The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-11-23

The operators tonight say they will
wait 70 Washington until Monday only
because Of courtesy 70 the govern
nent The miners herald their accept
anee Of the nrnrered afss per cent
wage increase by Secretary Of Labor
wilson amd charge that sinister influ~
Ances" and conspiracy" arN at work
lo prevent an agraeuaent. !.
MeartftrA the fuel administrators
skeleton organization sere III deInged
with pleas from many different pArtA !
Of the country.
FAMINE APPROACHES.
Pcop.e arc crying for coal; indus
tries will soon have to shut down, and
The spectre Of famine Il slowly being
ushered In by the ley winds of winter
with the statement Of the operators
THAT tlYs mos. they can grant is 90 per
cen. increase in wages. and the asssr-
ticn OF the miners that the least thai
will content than will be a 3i61 pc.
cent increase. an tmrasse has been
reached Apparently nothing but
ton by thu government will be sufTs-
ciant.te provide fuel to keep the wheels
ri industry moving and what is more
70 the point or Will be ultima tely--to
keep thousands OF persons from freex-
lag ia dat h. zi4.,e.s4ss&.9 Az 81
f'ranCht with Sc many dire posSfhili-
tics the situation II one which would
have been met by the federal govern
n,ent today except that Attorney Gen
erai Palmer was out of the city. Ha
thought there was a probability of 4
compromise between the miners AMI
operators and on the advice of HIS
oh Nsic ian he went TO the country over
sunday, Irnr,edi aSely upon his re-
turn the conference that viii decide the
go ernment's action viii be called.
MINORS ACCEPT.
Secretary Of Labor W-ilson's proposal
which he made public today was the
hombsheli that scattered the ranks of
the operators and miners, Heretofors
tho miners have turned down every
proposal, sus rested, hut they accepted
this one, The operators, thouga,
turned IL down
The operators are now charging. ara
producing ngures in proof OF their az
scrtions, that Mr.. wilson's compromises
offer If the most partisan place Of
ttrurinc" in the history of the nagotia
TONS. They say that he chose pick
mining a 5 the basis Of his calculations.
and they assert that at the present ttrne
more than 50 per cent OF the countrye
coal is machine mined,
Mr.. Wilson's offer Womb increase the
machine mining rate lis per cent over
lais and increase the day wage Isl per
cent, according to the operators.
1T was just iike the old days with
ers' case" said one OF the operators.
who recalled past conferences In which
be sat on one side Of the table ana, the
present secretary of labor. then preFi
dent of the United sfihe Workers Of !.
America was on the other side.
The operators take the position that.
under pressure from the government.
they made the miners an offer 81 - in
crease. Their executive comnittA9 de-
scr ibas this offer of an ancreAse tn.
semi phraseology 80 that
II may be- understood the publfc's well
fare was the reason for IL.
In some what the same STRIFE the mir
err refer to their acceptance Of Secre-
tary Wilson's offer. but they term II
very modest" nevertheless accept
able" They say that the delay is un
iustif]s hle--even criminal: Character
istic attitude of the operators. but
meantime the public goes without COAL.
and there is little Likelihood Of II hav-s
ing an adequate supply Of fuel for tire
winter unless the government inter-
vcnes and does something.
That the something las yet
undescribcd-will come to pas
Monday as the result OF the con-
ference il the expectation hers.
Many straws point to 1t.
GARFIELD STY4ksNT
When the break up came today. :
committee OF the operators tried -
get in touch with DR.. GARFIELD. 1ha l
committee wanted advice from him.
but Dr. Garfield notified than thAH
1t would be useless 10 talk 20 him tor
day. He allowed IL 70 become kncMxe
that whatever advice me 0pNf&tes4s
sought would be incorporates "a
what the government would a4a IN