Evening star. [volume], April 04, 1937, Page A-4, Image 4

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Coal Shafts Closed Down
With Prospect 20,000
Men Will Be Idle.
By the Associated Press.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala,, April 3 —
Union sources said today 20.000 Ala
bama coal miners will remain idle
Monday unless operators agree to
grant a wage increase of 50 cents pier
day, with time and a half for over
time.
All but a few coal shafts in the
State were closed. The shutdown was
orderly.
While William Mitch, district presi
dent of the United Mine Workers of
America, was en route to Birmingham
from the New York conferences which
•ettled the coal labor situation for a
majority of the Nation's miners, union
spokesmen here said they would try
to arrange a conference with oper
ators for Monday.
James H. Terry, international rep
resentative of the U. M. W. A., said
workers would remain out unless "some
tentative agreement is reached before
Monday morning."
Harold McDermott, chairman of the
eoai operators’ Negotiating Commit
tee. said he would have no statement
until union demands were presented.
Alabama coal miners, under the
contract which expired March 31, re
ceived $4 pier day, against $5.50 in the
Appalachian coal fields. Under the
new agreement, Appalachian workers
will receive $0.
The U. M. W. A. claims a member
ship of almost 100 per cent in mo6t of
the mines, including those which fur
nish fuel for the district's iron fur
naces and steel mills.
Industrial circles said the coal sup>
ply was ample for "at least 90 days.’’
Sit-Down
(Continued From First Page^
has been growing against the seizure
of property by strikers. And the be
lief was expressed that the ventila
tion of the opposition to this form
of strike in Congress is having its
effect on those who have been fo
menting these strikes.
Efforts of administration leaders
In the Senate to head off the Byrnes
amendment to the Guffey coal bill
condemning sit - down strikes has
taken the form of attempting to seg
regate the question of sit - down
strikes from this legislation. If they
are finally successful, they will still
be faced with a determined group
of Senators to force a declaration by
the Seante that the sit-down strike
Is illegal and should not be con
doned.
Byrd Scores Sit-Down.
Senator Byrd of Virginia issued a
statement last night denouncing the
sit-down strike and calliing for quick :
action by Congress. He said:
"Congress should without delay or
equivocation declare by resolution
that sit-down strikes and lawless
ness in organized or mass form should
not be tolerated.
“Civilized government depends upon
obedience to constituted authority.
“With lawlessness rampant through
out the land, the influence of offi
cials who have taken an oath to sup
port and defend the Constitution
and uphold the law ahould be used
in condemnation of such admitted
lawlessness
“Law and order will be restored
only by firm and courageous enforce
ment of the law."
The Virginia Senator's statement
was interpreted as meaning that not
only Congress should use its influence j
against the sit-down strikes but that j
the influence of the President and
other officials of the Government
should be brought into play.
When the Senate meets tomorrow,
it will have before It again Byrnes'
amendment to the Guffey coal bill. He
Insisted yesterday that he would con
tinue to resist all efforts to sidetrack
his amendment and send it to com
mittee, as proposed by Senator Robin
son of Arkansas, the Democratic
leader. Senator Bailey of North Caro
lina was equally emphatic in making
clear he would insist on a vote in the
Senate on the sit-down strike without
delay. He had not changed his posi
tion in the slightest, he said.
Fears Hesitation.
The position of Senator Byrnes wag
that any delay in acting now would be
Interpreted as hesitation on the part
of the Senate to denounce lawlessness.
That, he said, would have a regrettable
effect on public opinion.
Senator Schwellenbach of Washing
ton has pending an amendment to the
Byrnes amendment, which would deny
the right of an employer to order em
ployes out of plants unless the em
ployers had submitted the controversy
between themselves and their employes
to the jurisdiction of the National
Labor Relations Board. The effect of
the Schwellenbach amendment, if
adopted, would be to declare the sit
down strike legal in plants whose own
ers had not complied with the Wagner
labor relations act.
Approval Dy we oenaie oi mis
amendment, therefore, would, Instead
of condemning the sit-down strike as
Illegal, give a loophole for holding this
form strike legal.
The Schwellenbach amendment, on
that account, will be vigorously resist
ed, although the Senate has, of course,
gone on record in favor of the Wagner
labor relations act, and has indicated
its belief that the act should be obeyed
by all employers.
Should the Supreme Court, when
It meets tomorrow to hand down opin
ions, declare the Wagner act uncon
gtitutional, it would have the effect of
voiding also the Schwellenbach
amendment to the Byrnes amend
ment.
Pittman Offers Substitute.
Senator Pittman of Nevada has ot
tered a substitute for the Byrnes
amendment, which declares: “That
it : the sense of the Senate that the
•o- ailed sit-down strike is illegal and
coi rary to sound public policy. TJie
Sc ate only assumes to speak as to
str ces in industries within the juris
dic ion of the Federal Government.”
' he Byrnes amendment, which
threw the administration leaders into
a frenzy of excitement when it was
offered Thursday, declared:
is further declared to be the
puttie policy of the United States that
nofjemploye of any producer of coal
whose employment has been ter
minated, or who for any reason has
ceased to work for such producer, shall
remain upon the property upon which
he was employed after he has received
written notice from such producer to
leave such property, provided that
this paragraph shall not apply to
property occupied as a dwelling.”
The proviso was added so as not to
compel the workers to leave the com
22 Oil Cars Go Up in Smoke . . . and Plenty of It
Twenty-two oil cars burst into flame one after another No one was injured. Rail traffic was delayed for nuuis umu ulC
when a 40-car freight buckled and piled up near Abilene, Tex. oil burned out. The blaze is shown at its height.
—Copyright. A. P. Wirephoto.
pany-owned houses in which they
happened to be living, on lease from
the company.
The Byrnes amendment has been
criticized because it applies, as it
stands, only to labor in coal mines.
The South Carolina Senator may be
willing, however, to have it amended
so as to apply to sit-down strikes in
all industries.
Lewis Activity Charged.
Senator Holt of West Virginia is
demanding that future labor legisla
tion enacted by Congress shall declare
sit-down strikes illegal. He charged
that John L. Lewis, head of the United
Mine Workers of America, as well as
head of the C. I. O.. was active in
calling members of the Senate on the
telephone Friday and urging them to
vote against the Byrnes amendment
to the coal bill. Lewis, he said,
claimed the Byrnes amendment "slan
dered” the coal miners. There have
been no sit-down strikes in the mines.
Holt added:
"It will be recalled that this is the
same Mr. Lewis who has developed
the sit-down strike technique as leader
of the C. I. O. movement in the
United States.”
Senator Tydings of Maryland
sought in vain Friday to obtain unani
mous consent that a resolution de
nouncing the sit-down strike be made
the order of business of the Senate
immediately after the passage of the
Guffey coal bill. It may be that some
such agreement will yet be entered
into. Senator Bailey at that time
objected to the Tydings proposal as
he did to other requests for unani
mous consent. Unless an agreement
is reached between the warring forces
over the week end, another day of
lively debate on the sit-down strike
is in prospect for tomorrow.
Judiciary
j
(Continued From First Page.}
this estimate, “depending on develop
ments.”
Amendment Plan Discounted.
The committee chairman discounted
statements that action on a constitu
tional amendment could be speeded by
having Congress call State conventions
to ratify it.
“It would take all Summer to get
anything through Congress.” Ash
hurst said, “and the States would in
dignantly resent that, and justly. We
can't force them to hold conventions.”
When the committee resumes its
hearing tomorrow it will hear Dean
Frank H. Sommers of the New York
University Law- School and Oswald
Garrison Villard, editor emeritus of
The Nation, both of whom were called
as opposition witnesses.
On the House side of the Capitol
Representative Cannon, Democrat, of
Wisconsin announced he would intro
duce a resolution in the House tomor
row calling on the Senate committee
to conclude its hearings. He said im
portant legislation was being delayed
unnecessarily by the protracted hear
ings and that “the lengthy debate
and competitive radio speeches have
degenerated into personal attacks, un
seemly vituperations and mere con
tests of words.”
"Amazed” by Cummings.
Commenting on his charge that the
Attorney General is trying to clamp
down on the hearings. Senator Wheel
er said:
“I am amazed to discover that the
Attorney General of the United States
is urging the Senate Judiciary Com
mittee to close its public hearings on
the President's Supreme Court bill,
thereby preventing Congress from ob
taining the views of the American
people on the most important consti
tutional question raised since the Civil
War.
“Evidence of the Attorney General’s
strategy on this issue is revealed by
the activity of the hired help he sends
daily to the Capitpl with instructions
to be conveyed to members of the
Senate Judiciary Committee. The At
torney General will perform sufficient
service if he will but limit his activi
ties to his own department and leave
Congress free to conduct its own
legislative functions.
“There is no doubt that the Attorney
General would like to close public
hearings on this issue. For one thing,
the American people are outspoken in
their condemnation of this plan to
pack the court in order to secure
tainted decisions. This is illustrated
daily by the prominence of those who
come here to testify against the plan.
They are outstanding Americans, re
nowned for their intellect, courage
and patriotism.
Says Defense is Weak.
“On the other hand, the Attorney
General realizes that he can summon
no such army of public spirited citi
zens to defend the proposed bill. He
ft
]
E
Murphy Reports Advance
Toward Settlement at
Lansing.
try me Associated Press.
DETROIT. April 3 —Gov. Frank
Murphy announced tonight that tire
Chrysler strike conference was “ad
vancing toward settlement” after
Walter P Chrysler and John L. Lewis
renewed their search for a collective
bargaining agreement acceptable to
both.
An agreement of striking automo
bile workers at Flint, Mich., opened
the way for 15.000 General Motors
employes to return to work Monday.
Homer Martin, president of the
United Automobile Workers of Amer
ica. asserted that strike sentiment
among the union's members was
subsiding.
Gov. Murphy made his statement
as the conference in his Lansing office
recessed until 10 am. (Eastern stand
ard time) tomorrow. The recess was
the Governor's suggestion. No expla
nation w#s given, but it was assumed
each side was studying a bargaining
formula.
I It was learned that at times during
the afternoon Chrysler, chairman of
the corporation's board, and Lewis,
head of the Committee for Industrial
Organization, discussed the problem
| without the other negotiators in the
room. A reliable informant said “a
! friendly attitude was evidenced."
“Minor Setback” Seen.
The Governor, who also brought
together General Motors and the
U. A, W. A. in meetings which finally
led to a signed compact, was repre
sented as considering that corpora
tion's new labor troubles "unfortunate
and regrettable” but' only “a minor
| setback,”
j “The conference is advancing
toward a settlement," Gov. Murphy
said, concerning (he Chrysler negotia
tions. "I said two weeks ago, on Palm
Sunday, that I believe industrial
peace and good-will will be attained
in Michigan. After the meeting today
between Mr. Chrysler and Mr. Lewis,
and their attitudes, I am more certain
than ever.
“The public should bear in mind
that the labor relationship being
worked out in Michigan in a sense is
pioneering and both sides are adjust
ing themselves to a new.relationship.
This process will be attended by minor
difficulties, but we are going forward
and new viewpoints are being worked
out.”
The Ford company was the third of
the major motor car producers to face
labor troubles. A group of company
executives flew to Kansas City from
Detroit.
Chrysler First to Return.
Chrysler, chairman of the board of
the corporation whose Detroit workers
struck March 8, throwing 60,000 men
in eight plants out of employment,
was the first to return to the Gover
nor’s conferences at Lansing, Mich.
He walked into the State capitol
with applause and shouts of about 100
non-union employes ringing in his
ears. The group, in a double file lining
must rely upon office holders, paid
public servants and some lawyers,
who obviously hope to be struck by
judicial lightning in the event that
this measure is adopted.
“Hundreds of American citizens,
holding responsible positions at the
bar, in universities and in the mold
ing of public opinion, have asked to
be heard. Obviously, we cannot hear
all of them, but it is the duty of the
Senate Judiciary Committee to con
tinue these public hearings until every
cross section of public opinion has
been given an opportunity to present
its views.
“This bill is not an inconsequential
matter. Fundamentally, it changes
our form of government. No single
question before Congress has its por
tent or its potential effect upon future
generations. It is the duty of Con
gress and its committee to consider
it deliberately and dispassionately,
independent of extraneous influences,
“Those of us who oppose the plan
have extended invitations to a score
of the Nation’s most prominent cler
ics, liberals, lawyers and constitutional
authorities to testify before the Senate
Judiciary Committee. We know that
In the performance of their duty,
members of the Senate Judiciary
Committee will hear them."
k
both sides of the walk, called out.
"We want to go back to work'' and
"Settle the strike today" as Chrysler
and other corporation executives en
I tered.
| Lewis, who hastened back to Mich
1 igan after negotiating a new bitu
minous coal contract for his United
i Mine Workers, rejoined Martin and
j other union officials in time for the
! day’s second conference. As head of
the Committee for Industrial Organi
zation, parent body of the U A. w A
he is generalissimo of the automobile
strikes.
Before the agreement for reopening
of the Chevrolet Motor Co. plants at
Flint, scene of a sit-down strike
Thursday, the number of temporary
i idle in the automobile industry had
reached 137.000, comparable to the
highest point of the Nation-wide
General Motors shutdowns of Janu
ary and February.
Other Plant Reopenings Expected.
I Agreements already reached pro
j vided for return of some 15,000 em
ployes of General Motors units at
Pontiac, Mich., including Fisher Body, i
Pontiac Motor Co. and Yellow Truck
j & Coach Manufacturing Co., Sun- j
day and Monday. Expected to reopen
! shortly after the Chevrolet plants are
I a Fisher body plant at Flint, employ
I lng 1,100, and Chevrolet foundry and
parts units employing 7,*00 at Sagi
naw, whose production schedules were
disrupted by the Flint shut-down.
Other strike idle included more
than 10,000 Hudson Motor Car Co. :
employes at Detroit, 2,200 workers in
the Ford Kansas City plant and a
similar number in the Reo Motor Co.'s
truck factory at Lansing, and nearly
20.000 Briggs Body employes awaiting
resumption of Chrysler production
lines.
Robert C. Travis, U. A ,.. A. or
ganizer whose conference at Flint
with Arnold Lenz, Chevrolet operations
I manager, resulted in the decision to
reopen the plant, said a general wage j
adjustment effective Monday was
agreed upon and that Lenz would dis
cuss a union complaint that certain
parts of the assembly line were under
manned.
Conference This Morning.
Difficulties attendant upon institu
tion of a shop steward system under
the March 12 agreement that ended
the long General Motors strikes will
be discussed by Martin and company
officials in a conference tomorrow
morning.
The work interruptions at Flint and
Pontiac, which union leaders described
as spontaneous and unauthorized by i
international officers, brought a de
mand from General Motors yesterday
that the U. A. W. A. "live up to"
pledges against such occurrences.
Martin said today: "Our members
are beginning to realize that this kind
of procedure (unauthorized strikes) is
not only harmful to the corporation
but also Is detrimental to their own I
organization.”
He added, however, “it has been
quite obvious from the beginning that
certain plant managers and even high
officials of General Motors accepted
the agreement with their Angers
crossed, so to speak, with an idea of
evading real collective bargaining if
they could do so."
The principal question confronting
the Chrysler conferees as they re
newed the Lansing meetings was the
extent of bargaining recognition to be
accorded the U. A. W- A.
---.«-■
LAHEY PUPILS TO EXHIBIT
Work to Be Shown This Month
at Central Library.
An exhibition of the work of pupils
of Richard Lahey, principal of the
Corcoran School of Art, is being shown
in the second Aoor lobby of the cen
tral building of the Public Library
during the month of April, Dr. George
F. Bowerman, librarian, announces.
The collection shows work in vary
ing mediums, pencil, charcoal, colored
chalks and water colors, and has a
wide diversity of subject and inter
est. The exhibit includes work by A.
von Marlin, M. Hall, Myrta Williams,
Welford Woehler, M. Riley, Bill
: Thompson and M. Smith.
STRIKES SPREAD
Meat Cutters Walk Out in
Worcester—Two Sit-Downs
Hit Providence.
By the Associated Press.
BOSTON. April 3.—A short-lived
strike of 350 Worcester union meat
market employes and two sit-down
strikes in Providence, R. I., were the
week-end developments in the New
England industrial situation today.
Three Brockelman brothers' markets
in Worcester were closed for 10 hours
before the owners and the workers
agreed on halting the walkout and
opening negotiations next Tuesday.
The men asked 10 to 15 per cent
higher wages, union recognition and
shorter hours. The truce also su
pended the sympathetic walkout of
15 truck drivers for the firm.
In Providence, center of the jewelry
industry in which 400 skilled men
awaited a strike call, 400 sit-downers
defied ejection from the Philllps
Baker Rubber Co. plant and a sit
down strike began in the two plants
of the American Screw Co
Committee for Industrial Organiza
tion officials and the Vesta Under
wear Co. at Providence agreed to re
sume wage-hour conferences Monday
after 325 sit-downers evacuated the
plant. In another parley at Provi
dence. a week-long strike at the F. W.
Woolworth store in Woonsocket was
settled.
In the 10-day-old strike called by
the C. I O among the 6,400 workers
of 19 shoe factories in Lewiston and
Auburn, Me., Mrs. Ida Weinstock.
Federal labor mediator, sought to find
grounds for negotiations.
-#
To Tell of Lusitania Search.
“Thrills in the Search for the Lusi
tania" will be described at a National
Press Club luncheon at 12:30 pm.
Tuesday by Capt. John Craig, chief
diver on the Ophir, who Is returning
shortly to England to resume salvage
operations for the Lusitania.
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TEXAS OIL FED
Effect of School Blast on C.
I. 0. Appeal Studied on
Eve of Move.
B7 the Associated Press.
KILGORE. Tex., April, 3—The East
Texas oil field, rocked by mass tragedy
only 16 days ago, today silently
awaited John L. Lewis' drive to
unionize the world’s most prolfic
petroleum sector.
Lewis’ Committee for Industrial
Organization lieutenants, gathered at
Houston, were expected to give the
‘ start” order tomorrow.
One of the paramount issues, labor
leaders and employers agreed, cen
tered around what effect the New
London school explosion and its ghast
ly toll of students and teachers, would
have on the proposed C. I. O. move
ment.
Both sides claimed new strength
because of the disaster.
Less than a day after the school
was torn to bits by a gas accumula
tion in the basement, Organizer John
T. Allen of the International Oil
Field, Gas Well and Refinery Workers’
Union, tersely commented the ex
plosion would never have occured if
some of his union's ideas had been
on the statute books.
Opponents Decline Comment.
Opponents of the unionization de
clined to be quoted. The New London
school district is inhabited by 10,000
workers and families.
Their reactions to the labor move
ment, observers believe, may have
heavy bearing on sentiment in other
sections.
Union leaders quickly interpretad
the generosity of oil companies during
the explosion crisis as ”a measure of
good will.”
Labor leaders took a similar atti
tude when major oil companies an
nounced wage increases in March
which averaged 7 cents per hour.
"The men haven’t been fooled." said
W. B. Smith, secretary of the East
Texas Oil Workers Council. ‘ They can
see behind the salary increases.”
Regardless of any reaction which
might come from the explosion, about
40 of Lewis’ organizers are expected
to enter the land of 22,500 wells im
mediately after the Houston council
meeting.
Union strategy, said Allen, is to
leave alone workers in the production
and refining departments during early
stages of the drive. East Texas' ap
proximate 4.000 pipe line wokers are
to be the target of initial efforts.
Industry's Weakest Link.
Union leaders assert a drive among
pipeliners would be a blow1 at the in
dustry’s weakest link. A shutdown of
the field's 22 major trunk lines would
halt production throughout the field.
Collective bargaining is practiced in
principle in many companies whose
workmen have their owrn grievance
committees which work out wage scales
and general working conditions. Work
weeks for the majority of field workers
range from 36 to 48 hours.
Present plans call for C I O. head
quarters in Houston, which, with
Beaumont and Port Arthur, is in the
center of the heavy producing Gulf
Coast field. Major companies have
vast holdings in the area and in the
East Texas field.
In the Gulf Coast area alone, the
union claimed nine local unions and
a potential membership of 22,500 men.
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A.F.G.E. Is Insured
Against Strikes at
Convention Hotel
Will Cancel Reserva
tions in Philadelphia
If Walkout Exists.
The American Federation of Gov
ernment Employes, an affiliate of the
American Federation of Labor, is tak
ing no chances of having a sit-down
strike interfere with the annual con
vention scheduled in Philadelphia the
second week in September.
A contract entered into with the
Ben Franklin Hotel, where the fed
eration is taking over two floors, pro
vides for automatic cancellation 1n
event labor troubles disrupt the rou
tine of the hostelry.
Charles I. Stengle, president of the
federation, and a former member of
Congress, said if anything happens—
and nothing is expected to—the con
vention would shift to Atlantic City.
■ ■ ■ -•
Senator Frazier to Talk.
Senator Frazier of North Dakota
and Capt. Rhoda Milliken, director of
the Women's Bureau of the Police De
part, will address a public ‘‘good citi
zenship” meeting in the auditorium of
the Volunteer Fire Department at
Takoma Park, Md., April 10 at 8 p.m.
The meeting is sponsored by the
Takoma Park Women's Christian
Temperance Union.
■ ■ ■■ ■ —.
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