The Washington times., 1923-08-22
GOAL PARLEY
BREAKSON
FACTS
Writer Holds That Disagree
ment Occurred Over Data
Which Is Ascertainable.
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Mr.. Lewis demands. Mr.. Warmer
says that as a fact 1t cannot.
Mr.. Lewis, in the Ambassador
Hotel deposits his mighty bulk
feet firmly far apart and shakes his
shock Of thick and tangled blond
hair and says that the profits now
absorbed by the operators can
readily provide an ample fund for
meeting the wages now demanded
by the miners.
Mr.. Warriner,. IN the TrayInore
Hotel, lies back in his chair with
his knees quietly crossed and his
fingers quietly rubbing his Phi Beta
Kappa scholarship key and says
simply that what Mr.. Lewis says
Is simply not so.
Differ On Effect Of Raise.
Mr.. Warmer maintains, that az
a fact. the Lcwis wage scale would
necessitate an increase in anthracite
coal prices. Mr.. Lewis maintains,
that as q fact, It would not.
It was suggested here today that
Mr.. Warmer and Mr.. Lewis, as, q
first step toward an agreement On
future policies in the industy,
should try to arrive at an agreed
statement Of the present facts in
the industry. This suggestion made
no headway. The disagreement on
facts, it was saia, existed, and all
efforts to remove It had failed.
Thus at the end of large expendi-
lures by the Federal Government IN
Ana 4f~nl
the chief leader Of capital In the
anthracite coal industry and the
chief leader of labor In that industry
have not yet been brought to find
ing of the commonest facts needed
for their negotiations.
Difference Called Inevitable.
Differing thus from the start, they
could hardly help differing at the
finish.
The question thereupon raised here
is whether or not the United States
Coal Commission, having presumably
by this time ascertained all the exist
ing facts of the anthracite coal IN
dustry, will intervene now with a
torch of knowledge in it's hands ol
will wait until a strike has happened
and will then simply, as it has
promised, make a report on who was
to blame.
Such report, 1t now is perceived
here, would have to be about as long
as the reports by scholars on who
was to blame for the late world war,
and the longer 1t got the more it
would similarly blame nobody and
everybody.
Not Blamed For Sincerity.
If Lewis is right in his facts, or II
he thinks he is right in his facts, he
is hardly to be blamed for his de-
mands. Similarly. IL Warmer ia
right in his facts, or il he thinks he
is right, he is hardly to be blamed
for his resistance.
Moreover, on the subject OF the
"check-off," it is perfectly apparent
here that equally reasonable and
honorable men, coming from differ.
ent environments, take different
views Of it. One of the two sides Is
presumably right in economic fact
and the other side is presumably
wrong, but on prolonged inquiry this
writer ventures to assert that the re-
porter does not live, and the Gov
ernment investigator does not live,
who can prove that either side is
consciously wrong in moral purpose.
Illumination Needed.
A report on blame" therefore,
would seem to be better enterprise
for psychological novelist than for
a Government commission, and the
negotiators here assembled are not
observed to show any probable re-
spect for 1t. They, in fact, whether
justly or unjustly, have principally
the feeling that to date they
have received from the commission
a great deal more admonishment
than illumination.
Illumination, as this writer
gathers, would mean for these nego-
tiators clear and concise and CON-
pelling statement of the proved facts
concerning each Of the situations
which have produced the miners
eleven demands. Whether welcome
or not, statement of that sort
would be acknowledged to be illumi-
nation.
The commission, therefore, now
faces, from the standpoint of the
present state Of affairs in Atlantic
CITY, choice between being found
illuminating now or being found per-
haps simply impertinent and irrele.
want and useless later.
Opportunity for Service.
The sum of It all is that Atlantic
City has fallen out on the facts, and
the commission is supposed to have
the facts, and If it really and com
pletely has them, it can put Mr..
Lewis and Mr.. Warmer into a room
and make them jointly agree on the
facts and thereupon resume their
weary march toward possible agree
ment on. policies.
On the other hand, the temper Of
the miners in the anthracite regions
and the temper Of the miners repre-
sentatlves in Atlantic City is abso-
lutte proof that no report on "blams"
and no other performance or power
on earth will stop them from strik-
ing II the negotiations are not re-
sumed. 1t would, accordingly, seem
that this hour may be the commits
sioners' hour Of fate.
Copyright. 1923. Washington Press
Service)