WASHINGTON--President Roosevelt's zero-hour efforts to avert a walkout of 53,000 captive coal miners on Monday appeared to have failed tonight as conferences between steel executives and mine leaders collapsed with no settlement of their union shop controversy.

The disputants will file separate reports with the President tomorrow on their inability to agree. In urging them on Friday to resume discussions of the point at issue, Mr. Roosevelt asked that they report to him that they have agreed or are making progress toward an agreement.

The next move appeared to be up to the government. The army reportedly is ready to take over the pits. The President is believed to have discussed the coal crisis yesterday with Secretary of the War Henry L. Stimson and Major General Robert C. Richardson, Commander of the Seventh Army Corps stationed at Birmingham, Alabama, in the heart of the captive industry.

No responsible official, however, has indicated yet how the government would operate the mines if its seized them. There has been some speculation that the President might appeal over the heads of the union leaders to the miners to return to work.

In other quarters, it was suggested that Mr. Roosevelt might attack the problem through legislation.