New-York tribune., 1922-08-10
Roosevelt Hints
Drastic Strik e
Action Is Near
Assistant Naval Secretary
Tells Rochester Audience
Harding Will Protect
Public From Coal Famine
Says Nation Faces Crisis
Asserts Measures May Be
Taken to Prevent Future
Tie-Ups of the Industry

ROCHESTER,, Aug. 9.--That this
country faces a crisis as serious as
any in its history, was the declaration
OF Theodore Roosevelt, Assistant Sec
retary of the Navy, to-day in warning
Of the impending menace of nation
tied up by coal strike.
A coal famine stares us in the face
he said, and the country does not know
what such a condition would mean
Colonel Roosevelt declared the respon-
sibility Of the strike must rest upon
those who have refused to give ear to
the Presidents efforts to make peace
in the industry.
The coal strike declaration from the
Assistant Secretary of the Navy came
as conclusion to his speech at the
supervisors picnic at Newport here to-
day and left no doubt in the minds of
his hearers of the situation as viewed
at Washington. He said:
All Is Not Smooth
II have spoken to you of what has
been done, of the very considerable
achievements accomplished by the Re-
publican Administered | would be
dcrelict, however, if left with the i'm
preston that all is moving smoothly.
All is not moving smoothly. The
country is faced at this time by as
grave a crisis as it ever faced. We
are stared in the face by coal famine.
do not believe that the country knows
what coal famine would mean. In
the sheltered, comfort surrounded
lives Of the average person, 1t is diff
cult to visualize disaster.
Goal is necessary to produce and
transport the milk that is used by the
children in the great cities. Coal is
necessary to produce the bread eaten
by the people. Coal is necessary to
make the clothes we wear on our backs.
"The President has striven earnestly
to bring both strikes to an end. In so
doing he has acted as the spokesman of
the public. His good offices may yet be
successful. Up to this time, however,
one party or the other has refused to
accept. The responsibility for impend-
ing conditions must be faced by those
who refuse a reasonable compromise.
They must bear the onus of the suf-
fering of women and children. In the
actual matter of disagreement in the
railroads and coal mines only a minor
ity Of the country is engaged.
To Protect People
Should negotiations fail to bring re-
suits we will have to move at once to
protect the people. Furthermore, such
dangers as we are confronting must
not occur again. All those engaged in
these industries, employers and en-
ployees, will have to work out some
method of mutual adjust stment to pre-
vent these troubles.
"These matters are of such grave
concern toNthe country that if they do
not the government will be forced to
find some method of it's own for pre-
venting their occurrence. The inter
ests of the people must be guarded.
The men and women who buy coal by
the scuttleful must be protected.
"In the long run, however, the pre-
vention of these troubles lies, as l
said in recent speech, in recognizing
the partnership relation between labor
and capital. They should not be or
ganized against one another in hostile
camps, but as on some partnership
basis, so that the success of the bust
ness reflects directly to the benefit of
both "