Evening star., 1941-11-23
Coal Strike Settlement

The formula for settlement of the
captive coal strike which has been
worked out by the President and ac-
cepted by John L. Lewis has the
great virtue Of inSuring a reSump-
ton of mining operations which are
absolutely essential to the successful
prosecution of the national defense
program. And that, when all is said
and done, is the principal goal toward
which the President has been work
ing and the result which should be
the primary concern Of all who be-
lieve that this is time when the
national welfare should be put ahead
of all other considerations.
When the president proposed on
Wednesday that the issue Of the
union shop in the captive mines be
submitted to arbitration, Mr.. Lewis
personally refused, asserting that
Mr.. Roosevelt's own statements on
the controversy had been so "prelu-
dicial" to the miners as to make it
uncertain that an unbiased umpire
could be found. The umpire, he
added, could not come from labor'S
ranks and therefore would be man
whose position in life made him in
evitably susceptible to the
claims and Establishments of those
financial and industrial interests
WELDING great power and influence
In the financial, industrial. social
and political life Of the Nation
Now Mr. Lewis has retreated from
that demagogic position. He has
done so because the President, by
patient and SkiIlful handling of this
personalized controversy, had ma
neuvered him into position where
he had lost all public support for his
union shop demand, and where, had
he elected to press on to a final
showdown, he was faced with the
virtual certainty of having his wings
clipped by congressional action.
On the other hand, there may be
those who will construe the resort
to arbitration as surrender by the
President to pressure tactics. par
ticuiarly if the outcome should be
the granting of the Lewis demand.
But in this connection it should be
remembered that the steel operators
have consistently expressed their
willingness to submit the dispute to
arbitration. The labor leaders of
the country heretofore have been
unyielding in their opposition to
binding arbitration in particular
cases, and it may we'll be that the
steel operators are satisfied to have
this precedent established.
Be that as it may, however, and
regardless of the final ruling Of the
board of arbitration, it should be
clearly understood that this settle
ment is no final or satisfactory solu-
ton of the general problem of strikes
in defense industries. The damage
already done by the succession of
WalkoutS in the captive mines, and
contemplation of the infinitely
greater damage that would have re-
suited except for this eleventh hour
settlement, should remove all doubt
as to the need for some legislative
action designed to deal with the
problem as whole and not with
particular strike.
In the past. the subsidence of each
separate outbreak Of defense labor
trouble has been followed by dis
inclination on the part of congress
sional leaders and the administra-
ton to come to grips with the prob
lem. This must not happen again,
and corrective action should be
taken before some other serious
strike gets under way, not after it
has started. That this is true seems
all the more self evident in view of
the abandonment by the C. l. O. of
the National Defense Mediation
Board as a result of it's decision in
the Lewis controversy.