INDUSTRIAL STRIFE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11294, 21 August 1922, Page 5

INDUSTRIAL STRIFE

SITUATION IN AMERICA PRESIDENT HARDING’S COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY. SUGGESTIONS FOR SENATE. By Telegraph—Press Assn.— Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received August 19, 5.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, August 18. President Harding, in an address to Congress, outlined the Administration’s efforts to settle the coal and railway strikes. He declared that he would use all the power of the Government to maintain transportation and sustain the right of men to work. The President recommended the immediate provision of a temporary national coal agency with the needed capital to purchase, sell, and distribute coal. Ho suggested that the Railway Labour Board should be given power to enforce its decrees against both labour and capital. He did not intend to ask Congress to change the laws at present. No hasty action would contribute towards a solution of the critical situation. The President declared that the existing laws were sufficient to end the prevailing disputes. They would be invoked against all offenders alike. He emphatically disapproved of the apparent move on the part of some classes of industry to destroy labour unions, asserting that it Vas in the public interest to preserve and profit by the good in labour unions. MASSACRES DENOUNOTD. The President bitterly denounced the butchery at Herrin and other outbreaks of violence, declaring that whatever sacrifice was necessary government by law must be sustained. He asked for a speedy enactment of the law giving the Federal Government power to deal with situations like the Herrin massacre, also a bill for the better protection of aliens and the enforcement of their treaty rights. “My renewal of this oft-made recommendation,” he added, “is impelled by the pitiable sense of Federal impotency to deal with the shocking crime at Herrin, which shamed and horrified the country. In that butchery human beings wrought in madness. It is alleged that two aliens were murdered. This act adds to the outraged sense of American justice the humiliation which lies on the Federal Government in its lack of authority to punish the unutterable crime.” THE GOAL POSITION. Referring to the coal situation President Harding said that the simple but significant truth was that, except for such coal as came from districts worked by non-organised miners, the country was at the mercy of the united mine workers. The President requested authority to create a Coal Commission to investigate the whole industry with authorty to reveal every phase of coal production, sale, and distribution. This would be necessary if another strike next April were to be avoided. RAILWAYMEN AND MINERS NEGOTIATIONS PROCEEDING. NEW YORK, August 18. The joint conference of the railway executives and the railway brotherhoods in the shopmen’s strike adjourned last night without a definite conclusion being reached, hut both parties are satisfied with the progress made. Seniority rights are still the stumbling block. The conference will resume this morning. The anthracite miners and mine owners’ conference adjourned _ until this afternoon to enable both sides to confer with their colleagues. LATER DEVELOPMENTS. (Received August 20, 5.5 p.m.) NEIW YORK, August 18. Following an all-day session of the railway executives and the Big Brother hood unions, it was indicated that a compromise settlement had been reached. The conference adjourned till next week. The Brotherhoods will meanwhile submit the terms to the shopmen. It is learned that the New York railroad conference compromise provides that seniority will be restored to the strikers without affecting the rights of new employees hired for the strikers’ places. (Received August 20, 5.5 p.m.) NEW YORK, August 18. At Philadelphia the conference of anthracite operators and strike leaders was adjourned without a decision being reached. The conference will resume on Saturday. AGREEMENT IN INDIANA. (Received August 20, 6.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, August 19. The Indiana mine operators signed at Cleveland an agreement with the owners to produce three million tons of coal annually. TRAINS DERAILED DYNAMITE. FOUND ON TRACK. NEW YORK, August 18. A message from Buffalo states that as the result of the derailment of the Buffialo-Niagara Falls train, nine people were injured. The railway officials announced that fifty sticks of dynamite were found on the track, and have offered 10,000 dollars reward for the arrest of the wreckers. HERRIN MASSACRE GRAND JURY SUMMONED. (Received August 20, 6.5 p.m.) NEW YORK, August 18. At Marion (Illinois) a Grand Jury has been summoned for August 28th to hear evidence regarding the Herrin massacre.