Old Lion's Roar

At 78, John Llewellyn Lewis still has a thick, flowing mane and a fearsome roar. He no longer bares his claws at Presidents, Congress and the federal courts; six years have passed since he last called his United Mine Workers out on a major strike. But last week, old John L. showed that his roar can still jolt the coal industry. The mere threat of a U.M.W. strike was enough to make unionized soft-coal operators accept costly new contract terms, topped by a $2-a-day wage boost, which will bring the union miner's standard pay to $24.25 a day. John L. has generally accepted labor-saving machinery and consequent boosts in productivity, but these have not been enough, soft-coal companies implied in announcing that prices would go up after Jan. 1. Economists guessed that the increases would set the pattern for hard coal prices, would be reflected in higher prices in steel and eventually through the rest of the economy.

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