Evening star., 1948-04-11

Hartley Act, which states that only
the present employees of contrib
utors to q fund may receive benefits.
After hearing the news from Mr..
Martins Office, q negotiator for the
operators commented: 1T looks
like Republican politics" Another
said: II don't know what it is or
how is happened, but it has = hell
Of q strong smell"
The men who represent the
owners Of most Of the Nations coal
properties pointed out that they
had little to do with the. negotia-
tions Of the present industry con-
tract. which provides for the 10
cents per ton royalty" on all coal
to make up the welfare and retire.
ment fund.
That contract was negotiated with
Mr.. Lewis by Benjamin r. Fairless,
president Of the United States Steel
Corp. and George NJ. Humphrey,
chairman Of the Pittsburgh Con-
solidation Coal Co., worlds largest
commercial producer Of soft coal.
Regardless Of the basis for q set
tlement Of the present pension dis
pute, all sides agreed that the long
strike had strengthened Mr.. Lewis
hand for negotiating . new con-
| tract.
The present industry agreement
expires June 80, and states that the
contract may be reopened before
that time on 30 days notice (the
Taft Hartley Act requires so days
notice)
Coal stocks OF steel mills, rail-
roads and other industries have
been drained away during the
strike.
Supplies cannot be built up by
the time new contract negotiations
take place. The pressure will be
on all of industry to settle with
Mr.. Lewis as quickly as possible.
Operators believe If he does not
get all he wants in the way of
pensions now, he will get them
later, plus probable sizeable wage
increase for his men.
Justice Goldsborough tomorrow
will give Mr.. Lewis and the UNIV
opportunity to "show cause" why
they should not again be held in
contempt of court for ignoring the
back-to-work order. II they fail to
purge" themselves of the charges
show compliance or acceptable rea-
sons for failure to comply-they
will be held for trial Wednesday.
Two other issues are also before
the court tomorrow. These are a
motion Of MIR. Lewis to dismiss the
back-to-work order as imposing "in-
voluntary servitude" on the miners,
and a Government request to stretch
the strike-restraining order into a
full 8o-day Taft-Hartley Act in
junction.
According to the operators, this is
what happened at the Martin con-
ference. The Speaker told Mr.. Van
Horn and Mr.. Lewis that as the
man in Government next in rank to
the President it was his duty to see
that the possibly disastrous coal
strike was ended. He then asked
Mr.. Van Horn If he had made any
suggestions as to appointment OF q
third trustee. The operator said he
had. Mr.. Lewis replied negatively
to the same question, but said he was
considering making suggestions.
Martin Suggests Names.
Then, Mr.. Martin told the two
disputants that he had some names
to suggest. He did not get beyond
Senator Bridges name, the opera
tors said. Mr.. Lewis accepted the
idea after some little argument,
and then Mr.. Van Horn agreed.
Senator Bridges is known as a
friend of Mr.. Lewis. The operators
said that his was on list of names
prepared by Mr.. Lewis but never
officially presented as suggestions
for the trustee post Yy4
Operators and representatives of
the UMW-without Mr.. Lewis--met
briefly after the announcement from