Strike II

When Harold Ickes became boss of the nation's coal mines five weeks ago, an Administration adviser suggested that here was a golden opportunity for Honest Harold to win friends by crunching John Lewis. Ickes might even become a national hero. Harold Ickes, who scorns applause of any kind, demurred. His job, he said, was not to win a popularity contest but to get coal mined.

Harold Ickes made progress, despite the second coal strike in a month. John Lewis scaled his $2-a-day raise down to a $1.50; some operators were offering $1. This was as close together as the two groups had yet come.

Then the War Labor Board blew Harold Ickes' delicate work skyhigh. Day after the strike began, WLB ordered cessation of all negotiations, and marched to the White House. Then the members angrily demanded that Harold Ickes stop meddling. To them the first, most important thing was the principle that WLB should not be bypassed. To Ickes the job was to get coal mined. WLBsters threatened to resign en masse. Faced with a choice of jettisoning his own Labor Board or of getting a quick settlement (in which Lewis might seem to win), Franklin Roosevelt upheld WLB.

John Lewis exploded, termed WLB "that group of little strutting men." But after an order by Franklin Roosevelt, he sent his miners back to work. For 24 hours it seemed that John Lewis had eaten crow. Then he let it be known that he had merely proclaimed another truce. Barring a sudden retreat by either side (in Illinois this week coal operators agreed to a $1.50 raise), Strike III will begin June 20.

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