New-York tribune., 1919-10-31

table. The only question is how long
the strike will run before the par
leying is resumeG
The operators nave unquest;onably !
"stalled" so far, in the hope that gov
ernment intervention would result IN !
revocation of the strike order and thus
permit more time Tor negotiations
without a suspension of production. /
Having failed in that effort, their next
move will be to make the miners rep /;
resentatives some sort OF q compro
mise proposition.
The miners executives are appar-
emily in no way disturbed by all the
railying of the governmental machln
cry from railroads to the revival of
the Fuel Administration and the use Of
troops that are mentioned in the news
from Washington, nor even by the pos
siblitv that the government will take
poss ession of the mines. The last men,
toned step. they say, would be only
step toward granting their demands.
for the government could not persuade
the miners to return TO work under It's
auspices without granting them prac-
tically what they have demanded. This
grant having once been made. it would
be impossible, they say, to set 1t aside
by subsequent negotiations between
the operators and the miners.
They are serenely confident that with
rs per cent of the soft coal production
of the country dug by union miners no
sort of governmental action can restore
normal and necessary condition IN
the coal industry until q new scale of
wages and hours has been accepted by
the miners.
Attorney General Palmer admittedly
"got under the skin of the miners
l. -f, ntNf ytrt h
hshed this morning he pointed out
that by nationalizing the strike the
miners have violated certain district
agreements that do not terminate with
the formal ending Of the war. They
admitted that the Attorney General
was right and even called attention
to the New River, w. Va, agree
ment which was signed in August
for a period of three years. Their
justification is the same as that ad-
vanced by Germany during the war
viz, necessity. To win the strike they
must fight everywhere at once and not
piecemeal. They want all district
agreements hereafter 20 run for the
same periods, so that they will always
be in a position to act nationally,
hence the scrapping OF some more
scraps of paper
No Arrests Expected at Once
While it was announced here to-day
that Judge Ames of the Department Of
Justice would be here tomorrow to
take some steps in connection with the
enforcement of the Lever act, 1t was
not considered that he would take any
drastic action. Such step, for in
stance, as the arrest of Levi. and
other leaders of the miners would, 1t
is said by the operators as well as the
miners, be a grave strategical error
and would likely lead to further labor
trouble of very serious nature, SUN
perhaps as a general national strike.
According to the data in the Office
of Secretary William Green of the
United Nine Workers. about 425,000
men are subject to the strike order,
and union officials say they will obey
the order to man. The actual mem
bership of the union is about 100000
of which number 1900 are anthracite
miners and are not affected by IT,
strike order. The paidup membership
for August Of bituminous miner mem
bers was 35l 600, but the actual mem-
bership is considerably greater, because
large number Of men are excused
from dus payments every month.
Strength of Miners
OF the paid-up membership in the
bituminous fields tho distribution by
districts Of the union organization is
as follows:
District :, Central Pennsylvania. 49,
CAS-.
District ., Western Pennsylvania,
36,S22.
District 6. Ohio, 2,OS6
District s, Indiana Block Coal. LIB.
District 10, Washington. 4,29O.
District II, Indiana, 24,S17
District y, Illinois, 1916.
District IS, Iowa, 1886.
District IA, Kansas, 1866
District ;, Colorado, 4,067
District l6, Maryland, 2,561
District It, West Virginia. 27,3O5.
District 10, Eastern Kentucky and
Tennessee, 1854.
District 90, Alabama. 1857.
District 2l, Oklahoma and Arkansas,
13,503
district %, Wyoming, 5,7s9.
District %. Central Kentucky. 5,447.
District "a, Michigan, 1867.
District 25, Missouri, 6,372
District 27, Montana. A,446.
District %, West Virginia. Sass
In addition to the union membership
Of about 425 900 in the bituminous
fields it is expected that about 100, 900
mont union miners viii cease work,
leaving about 100000 men on the lob
all told 1t is believed that about 5000
mines will be closed by the strike.
The operators strike committee for
the central comparative territory
western Pennsy sylvania, Ohio. Indiana
and Illinois-will meet in Cleveland to-
morrow to canvass the sltuatior and
decide on what steps to take with re
spect to fighting the strike. The dis
position, however. is not to make an
aggressive fight in unionized districts
Where the mines are unoniZed 10 al
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