Word: soft-coal
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...there were still some subterranean blurps and rumbles. The soft-coal squabble smoldered into its fifth week and Southern operators split from the Appalachian wage conference. United Mine Workers President John L. Lewis and the Northerners had reportedly agreed on a new wage rate of $7 a day, but Southern operators refused to budge from their offer of $6.21. Reopening of Northern mines, strike-shut for two weeks, would return two-thirds of the nation's soft-coal fields to production. A few steel plants, which use soft coal converted into coke, had already had to shut down some...
...bank of labor storm clouds over the U.S. last week appeared signs of sunlight. But first the thunderheads grew blacker. Near Milwaukee, at Allis-Chalmers, were riots and disorder. Failure of mine operators and workers to agree on a new contract shut down most of the country's soft-coal mines, resulted in death to five men in bloody Harlan County, Ky. Negotiations between C.I.O. and U.S. Steel reached an impasse and union leaders set the date for a walkout. The far-reaching Ford strike (see p. 21) made things seem even worse...
Negotiators in the soft-coal tie-up still wrangled. Northern coal operators were ready to grant union demands for a $1-a-day increase in wages (to $7). Southern operators, who have long enjoyed a wage differential and were now being asked to boost wages from $5.60 to $7, were not so willing. But Conciliator John R. Steelman was still brightly confident of an early settlement...
...tempered ruler, Secretary Harold L. Ickes, bolts about switching off lights to save electricity. The gesture is noble in purpose, and-to those who appreciate the endless, grab-bag complexity of Interior's duties-understandable. Interior sells electricity, protects the Indians, manages forests, preserves historic buildings, sets minimum soft-coal prices, interferes in the government of Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, rules Western cattle ranges, settles irrigated areas in semi-arid regions, watches over wild life and fish. All these sprawling activities are linked by a central theme: conservation of natural resources...
...With all by-product coke ovens working at capacity, many an oldfashioned, high-cost, beehive oven (once homes for the unemployed) was fired last week. Meanwhile the demand for coking coal outran the capacity of the steelmakers' "captive" mines, sent them into the commercial market. Result: the ailing soft-coal industry is headed toward 10,000,000 tons a week (its 1939 average: 7,800,000 tons a week), and many a factory manager began to think it might be a good idea to stack some extra coal in the yard just in case. Ordinarily, coal buyers get inventory...