Name of speaker: W. Julian Parton
Date of birth: 1917/37
Topic: plan to save the Lehigh Navigation Coal Company
Date of speech: June 1954
Speech location: unknown (radio address)
Speech length: 9 minutes
Time span discussed: 1954
Summary: The final closing of the LNCC was a difficult time for all involved. The last president, W. Julian Parton, who rose through to ranks to lead the company, gave this recorded address to employees and interested listeners in an effort to record the conditions that may have kept the company alive. It is an interesting artifact of the times as the raw battle between union and management is witnessed between the lines of the speech. Mr. Parton wrote at length about the parent company’s demise after he retired in the Death of a Great Company.
Time markers:
00:00 – explanation to employees of the dire financial situation of the Lehigh Navigation Coal Company; his original plan to save the company
01:40 – plan misrepresented, time line of plan
03:20 – plan to maintain deep mining, avoid strip mining; asks for cooperation of miners, employees and management; specific actions listed including no maintenance, new methods, no illegal activities, reduction of mine committee actions
06:00 – last ditch stand to remain open, maintain employment
06:58 – United Mine Workers rejected plan, made no counteroffer
08:05 – no money for maintenance; telling Board soon plan failed
W. Julian Parton died March 4, 2014. Click for his obituary.
