The President has received a telegram from George Creel, State Director, National Emergency Council, San Francisco, advising that the International Longshoremen's Association of the Pacific Coast has voted in ratio of 100 to 1 to strike Friday morning, March 23d.
Mr. Creel's dispatch said 12,000 men "will probably quit work and whole Coast involved from Vancouver to San Diego" and added that the inevitable result "is bound to be industrial war and a crushing blow to revived prosperity of the Pacific States."
The President late today dispatched the following telegram to W. J. Lewis, President, Pacific Coast District, International Longshoremen's Association, San Francisco, California:
"In public interest I am constrained to ask you to suspend strike order effective Friday March 23d until an investigation of all matters in controversy can be made by impartial board which I will name. This Board will be empowered to conduct hearings and make recommendations as a basis for peaceful settlement of differences by negotiation. I earnestly ask your cooperation and will appreciate an immediate reply."
Franklin D. Roosevelt, White House Statement on Possible Longshoremen's Strike. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/208517