The Washington herald., 1922-06-27
Railways Raise Alarm as
Harding and Davis Con-
fer With Lewis.
OTHER INDUSTRIES
SIMILARLY SHORT
Conference Brings Sew
eral Suggestions, But
No Definite Plan.

President Harding. confronted
with the fact that Americas great
coal reserves are being so rapidly
depleted that her industries. Including
the railroads. will have wiped them
out within from seven TO ten weeks.
is preparing TO terminate, IL pos
sibie. the dangerous situation.
Perhaps no more dramatic dis
tress signal could be nown than
that raised by the railroads, reveal
ing that last night their total stocks
on hand amounted to lees than
100000 tons. against which they
are drawing at the rate Of 1875. 600
tons daily, and indicating that
within seven weeks their reserve.
will be wiped out
Acute for An Industr4es-
An acute situation faces other in
oustries. which are estimated TO
have only about Is. .ooo. 600 tons sur
Plus. With approximately 5000. 600
tons OF coal being mined weekly.
the drain on the surplus by all in
oustries has amounted 10 approA~-
| mately 100000 tons n week
throughout the strike.
In this situation the President be-
lieves that not only must the threat
to the industrial life of the nation
be terminated. but IL must be an
preached from the STANDPOINT OF
striking at the fundamentals so
that Its recurrence will be improb-
| able.
Yesterday brought the first move
70 meet the approaching crisis in
4 Labor Davis and President John L.
Lewis. of the United Mine wor1xer,
of America. while some conrideta-
ton was given to the possibility OF
! a meeting between operators and
miners, with the government sitting
IN. II was regarded al significant
that the President went more into
the general situation Of the bitu-
minous industry. particularly with
regard to:
Coal Com mission Urr~d.
1. OverdeveIopment Of the Indus.
try, with excessive number of min
ing operations
?. The excessive number OF men
I employed, and.
g. The intermittency OF employ
ment.
The President is primarily con-
cerned with the question of stsbiI-
King the bituminous industry 50
that when the government act, ,,
may put forth for considerstIo, Of
miners and operators alike meas
ures to this end.
One suggestion advanced bv a
member OF the Cabinet is, first. A
thorouEh Congressional investfea-
tion. looking to the creation Of a
1 saAv
ward mine operations as the Inte--
state Commerce Commission doc
toward the railways. This i6.,
comprehends dividing the caunt-,,
into regional districts and the e.
tecttng Of wage agreements BY such
districts.
Miners Demand Conference
TO this idea. however. min.
worker oncials object, primarily
because they are opposed 10 eovsrn-
ment control. They insist upon tb.
following:
l. The President to set a date for
conference of operators ana
miners officials and notify repre-
sentatives OF both that he win ex-
pect them to be present
Z. Thls conference to sit until N
terminates the present situation
5. once the present strike is dis
posed OF, Congress TO pass le-fsls
tion creating a commission wifb
tuil power TO subpoena witnesses
and records OF both sides in order
to get down to the Fundamentally OF
} the problem. u
81 Following the conference between.
the PRESIDENT Secretary Davis and
Lewis yesterday. the White House
~
Eest OF the subjects under discus
sion, and Secretary Davis. who VS.
present while Lewis was speaking
approved the latter's remarks ana
would add nothing.
| Lewis Issues stntemert.
or the White House conference
lie said:
The Secretary Of Labor ana NV
sen mad lunch with the President. fol-
lowing which we discussed the gen-
eral situation in the bituminous In
dustry and the present strike. We
discussed the problems Of overdevelop-
ment. with its excessive number Of
msning operations and the excessive
number OF men employed. also the
intermittency OF employment.
We also discussed stabilization Of
the bituminous industry.
With relation to the strike. wa
considered a joint conference Of oper-
ators and miners and the merits OF
district joint conferences as related
TO the usually followed procedure Of
a central competitive field conference
or a representative national confer
ence. No definite plans were decided
upon
Says Strike VIII Coatfnue.
The strike situation has no,
changed as a result OF this con-
ference. The morale Of the miners Is
unchanged and we are prepared 10
strike indefinitely.
Il explained 10 the President IN.
futility Of district conferences. because
more than two decades of coIlective
bargaining in the coal industry have
shown that any operator In the GEN.
tral competitive ffeld win not hazard
the competitive relationship with
other competing groups until a basis
has been established with sufflcieut
tonnage as be recognized as a basis
Practically all the larger coal COM
panies In the bituminous neld oper-
ate the mines In several States Of the
producing districts and Il is Idle to
assume that they would make a settle
ment IN one district that would nlacs