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Re: JOHNN L. LiwIS, ET AL. INTERVIEW WITH ears ree carr Springfield, Illinois, Ps was interviewed at ee et 1943 by Special Agents and ny aa . wy wat? and wil ES Oey and widerstands 2nglish very well and will CES ULLy if necessary. He stated he has no criminal record. He furnished the fol- lowing signe? statement. "September 14, 1943. Springfield, I11, f "I make the following statement freely and voluntarily and errs canmmemaramact who have iden- tified themseles to me as special Agents 0 e federal Bureau of Investigation. No threats or promise been made to me to obtain this statement. ates citizen in Springfield, Ill., in "l began to work in Line/abou and quit working there in 1942, Before 1932 I was a member of the United Mine dorkers, but I never was an officer of that wnion or any other union. In 1932 I was in favor of the switch from U.#.W. to the frogressive. Mine “orkers of america, I thought the P,M.A. would be a better — union, After 1932 I was satisfied with P,M.A. and I war-ted nothing to do with U,Nyn, "as I recall the purchase of diine A by Elshoff was announced in the newspapers, The change in management in iAne A did not bother me, I did not think it would affect me or my job. Conditions between P.inA. and Mr, ikyan always had been 0O,K, "io one ever asked me to join the U.M.w. prior to the pur- chase of «ine A by Hlshoff, When Elshoff Opught the mine, 1 had the idea that he would try to change the union there because i had heard of the trouble at kine 5 between the minagement and F.M.a, ard I also heard that tishoff favored U.M.n. "I heard rmors that “lshoff was going to work Mine A through ‘ Mine B, I believe that this was being talked about to force Mine A Moy men to join the U,l.s.3 this was the pressure being used on the se miners in Mine A, I never heard any talk that Elshoff would open Hine A i only if the miners switched to U.ilW, shen I heard that Slshoff bought Mine A, 1 believed that sooner or later the miners in Mine A would 5 have to join U.M.ii. to work in the mine, I had this idea because of i , the trouble that had occurred at wine ©, and because of Elshoff's ' general reuption of being pro U,M.W, - 283 -