The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-01-14
Coal WaIkout May Hurt Armed Forces
Truman Senate Committee May investigate AntEra-
 cite Strike; East's Driving Ban May Be Based

S-A HASSS " AfeSOOA told a New England delegation that he believed the strikers should be called before the committee to ex- plain the difference between their refusal to return to work and sabot- age.
 The committee, headed by Sena- tor Harry s. Truman, D., Mo, meets today and will consider Brewster's suggestion.
 The War Labor Board ordered the strike ended and warned The strik- CTS before last nights vote that it would exercise its full power to fulfill its obligation to the coun- try" unless they returned to work. Its full powers presumably would include recommending to President Roosevelt that the government take over the mines to end the threat of further fuel shortages.
 There were also these other de- velopments on the eastern fuel situation:
 l. Solid Fuels Administrator Har- old l.. Ickes denounced the coal strike in radio address and said it greatly aggravated" the. heating problem of the eastern states, par ticularly in New England. In an interview with BrewSted, Ickes in- dicated that his4office is prepared to ship large quantities of soft coal into the east to meet the "hard coal deficit"
 2. The Truman committee, in a report on the barge program, charged that delay and confusion has cost the east coast much gaso- line and fuel oil. "Valuable time has been lost," the report said. eff the barge program had been carried out expeditiously, the shortages of both fuel oil and gasoline would have been much less severe"
 3. Charles F. Phillips, OPA di- rector of automotive supplies, said the east coast pleasure driving ban may be eased in the spring and no further motoring restrictions are likely in the rest of the nation. But Sen. David I. walsh, D., Mass, told 8 meeting of New York and New England congressman that before relief comes it may be necessary for military authorities to take over the distribution of fuel oil in the east.
 While there was yet no indica- tion that the coal strike had pro- duced any widespread suffering, it was pointed out that some army camps in the northeast use coal for fuel and that stocks were getting low. Home owners who converted their oil furnaces to coal and thousands of others who regu- larly used coal were also threat ened by the shortage. If the Truman committee de- cides to investigate the :trike, it might take simultaneous action with the war labor board. It was in dicated that the board would call union officials responsible for the walkout to testify on why the boards order ending the strike was not obeyed. This hearing, officials said, probably would come before any further action on the situation such as taking over the mines by the government.
 It was the shortage of fuel oil which made the coal strike most serious, officials said. Ickes re- ported that rail shipments of oil into the east had increased 15O times and pipeline shipments 400 per cent since the war started, but he added:
 ''The nations supplies of gasoline and fuel oils still hover close to the minimum safe working levels where they have stood for the past several weeks.
 "The indefatigable efforts of the government and the petroleum in- dustry to keep our oil supplies mov- ing from the oil fields through the refineries, and on to the war fronts and to civilian consumers, are keep ing pace with huge and expanding wartime requirements"
 East coast users of anthracite undoubtedly will have to substitute bituminous coal to keep warm.
 T am doing everything within my power to get anthracite back in full production. At the present time we can increase bi- luminous shipments into New Eng land sufficiently to meet the hard coal deficit caused by the strike. Dealers and consumers may not be able to get just the sizes or type of coal they want, but they will get coal that will keep them warm.'
 The Truman committee, in its barge program reports, said 15 agencies had a hand in the situ- ation and there was simply too much talk and not enough action" !"
 But unless further delay develops, the report said, the program will be completed by this summer and is expected to increase petroleum de- hveries from Texas to the east coast by 10000 barrels daily. The barge program was proposed as a means of moving fuel through inland wa terways to escape the submarine menace to coastal tankers.
 The Navy was criticized by the report for opposition to the barge programs on the grounds that Diesel engines for the barges were not available. A survey of tugboatS and tugboat power as well as steam engines, gas engines and small DieSelS should have been made first,