Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-12-09
LAWRENCE REVEALS
PLAN Of PRESIDENT
TOEND COAL STRIKE
Miners to Go Back to Work
While Commission Probes
Into All Angles of Contro-
verSy-Cabinet Blamed
BY, DAVID LAWRENCE

Copyright, 1919 for The Atlanta Journal.)
WASHINGTON, Dec. S.-Out of a
succession of plumbers in handling
the coal crisis, the Wilson admin
istration finally has evolved a plan
which is designed to save the faces
of all concerned-a typical comprom-
Use that might just as we'll have been
, proposed two weeks ago, and spared
the country period of unnecessary
suffering.
Briefly, the plan resembles the
method adopted by the late Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt, when as presi-
dent of the United States, he per-
suaded the miners to go back to
work while a commission 'investi-
gated" ~the subject with the result
that the miners got a substantial in
crease in wages and the operators
increased the selling price to the
public.
The present situation is compli-
Gated by the fact that inside the
government, two rival authorities es-
sayed to settle the strike-Secretary
Wilson, with his suggestion of a
81 per cent increase in wages based
upon an increase in the selling price
of coal andf DR.. Harry A. Garfield,
fuel administrator, with his ultima
tum, that the selling price Of coal
must not be increased and that the
miners should get along on a IA per
cent increase in wages.
Cabinet side-steps Issue
The cabinet didn't have the
audacity to adjust this difference,
but side-stepped the issue, failing
even to consult President Wilson.
Now, however, the cabinets error
has been corrected to the extent Of
getting Mr.. Wilson's personal atten-
ton to the whole controversy. He vir-
tually has knocked sky-high both the
plans suggested, and undertaken by
new scheme, TO effect a settlement.
The presidents official family has
been uneasy about the coal situa-
ton because it was discovered that
injunctions didn't get coal and that
the miners were in earnest in their
determination to fight to a finish for
wages that would enable them to
meet the cost of living.
Conferences have been going on
for practically week with the heads
of the miners union in order to de-
termine, what would persuade them
to get their men back to work. The
miners realized that the government
had publicly proclaimed that the OPP
orators could absorb a ID per cent
increase so that If a. commission did
finally discover that the wages of
the miners should be increased, the
additional sum above the IA per cent
would not depend upon the operators
for acceptance but the fuel admin
istration which then would increase
the price of coal.
Operators Oppose Raise in Price
In other words, if the commission
decided that 20 per cent was a fair
increase in wages, the operators
would be required to absorb IA per
cent and the public the other per
cent. BY the appointment of a COM
mission the whole question of wheth-
err any settlement v1ndicates Secre-
tarv Wilson or DR.. Garfield or the
operators or miners is to be smoth-
cred. :.
The miners are to go back to work.
The public is to get its coal, and by
the time the commission reports the
Juror which the operators or eco
nomists may raise as to the COM
missions decisions may be lost IN
maze Of other controversies, much
more pressing at the time and much
more acutely in demand of PUBIC
attention.
But. the operators insist that any
Man which eventually is proposed
met contemplates an Increase in the
selling price of coal will be vigor-
ous1v opposed by them. 1--WE don't
T,anf more money for our coal" is
what the operators are saying, pc
cause if we don't look out we shall
he boosting the price so high that
Industries will begin using the I'M
mense supplies of Mexican fuel OIL
and we shall be underbld.
work of Commission
The onerators claim that this mat
fer of fuel oil is something for the
miners to worry about, too. Ihey
nredict thai ny next spring as the
demand fo~ coal diminishes, miners
will be out Of work, and the new
competition with fuel oil Will oegln
fo he effective so that operators and
,,9iners must combine to keep down
Tho nrice o1 coal to the public.
The other side of that argument,
&c fiat if the miners can't get enough
N live on while digging coal, they
NOV decide to- go into factories, shops
and farms and get wages,as mechanics
or AGRICULTURAL laborerS, winch Hlsht
give them enough to live on. inc
miners Themselves have been making
threats about accepting jobs IN IN
dustries, other than coal mining.
On the whole, both miners ana
onerators are expecting something
more than wage increases and selling
nrices to come out of the new plan
of settlement, proposed by President
Wilson. The commission Will en-
1eavor to bring order out or chaos
in the mining industry. 1t Will at
tempt to regu1arize employment and
correct those factors which nave
hitherto prevented the miner from
getting emo Ugh work or the opera
tors from getting out of the men
work enough Al Of which was I'M
der consideration two weeks ago, and
could have been accomplished by the
Wilson administration. if the men sur
rounding President Wilson had been
disposed to stick to their respective
views, and take the matter to the
president himself, for settlement.
~ WY.