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agree er ae RE: JOHN L. LEWIS, ET AL his hom ent INTERVIEW WITH ay. Springfield, Illinois, was jntery at. cooperetive, and it is believed That he would make a good witness on vhe Mine A situation because he spoke at one of the meetings at PMA Hall on this situation. ES °° no known criminal record, He furnished the following signod ste vement; "Springfield, Ill. September 19, 1943 - +; , Ser incfield, 21. ~? # do volunterily mske the following statement to specinl agents ere arr rrsaret No threats or promises have been made to cause me to o this statement. I started working in the mines about joining UbiA at me « hove worked at Mine A off and on since as a Giggere I swiched over to PMA in 1932 along with all the miners at Mine A. I preferred PMA beceuse I had more to say amid could vote. "I was bor "I learned about the sale of Mine A from the newspaper, and I thought that I was in for the same kind of trouble that the miners had hed over at Mine B. I didn't know what to expect as I heard thet they were going to pull the cool of mine A out through Mine B. I also heard talk to the effect that Mine A would remain closed until all the men joined UMA. Ate TOG bine at DI ere the situation caused iS ‘ a ee Sr eee WT attended one MEG6ting ot PMA hall bythe sale of Mince A wos discussed. I spoke at that meeting ond told the men to find out what Elshoff was going to do before they ewitched over to UNA. Seems to me that « conmittee was oppointed. It seemed to me that the feeling was in the air already that the men were going to awing UMA. seemed to be leaders in this ringing up something unreasonable or radical switch. 18 group wos always when we wore under PMA. "YT didn't attend any more meetings beceuse I didn't like the way mio things were boing run. I heard tron Sin that UMTA was going to ‘work mo over! bocnuse I stuck up for PMA. oy "The next time I went to o meeting was at United Mino Workers Hall where I wos told thet it was tho Inst chance to sign up without on initia- i tion fee. The majority had alrendy swung over and there wos nothing elec to do if you wanted to work at kine A. The men joined because many of the e 442 =