Evening star., 1948-04-10
Coal
Continued From First Page.)

conference In his Office at II am
In 13 minutes fiat, Mr., Martin said
they agreed on his suggestion that
Senator Bridges become the third
board member.
Hope for Agreement.
Mr.. Martin said: ave hope that
when the trustees meet tomorrow
they will be able to reach agree
ment and the men will be able to
be back to work In 48 hours after
the committee goes to work"
Mr.. Lewis said he joined the
Speaker In that statement. The
UNIT president said 1t is largely a
matter of getting started.
Mr.. Martin said that he has been
greatly concerned over the pro-
longed coal work stoppage.
"It was disrupting our economy
Mr.. Martin said, making it diff
cult to 60 through with our pro-
gram of preparedness and to &c
through with our commitments tc
foreign countries.
"It was disrupting our country
and the world. thought I should
try If possible to bring about peace.
Both Reported Agreeable.
He said he found both Mr.. Lewis
and Mr.. Van Horn very willing to
do what is right for the country
and the world"
BY moving in as peacemaker. Mr.
Martin thus took the ball away from
the administration.
The maneuver thus could have
political significance should the Re-
publican leader in Congress be able
to claim credit for settling a dispute
that has been giving the administra.
ton headaches.
Mr.. Martin has been mentioned
for the Republican presidential NOM
ination, largely In dark-horse terms
Before Mr.. Martins surprise move
there had appeared little prospect
Of action toward agreement by thu
miners and operators before show
down court battle Monday.
Administration officials had basee
their hope for ending the strike or
a court summons to Mr.. Lewis anc
the union to show cause" Monday
why they should not be held in con.
tempt and punished for failing X
comply with an order to end tht
strike.
There was no immediate indica.
ton of what effect today's develop
ments might have on the court
issue.
The strike brought the layof o
additional workers in industries de-
pendent on coal.
FPC Asks Report on Supply.
The Federal Power Commission
asked coal-using power companie'
to report their fuel stocks. Tht
agency also asked the companie!
what steps they are taking to con-
serve fuel
Coal-burning railroad freight ant
passenger service already has beer
cut Is per cent. Yesterday thu
Government ordered another Is pei
cent reduction. effective next Thurs
day.
The Pennsylvania Railroad an.
nounced that as a result of the new
reduction order it would close its
shops at Altoona. Pa, laying of
1000 men. The railroad already
has furloughed 10000 workers.
As a result of the service cut, the
Baltimore g. Ohio announced its
number Of idle workers would be
raised to $4,000.
The New York Central announced
cancellation of l16 trains in line
with the new order. NYC already
had suspended operation OF 1853
trains and laid of 1000 workers.
171,OOo Other Workers Idle.
The number Of idle, in addition
to the 100000 soft coal miners, was
raised to I72,500 as the strike cut
deeper into the Nations economy.
That figure includes $500 anthra-
cite miners, striking In sympathy
with the soft coal miners.
From Detroit came word that the
coal strike was cutting into automo-
bile production. Output OF cars
dropped 1000 this week.
The vital steel industry also faced
a serious situation, with production
scheduled next week at slightly more
than two-thirds Of normal, lowest
since December, 1916, when anothSr
coal strike was on. {