Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 295, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1919 — MUST CONSERVE SUPPLY EVEN IF MINERS RETURN. [ARTICLE]

MUST CONSERVE SUPPLY EVEN IF MINERS RETURN.

Washington, Dec. B.—The government today instituted no additional measures to meet the situation arising from the coal strike, thereby perhaps reflecting the deepseated belief in the minds of officials that tomorrow in Indianapolis will be paved the way for final settlement of the controversy between the operators and miners. There was, however, no relaxation by federal * agents in working out the stringent rationing orders previously issued. , Hope was expressed in a statement from the white house that the mine workers' union chiefs would accept the strike settlement proposals. A semi- official warning was issued tonight to the effect that even if the miners went back to work immediately the depletion in the nation’s supply caused by the strike Would be very great. The supply of coal only to consumers on a favored priority list, it was explained, would probably have to continue in any case perhaps for weeks. Congress delayed action on the various pending proposals, likewise, in connection with the strike, it generally being felt that it was advisable to await the outcome of events in Indianapolis. The strike, however, was brought before the senate late in the day by Senator Frelinghuysen, republican, of New Jersey, chairman of the interstate commerce sub-committee, which has been investigating the coal situation, who, in an address, caustically criticized the action of the miners, declaring the strike to be “an exhibition of inhuman selfishness” and a “brutal menace” to millions of American citizens. “Wherein is the course of these strikers less heinous than their brothers in soviet Russia?” the New Jersey senator asked. He described the miners as the best paid workers in the United States and added that they were hot entitled to even a 14 per cent increase in wages.