tactics that forced a strlko so thefy could got hlghor prices and groator profits. "Thoro won't bo u singlo man roturn ro-turn to work tills wool:," Mr. Lowln said, "from tho 000.000 men who wont out. It takos a llttlo Iongor in tho nonunion fields for us to got tlio ro-ports. ro-ports. In tho Wost Virginia panhandle, panhan-dle, for Instance, right along tho Ohio lino, thero aro about 0000 or 0000 men in nonunion minos for whom meetings uro bolng hold. Thoy'll probably bo out soon. Thero nro meetings hero and thoro in nonunion torrltory all ovor tho United Stales. Wo'll got the roturnB lntor. In tho union torrltory wo know what happened, tho oporn-tors oporn-tors nren't oven going to try to run tlio minos." Taking notlco of tho Buggostlon by Chairman Borah of the senate labor commlttoo tlint tho govornmont ought to Intorveno further Into the situation, situa-tion, Mr. Lewis romarked that he wan "afraid nothing much could be dono wltli tho operators." "Evory attompt has boon made to got them to moot tholr obligations to contlnuo collective liargnlnlng .with us," ho contlnuod, "nnd I assumo they will maintain tholr rofusal no mattor who trios to get them to confor. Wo stand roady, now as aver, to ontor any conforonco with thorn to discuss tho torms of n now wago contract which will allow us to rosumo work. "If Uio minors today woro occupying occupy-ing tho position of refusing to dls-cubs dls-cubs n wago contract, as tho operators opera-tors are, thoy'd be morally castigated by all Uio cltleons of this land." "Although tho operators rogard onch oUior as competitors," Mr. Lowls said, nnd aro not acting In concort, "wo know that wo can't got n gonoral wago scalo without unity ot action In Uio central compotitlvo field, bocauso a dlfforonco of a cent a day In wages moans conts por ton In tho Boiling prico of coal, makes turmoil In markets mar-kets nnd closes up old mines to open new ones." "Still Uioy woro n unit In wonting suspension," he contlnuod. "Thoy hod londod up all Uio big consumers with coal on tho strlko scuro, and hold up tho markot prlcos whllo tho loading was going on. Now thoy think that it troy'ro shut down long enough thoro'U bo a scarcity, and a runaway markot. Their disposition mado tho strlko lnovltablo." Mr. Lowls estimates tho maximum production of tho nonunion mines at 4,000,000 tons n week, much of which ho said, was good only for coko, Further, Furth-er, ho doclnrod, tho middle west could not pny tho frolght to got nonunion coal to thorn. "Watch tho public utility companies In tho smaller cities," tho strlko lead-or lead-or said. "Thoy will bo hit first. Tho big cltlos aro protty well stocked, but tho llttlo ones ilro not." Mr. Lowls oxpuctiMl to romain in Washington ns long ns his prosonro Is roquirod, but snld he had no ongngo-monts ongngo-monts with Prosldont Harding to ex-ocutlvo ex-ocutlvo officers. |