DEEP CONCERN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 143, 18 June 1937, Page 13

DEEP CONCERN

STEEL STRIKE IN U.S.A.

1,300,000 INVOLVED

PRESIDENT ASKED TO

INTERVENE

United I'ross Association—By Electric Telcsrapb— Copyright.

WASHINGTON, June 17.

•With the strike situation involving an estimated total of 1,300,000 workers in 18 States, and violence attending walk-outs at 'steel plants in at least seven Stales, feelings of apprehension are mounting. • In Government circles observers compare the situation with that of sitting on a powder-keg.

A message from. Columbus, Ohio, reports that the Governor of the Slate has sent a telegram to President Roosevelt asking the Federal Government to intervene in the strike in an effort to settle it.: .

He declared t)iat the. matter was beyond the power of a single State to deal with. The single issue standing in the way of a settlement was the unwillingness of the companies to sign a written wage agreement. Although willing to accept tlie terms orally, they asserted that a written agreement would be tantamount to recognition of the Committee for Industrial Organisation and would lead ultimately to the closed shop.

The Governor closed his messags with a note of deep concern at the potential danger to thousands of people from the present situation.

CONFERENCE MAX BE CALLED,

It is thought that the Department! of Labour may call a conference of the parties in the disputes in the steel area with the hope of at least partially dispelling-the ugly mood now gripping both sides, but it is feared that little success would attend this action.

In some quarters it is felt that only President Roosevelt could successfully settle the conflict, but he has given no indication at present of his -intentions.

Senator A. Vandenberg (Republican), in a statement, said the real issue of the labour conflict was that Federal and State sovereignty was being successfully challenged.

Other commentators point out a variety of weaknesses in the Wagner Act, the principal one being that only labour can appeal to the Courts for the enforcement of its terms. This makes the position highly dangerous.