Evening star., 1943-04-18
Coal
Continued From First Page.)

fact and merit. The basis of that
conspiracy in this conference is the
captive steel interests dominated
here by the United States Steel Corp.
Mine workers have brought to the
attention of representatives OF the
Government in this conference that
the railroads Of the country are pre-
pairing in advance for the national
lockout of mine workers, which they
expect to accrue on May !. They
are holding on track storage thou
sands OF cars of bituminous coal
which they are sequestering in ad-
dition to the usage OF usual facilities
in the rolling stock for supplying
their current needs.
I'VE have given DR.. Steelman a
list of 17,2O5 carloads of coal held in
track storage by seven railroads.
These cars hold an average of IS
tons each. This Is In addition to the
ground storage of these railroads
and the coal for current require
ments on their part.
Asks Federal Probe.
These cars are taken out of cur
rent traffic uses and they indicate
the degree to which the industry is
preparing for the stoppage of coal
production in line with Mr.. ONeill's
statement that no agreement is pos
sible here. Many of these cars are
foreign to the railroad on which they
are held.
I'VE have requested the Govern
ment to investigate this startling
condition. assert it symbolizes the
conspiracy to prevent a settlement
here and decline to consider the
mine workers demand on the basis
Of merit. Ye're advised that the
accumulation of coal will continue
until the end of the month. We
point out that by that period avail
ability of equipment will be greatly
limited with economic repercussions
in many industries.
The Mine Workers assert that a
settlement of this problem can be
made in this conference providing
the United States Steel Corp. will
take its foot off the neck of the
mine workers. We have advised DR..
Steelman, as the Presidents repre-
sentative, that the Government, in
our judgment, should call on
Thomas w. Lamont of j. P. Morgan
& Co., which controls the financial
and industrial policies of United
States Steel, to desist from this mad
effort and to exercise constructively
instead of destructively the influ-
ence OF that powerful financial
group"
O'Neill Answers.
Replying to Mr.. Lewis, Mr.. ONeill
said:
The coal operators here repre-
sented. are not going to lock out
the miners on May l and don't have
any such thought. We do not pro-
pose to be maneuvered into the re-
SponSlblllty for such dreadful
thing to happen to our country at
this time. If Mr.. Lewis is playing
on the word lockout as a threat to
close the mines down May l, he
should assume the responsibility
himself. The operators committee
does not know of any such concerted
action on the part of anyone. I
think Mr.. Lewis charge against the
railroads is unfair and not in &C
cord with the facts.
The railroads are the largest
consumers of bituminous coal. using
about Is per cent of the total pro-
duction. Each railroad, according
to its size, must keep so many cars
of coal on wheels to service loco
motives and power plants. 1t so
happens that the New York Central
is one of the largest combines, and
9,155 carloads is exactly 1913 days
supply Of coal. (Mr. Lewis cited