The Washington herald., 1922-06-29
full ATTENDANCE
AT HARDINC'S
PARLEY EXPECTED
Lewis Immediately Ac.
cepts Invitation for
Striking Miners.
u. S. PART is SECRET
President Has Not Named
Those Who Will Repre-
sent Government.

The miners and operators prob
ably will attend President Hard
ing's strike conference Saturday. TO
man. But both sides will meet
at the white House with these two
questions uppermost in mind:
/. Just what part is the govern
ment going to play in devising
methods upon which negotiations
for settlement Of the coal strike
may be initiated?
>. Who will represent the gov
ernment in addition to President
Harding at Saturdays conference
and at any subsequent meeting it
may be necessary or agreeable to
can7
Spokesman for miners and oper-
stors in Washington frankly be-
lieve a unanimous response will
greet the Presidents conference
call. but they are equally frank in
assuming the conference will es-
tablish nothing more than a basis
tOr IONure neEOtldtlOnS.
May Combine Demands.
Those closest to the informal
meetings Of President Harding. Sec
retary Davis and President John L.
Lewis. of the United Mine Workers.
which are said to have led to the
conference call yesterday. thought
the basis for future negotiations
might combine demands OF the op-
orators and of the miners without
Infringing on demands Of either.
The nature of the governments
part in Saturdays conference. II
was said. may be determined largely
upon who represents the govern
ment II is generally believed that
Secretaries Davis and Hoover will
attend the conference. But this
could not be ascertsined officially.
because the government personnel
has been kept secret beyond the
presenc of President Harding.
The invitation to Lewis makes
direct reference to Mondays lunch
con at the White House. The invi-
tations to Presidents S. d. War
riuer, of, the anthracite operators.
and A. NJ. Ogie, of the National
coal organization. also refer to the
informal discussions. but mention
no previous meetings with opera
tors leading up to the conference
call.
Negotiating for weeks.
Negotiations to this end have
been going on for several weeks
between Secretary Davis: Director
Of Cancellation Hugh l. Kerwin and
his assistants, John Davies and
willism Rogers, and Lewis. The
only operator conference with Da-
Wis occurred June s. when operators
representing a small tonnage in the
Ohio and West Virginia fields met
at the Department OF Labor TO give
Davis certain information" Wheth-
or Secretary Hoover's series of pri-
vate conferences with the several
groups Of operators relative 20 coal
prices included references to a ma
tional conference at the White
House has not been disclosed. In
any event, operator spokesm~n>here
said the Presidents call came as q
complete surprise.
The official text of the Presi-
dents invitation to the miners and
operators follows:
TN accordance with some recent
informal discussion. / am hereby
ofncialiy extending TO you ap in
vitation TO meet with me at the
White House executive ofiices on
Saturday morning. July /, at 10
o'clock. for a conference TO devise
methods upon which negotiations
for the settlement Of the coal strike
may be initiated. have also ex-
tended invitations TO other district
presidents and to the bituminous
and anthracite operators associa-
tions concerned"