New-York tribune., 1922-02-13
Miners Hope
10 Link Rail
Men in Strike
'Contlnusd from page onr

thc mine and railroad workers ~ ~
.hited States shows number Of tben,
70 ne sln'lar. if not parallel. to soma
VI NOSE Which led to the industrial
crisis N England. >'''s y '"'
o be sure England has suffered con-
s'derab'y more from the effects or q, ,
war than has tho United Statos J DnJ
hHr problems OF industrial rcconrtrnc.
.'oh theretorc avo greater. Also the
'"'caI ot the mlne and railroad wort
ers stT'he IN England was prccinjtatod
iaTSciE through too ABRUPT povern-
mental de-control Of coal production
from the way organization and s1ner.
vision which had been maintained in
CONNECTION with ii. fact that has NOT
oeen brought forward as applicable IN
'"T current domestic situation.
ou' second only IN Importance to the
proposal for the American m;no .rd
railroad workers. "understan6;nov i.
the contention OF both of the anthra-
cl'c and bltuminous operators. in corr
mon with that which was held Inv tbe
ntitish m'ne owners. that the WAGES
o. lheir emplOyecs should be reduced
some of the soft coal operators alreaG,
nave posted notices that wages will be
cut at their collieries beginning April /.
Wage Increase Sought
Cnlake the British mine workers. thc
american anthracite miners. through
th' recent proceedings Of their tri-
district council at Shamokir. Pa hayo
gene on record as demanding SUBJ
stentinl increase in wages. This will
DC presented to the convention for rsti
hcatlon. as will the demands now being
for'nuiated here by the wagc scale COM
mIttec Of the bituminous miners
these arc also likely to call for an
,
much as that sought by the anthracite
moners, because the wages Of the
former are greater
Whether the miners viii go to en-
trcmc lengths in an endeavor to en-
iorce thcir demands, or whether one
Of their reasons in seeking increases
IS the strategy of "ask for more so
that you can keep what you've got"
are questions that can only be an
swered by Developments Of the next six
weeks. In the same classifcations are
the questions of whether the operators.
with the backing and to some extent
the control of the most powerful in
! f1uences OF Wall Street, will abide by
their present stand, Of whether thcv
VIII rccede to thci point Of a Willingness s
to enter into some sort of COM
primes. Just now there is every out
ward appearance that both sides are
INN.
Crisis Due April |
Should coal strike come. IL would
begin on April /, as all tho present
agreements, both in the anthracite and
bituminuous fields expire on March 81
and should it be confined exclusively
TO the mine workers without important
cooperation from the railroad broth
erhoods, it is not likely that the coun-
try would suffer effects Of extreme
seriousness for considerab bic time to
come. in the opinion OF many observers
OF thc situation.
They point to the fact that COM
paratively little hardship would be
caused in dwellings. In addition, they
assert that the mildness Of the winter
has left the mines and storage places
of both wholesale and retail dealers
with enormous surplus coal supplies.
which could be drawn upon for many
months, providing advance measures
for the suppression OF protiteering ven
lures are taken by the public authori-
ties.
Another factor is that while the an
thracite mine workers are practically
100 per cent organized. according to
! union figures, it is shown also by the
latter that the ratio Of organization
among the bituminous miners is about
80 per cent union to 20 per cent non-
union. The bituminous operators are
confident that their non-union en-
ployees will remain at work in the
event Of a strike and that the impor-
tetion OF strike breakers into both
fields, coupled with the existence of
big reserve stocks, would be sufficient
to tide over the needs Of the country 8
coal consumers, at least on an emer-
gency basis. for lengthy period fol-
lowing the beginning of walk out.
In New York City, where the use
of anthracite is compulsory, legal re-
strictions could be made imperative
temporarily. and soft coal burned
should this become nccessary--a course
which was resorted to during the an
thracite mine workers. strike of 1902,
with wholly satisfactory results" it
was said by one big dealer In this
connection it is stated that IS per cent
OF all the anthracite mined in this coun-
Try is used in dwellings,, whereas so
per cent of the bituminous produced is
used in manufacturing and for other
industrial purposes. with the rail, Dads
consuming about one-third Of the total
production.
What would happen in the event that
such a strike would go into effect re-
cciving the cooperation OF the railroad
brotherhoods is matter of much more
serious concern.
Should the railroad workers merge
their interests completely with the
miners and Join them in a strike the
effects would, of course, be disastrous.
One need only recall what took place
in connection with the "outlaw" strike
of seeding switchmen two years ago
and this was a comparatively small
group of railroad workers-to realize
in some degree the extent to which the
entire country would be paraIyzed
within a day or two. Even a refusal
by the railroad workers to transport
coal during a miners strike speedily
would bring about effects of the grav-
est nature in many industries, 1T is
pointed out by some observers.
However. new question enters into
the situation here. This is: would
the railroad workers strike, even if
ordered to do SO by their own
officers ?"
Split in Brothe rhoOds Suggested
While it is believed by some au-
thorities on the subject that they
would. others hold that the issuance
of strike order would bring about
division of the brotherhoods on the
question. and especially were the ques-
tion put up to them on the baS1s Of