Evening star., 1948-04-19
Coal
Continued From First Page.)

provided for in the present industry
contract.
He noted that Mr.. Lewis had
written the coal operators February
8 telling them that a dispute OF
national scope had developed over
the issue of miners pension and that
he reserved the right to take any
independent action necessary" to
resolve the dispute,
Then the judge noted that Mr..
Lewis on March IL wrote the miners
that the operators had "dishonored"
their contract in the matter OF pen
sions. The strike began three days
later.
Justice Goldsporough ruled that
the two letters of MIR. Lewis con-
stituted a "code" to the miners to
strike.
IF a nod, a wink or code were
used in place of the word strike,
then it is just as much of a strike
call as though the word strike had
been used" the court said.
Justice Goldsborough pointed out
that the miners quit work after
Mr.. Lewis told them the contract
had been "dishonored" and that
most OF them had returned after
Mr.. Lewis telegraphed them last
Monday pensions granted. The
contract is now honored."
"The miners walk out when told
the agreement has been dishonored
and they go back when told the
agreement is honored. Can that be
.anythings else than "a code? The
court thinks there Is no difficulty
about deciding that the evidence
beyond a reasonable doubt, tn ssfact
beyond all doubt. is sufficient to
show that a strike was called ano
of course enough to show the de-
fendents guilty of criminal contempt
and guilty of civil contempt.
Sees Large Fine Useless.
The Justice then indicated that he
thought 1t would be useless to assess
large fine against the union On
the civil contempt. He said it would
be Just a transfer of funds from
the UNIV to the United States
Treasury and would not salvage
in any manner or extent the dam
age this strike has caused the
country"
Justice Goldsborough asked As
sistant Attorney General H
Graham Morrison to recommend a
penalty he thought should be i'm
posed in the case before sentence
Is pronounced tomorrow.
In December, 1946, Justice Colds
borough fined Mr.. Lewis $4,000 and
the UNIV $3,5Oo,000, but the Su-
preme Court later reduced the
unions penalty to 100000.
At that time Justice Goldsborough
indicated that he would like to Jail
Mr.. Lewis but that he was bowling
to the Governments fear that a
prison term would make martyr
of the union leader and cause wide
spread unrest among the miners.
Should Have Obeyed Orders.
The Judge said Mr.. Lewis and
the union should have obeyed the
MCGUIRE restraining order regard
less of the merits of their conten-
ton that strike" was not in prog
ress. He said the order merely was
issued to maintain the status quo"
until the court could hear the
merits of the Governments request
for an injunction.
However, Justice Goldsborough
continued, If he found Mr.. Lewis
was right saying the miners merely
walked out in protest of the pen
sion delay, then the penalty for
disobeying the Mcguire order would
be very small"
Referring to a Lewis letter OF
February to the coal operators
saying that he reserved the right to
take "any independent action" nec-
essary in the dispute, the judge
asked:
What independent action could
be taken by them except striker"
In reference to the March IL Lewis
letter to UNIV members, the judge
oointed out that the union presi-
dent wrote that his Office proposed
to go forward" in its effort to sex
to it that pensions were granted.
Go forward m what way?" the
Judge asked. "In any other way ex.
cept a strike?
Does that not constitute nod, {
wink or the use of code in ordel
to call a strike? Is there any othe'
reasonable interpretation?'
Justice Goldsborough said tina
use of a "code" was new methot