| Show MEnry Round Go Go d Trade Mart Mark MarieBy By By D DREW EW PE PEARSON end and nd ROBERT ROBERT- ALLEN llEN r WASHINGTON During the the behind-the- scene cat arid and dog fight which led to the soft coal strike there ther was o only ly lyone one point on which the coal operators definitely agreed That was to dump the dispute if possible into the he lap of the president On nearly everything else they disagreed among themselves almost as as much as they disagreed disagreed dis dis- agreed with the mhers on their demand for a wage increase o of approximately 50 cents cents' per day One faction faction chiefly chiefly Kentucky and West Virginia Virginia Vir ginia operators refused operators refused to consider any wage in increase increase increase in- in crease at all at- atTo To every proposal they r replied lied d. d with a grim no n J. J r i A third faction faction and and t the e largest largest also also o. o was willing will wiIl- ing to grant giant the demands but with one im important otan reservation It proposed sh shutting down the mines for four weeks during which the tons of coal v no now in reserve would be used sed up And how will the min miners miners' live during th that thit t time demanded John 1 L. L Lewis square-jawed square head of the United Mine Workers They cant can't live on air Will you pay them during the enforced enforced en en enforced forced off lay-off The operators said they would not So th that t ended that Presidential Hot Spot Thus the conflict raged between thee operators until finally one of then them conceived the idea of abandoning their civil war and turning the heat heaton on the president nt Some of them were sore at Roosevelt anyway chiefly because he had intervened in their dis dis- i I through his ins assistant secretary 01 of labor ward vard F. F McGrady This latter group secretly wanted wanted wanted want want- ed a strike in order to get rid of their surplus coal supplies So they proposed to their fellow moguls that inasmuch as the president had stuck his nose into our business they dump the r hot red red potato in his lap They proposed calling on on him publicly to arbitrate the controversy Such a scheme puts Roosevelt on a very hot hotspot hotspot hotspot spot with the union It is adamantly opposed to arbitration It contends contends contends con con- tends there is nothing lothing to arbitrate that the j issue su u is cut clear-cut and nd simple that pimple that either th the miners get a 10 per cent wage increase or they do not Any arbitration by the president therefore meant the alienation of the United Mine Workers One of the most powerful unions in the country it has been most friendly to the administration The coal barons of pf course course knew this But as one of them Put lY n i no skin skill off offo o 01 of our shins Let Roosevelt Roosevelt Roosevelt Roose Roose- velt worry worry about that Wage Retreat The marl man c chiefly efly responsible for the pr presidents president's back down on bis his former dictum that works relief labor accept security pay pay was none o other than our old friend General Hugh Johnson What the the senate jailed failed to do during its weeks reeks o of fighting for fori the prevailing wage what wha th the American Federation of Labor plus striking re relief relief relief re- re lief workers workers- plus inner circle liberals all failed to accomplish finally wa was put across across' by the stormiest petrel of the administration Johnson always had opposed the presidents president's policy of security wages His flis hectic months as works progress administrator of or New York further further further fur fur- ther convinced him him Therefore when he called upon Roose Roosevelt elt at Hy Hyde e Park tp to submit his resignation resignation nation the general sounded s off in usual Johnson John- John son style I Around next spring when Ui the money begins to run out and the campaign campaigns i approaching you will begin to discover disco that a gre great t many of these W P A projects somehow J h have e not hot i t been completed Then Ihen later when you get into the campaign and tour the countr country your opponents will point out outto outto outto to you in every town you visit unfinished jobs which th they y will l label bel Roosevelt follies You have got to track back on this this' wage issue isme issue is is' i sue me Mr President And y you u have got to do doit doit it right away The president did Immediate Action Harry Hopkins was summoned to Hyde Park Two days later h he issued the order giving the state works progress administration wide latitude in fixing hours for lor works-relief works labor labor labor-a a backdoor retreat on the security wage issue Under the new v policy the to 19 a month scale continues officially unchanged but state W P A chiefs can slash the month hours ma maximum to any level Thus in prin principle they can adjust works relief wages to prevailing union standards by increasing the rate of pay per hour The monthly return will remain the same but the worker will receive a higher hourly rate Copyright 1935 by United Feature Syndicate Inc |
