The Connecticut labor news., 1922-04-14
NATIONALIZE THE COAL MINES
 AND SECURE INDUSTRIAL PEACE
 IS DEMANDED BY PRESIDENT LEWIS
Workers Leader Wants Regulations That Will Remove Waste and Inefficiency in the Flu ture.

While several hundred thousand coal miners i'll all sections of the country are still idle, due to the fail ure of the operators to agree' upon a wage scale or working conditions, at tention is being directed to the waste ful and inefficient manner in which the industry has been conducted.
 The House committee on labor call ed before 1t President JOhn l.. Lewis and heard from his lips the grievances of which the workers complain. lie declared that the industry Is so badly mismanaged that the government, to protect the public, should intervene and set up regulations that will cor rect many burdenSOme conditions Ot long standing.
 At the same time Senator William E. Borah of the Senate committee on labor and education, which is also making an inquiry into the coal ln- dustry, issued statement in which he said that unless the operators were open to reason it might become necessary for the government to na- tionalize the mines and compel their operation i'll the public interest
 Operators Are Puzzled.
 The operators seem to be puzzled by these developments. The favor able public opinion on which they had counted is lacking. The press almost unanimously denounces the violation of pledges that is responsible for the lockout of miners.
 In a final statement preceding the strike Secretary of Labor Davis de- clared that the mine owners ware en- tirely responsible for the cessation of production.
 Attorney General Daugherty has given no indication of what was in his mind when he stated, few weeks ago, that he would be prepared to take action one minute after I2 of April I, the date set for the strike: His public utterances have contained some rather indefinite references to the public interest, which he feels that he will be called upon to safe guard if they should be jeopardized.
 MT. Lewis, before the House com mittee, said the workers had no al formative but to quit work when their agreement with the operators ex- pired. The latter's "brazen and un- compromising attitude" left no doubt but that they were anxious to pro- yoke a conflict. He predicted that ii not restrained the operators would indulge in an orgy of prohteering that would shock the nation.
 Lewis told the committee that the miners favored rigid federal regula- tions for the mining industry but op- posed government ownership. Gov crnment regulation, he believed, would prevent further development and bring about steadiness of opera ton would insure greater earnings to the miner, legitimate profits to the operator, and cheaper fuel to the con sumner.
 Fixing wages and working condi- tions for the miners and prices for the public were not contemplated in the miners proposal, said MT. Lewis,
 Mine Leaders Hopeful.
 Leaders of the mine workers are entirely satisfied with the situation today and are hopeful that public opinion will soon force the operators into conference.
 There have been numerous at tempts on the part of small groups of mine owners to secure separate agreements, which the miners have uniformly rejected, President Lewis declares that sectional contracts do not make for permanent peace and stability.
 Surplus stocks of fuel are adequate for present consumption. The gov ernment Geological Survey states that a stringency will not be felt un- der six weeks, and perhaps not earlier than two months. The walkout of non-union miners was not expected by the operators and has upset the government statistical experts to re- wise their estimate of the possible duration of the strike without sui fering.