Evening star. [volume], January 11, 1937, Page A-9, Image 9

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Wagner Labor
Law Ignored
in Strike
Observer Sees Sponsors
Embarrassed in First
Real Test.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
IF THE Supreme Court should In
the near future declare the na
tional labor relations act uncon
stitutional and make of it a dead
letter, the protest that would go up
from "liberals,” pro-laborites, New
Dealers and radicals would echo from
coast to coast.
Yet today in
the midst of the
worst tie-up in
production the
Nation has wit
nessed in the re- j
covery period, j
namely, a strike |
* paralysis of the \
motor industry, j
the New Deal it- |
self has j u s t {
made a dead let- ;
ter of the na- |
tional labor rela- j
tions act, and in i
effect has con
signed it to the
David Lawrence.
archives, alongside of other docu
ments that have outlived their use
fulness.
If ever a statute was made to order
for a strike situation such as is keep
ing tens of thousands of willing work
men from their johs in the motor
plants, it is the national labor rela
tions act, usually known as the Wag
ner law.
It is true that "big business” dis
likes the law and believes it to be
unconstitutional, but it is the law of
the land till the courts declare it
otherwise. President Roosevelt stood
back of the measure, and it embodies
what he considers an enlightened and
liberal interpretation of the obliga
tions of the National Government. It
is the kind of law which conservatives
opposed because they believed labor
relations are local and should not be
Interfered with by governmental au
thority except to apply mediation or
conciliation.
Declines to Use Power.
But while the Wagner act is spe
cific and its provisions directly touch
the motor strike, the National Labor
Relations Board itself has indulged in
what might, for lack of better term,
be called a "sit-down strike.” It has
declined to use its powers to bring
to the attention of the country, if not
the courts, the basic data so necessary
for the American people to have in
order to find out who is responsible
for the hardships and suffering w'hich
the tie-up of the motor industry has
begun to inflict on innocent employes,
who want to work but cannot because
of the conspiracy of a minority to ob
struct the collective bargaining want
ed by a majority in various plants
of the industry.
Says the preamble of the Wagner
law:
"It is hereby declared to be the
policy of the United States to eliminate
the causes of certain substantial ob
structions to the free flow of com
merce and to mitigate and eliminate
these obstructions when they have
occurred by encouraging the practice
and procedure of collective bargaining
and by protecting the exercise by
workers of full freedom of association,
self-organization and designation of
representatives of their own choosing,
and for the purpose of negotiating the
terms and conditions of their employ
ment or other mutual aid or protec
tion.”
Law Answers Question.
But how are workers to be pro
tected in the exercise of their “full
freedom of association, self-organiza
tion and designation of representa
tives of their own choosing”? Well,
the law itself directly answers the
question in the following provision:
"Representatives designated or se
lected for the purpose of collective
bargaining by the majority of the em
ployes in a unit appropriate for such
purposes, shall be the exclusive repre
sentatives of all the employes in such
unit for the purpose of collective bar
gaining in respect to rates of pay.
wages, hours of employment, or other
conditions of employment.”
But what is the “unit” to be? John
L. Lewis and his associates say the
unit is a union embracing all work
ers in the motor industry. The Ameri
can Federation of Labor says the unit
must be the workers in each particu
lar craft. The General Motors Corp.
says it will bargin collectively with
the workers In any given plant or di
vision. Who then is to decide espe
cially as Mr. Lewis’ chief demand Is
that his organization be recognized
as the “sole bargaining agency”?
Board Has Power.
Clearly this question was foreseen i
and anticipated by the men who wrote
the law, for they put into it this pro
vision:
“The National Labor Relations
Board shall decide in each case wheth
er. in order to Insure to employes the
lull benefit of their right to self
organization and to collective bar
gaining and otherwise to effectuate
the policies of this act, the unit ap
propriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining shall be the employer unit,
craft unit, plant unit, or subdivision
thereof.”
Nothing could be plainer than the
words of the statute which pointedly
tells the board It “shall” designate
the appropriate unit for collective
bargaining whenever labor disputes
•rise.
But, it may be argued, that the
board has no way of determining what
Is or is not an appropriate unit from
the standpoint of the.employes. There
Is no better way to learn than by fol
lowing the procedure also clearly out
lined In the Wagner law, which says:
“Whenever a question afTecting com
merce arises concerning the represen
tation of employes, the board may in
vestigate such controversy and certify
to the parties, in writing, the name
or names of the representatives that
have been designated or selected.
“In any such investigation the board
•hall provide for an appropriate hear
ing upon due notice, either in con
junction with a proceeding under sec
tion 10 or otherwise, and may take a
•ecret ballot of employes, or utilize
•ny other suitable method to ascer
tain such representatives.”
Can Name Agency.
It might be contended by some
observers that an election to deter
mine the wishes of a majority of em
ployes cannot be held during a strike,
but the answer is that the Labor
Board has already intervened in other
■trike situations and ordered an elec
tion. It is true the Labor Board can
not construe the law in any way “so
as to interfere with or impede or
diminish in any way the right to
strike," but the right to strike has
already been exercised and the prob
News Behind the News
Many "Ifs” Found in New Roosevelt Budget and
Year-End Balance Is Doubtful.
BT PAUL MALLON.
THE news behind President Roosevelt's budget Is not how far off
balance It Is, or bow much he will be able to cut relief. Only vague
guesses can be made on these points now.
The one sure thing is that the strongly expanded Federal Gov
ernment activities he has set up in the past four years generally are to be
continued, and even further expanded in many lines. It is not an economy
budget. It is a strong central Government budget. The appropriations
sought for the regular Government departments represent further small
increases over this year and very
substantial boosts above last year.
Its accurate tone may be found
in a comparison of proposed ex
penditures. This year the Govern
ment is spending about $7,900,000,
000. (The budget calls it $8,500,
000,000, but includes about $600,
000,000 for the bonus.) Estimates
for next year are $6,100,000,000,
plus no more than $1,500,000,000
(he hopes) for relief, or a total of
$7,600,000,000. Net savings would be $300,000,000, which Is less than what
he expects to save on relief alone.
In other words, Mr. Roosevelt is not balancing the budget. He
is budgeting the balance. He is saving a little on relief, but not
arbitrarily cutting it, and, outside of relief, he seems to be estab
lishing a permanent seven-billion-dollar Federal Government.
Note—White House friends capable of explaining Mr. Roosevelt’s
theories say he is not really deeply interested in economy or a strictly bal
anced budget, but likes the idea of continued strong taxation to finance a
big central Government of approximately present proportions on a more
or less permanent basis. He can safely pursue this purpose because the
increased taxes are rolling money into the Treasury faster than Mr. Mor
genthau can count it.
The growth of Government contemplated by the new budget may be
measured by funds allowed the various departments. >
The largest increase is for national defense. Last year the budget
gave $764,000,000 for the Army and Navy; this year, $888,000,000; next year,
$981,000,000. The net increase is $217,000,000 or, roughly, one-third more
than last year.
The Department of Agriculture is up about 65 per cent in the same
three-year period; Interior, 20 per cent; Commerce, 60 per cent; Justice,
Labor and State, about 5 per cent, and Treasury, 12 per cent.
The increases represent all phases of varied Government work, new
bureaus, more money for old bureaus, transfer of some emergency bureaus
to the regular departments, increased salaries, etc.
Three years ago Mr. Roosevelt submitted a budget, saying, “We should
plan to have a definitely balanced budget for the third year of recovery.”
That would have been this year.
Two years ago Mr. Roosevelt offered a budget “which balanced except
for expenditures to give work to the unemployed.” The deficit which re
sulted was $4,763,841,642,48.
A year ago Mr. Roosevelt said, “w’ithout the item of relief the budget
Is in balance.” The deficit is now being estimated at $2,652,653,774.
This year Mr. Roosevelt says he will have a surplus of $1,135,000,000,
without relief or debt retirement. If history repeats, the deficit should be
about a billion.
Washington neusmen suffered acutely from budget bcfuddle
ment. At one place in his message Mr. Roosevelt said flatly the
budget ivas balanced: later on. he admitted it was unbalanced: and
if you added up his figures, the indicated deficit was around 400
million dollars. No one knew what to call it. No flat statement
could be made unless preceded with an “if.”
Apparently, this is the main purpose of budgets these days, not only in
the United States but in foreign nations. The era of serious budget making
seems to have passed. Times are too uncertain to permit accurate total esti
mates of expenditures or income so far in advance and few authorities
take them very seriously.
Evidence of the hazards lies in the trouble which Mr. Roosevelt has
had with his budget estimates of the last few years. He was fairly good on
receipts, overestimating about
$300,000,000 for 1936 and underes
timating $200,000,000 for 1937. But
his original 1936 expenditure esti
mates was $1,200,000,000 too low
and $1,800,000,000 off for 1937.
Congress is always passing bonuses
or something.
The Treasury seems to differ
with the Federal Reserve Board
about boom expectations. Mr.
Morgentnaus estimates do not be
lieve there is going to be any. Their estimates on business for the year
beginning next July 1 could be called extremely conservative by compari
son, and they claim to know more about it than any one.
Their budget estimate indicated they expect only about 11 per cent
more activity in the stock market in the coming fiscal year. They say
they anticipate about 9 per cent increase in issues of securities, bond trans
fers end deeds of conveyance.
Their gasoline tax estimate is up only 4.7 per cent; autos, 4.1 per cent;
telephones, telegraph and radio, 6 per cent.
Their general estimates average out to about a 5 per cent increase
in business over this fiscal year, which will certainly surprise many.
(Copyright, 1037.)
lem now Is one of negotiating a set
tlement and the chief point at issue
is which unit or units shall be the
collective bargaining agency or agen
cies. The strike can go on, but the
determination of a method of assur
ing the workers freedom of choice can
also go on contemporaneously and
aid in ending the tie-up if the Na
tional Labor Board wishes to carry
out the policies of the Wagner law.
Then why hasn’t the National La
bor Relations Board obeyed the plain
implications, if not obligations, of
the law that created it? Nobody in
Washington really knows, but the
prevailing Impression is that the La
bor Board, even though supposedly an
independent commission, would not
dare to act without a signal or cue
from President Roosevelt.
It has also been rumored—and this
seems most unfair—that the Presi
dent is embarrassed by the fact that
John L. Lewis gave him intensive
support in the last campaign, not
only through widespread electioneer
ing in pivotal States, but through
publicly announced contributions of
unprecedented size to the New Deal
campaign fund.
The Federal statutes take into ac
count how dangerous it is for cor
porations of employers to make con
tributions to campaign funds, and
this is strictly forbidden, but it is not
yet against the law for a labor union
to make a big contribution.
Roosevelt Accused of Fear.
Mr. Roosevelt is being accused of
fear of Mr. Lewis’ attacks should it
become necessary for the Government
to enforce the Wagner law, but this,
too, does an injustice to the President
who has shown himself courageous
enough to attack the Supreme Court,
as well as the big business man and
"economic royalists" who happened to
disagree with him.
The oniy reason left to explain why
the Wagner law is not being enforced
is that the statute has been found
embarrassing to its own sponsors in
the first real industrial dispute of
far-reaching proportions since the act
was passed, in the Summer of 1935,
when it was jammed through Congress
under pressure of all labor organiza
tions and when they, themselves, did
not anticipate what the dispute be
tween the craft unions of the A. F.
of L. type and the industrial union
organization fostered by John L.
Lewis and his allies, could mean to
the cause of true collective bargain
ing. It never seemed to be taken
seriously in 1935 that “sit-down”
strikes, for instance, if legalized could
be "obstructions to the free flow of
commerce” which could cause "dim
inution of employment and wages
in such volume as substantially to im
pair or disrupt the market for goods
flowing from or into the channels of
commerce”—words of a now-forgotten
preamble of a now-forgotten law.
(Copyright. 1937.4
SPECULATION RIFE
IN HARVARD YARD
Students Discuss Chances of
Franklin D. Roosevelt to Grad
uate This Summer.
B* the Associated Press.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., January 11.—
Speculation stirred in the famous Har
vard yard yesterday on Franklin D.
Roosevelt jr.’s’ chances of graduating
from the university this Summer.
The President’s son, ill with a
streptococcic throat infection and
sinus trouble since before Thanksgiv
ing, has gone to Washington and plans
to leave shortly for Florida to make
a complete recovery.
When he left the hospital he said
he still thinks he can graduate, al
though "it's going to be a very full
Spring.”
Under the system in vogue at Har
vard a student in his senior year
faces, in May. general examinations
on the subject in which he is major
ing, are held. At that time he is ex
amined in everything in his special
field over the four-year course.
Examinations also come in January
of the last year. Franklin missed
these, but he will have a chance to
make them up in April.
This gives him a certain amount of
time to concentrate on them and he
has indicated he plans to begin while
in Florida.
FOSTER CRITICALLY ILL
Former Washington Base Ball Star
Still Unconscious.
The condition of Eddie Foster,
former Washington base ball player,
was described as “still serious and un
changed” at Casualty Hospital today.
He was reported still unconscious.
Foster was found Thursday by the
highway near Beltsville, Md.. some
distance from his car, which had
crashed through a signboard.
, Right! The cough syrup that
CLINGS & COUGH ZONE
"AND IT CONTAINS)
VITAMIN A"
rWl vitamin ralm tho rviMantv of I
thomatoaimtmhranotofthoaoioaad V
throat to told and couth Moctloau J
—i—>
The right medicine for a cough
(due to a cold) is one that does its
work where the cough is lodged...
that is, in the cough zone. That’s
why Smith Brothers made their
cough syrup thick, heavy, dinging.
It cling* to the cough zone. There it
does three things: 1) soothes sore
membranes, 2) throws a protective
film over the irritated area, S) helps
to loosen phlegm. This is the sen*
sible way to treat coughs. Get
Smith Brothsia’I 85s and 60s,
CTHE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in
The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its
readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among
themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s.
Labor Unions and Law
Wagner Act Is Not Accomplishing Declared Objective
of Diminishing Cause of Disputes.
BY DOROTHY THOMPSON.
IF THE Automobile Workers’ Union
has a majority of the employes
of General Motors with them, the
directors of the company cannot
refuse to accept their union as the
sole agency for collective bargaining
unless the company is prepared to
defy the law of the land. The com
pany nas no le
gal right to eay
categorically, as
it is doing, that
it will only nego
tiate with the
union "on behalf
of its own mem
bers.” Given cer
tain c i r c u in
stances, the com
pany is com
pelled by law to
treat the union
as the spokesman
for the workers
of the industry.
On the other
Dorothy Thompson,
hand, Mr. Lewis' union has as yet no
legal right to claim to speak for all
the employes. He must first establish
that claim.
The moral position of the company |
would have been better if its directors
had stood on the basis of the Wagner j
labor relations act, which is the law.
The union's position would be im
pregnable If It could claim a majority
of the workers. The company, how
ever, is not appealing to the labor re
lations act because, we guess, it does
not like the law, and hopes that it
will soon be challenged in the courts
and proved unconstitutional. And the
union is using some provisions of the
act to protect its activities, but is not
calling for the application of other
clauses, notably section 9-C. because
it doubts its power to demonstrate
a really strong numerical following.
Law Unsatisfactory.
The interest of the public is to
have the rights of employers and em
ployes in the matter of organization
rights unambiguously defined by law,
and administered in an impartial
spirit. For the interest of the pub
lic is to prevent strife and anarchy.
The Wagner labor relations act is
unsatisfactory in this respect. It
leaves loopholes and gives the na
tional labor relations board wide in
terpretative powers. This Is unwise
and dangerous. A board dominated
I by an administration hostile to labor
: might interpret the act one way. An
! other board might use the act to as
! sist the organization of the C. i. O.
But it is not the function of Govern
ment to delegate to a private indi
vidual or group the right to organize
the employes of the Nation’s indus
tries. If the Government Is not care
ful this is what it can drift into do
ing. Gen. Johnson was the Frank
enstein monster of the first Roosevelt
' administration, and it will be too
bad If John Lewis should succeed to
this role in the second. Too bad all
around.
|
The Wagner labor relations act
was passed "to diminish the causes
of labor disputes burdening or ob
structing interstate commerce." In
pursuance of that object, it estab
lished the right of workers to organ
ize in trade unions, without interfer
ence from employers, and provided
for the appointment of the National
Labor Relations Board of three per
sons at salaries of $10,000 a year, giv
ing them power to settle certain
classes of disputes. The board can
decide, for instance, whether the unit
appropriate for the purposes of col
lective bargaining, i.e., of trade union
organization, shall be the whole in
dustry, the plant or any subdivision
thereof. This is a very wide power,
indeed, and puts the board, I should
think, in an extremely awkward posi
tion as between contending trade
union theories. The board is empow
ered to investigate and finally to de
cide and "certify to the parties (em
ployes and employers) in writing the
name or names of the employe rep
resentatives selected.”
Secret Ballot Provided.
The act suggests that this decision
be based upon a "secret ballot of the
employes," taken not by the union
or the employers, but under the super
vision of the board, under conditions
determined by the board. But the
law does not compel this procedure.
“The board may take a secret ballot,”
says section 9-C, "or utilize other
suitable method to ascertain such
representatives." What, beside a se
cret ballot, might be a suitable method
is not defined or suggested.
But one procedure of the act Is
clearly stated. That is paragraph (a)
of the section quoted. "Representa
tives designated or selected for pur
poses of collective bargaining by the
majority of the employes * • * shall be
the exclusive representatives of all of
the employes in such a unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining.”
Thus, if the union can persuade a ma
jority of the workers to join them its
position under the present law Is Im
pregnable.
But, of course, the issue Is not as
simple as all that. Even were a plebi
scite called, the board could deter
mine the conditions under which it
was held, and since the act appar
ently does not define with total clar
ity what constitutes a majority, the
board again has powers which are not
exactly judicial. In the Camden strike
of the R. C. A., called last Fall by an
other union of the C. I. O., a plebiscite
was eventually held, after a strike of
considerable violence. Nine thousand,
seven hundred, fifty-two employes
were declared by the board to be
eligible to vote, and of these only 3,016
voted for the union, but the board
called that a majority, because they
represented a majority of those who
voted at alii There is nothing in the
act that so defines a majorty. The
company ignored the union's claim
on the basis of this interpretation of
the plebiscite to act as the sole bar
gaining agency for all 9,000 men, and
it now remains for the courts to de
cide. if the union takes the issue there,
which it has not yet done.
Not Demanding Ballot.
In Detroit the union is not de
manding a ballot. Perhaps it remem
bers that in the Fall of 1934, when the
N. R. A. was functioning, the larger
section of the motor industry was
polled. At this time the American
Federation of Labor was actively or
ganizing in the field, encouraged by
section 7-A. A threatening strike was
averted by the President’s automobile
settlement, and the appointment of
the Automobile Labor Board. This
board supervised a poll which resulted
in 68 6 per cent voting for no union at
all, 13.3 per cent for the employes’ as
sociations tso-called company unions)
and only 12.9 per cent for any A. F.
of L. union, 5.2 per cent of the ballots
being blank or void. The A. F. of L.
unions formed at the time eventually
revolted from their parent and joined
Mr. Lewis’ C. I. O.
The chief problem of the trade
unions is not the employers, but the
workers. The unions claim intimida
tion and espionage on the part of the
employers. Some of their accusations
in some industries are Justified. The
racket of the labor spy has already
been commented on in these columns,
and law should abolish a practice not
tolerated anywhere else in the demo
cratic world. But the apathy of Amer
ican workers toward unions is not so
simply explicable.
Revolutionary Tactic.
Failing a strong numerical support
of the workers, the union naturally
tries to establish itself under the more
ambiguous portions of the act, de
pending upon the good will of the
board and upon the union's political
influence with the administration
which it helped to elect—as large em
ployers have, In the past, counted on
their political influence with other
administrations. And depending, also,
upon the good old strategy of force.
The sit-down strike furnishes them
with a remarkable Instrument. By It
a handful of men can disorganize an
industry. Its emergence is historically
significant, for it is essentially a revo
lutionary tactic—that of the coup
d'etat, as opposed to the process of re
form and change by persuasion—the
essence of revolutionary action being
to capture a situation by a disci
plined minority. For the employers,
if the strikers harden, It is a most
embarrassing tactic to meet. The
forcible ejection of the sitters means
violence; violence means the Inflam
mation of public feeling. Therefore
the better strategy for the company
is to close the plant. Workers on the
streets may be more susceptible to or
ganization by the union or they may
not. The course of the war will de
termine that.
One thing, though, is clear. The
labor relations act is not accomplish
ing its declared objective of “dimin
ishing the causes of labor disputes.”
No law will accomplish that purpose
which does not more clearly define
rights plus procedures, ideas plus
plans, and which does not also clearly
define and limit the powers of the
board which administers it, so that
the board is a tribunal and not a leg
islative body.
(CODTrlfht. 1937.)
MRS. MEYER TO SPEAK
Will Appear on New York Town
Hall Program.
Mrs Eugene Meyer of Washington,
who is also chairman of the Westches
ter County Recreation Commission, will
participate in a panel discussion on
"Should All Federal Employes Be Un
der Civil Service” at the Town Hall,
New York, at 9:30 p.m. Thursday.
Other speakers will include Secre
tary of the Interior Ickes, Luther C.
Steward, president of the National
Federation of Federal Employes, and
Dr. Thurman Stoner, dean of the Uni
versity of Buffalo Law School.
Economist to Speak.
Sir George Paish, English econ
omist, will speak on “Peace and Per
manent Recovery” Friday, January
22, at 8:30 p.m., under auspices of
the Carnegie Endowment for Inter
national Peace, at the institution’s
administration building, Sixteenth and
P streets.
Woman Dies of Burns.
Janie Herron, 65, colored, 1215
Fourth street southwest, died in
Casualty Hospital last night of bums
received January 8. Her dress was
set afire as she reached across a
stove at her home.
Cogswell Chairs...Cl 1.50
Fireside Chairs.14.50
Have Tour npholsterinc done rlcht and nut back on its proper lines and
proper shape by our skilled mechanics who have been with us for
years. While spendlnc money, cet tho best workmanship you can.
Chair Caneing, Porch Rockers Splinted
Notice! Summer Prices Still Prevail!. I
Duo to tho /act that wo want to hoop all our men work- I
ing, wo mtill offer these low pricot. |
CLAY A. ARMSTRONG
MEL 5558 **•»» MEt.2062 J*
* A.
This Changing World
Mobilization in Full Swing, With Another World
War Apparently Inevitable.
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.
HOW Europe Is going to manage to keep out of another war nobody
quite knows. Fleets are being mobilized and rushed to the Medi
terranean; armies are being concentrated at strategic points:
air forces are being massed. In a word, a general mobilization is
In full swing Just now. Yet, diplomats continue to be optimistic. They say
that nothing wUl happen in the end and that the display of Franco
Brltish force—some 320,000 tons of warships are In the Mediterranean—
will be sufficient to bring Hitler into line and make him pipe down.
* * * *
To an ordinary man it is difficult to understand on what this optimism
is based. A year ago there was a
similar display'd naval force in
the Eastern Mediterranean, when
the British sent their entire fleet to
frighten Mussolini into submission.
Mussolini refused to be cowed,
threatened the British with war
should they Are on Italian ships or
endeavor to blockade the coasts of
Italy; the men-of-war remained in
that section of the world for several
months, until the Italians finished
their conquest of the Mediterranean—then went home without having fired
a shot or Influenced II Duce's conquest plans.
* * * *
There is, of course, a different situation today. The German navy is
less powerful than the Italian and is far away from its bases. The in
filtration of German soldiers in the Spanish Morocco is not official. The
men wear Franco’s uniforms and can still claim that they are mercenaries
hired by the Nationalist generalissimo. The fortifications which are being
erected now at Ceuta and Mellila can be described as Spanish fortifica
tions. On what grounds the French and the British can make a casus
belli out of the presence of those Germans in the Spanish possessions in
North Africa is difficult to conceive. It is recalled that the arrival of a
single German gur.boat at Agadir—the Panther—in 1911 almost created
a war. History might repeat itself
The arrival of the Panther scared the European potters then
into a conference. The conference postponed the outbreak of the
World War for eight years. But in those days international con
ferences were more or less of a novelty. They had not lost their
power and had not been as discredited as they are these days.
* * * *
There is a vague possibility that the result of the present new tension
created by the presence of German marines in the Spanish Morocco will
bring about another conference. But what the conferees could offer to
make Hitler less pugnacious is difficult to predict.
The British are quite willing to seek some sort of a compromise with
der Fuehrer—at least until Great Britain’s war preparedness is completed.
But the French are getting impatient; they feel that they have given in
to Germany so much that any further abdication of their treaty rights
will make the Germans more cocky instead of appeasing them. They say:
“Give the Germans your finger and they will ask for the whole hand.”
France is willing to discuss with the Reich ways and means to avoid
another war, but the French government wants Germany to give up com
pletely her aggressive ideas. Blum would like to buy off Germany, but he
does not want a temporary solution.
* * « *
But whatever diplomats are doing at this moment is o] little
consequence. The naked truth is that warships of four nations
are now gathered in the Mediterranean with decks clear for action
and live shells in their holds that the nervous tension among the
European people has reached a breaking point and everything is
possible.
It is immaterial how much oil is being poured on a tempestuous sea;
oil alone will not make the waves -—
subside and save a sinKing ship.
And that is the true picture of Eu
nope in 1937.
* * * *
Acting Secretary of State R.
Walton Moore is the best denial to
Mussolini's theory that no man
after 55 years of age can be of any
use as an executive official.
Judge Moore is over three score
and ten; yet there are few people
in me &iaie Department wno are capaDie or naraer sustained wort
than the Acting Secretary. These days, when the State Department is
swamped writh telegrams and telephone calls from abroad, when there are
a thousand and one questions demanding the immediate attention of the
head of that department, the judge, chewing the stub of a broken cigar,
remains unruffled, unduly optimistic, and finds time to attend to every
problem submitted to him. He comes to his office early in the morning,
eats the lunch at his desk and leaves the department late in the afternoon.
There must be something wrong with Mussolini's ideas about men over 50,
or may be the Italian men who reach that age are more or less useless.
DINGELL OFFERS BILL
TO BRING BACK 5c BEER
i
—
Tax Reduction Would Mean In
creased Sales, Says Michi
gan Representative.
By the Associated Press.
Representative Dingell. Democrat,
of Michigan, set out today to bring
back beer at a nickel a mug.
He proposed to cut the beer tax
from $5 to $3 a barrel.
“We aren’t selling nearly the beer
we did before prohibition,” he said.
“A tax reduction would mean in
creased sales by the brewers, a lower
ing of the retail price, benefits to
consumers, more orders for barrel
staves from Arkansas and hops from
Middle Western fanners.” .
PIANO LECTURE TOPIC
Edwin Hughes of New York Col
lege of Music Speaker.
Edwin Hughes of New York City j
will give the third of a series of lec- j
tures on the "Technique of Interpre
tation at the Piano," at 8:15 o'clock j
tonight at the Washington College )
of Music.
The specific subject will be “The
Secret of Beautiful Melody Playing.”
The lecturer has just returned from
the Chicago meeting of the Music
Teachers’ National Association, where
he had charge of the piano forum.
He was appointed to fill that capacity
for the following three years.
NEW FREIGHT ROUTE
PHILADELPHIA. January 11 (A>).—
Jhe Pennsylvania Railroad announced
today it will start a new freight route
January 15 from the East and South
east to serve Wisconsin, Iowa, Min
nesota, the Dakotas and the Pacific
Northwest, by ferrying 84 miles across
Lake Michigan.
The new route, Pennsylvania of
ficials said, will be made possible
through establishing a freight car
ferry system across the center of
Lake Michigan between Muskegon,
Mich., and Milwaukee, Wis.
SPIRITUAL STATE
HELD FREE STATE
“Anti-Spiritual State Is Slave
State,1’ Says Msgr. Sheen
in Broadcast.
A spiritual state is a free state,
while an anti-spiritual state is neces
sarily a slave state, Right Rev. Msgr.
Fulton J. Sheen of Catholic Univer
sity declared last night in the Na
tion-wide broadcast, the “Catholic
Hour.”
Freedom is absent from the dicta
torships because all allegiance is to
the state and everything belongs to
the state, he said, and what the state
confers It can take away. However,
a state which acknowledges God ad
mits there are certain rights man
holds from God that cannot be taken
away. Hence, a man can call his soul
and property his own.
Conceding the faults of capitalism,
Father Sheen asserted the remedy
lays "not in dispossession, but in dis
tribution: not in revolution, but in
legislation: not in communism, but in
democracy.”
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Strike Testing
Both Politics
and Business
Constitution Declared
Inadequate as Now
Interpreted.
BY JAY FRANKLIN.
IF YOU want any proof that our
‘‘economic royalists" have learned
nothing and that our political
system is still run on the cash
and-carry plan, take a good look at
the strike situation which has broken
in the automobile industry.
Since the time of the N. R. A.
and the foolish attempt of the A. F.
of L. to "organize" everything at once,
the automobile situation has been as
wide open as a Senator’s mouth. This
situation Is simply that John Lewis
and the C. I. O. want to unionize au
tomobiles, along with steel and rub
ber, and that the motor magnates
simply do not want to be unionized.
There is no socialism involved. Mr.
Lewis doesn’t seem to have many ideas
above the pay envelope in the pants
pocket, and the operators seem to
cling to the notion that a billion-dol
lar business can be run like a comer
grocery was in the days when Chester
Arthur was President of the United
States and John D. Rockefeller was a
j rising young man.
Pressman Able Adviser.
During the last year the C. I. O.
has been moving in on Detroit, steadi
ly. shrewdly and with great self-con
fidence. Its officials even talk blandly
about "employer trouble,” to offset
the old phrase, "labor trouble,” by
which employers cover everything
from a small riot to a labor war. In
its legal adviser, Lee Pressman, the
C. I. O. has one of the ace attorneys
of the New Deal.
That there will be violence goes
without saying. The industry which
fought the bloody Toledo strike and
fostered the Black Legion is not going
to take the closed shop lying down.
There will be a barrage of conserva
tive publicity and the law-and-order
boys will be there with the "finks,”
the “hook men" and the private “de
tectives.”
Men are walking the streets today,
strong and ambitious, who will be in
their graves soon if the Detroit em
ployers do not back down. Coughlin
has come on the air in a last-minute
fight to stop the strike.
The strikers have, for the first
time in labor’s history, some very
strong cards. In the first place, the
automobile industry is the backbone
of the present “boom.”
In the second place. Frank Murphy
is now Governor of Michigan. Mur
phy was kicked upstairs to the Phil
ippine Islands when the Detroit gang
found him an inconveniently liberal
Mayor four years ago. Now he la
back, in control of the State govern
ment and the National Guard. He
can, if necessary, do a Floyd Olson
and call out the troops against the
strike breakers. It may be remem
bered at this point that Murphy was
recently in consultation with F. D. R
| In the third place, the New Deal
j is in power at Washington and the
| powers of the Federal Government
j will not be used against the C. I. O.
in its attempt to unionize our great
est mass-production industry, for
Roosevelt believes in national action
to regulate wages and hours of labor
and genera! working conditions in in
dustry, and only the Supreme Court
' holds that this power lies exclusively
with the States. The automobile
strike has wiped out State lines as
: though John Lewis had rdawn a wet
sponge across the map of the United
States.
Injunction May Not Stick.
It will be rather hard to make the
' old Federal injunction game stick' in
the face of a tough labor crowd. Cer
tainly it has not worked with a tough
employer crowd.
Finally. Mr. Henry Ford is not di
! rectly involved in the struggle. He
! is too popular and too easy a mark
It is better strategy to fight General
Motors, while Ford tries to clean up
on the side, than to challenge the
ageing leader of our biggest ane-mac
business.
The point of all this is that here
one of the greatest industrial battles
in our history threatens and Is out
i political system prepared for a crisis
i which the Supreme Court says is be
j yond Federal powers? Are our busi
ness potentates ready for the test!
Is the public prepared? This, we sub
mit, is sufficient proof of the in
adequacy of our Constitution, as now
interpreted, to deal with the real
problems of the twentieth century.
1 (Copyright. 1937.)