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Show LONG i Refusal of Government to Vacate Injunction Delays Settlement. WALLACE STATEMENT Strike Could Have Been Ended In Foriy- eight Hours. WASHINGTON, Nov 5.-The tov rnmon' rrvnir.T accept the proposal b; organized labor to end the coal strike bv vacating the injunction against the official- ol the I'mted Mine Workers of America Assistant Attorney Gen era Ames, jn the absence of Attorney General Palmer, announced today thai the government could not abandon Its position as the strike was in violation of law. Judge Ann ? issued the following statement "The strike is a violation of law. As long as It continues we are going tn proceed in the courts. The dispute between be-tween the mine owners and workers is an entirely different question that Lhey can settle in their own wav The government gov-ernment cannot tolerate continued violation vio-lation of the law such as this strike i onstitutes " Refusal of the government to vacate the injunction means a long fighi In Uio- coal fields while its withdrawal would have opened the way for settlement settle-ment of the strike within 4S hours, ac cording to Edgar Wallace, legislative representative of the United Mine Worker- of America. Production at Standstill CHICAGO, Nov 5. Confronted by statements of both miners and oper ators that the country was in for a long struggle in the bituminous coal fields, where production virtual! lias been at a standstill since the nation wide strike of miners went into effect at midnight Friday night, government circles today still apparently were pervaded per-vaded by an undercurrent of optimism retarding an early settlement of the big walkout Indications were that the mine workers' leaders and the coal mine operators were sparring for an opening that might lead lo an arnica ble settlement of the dispute Statements of Samuel Gompers. president of the American Federation of Labor, that dissolving of the federal fed-eral Injunction which has .sealed the lips and stopped the activities of the miners' leaders In fostering the strike might point the way to peace, and of John L. Lewis, acting president of the United Mine Workers of Amen, a today, to-day, that negotiations could start anj jtime. were pointed to as indicative of the willingness of the workjngmen to negotiate. Their desire that the Injunction In-junction bo vacated, however, was equalled by the operators' demand that as a preliminary to negotiations the j strike be called off. As the approximately 425,000 miners added another day to the strike, the fuel rhortage made Itself further felt by the public iu some parts of the country, notably Monlana. From St. Loins also It was reported that t fuel Shortage threatened. Other places. Iumin!v west of ihe. Mississippi frantically frantic-ally were making what preparations were possible to Combat advent of win iter. So far railroad operations have not been interfered with and the closiuc-down closiuc-down of industry because of the coal strike has been reported. There was little change In the gen eral situation during the past 24 hours. Reports from West Virginia that four union mines in the New River district were In operation and that two In the unorganized Guyan field were c1osdti b D sympathetic strike; a threat of the North Dakota lignite miners who ! returned to work alter one day's lav-lot lav-lot f, to walk out unless increased wage.r were granted, and a statement by the warden of the Oklahoma state prison that four mines on the prison farm probably would be reopened wilh convict con-vict labor Thursday, were regarded as ! the most important developments Should the iklahoma mine - b pi tc ed In operation, it would be the tit I i resumption of production In the south-I south-I west in any niino affected by the 'strike. Ed Boyle, mine Inspector o( Oklahoma, however, ordered his aides jto see lhat the state law against inex pertenced persons working in mines was enforced. Thomas T Brewcter. chaiaman of 'the coal operators' scale committee. announced that the operators, acting individually, probably would sue the United Mine Workers of America foi breach of contract. Except for a fight between mine1 guards and miners at one polut. re- garded as of no consequence, no dis I order today had been reported from any district. |