The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-07-27
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 To Confer With Harding
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 know precisely the questions at is- sue in the present railway and coal strikes. l am more than glad to answer your telegram. though l can only treat your partisan political ref erences with that contempt which Is felt by every good citizen Tn the hour of deep public concern.
 Mntter of Record
 Happily for the American public, everything done and everything said by government authority relating to the two strikes is a matter of rec ord, and cannot in any way be dis torted. There is no dispute about the loyal American citizenship of the men on strike, nor will anyone ques- tion that many of them gave every thing that men can give for the service of this country in the World war. Nor is 1t disputed that the men on strike are exercising their con- stitutional and lawful rights under existing statutes, In declining to work under the terms decided by the railroad labor board or rendered to the association of the mine operators of the country"
 No attempt has been made to draft men Into either the railroad or min Ing service, or suggested under min- tary force. The military forces Of free America are never used for such purpose. Their service is only that of preventing lawlessness and yio- lence. That same unchallenged free dom which permits you and your associates to decline to work Is no less the heritage of the free Amer ican who chooses to accent employ ment under the terms proposed The difference between the two posi- tions is that the striking railroad workers exercise their rights of freq dom in seeking to hinder the neces- sary transportation of the country, notwithstanding the provision made by law for the consideration of any just grievance, and the striking miners seek to prevent the produc- ton of coal necessary to common welfare. notwithstanding the offer Of an agency to make an impartial set clement while the men who choose to work in response to the call of the country are exercising their rights alike and are making their contrl- button to our common American welfare.
 Decision Within Law
 The decisions of the railroad labor board are in compliance with a man. date of the law making body of the United States. While discussing the decisions at issue. 1t is fair to age sume that government agency is ever ready to correct an error which Is made, else government itself would become unjust. Moreover, it Is in- disputable that there can be no gov ernment unless it's mandates are ac- cepted by the citizenship of the re- public. This observation relates more particularly to the railroad sit uation. When the mining situation became menacing, I invited repre- sentatives of tho mine workers and the operators to a conference They came together. they were advised as to the call of common welfare, vet in eight days of opportunity, 10 progress was made. In the absence of any tribunal authorized to settle disputes between mine workers ana their employers the federal govern ment then voluntarily proposed the creation of a national commi sston before which the disputes might De settled justly, in the light of full information and in accordance with tho best expressions of our modern civilization. Instead of contempla1- ing the resort to force, 1t anticipated the very OppoSlte--tnduStria peace with justice to every man concerned. Instead of aiming at involuntary servitude, to which you refer, the government asked the mine work CTS to resume their activities, in response to a manifest public need, at pre- cisely the same wages and under the same working conditions as those un- der which they had been working contentedly for the last two years. Those who spoke for the mine work CTS refused such a proposal. There is no dispute of the right to refuse. Since they declined to respond and since 1t Is believed there are enough men who love this country and cherish its security and believe in serving the common welfare to come to the relief of the mining situation and avoid suffering. privation and paralysis. I asked the governors of the coal mining states to invite mine operators and workers to re- sume their activities and to promise that to which every man is entitled, namely, protection in his lawful pursuits. This protection applies alike to the men on strike who ob- serve the law and make no lawless interference with men at work, aud to the men who are lawfully at work and entitled to protection by every agency of government in that worK.