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ba tees . . ; . a , A T olsen * * rT Ao . . a oe ne ' . a a . logs s " " Mr. Goffey * Mr. Glavi Pu Ff. * ’ a Rosen el — 2 , FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Yor. Treey fe ; Mr. Garaon,_ = ie Mr. Hendon __ ¢ VEMORANDUM FOR THE DIRECTOR : K Mr. Quinn Tamm_ o RE: JOHN L. LEWIS, ET AL Tete. Room Mr. Nease =< Qa B i CIVIL RIGHTS AND DOMESTT Reference is made to my memoranda to you dated September wigs Ge 8, 1943, and September 13, 1943, respectively, setting forth brief resume Ee: of the investigation in the captioned case to date. You will recal on the Bureau is conducting an extensive investigation in this case atthe re- ae quest of the Attorney General to determine if John L. and certain other - officers of t nited Mine Workers of America and Carl Elsnoff, owner of _ Aine B. Coal Company, Springfield, Illinois, conspired during the years 1937 - "to 1941 in violation of the ciwiI rights statutes to injure and oppress Elshoff's employees in the free axercise of the rights secured to them under ' pate September 18, 2%3 Mr. Mumford : Mr. Harbo b7 . Mr. Btarke an the National Labor Relations Act. It is alleged that Lewis paic the sum of ee $225,000 to Elshoff during the years 1937 to 1941 with the intent to induce Elshoff to impose unfair labor practices upon his employees, who were at that time members of the rival union, the Frogressive Mine Workers of America. INVESTIGATION AND INTERVIEWS WITH MINERS To date the Sprincfield Office has submitted reports reflecting the interviews of approximately 270 individuals who were employees of subject Elshoff during the pertinent period of the investigation of this case. These individuals, for the most part, did not participate actively in the labor difficulties as they related to negotiations and union organizational work. A review of the signed statements taken from these 270 miners indicates that approximately 163 gave in-~ formation that could be considered very favorable to the Sovermment's case and all might well be considered potential witnesses in this matter. It also appears that all of these individuds favored and still are partial to the Progressive Mine Workers Union. However, 4 large mumber of them necessarily joined the United Mine Workers Union in order to preserve their jobs or avoid physical violence. This would indicate that these individuals were aware of the fact that there WV mipht have been a deprivation of their rights, The 27Q yp ndividuals mentioned, 0 course, do not include the 14 alleged spies and .gaeth other individuals connected with the UMY at the present time. - & “> - OF. Seventy-eight of the 270 miners interviewed geve ipformagion thak : could be considered of little value, being vague and hesitast in their comme nis, It should be noted that a number of these indivicuals were 16S 3" tad or write English, and therefore possessed little information of value to this investigation. Others indicated a desire to stay out of troversy. -threea of the 270 miners interviewed gave n ormation Ox over TS not apparent from the signed statements given {INFORMATIVE MEMORANDUM - NOT TO Ba SENT TO FILSS SECTION} | eee wees = = nnd ay RES MT TS ate epee any