, 1922-12-31
LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL

Bulking large in the affairs CT
America were the two big strikes. of
the railway sho3men and the coal
miners. In effect at the same time.
they seriously threatened the national
we-l.being by disrupting traffic and
caus,ng a countrywide shortage OF
fuel.
Unable to reach an agreement wlta
the mine operators on the wage scale.
the miners. both anthracite and btu
minous. went on strike April 1. IN
June and July President Harding
conferred vita. representatives Of
both SIDES. and proposed that the
men return to work at the old wages
and that thu rev scale be arbitrated
His plan heing rejected. he told tho
operators TO reopen their mines un-
der protection o. federal troops and
tho flag. In only a few eases was this
done. Their were numerous local
conflicts n some killings. and the
price Of ooal threatened TO become
extortionnte. To prevent profiteer-
ing the government adopted a pan
for the supervision OF production and
distribution of coa on July -. Oper-
afors n miners OF the bituminous
fields met at Cincinnati ana on Au-
gust 10 signed an agreement ending
the strike. the men winning virtually
all their demands. \ similar settle
ment of the anthracite strike was
made on September - 1t was al
mitted that the root OF the trouble
had no been reached and that another
strike in the spring of 1929 was al.
most q certainty. Since there was
still a great shortage Of coal. Conrad
e. Spens was appointed federal fuel
director on September %.
The railroad strike followed an or
der Of the fedora. railway labor board,
issued June G, reducing the wages of
the shopmen about $50, 100000 n year
Other rail employees had their pay
cut proportionately. but h shopmen
were chosen to make the fight. They
out work on July 1, and two aays
later were "outlawed" by the board.
On July II they were reinforced by
the stationary engineers, firemen and
oilers. From the beginning the ad'
ministration strove to bring about a
settlement. but both sides were stub
born, the restoration of seniority
rights being the main stumbling
block. President HarfSnS warned
the strikers against Interference Win
mails or interstate IdlSpoTtd'ph am
the agencies OF the government were
~octive in enforcing his orders. Find
ing they could not tie up traffic. the
strikes in many regions resorted to
extreme violence. and ever to muir
der. In the Far West some OF the
brotherhood Of Trainmen members
co-ouarated with them until called off
by their chiefs. Several trains ka'le'l
with passengers were abandoned in
the deserts. Finally the government
struck a vital blow at the strike. AT
toruey General D~augherty, on Sep
TENDER I. obtained from Judge VII
ke.son in Chicago a sweeping order
restraining the shop crafts trS.i In
terfering' in any way with the opera
ton cs the railways. Two weeks late-
the strike was broken when many
railroads negotiated separate agree
ments with the shopmen.
Employees of the Chicago surface
and elevated roads struck August 1
against a reduction in pay. IND four
days later the dispute was settled by
compromise. Chicago also had con-
tinued trouble with some of tbs build
ing trades which would not accept
the lands award. This resulted in
a Reorganization of the building
trades council there, the recalcitrant
trades being put On the open shop