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Show SEEK U. S. CONTROL OF GREAT LAKESCARRIERS Seamen's Unions Make Request Re-quest in Order to Avert Strike. WASHINGTON, May 4 Government Govern-ment operation of all Great Lakes vessels ves-sels has been asked by seamen's unions in an effort to avert a strike which union leaders today told the shipping labor conference was inevitable otherwise. other-wise. The seamen are ready to strike, the leaders said, because ot the refusal of the Lake Carriers' association to join with the shipping board and the union in the conference to consider means of recruiting new men for the merchant marine, and because of bitterness growing grow-ing out of tho alleged repudiation by the association of an agreement made with tho union last year. "Nothing is left for us to do but to go back and clash," said Thomas Conway, Con-way, representing the marine firemen. ' ' We have offered the government our co-operation in overy way, and are not responsible for what will happen." Victor Olander of the Lake Seamen's union, said the unions demanded that the Lake Carriers' association follow the example of Atlantic shipowners in permitting the training of new men. "Until that is done, the lakes will not develop their own men and will continue to drain the Atlantic coast," he said. "The kaiser captures some of the seamen going cost, the Lake Carriers' Car-riers' association gets them going west." The telegrams from Seattle saying that two American ships were about to sail for Atlantic ports under command of alien officers, drew renewed protests pro-tests from union men against the practice prac-tice of giving foreigners provisional licenses. Captain John H. Pruitt of Seattle told the conference ho had been assured by President Wilson that the executive "order permitting provisional licenses was not intended to permit the replacement of Americans or the use of foreigners when Americans were available. The conference adjourned with the assurance that all the questions raised would have the immediate consideration of the shipping board. |