Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-08-17
MERELY AN M TRUCE.

The coal strike may be said to be over. Within
a few days some hundreds of thousands of coal
work and presently coal in considerable quantities
will be delivered to the railroads for distribution, to
be distributed if the strikes in their own industry
do not tie the hands Of the railroads so that they are
unable to handle it. For this crumb Of comfort we
have a right to be thankful. The damage that has
already been done is irreparable, but perhaps we
shall not freeze to death this winter, and perhaps in
dustries which have been demoralizedb by lack of coal
will be able again to get themselves into some sort
of shape. %ES
But it would be folly for us to sdelude ourselves
into the belief that anything has been settled. Moth
ing is settled. An agreement has been reached
whereby work at the mines is to be resumed forth
with, and to be continued until next April, pending
the result of an effort which is. to be made by miners
and mine operators to agree on terms which will
furnish the basis for a contract to continue for a
longer time. Contributory to this there is to be an
whose Members are to be appointed by the disput-
ants and approved by the president of the United
States.
In all probability coal will be mined in consid-
cradle quantities from now until spring. There is
no assurance that this will be so. The signing of
agreements seems to count for little. Agreements
are scraps Of paper, to be torn up at the pleasure
of either party. We may assume that the present
agreement will be kept just SO long as the two
parties conceive it to be to their interest to- keep it.
and no longer. In view of the long shutdown it
may be supposed that production will be fairly large
during the coming fall and winter, but that will be
conditioned on what the late disputants believe to be
their own interest, and not on the interest or the
necessities of the public. .
An effort is to be made to frame an agreement
sometime before April which will be satisfactory to
both parties. But there is no agreement on the part
of anyone to accept the findings of any board or
commission. If no terms mutually agreeable are
reached, the mine owners may shut down their
mines or the miners may throw down their tools,
with a repetition next year of this years experience.
Not only has there been reached no real settle
ment of any question, not only is there no such set
Element in sight, but the basis on which the pro-
posed commission of inquiry is to be created is un-
sound. The members of this commission are to be
named by the two conterding parties, and approved
by the president of the United States. What the
country needs is an inquiry conducted solely from
the standpoint of the public interest, by a commits
sion created by congress and named by the presi-
dent under its authority, without the sanction or
endorsement of any other person or organization
whatsoever. @..a
The time has come when, unless we are to adj
NIT the incompetence of this nation to protect the
vital interests of its own citizens, our government
must act on its own initiative and proceed on it's own
responsibility, with out reference to groups and or
CARNATIONS of any kind such as those which have
assumed the right on their own account to perform
the functions of governmental bodies. We have seen
enough OF Soviet government abroad. 1nsidiously
and almost imperceptibly the Soviet idea has pro.
jected itself into our own institutions until we have
more of it than is good or safe for us. We need to
do some pruning, some looping off of unwholesome
stand that a business so vital as the coal industry
must be investigated, and regulated and directed by
the government of the United States in. the interest
of all its people, ~