Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1922-03-31
STRIKE |SFOURTH
B|GCONFL|CTFOR
LEWIS AS LEADER

(By Associated Press AS the
leader in the impending nation
wide coal strike, John l.. Lewis,
president of the United Mine
Workers of America, will enter
his fourth big industrial conflict.
Unless present indications go
awry, he will lead labor's larg-
est strike army in the history of
the United States for the strike
set for April l threatens to call
out more than 100000 workers
scattered throughout the United
States.
Conflicts between employers
and workers, in which Mr.. Lewis
has stood out prominently, are
these:
The 1919 soft coal strike of
395,000 miners, which was brok-
en- by the government, after
which the miners got a "a cent
ton increase In the wages, their
largest single pay advance.
Second Campaign Lost
The first attempt, made in
1913-14, to unionize the steel in
dustry, Mr.. Lewis having charge
of the field workers of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor; the
movement failed, according to
union men because Of widespread
unemployment.
The great copper strike in up
per Michigan during 1913, in
which Mr.. Lewis, as general field
agent of the American Federation
Of Labor, assisted in the general
conduct Of the strike.
Strike troubles, however, have
been only small part of Mr..
Lewis work within the organic
ed labor movement. In 1910 at
the age Of thirty he was elected
a representative Of the Illinois
union miners, and in October,
1911, he became general field
agent of the American Federation
of Labor, resigning in February,
1917 to become statistician of
the United Mine Workers of Am
erica On October 25, 1917, he
was elected vice president of the
United Mine Workers, and Feb.
6, 1920, become president, having
for a short time previously been
the unions acting president.
Given Large Powers
Since 1916, Mr.. Lewis has par
ticipated in all interstate confer
ences between miners and Oper-
ators in the adjustment Of ques-
tions affecting the mining indus
try, and since 1917 he has had
full charge of the administrative
and field forces of the union in
extending the organization into
many non-union fields. In 1910
IL, he was a member of the com
mission, composed of miners, op-
orators and public men, which
was created by the Illinois general
assembly to revise mining laws,
and in 1916 he declined an ap-
pointment from Governor Lowden
as director of the Illinois depart
ment of labor. During the world
war he was a member of the ma
tional committee on coal produc-
tion, and later cooperated with
the national fuel administration
on problems affecting coal pro-
ductions and distribution. In the
first year of President Harding's
administration, Mr.. Lewis served
on the commission that correlated
the work of various government
bureaus dealing with the welfare {
of ex-service men, and also on the
comission that laid the founda- Z
tion for the recent unemployment j
conference. Il
Son of Miner
In brief, Mr.. Lewis life story
is one OF a miners son, born in an
Iowa hamlet, who has become the
leader of one of the most power
full labor organizations in the
world. He was born Feb. 12, 1880,
at Lucas, Iowa, and after attend .
ing the public schools entered the !
mines to work with his father. II
Later, he supplemented his pub
lie school education with courses
Of reading and study in specialize
ed subjects, particularly econom- q
les. In his twenties, he travelled >
through west and u
states, engaging in coal O
and metalliferous mining. He is D
and has two children, c.
ION, age nine, and daughter, i
age two.