Evening star., 1941-04-02
Lewis Bans Federal
Mediation in Row;
Four ki|Iedin Harlan
Kentucky Guns BIoze;
Ford Strikers
Seize Bridge
Earlier Strike Stories on Page Al.

By the Associated Press.
John L. Lewis, president of the
United Mine Workers of America
&C. l. o., served notice this aft
ernoon he would not permit a
wage dispute and a work STOP
page in the Nations defense
vital bituminous coal industry to
be placed before the Federal Me-
diation Board.
I'VE are not going to follow the
new formula that the Mediation
Board has discovered-of wiring
the strikers to go back. bust their
strikes, then have them come to
Washington to mediate" Mr.. Lewis
said.
The miner chieftain spoke to a
New York convention of anthracite
miners during a recess in negotia-
tionS between union and manage
ment in the soft coal industry. shut
down by a wage dispute deadlock
that has put 100000 out of work.
Four Killed in Harlan.
Almost as he spoke. gunfre
claimed four more lives in Harlan,
KY. coal mine area this afternoon.
One mine guard was shot to death
yesterday.
The shooting took place at the
Crummies Greek Coal Co. mine
near Harlan. At least five persons
were wounded in addition to the
four killed, and reports were that
100 or more shots were fired during
the gunplay
Two of the dead men were iden-
titled as Oscar Goodin and Virgil
Hampton, both of Lynch. Ky. The
other dead, unidentified. are a white
man and a Negro.
The shooting occurred as groups
of United Mine Workers of America
&C. 1. o. members roamed about
the county holding impromptu rail-
lies at closed mines.
Lewis Denies Responsibility.
Mr.. Lewis told the cheering dele
gates in New York that the coun-
try stands aghast at the possibility
of the coal supply being curtailed."
I'VE assert before the country that
we are not responsible for that sit
uation," Mr.. Lewis said.
The thousands of soft coal miners
in the eight-State Appalachian area
and certain outlying districts, he
went on, have been compelled to
remain from work today because
they have no Jobs This situation,
he said. existed because negotiators
failed to reach a new contract by
the time an old one expired Monday
midnight.
Southern Congressman Mr.. Lewis
described as ''labor's enemies had
proposed in Congress, he said, to
take away the workers right to strike
in defense industries.
He added, The time is not here
yet and methinks it will not come in
America when an act of Congress
can make indentured servants out of
As, 100000 American workers"
Then Mr. Lewis said that when
the anthracite contract expires April
| 30, approximately 100000 hard coal
| miners might similarly have to stop
| work.
AS the anthracite miners met to
draw up their contract demands, the
soft coal negotiators reported little
progress toward reaching an agree
ment.
Fights at Ford Plant.
This morning State police we're
ordered to stop disorders after nu-
merous fights between c. I. o. pick
cts and workers trying to enter the
huge Rouge Ford plant at Dearborn,
Mich, resulted in injuries to about
tWo-Score persons.
Leroy c. Smith, county highway
| commissioner. notified the War De-
partment, the United States mar
shall and the district attorney that
strikers had seized a bascule bridge
across the Rouge River in an effort
to tighten their blockade of the Ford
plant. He said navigation and We
hicular traffic across the bridge had
been halted. Ford vessels regularly
ply the Rouge River with supplies
and materials shipped from Great
Lakes ports and dock at the plant
itself.
The Ford company charged today,
(See STRIKES, Page 2-xJ