Evening star., 1950-01-18

at Arlington Cemetery. High O
on hand to pay tribute to the
Coal
Continued From First Page.)
of Western Pennsylvania, where
$4,000 miners are off the job.
There are sizable work stoppages
also in West Virginia, Ohio, Ken
lucky and Alabama. Coal indus
try sources believe the strikes are
part of Mr.. Lewis pressure drive
on the operators to sign a new
contract.
Trying to Get Men Back.
One of Mr.. Lewis lieutenants,
John Busarello, president of the
UNIV district at Pittsburgh, said
he was using his staff in the ef-
fort to get the miners back to work
next Monday. Mr.. Lewis had
suggested" and end of the strikes,
but the men ignored him.
In Baltimore, spokesman for
the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
said the line has only about nine
days supply of coal for its trains.
He said the railroad is getting
some coal but not enough to keep
all our coal-f1red trains going"
He added the railroad is making
no plans for further curtailment
of it's service pending word from
the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion.
AS the NLRB general counsel
prepared to act. the Senate Labor
and Public Welfare Committee
was urged to clear a concurrent
resolution calling On President
Truman to invoke the national
emergency provisions of the Taft
Hartley Act in the coal dispute.
Six of the eight Republican
Senators sponsoring the resolu-
tion testified at committee hear
ing that the coal shortage has
become acute and Immediate DC
ton is necessary.
Senator Taft of Ohio expressed
doubt of the effectiveness of any
Fproceedingssunde erthe unfair labor
practices provisions Of the law
II can't see any very good basis
in that to require the miners to go
back to work." Senator Taft
observed.
The co-author of the contro-
versial law, Mr.. Taft said that
the three day work week is clear
ly a strike" within the meaning
of the Taft-Tartley law. 1T is
he added. "a slow down, or con-
certed interruption of operation"
Pittsburgh Hard Hit.
Senator Ferguson, Republican,
of Michigan said the resolution
would impress upon. the President
the need for a board to investi-
gate the dispute and, if an emer-
.gency is found to exist, to use in
junctive powers of the Taft Hart
ley law to send miners back to
work.
Other Republicans speaking for
the resolution were Senators
Brewster of Maine, Jenner of In
diana, Donnell of Missouri and
Martin of Pennsylvania. The
committee recessed without action.
The coal shortage was hitting
industrial Pittsburgh hard. The
IDuquesne Light Co. has warned
manufacturers that it may have to
start rationing electric power to
their plants Friday if the mine
strikes continue.
The steel industry was feeling
the fuel pinch, too. Republic
Steel Corp. said it will have to cut
back its blast furnace operations
Monday. Wheeling Steel an
nounced it will have to shutdown
in two weeks unless it gets mere
moal. Crucible Steel Co. already
has reduced operations rs per cent
at its big plant near Pittsburgh.
Crucible has furloughed 1000
workers. =
In the first death attributed di-
rectly to the coal dispute, a truck
carrying union-m mined coal struck
and killed UNIV picket at a
union road block near Flushing,
Ohio. The UNIV had blocked a
highway in the attempt to per-
suade the men at a nearby mine
to quit work. State troopers said
it was not clear whether the driver
OF the truck was deliberately try
ing to run the blockade when the
picket was struck.
In the meantime, President Tru-
man heard a report on conditions
in the Birmingham area today
from Representative Battle, Demo-
crat, of Alabama. Mr.. Battle told
the President the domestic supply
in his area is entirely out and the
situation with regard to industrial
coal will be alarming" in two
weeks and critical" in three.
Mr.. Battle said the President
expressed himself as much con-
cerned and said he would take ap-
propriate action when he thought
a national emergency had de-