The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-05-05
COAL CONTROVERSY

More than a month ago., repre-
sentatives of the United Mine Work
ers of American-largest and rich
est union in the nation-and of BIZ
luminous coal operators in the eight
state Appalachian area sat down in
New York City's Biltmore Hotel to-
work out a new contract to replace
the two-year contract which was to
expire April 1. When that date came,
no agreement had been reached and
100000 U. M. w. A. members stop
ped work, closing virtually every
major soft coal mine in the Appa .
lachian region. Last week, with the
negotiations, still deadlocked and
the miners still idle, eastern states
were facing a serious coal shortage
Causing the deadlock was no dis
agreement over wages. hours, or
working conditions. Both sides were
willing to continue them as they
were under the old contract. The
snag was a demand by the union
that a longstanding penalty clause
be abolished. -.
Under the penalty clause, miners
are assessed from 81 to So day
when they strike in violation of
contract, while the operators are fin
ed from So to 81 day for lock-
out under similar conditions. John
L. Lewis, president Of the U. NJ. w.
A., charged that the clause was 'ob-
noxious" and "onesided," because
there was no way of enforcing the
penalties against employers for
lockouts. But Charles O'Neill.
spokesman for the operators, in
sisted that the penalties be retained
in order to prevent strikes during
the life of the contract.
While negotiations stuck at this
point, coal supplies throughout the
east were dwindling rapidly. In
Washington, government officials re-
ported there was only enough coal
to operate the central heating plant,
which furnishes heat for most Of
the government buildings, for an
other 10 days. In Buffalo, N. Y, the
coal shortage was called acute, with
the situation facing the hospitals
Critical" To protect itself, Detroit,
which usually buys it's coal in the
east, began to get shipments from
Illinous, which was unaffected by
the strike. The Chesapeake & Ohio
railroad, with coal making up 80
per cent of it's tonnage, laid off be-
tween $500 and 5000 men of it's
normal personnel of 21,500.
The situation is apparently most
serious, however, in New York City.
Worried, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia
announced that the city was facing
an emergency" with the operation
of the subway, on which "the very
life of this city depends" hospitals,
city lighting and industries endang-
cred. Unless the dispute was settl-
ed, he warned the negotiators, the
city would either have to import
coal from Europe, or lease or pur-
chase mines which it could operate
itself.
But before taking any such step,
he sent a plea to the President that
he use his good Offices in bringing
the two parties together" Said a
White House secretary: IF it comes
to the point where the regular ma
chinery of the Department of Labor
and other boards break down, the
dispute might come here, but we
want to try those out first"
Chewing gum, pencils, rubber
bands, toothpicks, pipestems and
other things are restful and useful
forms of exercise for Office workers,
Professor H. L. Hollingsworth of
Barnard College in New York re-
ported last week. Experiments made
over four-year period showed that
chewing relaxes tension and allows
individuals to apply more energy to
the tasks at hand.