Show NEWS BENI BEHIN THE lyng by PAUL MALLON LON y released by western newspaper union LEWIS WRECKING COAL INDUSTRY BY STRIKES washington motivating fac actors behind the coal strike can best be told in a personal vein I 1 do not wish to get into an argument about the strike I 1 am biased in the first place this strike against government was deeply stained with politics lewis served notice ot of the breakage of a contract with the government a few days before election his united mine workers man in west virginia came out against the democratic senatorial candidate who won incidentally ci lewis is now a republican he timed his strike politically against a democratic administration which has chosen to stand up against him in a strong way and which could possibly break his union now that election is over it Is not in that respect I 1 a am biased but solely as regards lewis and his tactics despite his audacity he never lost a strike during the hie roosevelt regime lie ile always seemed to know where the body was hidden around the white house when he clung to audacity in the matter of hours and wages hs be was on sound ground some people turned against him because he called a strike of III bis is vital public utility in wartime I 1 turned against him when he be levied a tax on an every everston ton of 0 coa coal produced no labor leader has a right to levy a consumption tax indeed no one has except a government when he did that for what he called a welfare fund he put himself in the class with petrillo re trillo as a little caesar OIL REPLACING COAL soft coal is consumed these days mostly by middle class or poor people and by public utilities like e the railroads and steam electric power plants the well todo to t o do and successful people and concerns already have found oil burners to be more reliable than coal and they rely on this higher cost heat peacetime production of coal is now about the same as 25 years ago but the value has fallen considerably anyway railroad rates to consumers and the electrical rates largely are fixed by government corn commissions missions on the basis of costs therefore a strike in coal falls almost entirely upon two classes of citizens not the coal management which has long since proved to weak to fight lewis who has caused the mines to be operated since april apri 1 by the federal government these two classes are those who cannot afford better fuel and the electrical consumers the travelers and freight rate payers you all pay this in th the price of your goods against these people lewis has staged five strikes in the past nine years while constantly tailing failing to keep up the value of his product value of our total soft coal production of million tons in 1921 was w while ile the total value of just about the same sam e amount million tons in 1940 was less lewis actually has priced coal out of its normal expectations of expanded use against better belter fuels by strikes against the companies culminating in a strike against government lie ile has cons considerably ider ably abandoned demands based upon earnings of the companies the old plea pica ol 01 unions to capture earnings and now wa wants ants coal prices which wil meet his demands against such a shortsighted policy in a static it if not waning industry the publio public has taken steps LEWIS RIDING TO 10 A FALL the railroads and electrical companies are perhaps the largest users of coal and they are developing other means electrification of the pennsylvania railroad has turned out well and diesel locomotives are handling passenger and freight traffic efficiently and increasingly water power development is cutting down need tor for standby stand by steam plants and local steam plants now little and big caesars caesara a always kill themselves by taking in too much territory by wanting too much and lewis is getting himself to this point now if the democrats do not get him the inevitable progress of events must restrict his bis economic significance ance I 1 think the he miners largely have seen this coming and in recent years have branched out into farming and other enterprises I 1 do not wish to get into an argument as I 1 say about anything which involves foregone symptoms N nothing anyone can say or do will be e much help lewis never loses they e say but inside information from the e government Is that he will this time he started as it if he did not expect to lose breaking the contract he forced on the government only last spring which included his right ot of taxation on every ton of coal produced then he ordered the government to meet him at 1030 a m on a certain date and the gov government e rn did meet him I 1 |