Workers Against
Lewis’ Bid For
Combined Front
White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.,
(/P)—Cool silence from rival union
leaders Saturday hung over John
L. Lewis’ dramatic bid for a united
labor front in the coal and steel
strikes. But a few low mutterings
of dissent could be heard from off
stage.
AFL president William Green
had no comment on the United
Mine Workers chief’s suggestion
Friday that nine of his interna
tional unions join with the min
ers to provide a proposed $2,500,
000 a week for Philip Murray’s
striking steelworkers.
Murray, at Pittsburgh, was just
as silent.
But in Washington, an official
at AFL headquarters had this to
say:
“If the steel workers need any
held, they are certainly capable of
asking for it themselves.”
And a group of Lewis’ own min
ers voiced their opposition to the
plan. The St. Michael, Pa., UMW
local 3648—500 members—wired
its chief:
“We believe a kitty should be
raised to alleviate poverty in the
mining fields first. The policy of
advocating bread for every other
Johnny except Johnny Miner can
have no other effect than to de
moralize the digger ...”
Observers also noted that the
steel strike was putting a crimp in
Lewis bargaining with the coal op
erators. As long as steel plants
weren’t gulping coal into their
huge furnaces, it left that much
more for the more moderate users.
And the higher the coal stockpile
stood, the longer the coal operators
could hold out against the miners’
demands.
In Chicago, Swift & Co., one of
the largest meat packers, reached
agreement on new contracts with
three packing house unions for
som 30,000 workers in 46 plants.
No general wage increase was
granted but union leaders said
concessions allowed provide hikes
ranging from Vz cent to 10 cents
hourly in various wage brackets.
A strike of AFL union bus oper
ators and maintenance men tied
up transportation in Sioux City,
la. The union is seeking pay hikes.
Some 40,000 persons ride buses
daily in the city of 85,000 popula
tion.
PITTSBURGH, </P)— America’s
strike idle nearer the million mark
today as 16,000 CIO members
struck nine plants of Aluminum
Company of America.
The aluminum workers joined
480.000 striking steelworkers and
380.000 striking soft coal miners.
More than 55,000 workers in al
lied industries have been laid off.
Some steelworkers’ membrs in
the fabricating steel industry—
which makes everything from
hairpins -to refrigerators — struck
during the week end. Other fabri
cator’s contracts expire from now
until mid-December.
There's still no sign of peace in
labor’s biggest conflict since the ;
end of World War II.
The government is gravely con- 1
cerned. The walkouts threaten to
knock post-war economy into a
cocked hat.
Secretary of commerce Sawyer
said yetserday the steel strike will
idl five million persons if it runs
to December 1.
So far, President Truman has
kept on the sidelines. His medi
ators are pounding away at the
problem—but with little success.
The mediators tried to head off
the steel strike three times. Now
thy’re trying to get industry lead
ers and steelworker president
Murray back to the bargaining
table.
The United States Steel corpo
ration industry leader and the na
tion’s largest producer, reported
director Cyrus S. Ching of the fed
eral mediation and conciliation
service asked its officials to meet j
with him at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday
afternoon in New York. A spokes
man said the corporation is ex
pected to accept the invitation.
“It’s in the lap of the gods,”
Murray said yesterday as he dis
cussed possible strike settlement
in a talk at Bethlehem, Pa.
Pensions are the big issue in the
aluminum company strike, just as
they are in the steel strike.
A company spokesman said only
50 per cent of Alcoa production
will be affected because workers
at its other 16 plants are repre
sented by AFL and other unions.
The big Aluminum Company of
America, which makes 50 per cent
of the nation’s aluminum, says it
met the steelworkers’ demand for
six cents fffr pensions and four
cents for insurance.
The company said negotiations j
Sale of Buildings
The Alaska District. Engineer, Corps of Engineers, will offer
for sale on October 11, 1949. by sealed bid, the following buildings
and structures:
Over 100 Quouset Huts of various sizes
12 iv-I) Frame Buildings
! Single and Double (lowin Huts
c
(> Yak Huts, joint'd
2o Miscellaneous Sliaeks
37 Wood Tanks
lo Stt't'l Tanks
Paint. Roof Far. Lumber and Other Miscel
laneous Structures and Supplies on Surplus
Leased Land.
The property being offered is located near Marks Air Force
Base, also in the Ordnance-Utilities-Material Yard area, the Old
Hospital area and the Plumbing Supplies area Northeast of the
North-^outh runway of Marks Air Force Base, near Nome, Alaska,
and may he inspected by making arrangements with the Resident
Engineer. Mr. William Brown, Nome, Alaska.
Bids will be opened at 3:00 P.M., 21 October 1949. Purchasers
will he required to remove the structures from the premises.
v
0
Specifications of sale, bid forms and other information may be
obtained at the office of the District Engineer, Alaska District, Real
Estate Division, Anchorage, Alaska, and from the Air Installations
Officer, Marks Air Force Base, also the Resident Engineer, Nome,
Alaska.
Herb Hilsclier
Blasts CAB For
Stifling Alaska j
^Continued from Page One)
Hilscher continued. “In the United
States, the CAB allows, in addi- j
tion to deluxe service, an abun- |
dance of. sky coaches and air i
freighters to serve the people. In
Alaska the CAB states in sub
stance that two certified carriers i
can handle all the business.
“If it is the desire of the CAB to
stifle Alaska’s development and
turn the Territory back to the
gold-rush era, then this abency is j
already accompanying its pur
pose.”
He declared the non-scheduled
lines have brought down the
prices of commodities in the Ter
ritory.
“The CAB is driving out of busi
ness the air carriers on whom we !
are dependent for our civilian
economy,” he said.
collapsed Friday night over the
union’s ferusal to accept a provi
sion that the proposed pension
plan be subject to any future ad
justment in federal social security
laws.
Third Man Killed
In Tennessee
Moonshine War
DAISY, Term. f/P), Daisy Moun
tain’s moonshine feud bids fair to
take its place with the famed Hat
field and McCoy squabbble in
southern mountain history.
Spawned during a dispute over
the making of corn whiskey and
fanned by bitter hatred, the feud
flamed anew over the week-end.
Another man was killed on the
lonely mountainside—the third to
die since the hill country war be
gan two years ago.
Police found William L. <Boots>
Parker lying on a muddy slope of
the mountain Saturday night, shot
three times and bludgeoned with
an ax.
Raymond Bell, 29, was found at
the scene, two ax wounds on his
head. Bell and his brother Ed, 23,
were arrested and chief deputy
Scott Swafford charged them with
murder. They face arraignment
tomorrow.
Officers have redoubled patrols
on the mountain but have met
with the same tight-lipped silence
that greeted them atfer the two
previous deaths: no one knows
anything about the slaying.
PLUMBING and STEAM-FITTING
Gall Vern Miller - Phone Main 79
Announcing
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The HUT
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