Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-28
America Faces
Most Tragic
Situation.
CABINET SPLIT
ON COAL TOPIC
Honest Differences of
Opinion Create
Wide Gap.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Nobody satisfied: neither miners nor
operators; neither the cabinet repre-
senting the government nor the pub
Tic; coal miners getting ready to fight
until starved into submission: opera
tors worried over their inability to
satisfy the worldwide demand for
coal; government agencies such as the
war Department and the Department
OF Justice getting ready to protect
those miners who do desire to work
an TINS IS only a part of one of the
lsosi tragic situations in the history
OF tne American government.
uI.;esldent Wilson lies i'll at the
Whlte House. His cabinet is split.
Eood feeling prevails. but honest diff
OF opinion have produced only
.rnst lion-not a settlement of the big
raced the cabinet. The main difference
W;i n1seWeen the Secretary Of Labor
iiilam b. Wilson. and the fuel ad-
ator DR.. Harry A. Garfield
eE Eacn respects and credits the others
TIC er o,s ana statistics, but each doubts
slsts that the public shouldn't nav
a any more for coal. Secretary Wilson
apnai,s mat such thing would be
try is fsa IN theory, but that the coun-
W.T. WIN condition. The cost Of living
mas risen. Both sides-operators. min.
ers, pr. Garfield, Secretary Wilson.
eeselybody-.admit that But Dr.. Car
n " mas inquired out by his method
method of striking an average with.
III nan an Industry. of all the classes Of
noIk ana coming to a final percent
age OF II per cent as the Increase in
IT. Is s. Wni!e Secretary Wilson says
II IS futile to take averages when IT
leaves dissatisfied more than half of
the men engaged in digging coal.
Insists on Compromise.
He insists that the public and tho
operators should split the cost Of the
increased wage so that both miners
ana operators would have the In.
centlye to go back to work.
On TOP of all Is a serious dinar
ence or opinion as to authority insfde
the government itself Here are the
tacts and the public can draw its own
Sonciuslons as to relative responsible
Miners and operators came to Wash
1ngton at the request of the govern
ment'' Secretary Wilson is charged
by law with the task of mediation.
He conferred with both sides and ex-
amined statistics and figures on costs
to be the making of a wage scale
to operators and miners.
The cost of living had increased 1913
per cent since 1913. But since that
time there had been an increase in
wages. So he subtracted the increase
still left 81 per cent as the necessary
increase In wages to meet the high
cost of living. Along came the oper-
ators to point out that Mr.. Wilson
based his figures on the men engaged
in pick mining, which, they
or whereabouts of the annual produce
ton of coal. whereas machine mining
produces the remainder.
Must Provide for Living Expense.
But Secretary Wilson declared that
the amount Of money that must be
paid to induce the men engaged in
40 per cent production must be enough
to enable them to meet the cost of liv-
ing or hundreds of thousands of men
will be dissatisfied and the trouble
in the coal fields is far from settled.
1t must not be forgotten that the
miners themselves wanted a 40 per
cent increase in wages, but Secretary
Wilson pared that down to 81 per
cent and they stood willing to aban-
don other demands and agree to a
settlement. The operators didn't say
intimated that If they didn't have to
a bsorb the entire wage increase but
could charge the public a little more
for coal. it would protect them against
declining prices and high costs of
Secretary Wilson assumed
that the fuel administrator, DR.. Gar
field, charged by the Lever act and
the selling price of coal, would in
crease that price just enough to 4ur-
nish the incentive to production and
a resumption of work. There was the
of a good feeling. A set
Element seemed in sight. Happiness
prevailed as it appeared that the big
coal strike would be settled.
New Line of Argument.
But of sudden. DR.. Garfield entered
the controversy with a line of argu-
ment totally new to both operators
and miners. He declared that .he
wouldn't increase the selling price of
coal and moreover that he construed
his powers as sufficient to set wages
because it was a factor in the cost of
him. Lengthy debate ensued. Finally
DR.. Garfield politely told the cabinet
they could accept his plan or submit
his resignation to President Wilson.
The cabinet hesitated to take such an
intricate controversy to the President
MS present Stdlc VI health. AL
finally agreed that DR.. Garfield did
have the power to fix the selling
price of coal and that the cabinet
could not take it away from him.
Some members of the cabinet pro-
tested that DR.. Garfield didn't have
the power to enter into costs of pro-
duction or the subject of wages any
more than he could tell the operators
how much to pay for steel rails or
other items in their cost list. This
power ne would have If the mines
were taken over, but not at present.
ANYWAY, the cabinet was powerless.
They could do nothing but stand be-
hind DR.. Garfield, unless they carried
the matter to the President.
So, DR.. Garfield has gone ahead. And
Secretary Wilson has Withdrawn as
mediator. For he was put in the posi-
ton of encouraging both operators
and miners to believe he had the
mower to negotiate with them a wage
settlement, and Suddenly another au-
thority inside the government an
nears, with the power to fix wages.
There is the best Of feeling between
Secretary Wilson and DR.. Garfield.
Fut the one believes the proposed IA
ner cent will leave hundreds Of thou
sands of men with a deficit at the end
Of the week, while the other believes
the miners can reduce their standard
of living or get along as best they can.
for the reason that the general pub.