Evening star., 1952-07-24


that progress toward a settlement
was being made.
Mr.. Truman applied pressure
in his White House office for an
No Bombing Con Notch Effect Of Steel
Strike. Lovett Soys. Poae Ais
end to the 53-day work stoppage
which is fast crippling the Ma
tlon's defense program.
He made the demand for steel
peace in a personal talk with CIO
President Philip Murray, who also
heads the striking United Steel
Workers, and Benjamin F. Fair
less. president of the United
States Steel Corp. The two of
flcials then retired to the nearby
cabinet room for a face-to-face
discussion of strike issues.
Joint Statement Read.
An hour and one-half later the
two emerged from the meeting
and Mr.. Fairless read to reporters
a joint statement. He said:
I'VE have had meetings with
the President and DR.. Steelman
John r. Steelman, acting de-
fense mobilizer). We have talked
with each other at length about
our mutual problems. We are
each going to discuss the situation
with our people and will return
here at 2:30 this afternoon"
Top officials of all the big Six"
steel companies and the union
were called here for the meeting.
The unannounced arrival of the
men who run the steel industry
gave further indication that i'm
portant developments might be In
the making.
1t was reported that new ways
OF settling the strike were dis
cussed at the White House. One
official close to the talks said that
while he disliked to once more
give hope that the end of the
strike may be near, a settlement
later today was highly possible.
"Lays Down Law"
In his rather brief talk with the
disputants, Mr.. Truman was said
to have Laid down the law" to
both Mr.. Murray and Mr.. Tairless.
Another source said the chief
stumbling block to a strike-ending
agreement was still the issue of
the union shop. However, two
other issues were raised at the
White House meeting. These
concerned the unions demand
for Sunday premium pay and the
retroactive date of the wage in
crease to be given the steel work.
ers.
Under a strict application Of
union shop, all employees of the
steel industry would be compelled
to join the union. Mr.. Murray,
however, has offered to accept a
greatly watered down version Of
the union shop which would
exempt many workers from the
necessity Of joining the union.
Virtual Ultimatum.
White House Press Secretary
Joseph Short said the President
delivered a virtual ultimatum to
the steel industry leaders to end
their differences and the steel
strike at once. There was no in
dication as to whether Mr.. Tru-
man made a new proposal for q
compromise of the dispute.
"Mr. Fairless and Mr.. Murray
were in with the President from
10 am. to 1910 a.n.," Mr.. Short
told reporters. "The President
told them he wanted them to set
tie and these two gentlemen have
retired to the cabinet room and
they now are comforting" Mr..
Short refused to say just what
the President had told Mr.. Fair
less and Mr.. Murray.
The President put off until to-
morrow his trip to the Democratic
National Convention in Chicago.
One important reason for this
was the vital steel talks.
Defense Secretary Lovett esti-
mated that somewhere between
20 and 80 per cent" of the ex-
pected arms production this year
would be lost because of the
strike. The work stoppage, long
est in the industry's history. is
just now beginning to have q
critical impact on the arms build
up.
Once before, on May 3, Mr..
Truman summoned Mr.. Murray
and steel company executives to
the White House. That was dur
Ing Government seizure Of the
steel mills. an action which the
Supreme Court later said was un-
constitutional.
Stevenson Is Praised
D. Ew AAa&ha,:nI~u