The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-04-29

climax that has been anticipated
here ever since Lewis denounced the
war labor board and It's Little
Steel" wage ceiling formula and de-
manded . $2-a-day increase tor his
miners,
Faced with Lewis defiance al its
requests and orders, and with rapid
" spreading wildcat strikes In four
soft coal states, the WLB late yes
tercay submitted the dispute Ia
President Roosevelt with what
amounted 10 q tacit appeal for In
terventlon 10 prevent Q complete
shutdown Of soft coal mines when
the one month extension Of the cur
rent wage pact between the miners
and operators expires ct midnight
tomorrow,
Shortly thereafter, Secretary of
Labor Frances Perkins appealed d.
rectly 10 Lewis and the UNkWS poll
Icy committee TO halt the wildcat
strikes and to cooperate with the
WLB.
lewis Aaamant
Lewis, stlll In New York, refused
10 show his hand,
II have no comment 10 make at
this time" he said late last night,
~ will see the press tomorrow
CThurSdayD morning"
He also said that there may be q
meeting Of the UNIV policy commit.
tee sometime today. He made his
statement at the end Of q session Of
the joint committee negotiating an
anthracite wage dispute, No agree
ment has been reached on an ex-
tension Of that contract which also
expires ct midnight tomorrow.
Meanwhile. Luther Harr, U. s
bltuminouS coal consumers counsel
said . general coal strike at this
time would be little short Of mutiny
because "bituminous coal Is the
backbone Of Americas war effort.
Roane Waring, national comman-
der Of the American Legion, said IN
Memphis, Tenn, that Lewis alleged
order for q coal walkout was "trea-
son."
There Is no other word for It.
1t Is treason and by the eternal God
It should be treated as treason" he
said.
"It Is a stab In the back Of the
American fighting the war.
THE time has come In this Amer
lea Of ours when such action should
be taken - no matter how drastic
to eliminate this Lewis, and
everything he stands for from public
life. Until that Is done we are
not keeping faith with the AIneri-
can fighting men ana we are moi
going to win this war;"
Get Workers Back
Mr.. Roosevelt's first concern will
be to get wildcat coal strikers back
to work and then to prevent q mass
walkout Of the $4,000 soft coal min.
ers which Lewis has said will &C.
cur after midnight tomorrow. Lewis
has stated repeatedly that without
q contract the miners win mot
tresspass" on mine property.
The President Is expected tc
charge the UNIV with violating the
WLB's directive that coal must be
produced continuously under the
existing contract until the present
dispute Is settled. II tat reminder
Is disregarded, the. otller may APP
peal to the rank-and-file Of miners
over Lewis head.
In event of q back-to-w0rk ep-
peal, time limit presumably would
be set after which - II production
Is not restored - Mr.. Roosevelt
would have little alternative to or
dering the army to send troops 70
the pits. Soldiers would safeguard
the rights of management and to
protect workers who wanted to re-
turn to work.
Other last resorts might be re-
classification Of miners for induce
ton into the army or nationalist
ton of the mines.
Latest reports showed that more
than 81 900 miners. dissatisfide over
delay in settlement Of their wage
demand failed to report TO WORK
yesterday. In Pennsylvania, 90
mines were closed and $500 work.