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him. I just didn't think it was up to me to do things underhandedly like that. I didn't want to give Lewis extra notice. That isn't the way to operate - to give Lewis advance notice.
I had, of course, been begging Lewis all day and all the day before to see that the miners got back to work on Monday morning and to call off the strike. Since the mines were to be seized we didn't want any trouble. He declared a truce for fifteen days. That was his way of coping with the situation. Lewis does this always and it annoys people awfully, but I guess it's a good way to operate from the union's point of view. He never takes any definitive action except when he calls the executive council of the union together. The executive council has never been known to oppose him, but he always calls them together. Of course, it's a device that gives him a second think, but it is also a device that gives the miners confidence in him, because the executive council is made up of the district leaders of the mines from all over the country. He never signs a contract, never calls off a strike, never does anything, never takes a modification in the demand without calling the executive council together. Sometimes it makes you pretty irritated when the negotiations have reached a point where they're all ready to agree and Lewis agrees in principle, but
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