ZERO HOUR

Roared John L. Lewis to the soft-coal operators: "Friends, Romans, millionaires...It is a safe assumption that without a negotiated contract the miners will not trespass on your property on April 1." He did not say "strike" --he had joined in the no-strike pledge given by labor shortly after Pearl Harbor. But his meaning was clear: he planned to turn his demand for a $2-a-day wage increase into an all-out assault on the Administration's Maginot Line against inflation. Behind the line the Administration worked frantically on its defenses. First move: a delaying action designed to gain another month for negotiation. For if John Lewis gets his raise, he will have breached the War Labor Board's "Little Steel formula," which limits raises to 15% since Jan. 1, 1941.

Ready to move into this gap are the vast forces of the C.I.O. and A.F. of L., which could not afford to stand idly by while Lewis gained a political victory. Also ready to pour through the wall, at another point, is the farm bloc. Thus Lewis may spearhead a pitched battle against the Administration cost-of-living controls. For days, appeasement seemed to be the probable policy: indications were that the Administration might add 5% to the Little Steel formula in a strategic withdrawal. But as the week began the Administration firmed up: WLB voted to hold on hard behind the Little Steel formula. To this move, Franklin Roosevelt, in whose hands the grand strategy rests, gave approval.

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