New-York tribune., 1922-01-18
National Coal
Strike Threat
Made by Lewis
ro;on Head Defes Antl,ra-
e;te Men in Their Demand
for Wage Cuts So Price to
Public May Be Reduced
,,cludes Bituminous Field
hvs 100000 Are Idle Now
and Rest Won't Return to
Old Poverty Standards

syAMOKIN. Pa. Jan. II (By The
,..ociated Press).-.1ohn l.. Lewis, in
..,,ational president of the United
~rs Workers. to-day told the anthra-
a. miners wage convention that there
~,., he no backward step in their at
..,do toward the demand of coal com
..r;ss 10 reduce wages. Delivering
r,a. the delegates in the convention
rsgarded as a keynote speech for the
.-ro,,zed miners Of the country, Mr..
lewis declared:
.Jf Il REQUIRES an industrial conflict
n avoid taking q backward step. then
+se industrial conflict may come. Mr.:
lewis is presiding at the hard coal
:.ars' convention. which will formu
,..a ware and other demands to be
."s.,sssnted .".s to the coal operators before
rsnrh 81. when the present contract
errjres. Wage agreements in the soft
rosl fields expire at the same period
Tor the Grst time in many years. Pre-
dic,iors have been made by hard coal
miners that instead Of agreeing to
ware reduction the anthracite men Will
.cmand increases. among other thlngs.
Operators Say Prices Must Drop
After the convention adjoprned until
tomorrow representative OF tne gen
era, committee Of anthracite operators
gave out a statement that "full-timc
enerations Of the anthracite mines on
he scale heretofore maintained will
m. be possible in the coming year
vithout adjustments which will permit
,sducing the price to the consumer"
After stating that there are more
.hsn two hundred thousand men in the
biturinous Whining industry who are
entirely DE- .rived of the opportunity of
.muloyment and that the great ma
iOrity of the others in the btuminous
rcustry are working broken time, Mr.
Asis said the talk of reducing the
xs,ss of men in the industry who are
rss enduring the prvations of poverty
md iesttution is idle
The nds of the business men and
rs:esmen of America President
lsris continued, "must devise some
e:ier method of correcting the evils
II The bituminous mining industry.
Urge Uniform Hours
at is necessary that there be a
greater uniformity in the wages paid
10 the various classificatons of labor.
n the anthracite fields. 1t is equally
nscessary that the hours of labor be
made uniform and that the men en-
gagged in the classifications of labor
where they are now working excessive
hours be privileged to have the shorter
work dav. 1t is likewise essential that
he anthracite mine workers be given
consideration for Improvement in the
rage scale schedules now in existence.
1T makes no difference to the or
sanzed mine workers that wage re-
iactons have taken place in other in
iastres and it makes no difference to
:ae organized mine workers that the
men employed in the non-union sec
ions Of this country in the coal indus
try have accepted wage reductions. We
10 not propose to have our standards
Il living gagged by the standards of
living which obtain among these be-
Hsated unfortunate people who are
compelled to work for unorganized min
ing employers We do not expect to
follow the non union mine worker down
the ladder of wage reductions to the
morass Of poverty and degradation
mat prevails below and we do not pro-
pose to have the non-union yardstick k
applied to our standards Of living"
Blames Railroads and Dealers
The mine worker he said, should not
oe persuaded to accept any wage re-
ductlon to enable the consumer to get
relief from the excessive charges which
are made by the railroads and the mid
die men.
MI Lewis said the union had not yet
been successful in arranging a joint
interstate conference in the central
competitive bituminous fields and un-
iess there was such a conference there
would be no contract.
Jonn /. McMullen, local chairman of
the brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.
IN welcoming the delegates, brought
'aeers when he said that in so far as the
avs OF the brotherhood would permit.
ais local lodge would be willing to give
NOT only moral but active support to
eide to do. '''' '''e'' w
,,@ Dr.. Lewis. in responding to Mr.. Nc
-1uien' said there had been conferences
WIN railroad men in an endeavor to
'each basis of understanding to solid
~ the ranks of labor to make for
greater efficiency in solving problems.