The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-12-25

SSAoh 10 MDttrate the cOntrO
result OF that refusal, the miners a
Iu1 power of the federal governnel
operators for conspiracy to curtail
mas been used to enioin the miners
the operators.
But It Is confidently hoped by the gov
eInnleht that no such extreme course
VIII be necessary The interesting
tning' however, is that at the depart
Ineht OF justice a clear case against
tne operators Is built up which alleges
tlat II the operators maintain attitude
~ refusal to accept a commission of ar
bltfaton they would be- guilty of hay-
ing trapped the miners into going back
" work ana then declining to live up to
statemetns
The operators declare the commission
#ls TOO small and they have inquired
/ #Whether the government would agree to
an enlargement of the commission. The
/ government will not agree to any such
enlargement in advance, because to do
50 would require another session with
#the miners and all the difficulties of the
indianapolis meeting with the miners
would have to be faced again. There Is
ho objection on the part Of the gov
|&fnment to an increase in personnel IL
The three men designated OH the COM
Rnlssion should agree to such an en-
|#srgemeht, but at present the operators
Snust agree to the plan as submitted to
|#he miners
| IT is Questionable wether the miners
representative on the commission would
agree to an increase in personnel be-
|##AuSe OF their conviction that such a
|pove would only mean interminable de-
by.
Pa Other Hand.
81 On thesother hand. II is quite possi-
EN-Wn tlAf the thFpn non1S
3umber OF advisers they choose, and
|Nbat the president could be asked to
Aid no advisory personnel, but the judg-
Ment or voting power will remain in the
}Ea nds of Rembardt Peale, coal operator,
NO said TO be one of the broadcast
#4llged men in the industry.
John +. White, former president of
EDe United. Mine Workers, and H. NJ
#pbinson, former member Of the ship
3@ng board and one of the members OF
#he industrial commission recently APP
@nted by the president to take the
M3ace Of the three groups in the capital
|MNd labor conference that broke UP
disagreement,
he government, through its spokes-
IN contends that the operators have
@ viously accepted the plan of a COM
ksion To arbitrate the dispute, and
Mht they can not go back on their
|N'Ndge now
deyslops that before tie attornsya,
#lielal Vent 70 Indianapolis he ems
M as in tallgf ILL ,A NJ
HI ID TIL
snfh 0ssAr. general counsel fer the
I'atofN aaa he would sneak for tlea
Orators. and went to Mr. Palmer
me where The attorney-general ex-
Ained IN detatb the governments plan,
The attorney general insists that the
orators said nothing AZ the time pub
my or privately to Indicate their dis
|Mpproyal, and that it was only after
8 period Of nearly 10 days had elapsed,
Hbring which time the miners were be-
DC slowly brought back to work that
Mn ontcry came from the operators.
Bad Illustration,
Few things have Illustrated more
learly to official Washington the man
LEI in which the public can be i'm
EBosed upon than the tactics pursued
First by the coal miners and then by
FMhe operators, 1t is the firm belief
Epf the. government. for instance, that
Messrs. Lewis and Green, president and
#hecretary. respectively, OF the miners
Emion, were forced by internal politics
HUI their union to call a strife, and
that Frank Harrington, president Of
Ethe Illinois miners, led the attack with
IA radical program, and forced the
strike,
el'he fact that Frank Peabody, one of
the biggest Of the Illinois operators dis
played a sympathetic attitude toward
the program of harrington, has always
been one Of the mysterious things about
the origin ofkthe coal strike which has
eN8ked much curiosity here. Some per-
soaMN have gone so far as to assert that
thE#i believed the operators were in
fluencing the radical miners in Illi-
nois.
An interesting, sequel, however, is
the part played by Peabody, in Indian
Apolis, where he assisted the govern
ment in obtaining an acceptance of its
plan by the miners. He is known to
have persuaded his friend, Harrington.
to go along with President Lewis and
Secretary Green and bring about an
agreement among the miners to ac-
cept the Palmer proposal Now, how
ever, that the government has the
miners acceptance, it plans to insist.
even to the extent Of prosecution, that
the operators keep their pledge and
submit the matters In dispute to an
arbitral board of three And the view
which / find in executive quarters is
not one of condemnation of all the OPP
orators, but one of impatience with a
few who have professed to speak for
the operato ors, and whose disagreements
with each other have threatened to up
set the governments latest effort to
settle the coal controversy.
Copyright 1919 by David Lawrence