New Britain herald., 1927-04-02
LEWIS LOOKS FOR
 EARLY SETTLEMENT Some Operators However, Think
 Mine Strike Will Be LensthV ITS LOCKOUT, SAY MINERS
Declares Crisis Was Brought About By Inefficient Management on Part of the Soft Coal Mine Owners Operators Story Diners.


 Chicago, April R>-Various es- inmates Of the duration Of the coal mining shutdown in the central con- petitive field and adjacent territories were made today.
 Some operators were doubtful Of prompt settlement and predicted q suspension lasting at least three months President John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers, on the other hand, believed that the clos ing would not last long.
 Expects Early Conference
 MT. Lewis who addressed q min- CTS gathering at Taylorvillo, III. yesterday. said he expected q confer ence would be arranged for within q short time. and that the Jackson vile scale of wages again would be adopted.
 IL was the expiration Of the Jack sonville pact at midnight Thursday that opened the new mining Contro- versy, operators maintaining they could not pay the wage scale and survive non- union competition. with the miners just as insistent that they could not accept cut.
 :'s Years Struggle 'Jt took us 37 years to fight to a decent living wago." said President Lewis in explaining the miners view point "They are not going to rob us of it over night. For seven years We have had to battle against wage reduction. can assure the opcr- ators they never can win their point by closing their mines and holding us at arms length"
 l Characterizing the suspension as l q 'lockout-not strille," the min crs' president maintained that the l crisis was brought about by "iuef- ticient management by the OF, ra- i tors Every time they suffer finan- 1 cial reycrses through their own short sightedness they attempt 10 retrieve their losses by prosecuting the pocketbooks of the men who dig l their coal"
 Here's The Opponents View. An opposite view of the wage sit 1 uatlcn was taken by II. r. Baker, 1 president Of the Pittsburgh Terminal 1 Corporation. who announced that the company. employing 3,l00 men, 1 would operate it's seven mines on non-union basis. under proposed wage scale of s 50 a day for inside 1 labor and S4.50 for outside labor. as against a minimum of S7.50 provid- cd by the defunct Jacksonville agreement.
 "A wage scale that the company 1 can live under is just as necessary for success as q good wage for the { workers the Baker announcement said. :.
 15O,OOO Men Idle.
 No accurate view of the extent Of the suspension could he obtained yesterday. as it was q minc holiday in commomoration of the eight hour day. but 1t generally was agreed that despite a number of individual temporary agreements, the bulk of ! tIt o'.NNN IlllltlS III ll!t ttl!il tti bituminous fields were idle. In the southwestern field. com prising Missouri. Kansas. Oklahoma and Arkansaes. no material progress was made at 9 conference of miners and operators in reaching q new | wage agreement and the session was adjourned until next Thursday. No further peace moves were started in Iowa. which is outside the central field An attempt to launch q new miners organization at Cen terville. Iowa. was denounced by the Centerville miners local.
 One sidelight on the suspension came from St. Louis where coal deal CTS announced reduction avera ginc 50 cents a ton on domestic coal in retail lots. This reduction. they eN- plained. was the usual spring cut tc induce early purchase of supplies for next winter Similar cuts were made by Chicago dealers on all but do- mestiC Illinois coal.