The Washington times., 1937-01-22
INTERVENTION
BY PRESIDENT
UNLIKELY
Motor Leader Warns
Long JobIess Period
Will Be Result
CONTINUED from Page y

lCOnLlnueQ dkE -
against economic royalists." He
said in his press conference:
"Of course, / think that in
the interests of peace there
come moments when statements.
conversations and headlines are
not in order"
Pressed further by barrage OF
questions, the President smilingly
shook his head and replied to
each questioner that he had al
ready answered.
Meanwhile, General Motors and
Lewis today squared off for
fight to the finish.
Peace conferences here seeking
amicable settlement of the strike
Lewis is conducting against the big
motors combine exploded like a
skyrocket, in shower of thinnly
veiled vituperation that dragged
in every issue, economic and poll
tical under the sun.
Lewis Blasted
General Motors executives who
had been here 48 hours. engaged
in the peace conferences, bom-
barded Lewis with a final verbal
barrage, packed their grips and
set out for New York.
Secretary of Labor Frances
Perkins and Gov. Frank Murphy,
of Michigan, who sponsored the
peace meetings and brought the
warning groups IN the strike to-
gether were left high and dry.
Thus, today it appeared that
the auto company and Lewis,
through the striking United Auto
mobile Workers Union, we're
headed for a long, grim battle.
a battle calculated to keep thou
sands out of work indefinitely.
A single issue provided the
spark which set off the explosion.
After hours OF dickering, Lewis
announced that sitdown strikers
occupying the General Motors
plants in Flint would not evacu-
ate until actual peace negotla-
tions with General Motors were
ccrcluded. G. M. executives,
headed by President Alfred P.
Sloan, jr., then announced further
meetings were useless and left.
Today the General Motors po-
sition will be stated more fully
and formally in an announcement
to be given to the press stimuli
taneously in New York and Wash
ington.
Today, severa! of Lewis strike
lieutenants from Michigan we're
due here for conference. Homer
s. Martin. president of the U. A.
W, is already here.
Both sides predicted victory IN
the battle ahead. Lewis said work
ers were flocking by the thousand
to the union. John Thomas Smith
contended the workers we're getting
tired of idlenesS and Lewis forces
were diSintegrating.
Apparently, neither side has
specifically asked for presidential
intervention, but Lewis, at his press
conference, hinted that he believed
Mr.. Roosevelt should step in and
settle things. He said:
"This is no time for neutrality.
We have so advised the Govern
ment representatives"
Lewis explained that by this
last statement, he did not mean
that he had asked the President
personally to intervene, but that
he had expressed his views to Miss
Perkins.)
Sloan, in turn, said:
"The Secretary of Labor asked
us to come down to see if some
formula could be reached
through which negotiations to
settle the strike could be re-
opened. We made a couple of
suggestions for working out the
situation. We had it in mind
to urge all other groups Call
groups except the U. A. W. that
might want to talk with us, not
to ask for conferences until
after negotiations with the
U. A. w. were concluded.
RETROACTIVE AID
Moreover, We suggested that,
II the men would come back to
work, any benefits that the union
might win in subsequent con-
ferenceS would be retroactive to
the day the workers went back
to their jobs. We were most
earnestly working in every way
to develop a solution to this
problem.
AFTER Mr.. Lewis made his
statement earlier, we read a
transcript of it. With that be-
fore US, it seemed that it was
useless to discuss further at his
time the possibilities of reopen
ing negotiations"
Neither Governor Murphy. Miss
Perkins nor Lewis would comment
on the collapse Of negotiations.
Business Drops Sharply,