The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-12-25
j. s. HAVING IT'S
FIRST BIG CRISIS
IN MAKING GOOD
Attempt to Put Into Concrete
Settlement Vague Phrases
Banded About in Scion
Speeches Cause of Trouble.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Correspondent OF The New
Selmltar)

! WASHINGTON, Dee. 25-The gov
| eminent Is having It's first critical ex-
peFlence in trying to put into concrete
| settlement some OF he many yaE,le
! phrases banded about in congres sional
| speeches and presidential messages so
elten about ''harmonizing the relations
| between capital and labor"
i, FOR while the coal miners were
lhe OBJECT OF bitter criticism and the
Iolks willing 10 do anything to get
coal FOR the country. Even the deli
! cate power of injunction was used
in an effort TO bend the will Of the
miners and they finally agreed to ne
gotiate out Of the series of negotia-
s tions ~ mas come another plan sponsored
| ny the government. The miners Ike
! 1.-THE operators do not. SO in exec
u'iye quarters one finds opinion veer-
| ing now II Is the operators who are
blocking settlement
| The layman may be puzzled but the
observer close AZ hand is no better
! or. For both sides are making contra
| dlctory statements and intimating that
| the other isn't telling the truth For
| nsance, the operaors claim hey weren't
consulted in the latest memorandum for
| a settlement Of the strike. The Off
Gals at the department Of justice say
| the opposite.
Il appears that P. NJ, Bogart re-
| eelved for the operators a copy Of the
| Palmer memorandum Just before the
| miners conference received IL at In
| dianapolis. The operators on the other
hand. admit that but say they called
| attention to the fact that the plan was
a change from the Garfield scheme
OF settlement. They deny that any
body approved II for them.
The Ups and Downs.
The many ups and downs of the con-
! troversy, filled with technical details
| and charges and countercharges, sim
ply give one the impression that the
whole thing is merely the ld-fashioned,
age-old game Of barter and bargain.
| First, the miners declare that they
must have 40 per cent increase in
wages or starve The operators offer
~ per cent Secretary Wilson thinks
81 per cent Is right Along comes DR..
Garfield and insists upon IA per cent
The operators. being trained TO the
art OF bargaining. squirm and make IL
| appear that they are hard hit by that
| u per cent but that, to be good sports
and to stand by their government, they
| will absorb the IA per cent But no
big increase in coal production comes
| The state governments become FESTIVE
and begin negotiating separately with
| the miners. The situation becomes Sc
| rious, and the government tries its
hand again, this time with President
Wilson himself appealing to both sides
| to accept a commission to settle the
| dispute.
The miners repeat that they are
| Americans and accept. They too, make
| 1t appear that the settlement isn't alto
! gether satisfactory--ther conference re-
| mains in session long and the "radi-
| calls" are represented as terribly stub
born Finally the miners are on record
| as accepting, Then it Is the operators
! turn again.
! The viewpoint OF the operators Is
| that a commission of three Is too small.
and that they are unwilling 70 bcstow
upon 1t sweeping powers over the coal
| industry, especially when, ut INV time
| within the near future. tho Lever act,
under which the commission would have
| the same powers as the fuel administra-
| ton had, may come off the statute
books, They are considering seriously
| whether to agree to the plan as
| "comhission OF investigation" and not
as a body whose results are binding
upon them.
What does It all mean7 Simply that
the operators imagine, even before tho
| commission sits down to work, that it
viii recommend higher wages for the
n iners and that an attempt will be
made to make the operators instead Of
the public absorb the increased wages
The miners are confident they are
going to get more than the IA per cent
already guaranteed them.
Commissions Power.
The commission itself would have
power TO increase the selling prizes Of