Evening star., 1937-07-04
PRESIDENTS HAVEVARIED
In STRIKE EMERGENCIES
Some Have Been Pro-Union, Some Anti.
Union, While Others Appeared
to Be Both.

panies most seriously involved was the
Colorado Fuel e. Iron, a Rockefeller
enterprise.
In November the President proposed
impartial arbitration. The operators
rejected the offer, and a congressional
investigation was held The findings,
made public in the following April,
largely upheld the miners contentious
that the companies were suppressing
the rights of free speech, free press,
free assembly, freedom to join union.
Meantime the miners had been
evlcted from the company houses-an-
other employer move less likely to
happen today-and many families had
to live in tents through the Winter.
At tent colony near the town of Lud-
low a colmun of approaching Militia
was fired upon and the militia set fire
TO the colony Some women and chill
dren perished.
The Governor of Colorado asked the
PRESIDENT to send Federal troons.
Wilson first requested John D Rookie
teller, sr., to end the struggle. John
D., ST., replied that tne situation was
In the hands Of John D, jr. There
upon the President asked John D. ir..
either to consent to arbitra ton or TO
shut down the mines pending a set
tlement.
John D., jr,. refused The Federal
| troops were dispatched the next day
Ihey did not force the mines TO shut
down, but they prevented the impor-
tation Of strike -breakers-action which
the operators bitterly condemned as
| partisan
Wilson made other attempts to force
the employers to arbitrate, to no avail.
Finally, the strike collapsed, but in
the meantime public opinion seemed
10 have swung sharply against the,
owners. 1t may we'll be doubted i
very many owners today would pursu,
course so inevitably calculated to
| defy public opinion
In 1916 Wilson persuaded Congress
70 pass law for basic eight-hour
day on the railroads, to avert an i'm
pending strike. The roads. never
| theless, were afraid that rates would
not be raised TO compensate for the
additional wage outlay, and they got
court injunctlons which nullIied the
eight-hour act.
The strike was threatened again on
March 19, 1917 By that time the
German Ambassador had been dis
missed, and war was obviously q mat
ter OF weeks. Wilson fatty informe /
the two sides that he would not per-
nit a strike under any circumstances.
and an agreement was signed at day
break on March l9. A few hours Ia ter
the Supreme Court, by 5-to-4 vote,
upheld the validity of the eight-hour
act.
Wilson and Contracts.
If Wilson was impatient with stub
born employers he was equally I'M
| patient with ontract-breaking unions.
During the war machlnlsts in
Bridgeport, Conn, shipyard threat
ened to strike, despite the wartime
| machinery set up to arbitrate all labor
differences. Wilson warned them
that unless they abided by arbltrat ton
he would end their exemption from
the draft and prevent them from being
employed in any war industry. That
was enough for the striking ma
chinists.
In 1919 the United Mine Workers
rejected Wilson's plea to call off a
bituminous strike. Hostilities in the
war were over. but war time economic
conditions persisted So did war
time legislation, and the Wilson adj
mnistration used it to get an in
junction against the strike.
This injunction was not so sweeping
as that which ATTORNEY General
Daugherty was to get against striking
railway shopmen in 1922-the last
time that an administration actively
intervened to break a strike. Never
theless, the 1919 injunction was sweep
ing enough and the unions charged
that the Government was unfair In
using wartime authority after the
war was over. For all practical pur-
poses the strike remained in effect.
even though it was formally called
of-you can lead men to jail, but
you can't make them work.
In 1920 some railroad sWitChmen
went out on an outlaw strike. They
we're restless at the delay in arbi-
tratlng wage demands which the
unions had presented. The Wilson
administration had the leaders ar
rested for interfering with the mails
and with interstate commerce.
President Wilson was seriously i'll
at the time and may not have ap-
proved of this action by his Attorney
General. Nevertheless, he left Office
with little of the labor support which
had been his, Labor was sure he
must be pro-employer because he had
not been uniformly pro-unlon, and
capital remained convinced that he
must be pro-union because at one
time he had not been pro-employer.
Verify, nobody loves neutral.
tCopyright. 1872