Evening star., 1948-03-27
Coal
Continued From First Page

Such court action is separate from
the efforts which may be made to
force Mr.. Lewis to testify. Presi-
dent Truman already has indicated
an injunction will be sought if nee
essary.
When Mr.. Lewis and other union
representatives failed to appear for
the first session of the board yes
terday the fact-finders went right
along hearing the operators side of
the case. That required less than
two hours, although the operators
expect to submit additional data
Monday.
Later the board received a tele-
gram from Mr.. Lewis saying that
representative of the UNIV can
not now respond to an invitation
to appear before the Board of In
quiry because definitive study is
being given to the legal questions
involved.
He added: Some time Monday
this Office hopes to be able to be
further advised on the important le-
gal questions at issue" Mr.. Lewis
said he did not get the invitation
until 10 minutes before the hearing
started. However. board officials
said he was aware the session was
to be held.
Planned Work Over Week Ago.
After hearing the operators, Judge
Minton recessed the hearings until
Monday. He wired Mr.. Lewis of the
time of the next session and asked
the union president to advise us
by 10 am. Monday whether or not
you will voluntarily appear to tes-
tify.'
Failure OF Mr.. Lewis to appear
delayed the hearings 72 hours. The
board planned to be in session over
the Easter week end In order to
complete its work quickly.
Judge Minton said his group will
meet in closed session today to 60
over the testimony submitted by the
operators and start writing a report
to Mr.. Truman. The board does not
have the authority to recommend a
settlement of the dispute, it merely
may report the facts.
Mr.. Lewis Is a bitter foe Of the
Taft-Hartley Act. Last December
he took the UNIV out of the AFL
because the federation refused a
boycott of the labor law. There has
been speculation whether Mr.. Lewis
would recognize any sectisn of the
law, including the one now in use
for ending the coal strike.
Strike Started March Is.
The coal strike started March Is
after Mr.. Lewis and the operators
trustee, Ezra Van Horn of Cleveland.
were unable to agree on the use of
the UNIV welfare and retirement
fund, which now totals over $780,
100000 The fund is raised by g.
10-cents-per-ton levy on all coal
produced. Mr.. Lewis insisted they
set up the pension and then take
care of other uses Of the fund pro-
vided in the contract. He wrote the
miners that the operators had dis
honored" the contract.
Judge Minton said his board
wanted testimony from Thomas E.
Murray of New York. who was the
third and neutral trustee Of the
fund until his resignation IN Janu-
ary, Mr.. Murray quit because he
did not agree with either Mr.. Lewis
or Mr.. Van Horn and they refused
to accept his plan for using the
welfare fund.
Meanwhile the strike. nearing the
end Of its second week, was paralyz-
ing industry. Secretary OF the In
terror Krug appealed to the few coal
mines still operating to dole their
production only to essential consum-
ers. He asked every one to help
save coal.
Mr.. Krug estimated that three
more days of the strike will force
closing or curtailed operations upon
1S per cent of the electric power
utilities, Is per cent Of the steel and
rolling mills. 27 per cent of the
major railroads and "a per cent of
the retail coal yards.
Nations Stocks Dwindle.
Coal-burning freight and passenger
service already has been cut Is per
cent by Government order.
One leading coal operator, Charles
O'Neil, said the Nations coal stocks
are down to a l5-day supply.
Mr.. Van Horn told the inquiry
Board there are only three issues in
the dispute:
| Cd How many miners are to be
eligible for pensions.
Cd How much of the welfare fund
money is to be devoted to pensions
and how much to life, accident and
health benefits also supposed to be
paid from the fund, and
90 Putting all this down in writ
ing, once it is agreed upon.
The whole dispute, Mr.. Van Horn
| said, was based on o failure Of him