Blenheim for John L. Lewis

"But what good came of it at last?", Quoth little Peterkin.

"Why, that I cannot tell," said he; "But 'twas a famous victory."

--Robert Southey

John L. Lewis won a famous victory last week when the Southern coal operators agreed to wipe out the 40-c--a-day differential between day wages in the northern and southern Appalachian coal fields. It was a famous victory because John L. Lewis, backed up by the National Defense Mediation Board, got a concession which the Southern operators had stubbornly fought three months to deny him. But his victory did not mean quite what appeared on the surface.

Actually the Southern mines retained more than 80% of their cost advantage on labor, for day labor in the coal mines is confined to maintenance men, hoist operators and other special employes. The men who do the actual coal mining are paid by the ton instead of the day and in Southern mines still get 15-c- a ton less than in Northern mines--a differential that was not in dispute. The 40-c- differential was estimated to save only 3-c- to 3 1/2-c- a ton.

The quarrel over that 3-c- a ton in the South closed virtually every bituminous coal mine in the country for 29 days in 'the April coal strike, threatening a major industrial paralysis. While the squabble went on over that 3-c- a ton, U.S. carloadings were cut nearly 9%. In the last week of the strike, when steelmen were feeling the pinch, steel production was cut 74,500 badly needed tons.

Many a U.S. Peterkin wondered last week whether the 3-c- a ton had been worth such a costly battle. But with both sides agreeing to accept the Board's terms, and peace in soft coal assured until April 1943, Mediator William H. Davis ejaculated: "Thank God it is settled."

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