The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-09-26

President.
 On nearly everything else they disagreed among themselves al- most as much as they disagreed with the miners on their demand for a wage increase of approxi- mately fifty cents per day.
 One faction-chie1y Kentucky and West Virginia operators refused to consider any wage in- crease at all. To every proposal they replied with a grim "No".
 Another faction was willing to grant the miners demands with out reservation.
 A third faction--and the larg- est--aIso was willing to grant demands, but with one import ant reservatoin. It proposed shutting down the mines for { weeks, during which the 39,000,- 900 tons of coal now in reserve would be used up.
 And how will the miners live during that timer" dee mandcd John l.. Lewis, square, jawed head of the United Mine Workers. "T'hey can't live on abFs VIII yUu Vuy tuCIu uut"b the enforced lay.off?"
 The operators said they would not. So that ended that. Presidential Hot Spot
 Thus the conflict ragged be- tween the operators, until finally one of them conceived the idea of abandoning their civil war and turning the heat on the President.
 Some of them were sore at Roosevelt anyway--chiefly be- cause he had intervened in their dispute through his assistant sec-- retary of labor, Edward Me- Grady. This latter group se- cretly wanted a strike in order to get rid of their surplus coal supplies.
 9 So they proposed to their fel- low coal moguls that, inas- much as the President had "stuck his nose into our busi- ness," they dump the red-hot potato in his lap. They pro- posed calling on him publicly to arbitrate the controversy.
 Such a scheme puts Roose- welt on a very hot spot with the union.
 It is adamantly opposed to arr bitration. It contends there Is nothing to arbitrate, that the issue Is clear-cut and simple that either the miners get 10 per cent wage increase or they do not.
 Any arbitrator by the Presi- dent, therefore meant the alien ation of the United Mine Work CTS. One of the most powerful unions in the country, 1t has been most friendly to the Ad- ministration.
 The coal barons, of course. knew this. But as one or them gleefuIly put it:
 That's no skin off of our shins. Let Roosevelt worry about that"
 Such Is Fame
 Friends of Brain Trusters Tom Corcoran and Ben Cohen are telling this story on the two in- sepnrable companions.
 Calling at the Rural Resettle- ment Administration, Corcoran was told by q young lady assist ant that the official he wanted to see was busy.
 Hell be through in n few minutcs," she said. "WOn't you have n scat, Mir. Cohen?"
 "Thank you, but I am not Mr. COhen."
 "You arc not?" said the sec retary. "rhats funny. ] ale ways sec you and Mir. Cor coran together"
 NOTE-Brain Truster Cohen, an attorney for the PWA, Is tall, slender, Jewish and professorial. Brain Truster Corcoran, an. REC lawyer, is short, stocky, and has the face of the most genial Irish man ever to draw the breath of Boston.
 Wage Retreat
 The man chiefly responsible for the Presidents backdown on his former dictum that Works Relief labor accept "security" pay, was none other than oud old friend General Hugh John son.
 What the Senate failed to do during It's weeks of fighting for the prevailing wage; what the American Federatoin of Labor. plus striking Relief workers, plus Inner Circle liberals, all failed to accomplish, finally was put across by the storicst petrel of the Administration.
 Johnson always had opposed tho Presidents policy of secur- fly wages. His hectic months as Works Progress Adminis- trator of New York further convinced him. Therefore, when he called upon Roosc- welt at Hyde Park to submit his resignation, the General sounded off in usual JOhn- sonesque style.
 You can't continue this se- curity wage policy, Mir. Presl- dent" he rumbied. "ft can't work. It isn't working. You know what is happening? Skilled labor is quietly giving you the works. They're sabotaging all along the line.
 Around next spring when the money begins to run out and the campaign is approaching. you will begin to discover that great many of these WPA pro- 5ects somewhere have not been completed. Then, later, when you get into the campaign and tour tho country, your op- ponents will point out to you in every town you visit, unfinished jobs which they will label Roosevelt follies'.
 "You have got to back track on this wage issue, MT. President. And you have got to do 1t right away"
 Tho President did.
 Immediate Action