-- ^jDAY^ April 2St IQ/p . GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: The most important word in America tonight is coal. t Q t^Xr Thst strike^ is threatening not only the defense program but the carrying on of the^most essential public works^..Ptjblic:service ^ > yv ^2JW o companies fumisking light and heat, to Bullions of people have only enough coal to last for two weeks. ' - fajjty The Southern Railroad Company he* announced tne jutting out of forty-two trains se in order to have enough coal 'or its through mainline service. Twen^ne lines in southern states will have to do without trains because the road has- only nough coal for twenty days. Edward F. McGrady, Laoor Advisor », Secretary of V.-.^tS ««« S«.t. to-itt.e that if «>- -l™’ ^XT' Defense effort will be irenit opened promptly, the entire a A i -iv»rinch t ips on the verge of being i great jeopardy. Fifteen ma^or tirely «t»o»t coal! Several of °nol. S.»'» ^ ^uel enough for ten days. Secretary Stev« Early at the White House announced that president Roosevelt was putting in the entire day studying the situation and trying to work out some way of ending the deadlock. The SenateCommittee investigating defense began its inquiring into the soft coal business. Of'-{he nrincipal witness of the day was John L.Levis3 President of the United Mine Workers. H* told the Senators that this coal shut-down had come about because the tail of the industry had undertaken vigorously to wag the dog. By the nail” of the industry, L.wis obviously meant the Southern operators. But he characterized them further, declared they weren't real Southerners but Northern interests who called themselves Southern operators. Before Lewis made his entrance, L.T. PBtname of the Southern Operators had been on the stand. He offered a three-point plan for reopening the mines at once. Let the men go to ..ork, he suggested, under the terms A of the contract which expired April First, plus a ten per cent per hourincrease in wage rates. if Meanwhile^ negotiations to continue. Then^i3P^§ a settlement is not reached in thirty days, submit the quarrel to the Mediation Board again with a definite promise to accept the findings of the Board. A Senator asked Putnam whether he would agree even if the Board wiped out that Southern differential which has been the bone that stuck in the craw of the Southerners? Putnam replied, "Yes. If we agreed to the arbitration, we!d have to submit." When Lewis got on the witness stand, Senator Tom Connally of Texas asiced him about that forty cent wage differert ial between the North and South to which Lewis objected. Did Lewis insist on illiminating that? The union leader replied, "Yes, because when seventy per cent in industry agrees that someone is right and Just, the minority might as well make up its mind and accept it." formally then a sited him whether he would be willing to reopen th, aiines «„rth end South for ■ Lewis replied "No-" ^Connally then put this question:- "So you-re determined to see the defense program wrecked If it comes to that, in order to get your forty cents a day? That got Lewises goat and he barked out:- "I didn’t say that.” T d which he added: nDon’t you question my patriotism, Senator! I’ll not let even you put words in my mouth.” Later on, Lewis came to bat withkn offer. He'I* reopen l the soft coal mines of the North within forty-eight hours if the Government will agree to feed and protect the miners in the South who will remain out of work until they can bring the Southern operators to terms. Previously, Charles F. O’Neill, who represented the Northern operators, said they were only too willing and anxious to zug reopen their mines at once. Th® Northerns produce sixty to eighty per cent of all the soft coal in the country. |Hi pEKKIMS Eoud cheers were heard today during the First Annual Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States at Washington. 0ne of the members was making a speech about Secretary of nabor Miss Perkins. H0w long will it be, said that member, Roy Ingersoll of Chicago, before public opinion will become so aroused that it demands the resignation of Miss Perkins? There were nearly a thousand businessmen at that meeting and jumped to feet cheering loudly. /<• A mmmmmhrhh gAiNiADA STRIKE A steel striKe in Canada! The government of tne Dominion is trying to persuade some three thousand workers at Hamilton and Montreal, to go back to work. But the men refuse, and the C.I.O. leaders are threatening a general walkout of all the twenty thousand steel workers in Canada. CREDITS As everybody expected,president Roosevelt today ordered the freezing of all credits and ca\sh holdings belonging to Greeks or between forty and fifty million Greek subjects. Ther —TC <ue_ er^Wi-’A. dollars of then including direct investments, gold and short term 4 * credits. % . n \ / ^ <? Jl That makw'xhe fourteenth order of that sort ^whicli the a ^ * President has issued in one year. It^swellfc the total of frozen funds and credits in the United States to somewhere around four and A a half billion dollars. WAR A new battle oegan to^ay, the Battle of the Mediterranean. It started somewhat cautiously, but thatfs no guarantee/For it was .r announced in Berlin that there^H be no military pause following the Balkan campaign. ^Hitler is not going to 3 at any halfway power measures. He's determined to destroy Britain's position and in the Mediterranean completely. The Nazi spokasman stated ' A y d^f-init-aly that their k * xxkk generals attached th^ same importance Jr to the war in the Mediterranean as they had to the Battle of the A Jr Atlantic. nWar to^a^f^rtishn, they promise. In Greece, the Nazi armies were engaged principally in mopping up. There still remain a handful of British troops fighting in the Peloponnesus. But that again is only a delayii action to comolete the evacuation. O^e part of the Ger:nan claim is corroborated. The Nazis are boasting that they’ve captured an enormous amount of boo^y* & heavy supply of munitions and war material. The corroboration comes from Australia, where the War Minister said that a large booty had been sacrificed, because the Australian general had been first and not wait for munitions and instructed to remove his men armament to be taken out.fi^-^ The Nazis claim that in one day alone they wiped out one hundred British aircraft in the Battle of Greece. There appears to be some evidence of that in reports from the British side that the retiring troops had not much help from aircraft. The Nazi military spokesman declares that of those hundred planes wiped out*, in one d#y, sixty-three were destroyed on the ground. In other words, that Goeringfs air squadrons took the R.A.F. ^7 surprise in an attack on an airport. The British deny the Nazi claims that Panzer divisions and parachute troops took a huge toll of British soldiers. The German cfficial news agency, reports triumphantly that the bodies of innumerable British soldiers have been carried by the waves on the shores of Greece. But all the British and Australian accounts are agreed that the evacuation was affected successfully with ■ very little loss of life. And the big question in the Mediterranean tonight is, how soon will Hitler k**x*x*i* begin his dash for the Suez Canal, how soon will Spain be dragged in on an attack on Gibraltar? GIBRALTAR The ttord is tonight that the British Navy may withdraw temporarily from the western end of the Mediterranean. An attack on Gibraltar according to reports is now a foregone conclusion. The Rock may still remain impregnable, even against the most modern of weapons, but it could hardly serve as a naval base in case of a Nazi attack through Spain. During the Spanish Civil War, the Germans built airdromes and artillery batteries which today cover Gibraltar harbor, docks and town with a ring of steel. The only chance the British would have of not only holding Gibraltar but of making use * of it, would be for they themselves to occupy the Spanishterritory which encircles it on three sides. If the British Navy does evacuate the western Mediterranean it won't be for the first time. But it will be the first time in a hundred and fifty years. During the Napoleonic wars. Admiral Horatio Nelson informed his government that, in his words, get another mast this side of Gibraltar." That was during year blockade by the Spanish fleet. "We cannot the four- AFRICA The i^azis announce that two of their swift motorized columns have invaded Egypt, from Libya, was assumed that this was the beginning of a new intensive spearhead thrust by the Nazis and Fascists a drive for the S £ez Canal. But according to the British, the enemy only advanced some five or six miles into Egyptian territory, when there in the desert the Army of the Nile stopped,held them up. Also at Tobruk, in Libya, the Australian troops defending the port have taken the initiative and have captured many more Italian soldiers and officers — and some Germans. To the East and south the British have stormed Dessye, the last remaining Italian stronghold in Ethiopia. And the Free French troops of General De Gaulle are on the advance in French | I Somaliland. AUSTRALIA Rumblings of discontent among the people of Australia^, have been squelched. A message was cabled today to Prime Minister V> ins ton Churchill by the Acting Prime Minister of the Commonwealth. The gist of it was that Churchill has the full support of Australia, That cable was sent after a meeting of the 7«'ar Cgbinet, and the Acting Prime Minister ix* issued a statement that the government had evidence that attempts were made to send > > 4 * reuorts out from Australia which gave an entirely false impression A A A of the mood of the Australian people and the attitude of the government and Parliament. To which he added that firm steps have been taken to deal with ill-considered, ill-timed, and ill-informed I I comments. PORTSMOUTH The people of Portsmouth today were rumaging through the ruins of their homes, trying to find what was left of their belongings. The latest raid fete* the Nazis made on that naval base was the shortest, but also the severest. People throughout Britain were remarking today that the^*te*J attacks of Goering-s Corps had taken on an invasion pattern. Portsmouth is one of the principal bases of Britain's home fleet. In one section of .« to.«, >.« — uninhabitable. ».«, »»» A ----- • ..vaoeoni c barns and even fields in and children are sleeping m schools, barns ^ case the^w**1 return tonight. X * BRITISH RAIDS The Royal Air Force, for its part, was trying out a new high explosive, a particularly heavy one. They followed up their Saturday night attack on Hamburg with daylight raids f vvv yesterday. their complimentsfeo Hamburg^aisq to Emden. One pilot in a plane ten miles away from the explosion said that the bombs caused havoc that looked like a volcanic eruption. Even at ten miles away the destruction was terrific. One raid A on the big German naval base at Emden was made by a single plane. a new Sterling bomber in full daylight and from a low altitude A LI^DBuRGH Tvere’s just one spot in the United States where no commenl can be hearr on the resignation of Colonel Lindbergh from the Ariuy Reserve. That spot is the White House| President Roosevelt issued no remark whatsoever on the letter that Lindbergh addressed to him. Elsewhere, of course, the stepping out of the Flying Colonel receiving that commission in the Army Air Corps. f LindberghTs letter to the President was phrased with full has caused almost as big a sensation as the events that led to his respect to Mr. RooseveltTs high position as President and Commander-in* Chief. that capacity, Lindbergh wrote, the President^clearly implied that he, Lindbergh, was no longer of any use to this country m: as a reserve officer. Lindbergh then used these words: nIn view of other implications that you, my President and my superior officer. have made concerning my loyalty to my country, my character and my motives, I can see no honorable alternative to tendering my resignation.” Lindbergh previously said he had hoped he might exercise his rights as an American citizen to speak his mind without giving up the privilege of serving his country as an Air Corps officer. LIiNDEkhGH - 2 He declared he took this action with the utmost regret, for, he said, ’’ay relationship with the Air Corps is one of the things that has meant most to me in life.” And he added: ■’I place it second only to my right as a citizen to speak freely to my fellow countrymen.” A? was proper, Lindbergh sent his resignation to the War Department. Secretary Stimson has not yet accepted it. Ever since October, Nineteen Forty, there has been an array regulation that reserve officers on active duty cannot resign during the present emergency. However, Lindbergh is not on active ~lT~ duty. He was retired to the inactive list early this year. Tnere1 no ironclad rule to prevent Sfimso^s accepting that resignation A 'A /) and it will be entirely up to the Secretary. The specific words, by the President^which provoked Lindbergh’s resignation were hi» remarks last Friday comparing Lindbergh and ofh^r iiiol nnl,£-^a ^ OnppftrhfifldS fl&^j'HeCivll / ' \ A ' - . ^ JT .^4 4-^ fHnt- neoale with such war. Yhen he added^ha 4 r p^up mentalities were in high places where they could write and talk, LlivDBbHGB - 3 One of fi:e correspondents asjied the President why the Army had not assigned the Flying Colonel to active duty. To that Mr. Roosevelt replied that he didn’t know whether Lindbergh had resigned or not. Hence the letter of resignationy*-A*Ji A CLA ^ 7)~y ^