Evening star., 1949-10-22
ee|Sett|enlent
Co||apses;;Coa|
Outlook Bleak
ICC Orders $50 Cut
In Passenger Trains
Powered by Steam
By james Y. Newton

oy james !. NEWTON
Chances of an early settlement
of the three week old steel strike
dwindled today as plan which
the Government hoped would end
the deadlock over pensions and
social insurance fell through.
The plan collapsed as the out
look for ending the five-week- old
soft coal strike appeared even
more bleak and as a fuel shortage
brought an Interstate Commerce
Commission order for a cut in
coal-burning passenger service.
At White Sulphur Springs, w.
Va, Northern and Western coal
operators yesterday walked out
of negotiations with John L. Lewis
United Mine Workers, saying that
to remain would be to fool the
public"
Cutback Effective Tuesday.
Dwindling coal supplies forced
the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion to order the Is per cent re-
duction in passenger trains pow
cred by steam locomotives, effec-
tive Tuesday. The order applied
to lines with less than a 25-day
supply of coal, and the Association
of American Railroads estimated
that on October l one-third of
the Nations carriers had less than
a 30-day supply on hand.
IAN emergency exists requiring
immediate action in all sections
OF the country" the ICC said.
Reserve stocks of railroad loco
motive coal have reached a dan
gerously low level and are further
decreasing"
The New York Central Rail-
road earlier had announced a de-
cision to eliminate SO steam -oper-
ated passenger trains tonight, af-
fecting service in II States.
Details of the plan for ending
the steel strike we're closely
guarded secret. but it was under
stood to call for slight compro-
mise in the CIO United Steel
workers demand for company
financed pensions. one which
would have allowed the steel COM
panies the opportunity to back
away from their fiat rejection of
the union demand. The union. it
was said, baked at acceptance.
Ching Continues Talks.
President Truman was described
as still counting on a steel settle
ment to set the pace for ending
the coal walkout. Altogether about
l 100000 workers are affected by
the twin strikes.
Cyrus S. Ching, Federal media
tion chief. was continuing his
peace talks in New York with the
United States Steel Corp. The
conference began Wednesday.
The only sign of a break, and ii
was a minor one, came from Blue
field, w. Va, where Southern
operators, representing about a
fifth of soft coal tonnage. reported
progress toward meeting Mr.
Lewis demands for increased pay
ments into the UNIV welfare and
retirement fund. The Southerners
scheduled another meeting with
the miners for Tuesday.
The larger group of operators
at White Sulphur said there was
no use continuing negotiations
They had offered to renew their
old contract with some changes
in their favor. Mr.. Lewis had
offered a new contract which
would increase coal production
costs from 80 to 35 cents a
ton.
Pressure Effort Charged.
Thomas Kennedy. UNIV vice
president, said the operators had
walked out in an effort to rTes-
sure the Government into taking
over the dispute.
But there appeared to be no
inclination on the part of Mr..
Truman or his top advisers to be
pushed into action in the coal
strike.
Instead, the President was
represented as leaning entirely on
Mr.. Ching's efforts to bring United
States Steel into agreement with
Philip Murray, president of the
CIO and the striking steelworkers.
More than half of the steel
unions million members already
are on strike. Their walkout be-
gan October /.
With the C1O convention be-
4 -