STATEMENT. October 25, 1919

On strike in the bituminous coal industry.

[On strike in the bituminous coal industry. Several days after this statement appeared, Attorney-General Palmer filed an injunction under the war-time provisions of the Food Control Law (see Encyclopedic Index under that head) compelling the miners’ union to call off the strike and return to work. Later, the dispute was settled by arbitration forced by the Government.]

THE WHITE HOUSE, October 25, 1919.

On September 23, 1919, the convention of the United Mine Workers of America at Cleveland, Ohio, adopted a proposal declaring that all contracts in the bituminous field shall be declared as having automatically expired November 1, 1919, and making various demands including a 60 per cent increase in wages and the adoption of a six hour workday and a five-day week; and providing that, in the event a satisfactory wage agreement should not be secured for the central competitive field before November 1, 1919, the national officials should be authorized and instructed to call a general strike of all bituminous miners and mine workers throughout the United States, effective November 1, 1919.

Pursuant to these instructions, the officers of the organization have issued a call to make the strike effective November I. This is one of the gravest steps ever proposed in this country affecting the economic welfare and the domestic comfort and health of the people. It is proposed to abrogate an agreement as to wages which was made with the sanction of the United States Fuel Administration and which was to run during the continuance of the war, but not beyond April 1, 1920.

This strike is proposed at a time when the Government is making the most earnest effort to reduce the cost of living and has appealed with success to other classes of workers to postpone similar disputes until a reasonable opportunity has been afforded for dealing with the cost of living. It is recognized that the strike would practically shut off the country’s supply of its principal fuel at a time when interference with that supply is calculated to create a disastrous fuel famine. All interests would be affected alike by a strike of this character, and its victims would be not the rich only, but the poor and the needy as well, those least able to provide in advance a fuel supply for domestic use. It would involve the shutting down of countless industries and the throwing out of employment of a large part of the workers of the country. It would involve stopping the operation of railroads, electric light and gas plants, street railway lines and other public utilities, and the shipping to and from this country, thus preventing our giving aid to the Allied countries with supplies which they so seriously need.

The country is confronted with this prospect at a time when the war itself is still a fact, when the world is still in suspense as to negotiations for peace, when our troops are still being transported, and when their means of transport is in urgent need of fuel.

From whatever angle the subject may be viewed, it is apparent that such a strike in such circumstances would be the most far-reaching plan ever presented in this country to limit the facilities of production and distribution of a necessity of life and thus indirectly to restrict ’the production and distribution of all the necessaries of life. A strike under these circumstances is not only unjustifiable; it is unlawful.

The action proposed has apparently been taken without any vote upon the specific proposition by the individual members of the United Mine Workers of America throughout the United States, an almost unprecedented proceeding. I cannot believe that any right of any American worker needs for its protection the taking of this extraordinary step, and I am convinced that when the time and manner are considered, it constitutes a fundamental attack, which is wrong both morally and legally, upon the rights of society and upon the welfare of our country. I feel convinced that individual members of the United Mine Workers would not vote, upon full consideration, in favor of such a strike under these conditions.

When a movement reaches the point where it appears to involve practically the entire productive capacity of the country with respect to one of the most vital necessities of daily domestic and industrial life, and when the movement is asserted in the circumstances I have stated and at a time and in a manner calculated to involve the maximum of danger to the public welfare in this critical hour of our country’s life, the public interest becomes the paramount consideration.

In these circumstances I solemnly request both the national and the local officers and also the individual members of the United Mine Workers of America to recall all orders looking to a strike on November 1, and to take whatever steps may be necessary to prevent any stoppage of work.

It is time for plain speaking. These matters with which we now deal touch not only the welfare of a class, but vitally concern the well-being, the comfort, and the very life of all the people. I feel it my duty in the public interest to declare that any attempt to carry out the purposes of this strike and thus to paralyze the industry of the country with the consequent suffering and distress of all our people, must be considered a grave moral and legal wrong against the Government and the people of the United States. I can do nothing less than to say that the law will be enforced, and means will be found to protect the interests of the nation in any emergency that may arise out of this unhappy business.

I express no opinion on the merits of the controversy. I have already suggested a plan by which a settlement may be reached, and [p.8799] I hold myself in readiness at the request of either or both sides to appoint at once a tribunal to investigate all the facts with a view to aiding in the earliest possible orderly settlement of the questions at issue between the coal operators and the coal miners, to the end that the just rights, not only of those interests but also of the general public, may be fully protected.