The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-05-10
Small Urges Pit Seizure
 1000, 900 Workers
 IdIed by WoIkout
BY UNITED PRESS

idle or on part time schedules be- cause of the coal crisis today as President Truman considered direct intervention in the mine strike and a militant Congress set the stage to take up drastic anti-Strike legiSla- ton.
 The President had under ad-
 visement an official recOmmen@
 datiOn for Government opera
 tion of the strike-bOund mines
 but gave no indication whether he would issue seizure orders.
 He also was said to be consider
 ing asking for Q 3O-day mora
 tOrium on the strike to permit rebuilding vanishing coal re-
 serves.
 Civilian Production AdministratoA John D. Small said last night that he had recommended seizure of the mines to head off a national disas- ter. Small said he was confident that enough miners would work un- der Government operation to keep essential services functioning.
 On Capitol Hill, IegisIators
 were determined to take matters
 into their own hands. The Scn-
 ate voted to consider the Case
 Anti-Strike Bill after dispOsinG
 of the Britiahs lean, probably !
 today, and . House comnnittee
 prepared to report ont . bilk
 OEtlawing royalty paymentss
 such as Lewis is demanding fox
 . union welfare fund.
 New York City Joined other Me@ tropolitan centerS in a return to the wartime dimout, and utilities companies in q states, at Govern ment request, instituted other fuel conservation measures.
 New York's three subway systems. serving more than 5000, 900 passeug- CTS daily, were ordered to cut Opef-' ation- 10 per cent during rush hours and 35 per cent during the rest of the day, beginning next Wednesday,. Gov. Thomas E. Dewey named 8 fuel czar for the State.
 Effects of the strike were too
 far-reaching to figure accurate
 ly the number of jObIess work
 CTS. But reports from industrial { centers such as Chicago, Boston.
 New York, Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh indicated at least
 100000 persons were complete
 Iy idle or working only on .
 part-time basis. The total was
 expected to reach more than B.
 5O0,OOO in 10 days and 3,50O,O 900
 by the end of the month.
 The Illinois State Chamber Of Commerce said 8 of every 10 in- duStrial workers in s Illinois cities were idle and total of GA of every 100 persons were working on Q 14- hour week.
 Additional thousands were laid off yesterday as the railroads slashed schedules to comply with an Office of Defense Transportation order limiting passenger service and setting an embargo on non-essen- tial freight shipments.
 4 nationwide strike of 3O0,-
 900 trainmen and engineers,
 slated for May IS, threatened tO
 halt rail shipments altogether.
 President Truman warned tEaat
 he would not hesitate to seine [ the railroads, if necessary, but
 union leaders said they would stick to demands regardless oe
 who operates the roads"
 In. Chicago, railroad officials Said shipments had beeg. cut in half and would be reduced to approximately 20 per cent of no nal when new re- strictions take et1ect next Wednes- day.
 The Post Office Department iEIl- posed drastic weight and size limits on parcel post in line with the freight embargo order.
 The giant auto industry felt the full impact of the coal shortage ag General Motors and ChrySler pre- pared for complete shutdowns. Most of the Ford Motor Company's oper. ations ceased yesterday.
 The big three normally pro.
 duce three-fOurths of the im-
 dustry's output and employ .
 combined total of 385,O00 w0riE-
 CTS.