Omaha daily bee., 1919-10-27
Acting President Of United
Mine Workers of America
Issues Statement Relative tt
Strike Call.
NO ASSURANCES OF
PEACEFUL OUTCOME
Government Determined to
See That People Obtain Ade-
quate Coal Supply to Keep
Them From Suffering.

Springfield, ILL.,, Oct. 26.-Reply.
ing to the statement of President
Wilson that the proposed strike oi
soft coal miners, scheduled for No.
vember |, is "unjustifiable and un.
lawful" John L. Lewis, acting
president of the United Mine
Workers of America, on his ar.
rival here tonight from Washing.
ton, D. c.. declared "the status
quo" prevailed.
Asked whether the presidents
declaration would act to suspend
the strike, Mr. Lewis said he had
nothing to say on this subject to-
night.
Shuts Himself Up.
Mr.. Lewis went to his home i,
this city, shut himself off from com
munication from the outside worlt
and left word that he was not to b,
bothered before II a. m. tomorrow
Referring to brief statemen,
given out at Bloomington enroute tc
this city, Mr.. Lewis said that rep.
resented the sum total of what h,
would say tonight.
Il will simply say" he declared
"that the status quo prevails"
+ Pressed for an expression as to
what steps he believed the govern
ment intended to take to carry ou,
its anti-strike program, he said:
II know only what | have read ir
the papers"
Mr.. Lewis would not comment or
whether further negotiations were
possible. He was told of Gov.
Frank 0. Lowden's statement, is
sued tonight, in which the governor
| promised cooperation with the fed
| eral government in stemming the
mine tie-up and suggested that COM
pulsory arbitration might be neces.
sary. Lewis declined to make any
reply.
"I'm tired and | want to get some
Sleep" Mr. Lewis said. He will &c
to Indianapolis probably Tuesday to
be present at the international ex-
ecutive board meeting on Wednes-
day.
Bloomington, ILL.,, Oct. 26.-Johr
L. Lewis, acting president of the
United Mine Workers of America
tonight issued a statement saying
that all demands of his organization
are subject to negotiations.
Lewis declined to state specifically
the attitude of the United Mine
Workers toward the statement OF
President Wilson yesterday regard
ing the proposed strike of the BIZ
luminous coal miners of the. nation.
In regard to this Mr.. Lewis would
only say:
Il am an American, free born,
with all the pride of my heritage.
love my country with its institutions
and traditions. With Abraham Lin
coin, l thank God that we have a
country where men may strike.
May the power of my government
never be used to throttle and crush
the. efforts of the toilers to improve
their material welfare and elevate
the standard of their citizenship"
Mr.. Lewis said that he had not re-
ceived any message from Washing
ton, that he had been travelling all
day. He left Washington at 6 Sat
urday evening to return to his home
at Springfield. which he left Octo-
ber 6. He added that he had yes
terday morning at 10 called meet
ing of the national executive board
of the United Mine Workers to con-
vene at Indianapolis at 10 Wednes-
day morning. He explained that the
meeting was called before President
Wilson's statement was made pub
lie: The gathering had been called
primarily to formulate details of the
strike
No Suggestions Made. IL =
When asked to make a statement
on the right of the miners to strike
November |, in the face of the criti-
cal conditions, he said:
The coal operators have not of
Tered a single constructive suggcs 5.
ton designed to avert this catas-
trophe. All through the negotia-
tons at Buffalo, later at Philadef-
Continued on Page Two. Column one,