Herbert Hoover photo

Message to President John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers of America About a Proposed Conference of the Coal Industry.

June 30, 1931

[Released June 30, 1931. Dated June 29, 1931]

YOUR TELEGRAM conveying the request of the Executive Council of the United Mine Workers that a conference of coal operators and miners be convened by the Government was received during my absence from Washington.

The many intricate economic problems and competitive conditions existing in a majority of the bituminous coal mining districts of our country are of general knowledge and it is realized that the difficulties of the industry have been the subject of exhaustive investigation and study by Federal and State agencies and commissions, undertaken with the object of aiding those connected with, and interested in, this basic industry.

The Administration is desirous of lending every possible assistance to any constructive program put forward by operators and miners. Accordingly, I have referred the communications received from your Council and others to the Secretaries of Commerce and of Labor, and have asked them to advise me as to the present attitude of those directly concerned in the industry as to the manner in which the Government might contribute helpfully in any movement designed to advance the well-being of operators and mine-workers, as well as all others interested in the bituminous coal situation.

HERBERT HOOVER

[Mr. John L. Lewis, President, United Mine Workers of America, Indianapolis, Indiana]

Note: On June 11, 1931, the Executive Council of the United Mine Workers, meeting in Indianapolis, had adopted an appeal urging that a national conference of coal operators and miners be convened in Washington. The Commerce and Labor Departments sent letters to 160 operators asking them whether they favored the calling of a conference. When only 38 replied in the affirmative, the United Mine Workers were informed that the calling of a conference would serve no useful purpose.

Herbert Hoover, Message to President John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers of America About a Proposed Conference of the Coal Industry. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/211269

Filed Under

Categories

Attributes

Simple Search of Our Archives