The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-07-26
ANOTHER
COAL STRIKE
CONFERENCE

w dSllll1S IO4I
Consultation With
Cabinet
Washington, July q CBy the As
sociated ress).-Determined to
obtain a first hand view of the
railroad strike, President Harding
today called Chairman Hooper Of
the railroad labor board here from
Chicago for a personal interview
| tomorrow. Prior to summonins
! the labor board head. the president
! received Chairman Cummins and
Senator's kellogg and Watson of
| the senate interstate commerce
! committee who reported on their
conference last night with Eastern
railroad executives and later the
whole question was taken UP for
discussion in a prolonged cabi-
net session
The president was represented
as desirous of hearing from Mr..
Hooper an account of the positions
taken by the leaders OF striking
shopmen, the railroad executives
and the board itself during the ne
gotiations aimed at a strike set
tlement but which now have been
| broken off. Some conflicting re-
ports in the matter have been re-
ceived at the White House espe-
cially since the conference held last
night by the three iterstate COM
merce committeeman and the
executives of the larger Eastern
| trunk lines.
With Mr. Cummins he went over
the entire legal situation as it
concerns both the railroad and the
coal strikes, the result being. Mr.
Daugherty said, that he and Mr..
! Cummins Were in agreement as to
the governments power to act IN
both cases.
81 haven't any doubt" the at
torney general said later. that the
government has as much power
and authority to protect men who
are engaged in the production of
coal which is indispensable to
transportation as it has to protect
the men engaged in transporting
the mails and interstate COM
merce. The government has full
power and authoritg to see that the
production incident to transporta-
ton is not interfered with"
All Phases Gone Over.
Asked whether legal proceed
ings, including writs Of Injunction,
! were discussed with Senator Cum
minis. Mr.. Daugherty replied that
all phases Of possible action which
might be necessary had been gone
over. including. he added, "the
right of a man to work and the
right of a man to quit work
The attorney general said no
papers were now in course Of
preparation in connection with the
strike, but declared that the ad-
ministration's plan involves con-
sideration Of all possibilities.
s'The coal situation" he contin-
ued, 'is more or less involved in
the railway situation. whether pur-
posely. I don't know. a good many
railroads are reporting serious
shortages of coal. Several I have
noticed. in going over the reports
have only about ten days supply"
Regarding the railway strike sit
uation in the West the. attorney
general said @'it was about the
same as yesterday. except that in
Montana and Idaho trains are
being interfered with more than
heretofore"
In these states and in Montana
particularly, he declared. "there
has been cruelty to men working
on the trains" Some Of the rail-
way workers. he said, had been
taken forcibly off trains, and some
whipped and thrown in streams.
The attorney general indicated
that the government contemplated
measures to curb such acts Of vio-
lence and do all in its power to af-
ford full protection to railway
workers.
No Immediate Legislation.
1t appeared to be his view. in
which Senator Cummins and other
i; senators have said they shared.
that there was no immediate leg
islation practicable to deal with
the present situation and that leg
islative action would have to be
confined to coping with future
emergencies.
During the day Samuel Gompers
president of the American Fedora
ton of Labor. issued a statement
calling upon the government tn
! open direct negotiations between
union chiefs and employing cor
! poration and coal mining. and sug-
gesting that the helpless and all
but defunct railroad labor board
be set aside in the matter.
Senators Cummins, Watson and
| Kellogg. during their visit to the
White House today. told the
president they had found the SEN
iority issue the chief obstacle to
settlement of the railroad strike.
but indicated that the leaders oi
! the striking shopmen were also de-
I! mandinS that new federal board