Evening star., 1947-12-11
Lewis Calmly Ignores
His Role in Shortage
W0iI for Homeowners
Coal Strikes Declared
Cause Thot Prompted
Conversion Of Systems
By Davfd Laurence

By David Laurence
Memories appear to be short
where John L. Lewis is concerned.
He banks on the idea that people
forget what happened yesterday
Maybe they do.
Mr.. Lewis tells q congressional
committee that the coming shortage
In heating oil-which, by the way,
u not to be widespread but only
applies to certain sections Of the
country-is all the fault of the citi-
zens who turned from coal to oil q
year or 30 ago.
It doesn't seem to have occurred
to Mr.. Lewis that anybody would
remember why people turned from
the much more economical coal to
oil In small homes and paid for the
installation Of different equipment.
Many people who converted to oil
did so out Of fear of shortages in
coal.
Strikes Have Been Costly.
The severe strikes which Mr..
Lewis led have cost America a great
deal. Many Of the bottlenecks in
industry and shortages are directly
and indirectly due to strikes and
work stoppages. Failure to mine
coal caused q shutdown Of steel
furnaces. These are not readily
started up again in the large steel
mills. Delays are costly.
1t is estimated that 100000
tons Of steel have been lost to
America since VI day due to
strikes in the coal mines and steel
mills. This is enough steel to meet
all present shortages. 1t is enough
steel to satisfy Europe's needs and
still give America her requirements
1t is more than enough to meet for
nearly two years the demands OF
those who have been asking 10000
600 more tons of annual steel-pro-
duction capacity.
The blow that was struck at the
American economy by the coal and
steel strikes was perhaps the most
severe handicap the postwar period
has encountered. Shortage Of steel
Is one Of the reasons why the oil
industry, for instance, is unable to
enlarge It's production and trans
portation facilities. Shortage of
steel has held up the making OF
transportation vehicles of all kinds,
including automobiles.
Calmly Blames Public.
Yet Mr.. Lewis blandly tells a
congressional committee the citi-
zens are at fault now for having
been scared away from coal and
forced into the use Of another fuel!
He says many of them installed
gas and oil burners and now are
sorry.
There Is no doubt that the num-
ber of users of heating oil has in
creased enormously. The consump-
ton OF heating oil in the homes is
up about 81 per cent over 1899. Mr.
Lewis seems to think the manufac-
turers Of oil burners did a disservice
to the home owners by persuading
them to buy equipment. Everybody
evidently was at fault but Mr..
Lewis.
The truth is, of course, that one
answer to the oil shortage today is
for persons who can convert easily
to coal to do So In many localities
and homes Of a certain size, it Is
substantially less expensive than
oil.
But what assurance can these
people have that the price of coal
will remain below that Of oil? II
Mr.. Lewis starts another coal
strike next year and promotes
scarcity as he has done so often,
will the home owners be justified
in turning in their oil-burning
equipment and relying once more
on coal?
This is the question which many
. citizen wants answered. There
are numerous contractors, moreover,
who are building or planning to
build for veterans small homes with
oil burners. Shall they now change
these plans and provide for coal
burning equipment, and can they
be sure there will be no shortage of
coal next year?
Indifferent to Industry.
The competition between oil and
coal is natural. But Mr.. Lewis
has seemed Indifferent to the future
Of his own industry by allowing
policies to be pursued in which the
public has lost confidence. The
coal companies are making vast
Improvements in methods OF mining
coal. Production Is at greater
heights than ever before. There
ought to be an era Of peace.
Miners, incidentally, are being
compensated at higher rates of
wages than workers in almost any
other industry. Not all miners care
to work full weeks. Some Of them
do, however, and it is reported that
some classes Of miners receive wages
which would amount to between
$4,000 and $4,000 a year If they
worked full time. These may be
exceptional cases but certainly the
number of miners now in the 5000
and-over bracket Is considerable.
There ought to be some considera-
tion given to these brackets when
the next tax bill comes up-it might
take the place of wage increase
and keep the home fires burning.
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