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Show HARDING ABANDONS MEDIATION I AND THINKS OF GOING BEFORE I CONGRESS WITH BILL OF FACTS i President Believes Only Course He Can Pursue Is One Taken in Coal Strike Controversy; No Suggestions as to Legislation Contemplated WASHINGTON, Aug. 15. (By the Associated Press.) President Presi-dent Harding will place the rail strike situation before congress and before the country within forty-eight hours, it was officially an-! an-! nounced today at the White House. The announcement came after the president had conferred on I the strike situation with his cabinet and with leaders ui congress land after railroad labor union organizations had made public their rejection of the president's last settlement proposal together with i the statement that chiefs of the non-striking unions planned to con-j con-j tinue their efforts at mediation on the rail controversy. The administration snnkcaman who . . 'made known the president's purpose declared then was "no ground for the I executive lo stand upon In advancing i any further proposition." for settle-meat settle-meat fo the railroad strike, other than ! I those which have already laid before! the inn nagemcDts and representatives 'of the workmen now striking. j The impression prevailed among the ; president's advisers that he would in his statement to congress and through congress to the country make no suggestions sug-gestions as to legislation, but the administration ad-ministration spokesman said that 1 much depended on the events that j OCCU'r Within the brief time before I I he speaks. i The president, it was stated, was determined de-termined th;:t the only course the gov - I 'eminent now could pursue was the ipath it Bellowed In the coal strike 'extension of an lnitutlon to the em-jployors em-jployors to operate their properties and the federal government with the co-! Operation of the states would stand behind them in their efforts so far aa I they are directed to the serving of tho I public. vl v i I Ml I in OXGRI SS Consideration lr being riven by the president, it was asserted, to the proposition prop-osition of going before congress within with-in the next few days With o comprehensive compre-hensive statement of the whole situation. situa-tion. This statement. If made. It was said. would include no suggestions us to legislation, leg-islation, but would be designed to placi before congress and the country. the facts in the situation as vlowod by i the government. Leaders of the railroad labor organizations or-ganizations today made public the rejection re-jection of President Harding's final , offer for settlement of the nation:'.', strike of shopcrafts men but declared that attempts to mediate the UVJfrtCUl- ' tv direct dealings between railroad ( executives and heads of the four I brot lierhoods were still In progress. The union leaders after a confer- ' ence also made public a statement J.- ; c uring that railroad executives by their responses to the president's final 1 offer hac also " declined to accept the president's proportion." and had "not even agreed to permit all employes now on strike to return to work." The president was described by one of his advisers as "having his back up" and fuuy convince, i thai nothing further coiiiu he done through mediation. media-tion. All endeavors at mediation was con-tinned con-tinned today by the leaders of the hrotherhoods of railroad operating employes and of the other railroad labor organisations whose members have not been called out on strike. The statement accompanying the Shopmen's letter of rejection. In addition ad-dition t' charging that the railroad . , oliv es also had declined to accept the president's proposition In their ' response, yald tha "the railroad mSJl-! mSJl-! agent en ts apparently intend to be the ! court, judge and jury for the trial and I conviction of those employes whom they do not Intend shall return to I worlv." The letter which was signed by tho I heads of seven organizations on strike j Informed the president that his proposal pro-posal had been unanimously declined 1 for fciir reasons. ' REASONS TOR DEOXJIVIrfSfH j Tne lirst was thai in a prqrfOufl proposal the president had suggested that all employes on strike be returned re-turned to former positions with "seniority "sen-iority and other rights unimpaired "Your proposal of August 7. Is that the seniority question be agreed to or rather disposed Of only after they have returned to work.' the letter said. This strike cannot be. and no other railroad strike has been settled i until il was agreed that all employes on strike are to be returned to work I and to their former positions with j 1 seniority and other rights unimpalr-1 ! 1 " The second reason declared that , I there is no penalty in the transporta-' transporta-' tion act against employes who strike when an Injustice Is done through n decision of the railroad labor board.", Forfeiture of seniority it was added, would "read into the transportation, ad u penalty which is not contained t herein ANOTHER REASON. The third reason, uf.ei reciting that, the unions had agreed to a former set- , . tlemcnt proposal of the president suid I that they were unable to understand: I why, after we had accepted your own terms of settlement, you should now' request us lo aCctpt a proposal which Is directly iu conflict with your former form-er proposed agreement." As a fourth reason the leaders do-i do-i n-rii rhe presidi nt 's "latest proposal impracticable' und tending "to create a chaotic condition because of the un- dertermlned seniority status of the! employes." Concluding, the letter asserted that, railroad employes wore mindful of (Continued on l'ngo Two.) 00 j TO CONGRESS ! (OonUnOCd from Page One) 1 ivp.!ic Jnlprert' that ,n thia , they had been willing to accept an ! --tt.ement arrangement i v.blch did requlrt that the employes 1 ! a,flncf-,si-n of practically every I and thV. fch brought about the strike ! i rV, ,1 p,0Sfi stat'-nts are cor- I net, th, managers of some of thai rnllroads, the last few days havo apk.,yfttaA!K12ad ,httt 3 ,t V hlsutlmc t0 ttle tho strike! SKir if? to b? P"n?tted to continue 1 thf l,r "fforLs to disintegrate the or j conizations of railroad employee " |