Evening star., 1941-04-27
Defense Comes Lost

At the end of the fourth week of
the bituminous coal strike, with the
effects of the coal shortage becoming
increasingly serious throughout
American industry, there is mounting
evidence to support the conclusion
that the parties to this dispute are
putting their selfish interests first
and the defense of the country last.
On Monday the President, declar-
ing that the public interest demanded
the prompt reopening of the soft coal
mines, submitted two proposals to
the miners and operators. First, he
said, the Northern mines, whose
operators tentatively have come to
an agreement with the miners, should
be reopened at once. And, second, he
urged that the Southern operators
and the miners resume their broken
off wage negotiations and start the
mines working, with the understand
ing that any agreement reached
should be made retroactive to the
date of the resumption of work. AS a
result of this appeal, negotiations
were resumed, but all of the mines
are still closed and the pinch of the
shortage is becoming more severe
each day.
The Northern operators and the
miners have said that they are
willing to resume work, provided the
Southern operators also resume min
ing operations under the terms of
the Presidents proposal. The South
ern operators, who have been insist
ing upon maintenance of a wage
differential allegedly based on higher
freight rates they must pay, have
taken the position that they cannot
reopen their mines under the retro
active provision because of the con-
tineent liabilities" they would incur.
Meanwhile, due to the coal short
age, the Nations steel operations
have been reduced from virtually
100 per cent basis to IS per cent Of
capacity. And if the strike goes into
the week beginning May 5, according
to steel officials, operations will have
to be cut to so per cent of capacity.
Appraised against this background,
the positions taken by the three
parties to the coal strike reflect an
appalling disregard of the national
welfare. With the defense Of the
Nation at stake, there is no reason
whatsoever why the miners and the
Northern operators should not
resume work in the latter'S mines,
regardless of what the Southern
producers do. If the position taken
by the Northern group is valid, then
there is no reason why every steel
mill in the country should not have
shut down while the strike at Beth
lehem was under way. AS matters
stand, it seems rather obvious that
the Northern operators. with the
support of the miners, who have an
axe Of their own to grind, are merely
trying to gain a new competitive
advantage by using the national
emergency to force the Southern
operators to give up their wage diff
ferential. The Southern operators
are in no better position, however,
for it appears that they, too, are
trying to make capital out of the
Nations desperate need for coal.
Certainly, the reference to their fear
Of incurring contingent liabilities"
what ever that term man mean. does
not justify the refusal to reopen
their mines.
Under the circumstances, continu-
ance Of this strike would be intoler-
able. As the President has said, the
public interest in this matter is
paramount, and it is time that selfish
interests on all sides were subordi-
mated to it.