The coal strikeand its slow strangulation of industryseemed to end in the time it takes to flick a switch. Railroads recalled most of some 25,000 furloughed workers, restored curtailed schedules, were back to nearly normal in two days. Across the U.S., in the nick of time, manufacturers canceled orders for mass layoffs of more than 750,000. The Ford Motor Co., which had laid off 20,000, promptly called them back. The other auto companies, turning out cars at a postwar peak of 96,519 cars a week, canceled their shutdown orders, kept producing almost without interruption. But the strike may well...
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