Evening star. [volume], January 26, 1937, Page A-9, Image 9

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Flood Control
Steps Held
Certain
Disaster Aggravating
New Deal Trouble
in Second Term.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
WHAT with the strikes and
the floods, the picture here
of an administration start
ing on its second term is
Hot as happy as most people would like.
The floods will require congressional
action and appropriations to prevent a
recurrence of disaster. Whatever funds
Darid Lawrence
are necessary ror
rescue work will
doubtless be pro
provided prompt
ly, but the larger
problem of a flood
control plan for
the Nation Is
something which
will require much
debate and study.
For years the
Army engineers
have been laying
plans for flood
control, which, of
course, necessi
tates co-operation
©r state ana local autnonues. some
of the States which have been alert
to the dangers of floods have been
active in getting the appropriations
through. Each year as floods have
destroyed property there has been ad
ditional stimulus to action. It would
not be surprising if the current dis
aster really launched flood control
plans on a truly national basis.
But apart from the floods, the dis
turbance to the recovery program be
ing caused by sit-down strikes is
something which is not so readily
solved. The fight between capital and
labor used to be one that caused Gov
ernment to be cautious about enter
ing, but nowadays, it is a three-cor
nered fight with labor itself divided
on the question of which method of
collective bargaining Is the most ef
fective—through crafts or whole in
dustries.
U. S. Catching Up Rapidly.
What may eventuate is some nation
al legislation relating to the legality
or illegality of strikes. Many New
Dealers in the last two or three years
have pointed with pride to the fact
that legislation, under the Roosevelt
administration, has been patterned
after the British model. In fact, it is
< quite often insisted in administration
* circles that the United States is
merely catching up with her sister na
tion, Great Britain, on the matter of
social legislation.
But In strike legislation the United
States is really far behind and if the
British statutes should be taken as a
pattern there will be some radical
changes in the whole strike problem
In America. For one thing, the Brit
ish define strikes as legal or illegal,
and they declare that it is unlawful
for any group of men to intimidate or
coeroe fellow workmen or prevent the
Use of property by overt acts.
Judging by a reading of the British
laws, a sit-down strike would be illegal.
Likewise the British are careful to
require that all funds contributed by
labor for political purposes shall be
publicly accounted for and separated
from all other assets of labor unions.
In a sense there is a supervision of
the whole accounting of funds in labor
unions.
It may be argued that in the United
(States, under the common law, ample
protection is given to property rights
and that the British law would be
•uperfluou*. Actually, prosecutions by
States or counties can be instituted
at present against sit-down strikers,
but because the question is novel and
has beoome entangled in what some
local officials believe to be a social and
economic rather than a legal question,
enforcement has virtually broken down.
la Dor imputes Act Of 19Z7.
In England the excesses of a gen
eral strike led to the British labor dis
putes act of 1927 and It was finally
sanctioned by public opinion, Includ
ing the Labor party, as the only way
to deal with Industrial disturbances.
In the United States the situation
Is rapidly drifting into one which will
inevitably require some form of gov
ernmental supervision of labor unions
corresponding to the supervision which
the Federal and State governments
exercise over corporations. At present
there is legislation pending which
would require corporations to take out
a Federal license if they do business
in interstate commerce. It is difficult
to see how the proposal could exclude
labor unions from the necessity of tak
ing out such lioenses—a step toward
Government control—if it is assumed
that all industry is to be supervised
by Government.
Heretofore labor unions have been
exempted from the operations of anti
trust laws and in the national labor
relations act they were specifically
exempted from prosecution for “unfair
labor practices”—the latter being ap
plied to employers alone. Today’s
strike situation In Michigan shows
that the men who want to work have
no redress. This may lead to some
thing of the type of the British labor
disputes act being passed but not until
there la an aggravation of the whole
strike situation, coupled with plain dis
approval by public opinion.
(Copyright. 1937.)
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News Behind the News
Stalin Regime Believed Very Shaky Despite Purge
of Conspirators.
BY PAUL MAIAON.
ONFIDENTIAL information in the hands of impartial sources
here indicates the current Moscow trial by fury is about half
founded on fact.
The well informed here have reason to suspect there was a
rather indefinite plot to overthrow the Stalin regime, from within, and
that there still is one, indirectly Involving Germany, Japan and antl
Stalinites. Likewise, there is a broad suspicion in high places here that
Editor Radek, for one. was probably mixed up in it.
The reeling exists also that the
Stalin regime Is still very shaky,
that the trial spectacle may serve
to delay, but probably not prevent,
consummation of the original idea
eventually.
Knowing authorities laughed out
right at the first propaganda farce
staged before the microphones In
Moscow last August. The spec
tacle of ex-high Reds bleating the
most abject confessions of their
Infamies over the radio for peasant consumption was a little too obvious.
Every one knew the defendants would be killed anyway, and realized
they had probably made a deal with the Stalin government to offer any
fairy tale confessions desired, in order to save their wives and children.
* * * *
Since the world choked on the first one, the Stalinites have had an
opportunity to perfect their technique. They cut down on the fantasy In
this current production, and are trying to play it as a more or less straight
drama.
Allowing for this it is nevertheless true that the plot evidence de
veloped this time checks and double checks with certain unpublished facts
in the possession of authorities here.
They are willing to believe Radek may have had a minor hand in
it, because he had enough personal ambition for a dozen plotters. They
suspect, however, that his own correspondents, whom he named as co
plotters, were merely mentioned by him to settle a personal score.
There is trouble on the bridge in the Navy. President Roosevelt
is taking the wheel.
A reorganization is not improbable.
What started it was a report of the Navy General Board, rec
ommending a readjustment of the promotion system. This report
has not been made public, but it was presented to Secretary Swan
son some weeks ago. He passed it along to one of the junior admirals
in charge of a bureau, who proceeded to tear it apart. The junior
admiral sent back a counter report which is said to have defended
the selective promotion system with 16-inch words.
As the story goes, Secretary Swanson signed this report and passed
it along for publication. However, a Junior officer read it over and decided
to Inform the Navy Secretary that publication would publicly blow the
whole row wide open. Mr. Swanson reconsidered, kicked both reports into
a back drawer of his desk and tried to lock the problem up with it.
The news has reached Mr. Roosevelt, however, and it appears the
trouble has Just begun.
Mr. Roosevelt knows a little about the Navy from the Inside himself.
In fact, he testified 19 years ago as Assistant Navy Secretary before a con
gressional committee on the very point involved in this scrap. He said the
bureau system of the Navy was then "antiquated,” which means it must now
be 19 years over-antiquated.
What will come out of it will probably be a reorganization of the exist
ing Bureaus of Navigation, Yards and Docks, etc. It is quite possible the
power of the General Board will be re-established or a general staff created
to dominate the Navy as the general staff in the Army.
The Secretary of Navy has no real authority, and it is doubtful whether
ne will ever get any. me aamirais
will see to it that the cabinet post
remains only a tea-pouring job.
* * * *
What happened in the kidnaping
of Chiang Kai-shek by Chang
Hsueh-liang may never be fath
omed officially, but authorities here
finally have an explanation which
sounds reasonable. They are will
ing to make apologies to Japan for
suspecting she engineered the orig
Inal coup. They believe now that the ex-opium smoker kidnaped Chiang
Kai-shek because his own army was about one-half to two-thirds Com
munist. He seems to have made a trade with his Communists to capture
Chiang Kai-shek,
After capturing Chiang, he found the whole country arising
against him. He saw that pursuit of his objective would lead to a
greater slaughter than he anticipated, and he knew he could not win.
Therefore, he deserted his army and joined his kidnapee for a promise
of immunity, thus selling out for the third consecutive time, and to his
original purchaser. (Chiang Kai-shek had originally hired him to chase
Communists.)
The result was a draw between the Nationalists and the Communists.
Incidentally, there are supposed to be 500,000 Communists under arms in
China and 125,000 to 175,000 in Chang Hsueh-llang's former army.
(Copyright, 1937.)
CTHE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
x 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.
—— --— --
"Sit-Down” New Element
Raises Questions Going to Heart of Government
and Society.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
IF SECRETARY OF LABOR PER
KINS brings the strike leaders
and General Motors officials to
gether It will be interesting to
observe what happens about one point.
The beginning of everything is the
stipulation of General Motors that
there must be evacuation of the "sit
a own siriKers
from the plants
as a condition
precedent to any
negotlatl ons.
Whatever atti
tude Miss Per
kins takes on this
point will be in
ferred to be the
attitude of the
National Govern
ment. And the
attitude of gov
ernment—nation
al, State and lo
cal—on this par
ticular point con
Hark gulliran.
stltutes the most deep-reaching ele
ment in the whole situation.
The strike has two aspects. In one,
it is an ordinary industrial conflict.
But the injection of the sit-down
feature raises an additional question
which goes to the heart of govern
ment and the organization of society.
This latter aspect, considering what
is going on in the world, is most in
teresting to watch.
Under the existing state of law and
in the existing American conception
of society, the sit-down strikers are
trespassers on privately owned prop
erty. Some strike leaders claim the
Michigan law contains a feature which
exempts the sit-down strikers from the
status of trespassers. They say that
when a man goes on another's prop
erty in response to invitation by the
latter, the visitor does not become a
trespasser when he remains. What
ever the Michigan law may be, the
common state of law everywhere, and
the common point of view of every
body familiar with American usage,
would undoubtedly regard the sit
down strikers as trespassers.
Ejectment Follows Appeal.
In case of trespass the usual prac
tice is for the owner to appeal to the
local law' officers. In many cases the
appeal Is merely to the police, In other
cases to the courts. In some cases
there may be a hearing, In others not.
In all cases, assuming the intruder is
shown to be a trespasser in the legal
sense, there Is ejectment by the agen
cies of the law. If, after appeal by
the owner to the law, and after show
ing that there is trespass in the legal
sense—if In such & situation the
agencies of law do not eject the tres
passers the condition is in effect a
breakdown of the machinery of law.
To what extent this now exists in
Michigan is not fully clear from the
dispatches. Apparently, General Mo
tors applied to the courts for what
amounted to a writ of ejectment. The
writ was issued. At this point the
strike leaders showed that the judge
issuing the writ was a stockholder In
General Motors. This was unfortu
nate. Practically every lawyer would
say that the judge should have re
“But; my dear Miss Herring-—I really
can ’/ give up my beloved Wilkins Coffee, *
membered hi* relation to one of the
parties and should have declined to
act. Thee same writ would have been
Issued by any other court. Actions In
trespass are a frequent part of the
work of any court; they are almost
routine.
Apparently. In the present case, the
sheriff read the writ to the sit-down
strikers and they Ignored It. Sub
sequently. according to dispatches.
General Motors procured writs of
ejectment from another court. Wheth
er these were actually served on the
strikers Is not clear.
Court Next Resort.
When a sheriff or other officer of
the court finds himself resisted, and
when the resistance is beyond his
power to overcome, he ordinarily re
ports the condition to the court. At
that point the court would nominally
appeal to the Governor of the State
for assistance. If at any point, after
application has been duly made, any
official—court, sheriff, mayor, police,
or Governor—refuses to act then the
situation becomes one of breakdown
of law.
If the sit-down strikers, after re
sistance to ejectment by law, succeed
In exacting a price before withdraw
ing, something new will be estab
lished. Apparently the strikers In the
beginning succeeded In exacting a
price. General Motors agreed to ne
gotiate the other Issues If the strikers
would first evacuate. Mere agreement
to negotiate is, of course, a small con
cession. But the making of any con
cession Is a price paid, and smallness
of the price does not reduce the
breach of principle. Since the first
gesture toward negotiation broke
down, General Motors seems to have
stood upon the principle. Apparently
its recent position is that It will not
negotiate, nor promise to negotiate,
until after the strikers have ceased to
remain illegally on Its property.
There are, in many situations cir
cumstances that condone trespass and
resistance against ejection. Local pub
lic opinion often sympathizes with the
hardship of tenants subjected to evic
tion by landlords, and owners of farms
under foreclosure of mortgage, and
farms or homes being sold for non
payment of taxes. Courts and legisla
tures often sympathize with such cases
and exercise legal leniancy.
Striker*' Argument.
In the present situation In Michigarf
strikers and their sympathizers would
like to bring the sit-down into the
category of trespasser having a claim
on public sympathy and official le
nience. Their argument runs some
what thus: That as modem industry
is organized, workers have a kind of
ownership right to their Jobs, and that
this right is analogous to the right of
ownership of property. They argue
that in a strike ownership of Jobs may
be lost if strikers leave the property,
for thereby the property owner may
either employ new men or transfer
machinery to a distant point.
(Copyrlsnt. 1937.)
We, the People
T. V. A. Chairman Morgan’s Airing of Views
Benefit to Private Utilities.
BY JAY FRANKLIN.
DR. ARTHUR E. MORGAN has written himself out of his chair
manship of the Tennessee Valley Authority, In the opinion of
those most familiar with Roosevelt's power policies and with
the reasons why the President adopted them.
In Morgan's recent power “confession of faith," timed for publication
on the eve of F. D. R.’» second Inaugural, In the highly conservative
new ion nines, wnoee associ
ated property, the Chattanooga
Times, Is generally regarded as
the pro-utility organ In East
ern Tennessee, the T. V. A. chair
man took the peculiar step of pub
licly airing views dissenting from
the policies of the Government
agency which he heads, without
prior consultation with his col
leagues.
\ " For a concededly honest man,
Dr. Morgan could have done little more for the private utilities had he
been on the pay roll of Commonwealth dc Southern.
From the start, he opposed the primary purpose of a power “yard
stick" in the Tennessee Valley—that it be competitive—and fought to
restrict the benefits of federally-produced electricity to the narrowest
possible area.
Consistently outvoted—2 to 1—by the board of which he is
chairman, he carried his grudge against David Z. Lilienthal, the
fellow-member whose point of view consistently represented Roose
velt’s power policies and the terms of the T. V. A. act, to the fantastic
extreme of lobbying at Washington against Lilienthal's reappoint
ment last Spring.
Now he has chosen the Sunday before inauguration to air views
which those familiar with power problems describe—charitably—as “naive”
and which, if representative of government policies, should be worth a
million dollars to the Insulls, Hopsons, Willkies, Carlisles and Dohertys
of an industry which operates on the basis of publicly-conferred
monopolies.
It is either a supreme gamble that Roosevelt’s hand can be forced to
ask Congress to modify the T. V. A. in favor of the power trust or it is the
swan-song of an elderly and credulous college professor whose fur has
been stroked the right way by experts in the art of blarney.
The reason why Progressives believe it may be the latter is because
section 2, paragraph (h) of the act provides: “All members of the board
shall be persons who profess a belief in the feasibility and wisdom of this
act.” Dr. Morgan’s published views are sharply critical, by inference, of
the powers conferred upon T. V. A. by the law, which specifically pro
vides for the type of activities pushed by the hated David Lilienthal and
opposed in a “fight to the death” by the private utilities and by their
new and unpaid spokesman.
In his “confession of faith," Dr. Morgan even goes so far as to imply
that the people of a community have not the right to adopt public owner
ship of power if thereby they Interfere with “the economy and efficiency
of well-integrated power systems.”
The Commonwealth A Southern combine could ask nothing
nicer than this dictum, which is on a moral par with Judge Gore’s
recent injunction at Nashville, laying down the novel principle that
a utility need not have ever served or planned to serve a community
in order to claim damage if that community elects to buy cheap
power from the Government.
Judge Oore is Just one of those Judges. He was appointed by Presi
dent Harding in the high old days of the Ohio gang. Dr. Arthur E. Morgan
is a self-made educator and hydraulic engineer whose intimacy with public
utilities began in 1933 and is rated by experts as being about 35 years be
hind the course of events. He was appointed by Roosevelt as an expert in
flood control, not utilities.
Yet in all this there is no question of Morgan’s artless sincerity. He
believes whst be says and it
sounds convincing to those who
don’t realize that the sexagena
rian president of Antioch College,
Yellow Springs, Ohio, is gulping
down the phrases which had
made public utility legal history,
as though they were so many
glasses of water, when they are
capable of producing all the
symptoms of Intellectual intoxica
tion in the hands of the unwary.
J
W*«cW-]
T>'l.
eors
wrir
6000/
Dr. Arthur E. Morgan was selected In the hope that he would become
the Moses of the Tennessee Valley experiment in regional planning on the
basis of cheap and abundant electric power. Instead, he has chosen to
provide the power trust, in its attempt to find a moral “front” for its
control of the more abundant kilowatt hours at the switchboard, with a
sorely needed Dr. Wirt.
(Canyrltht, 1037. by Retliter and Tribune Syndicate.)
Headline Folk
and What
They Do
Research Worker Car
ries His Laboratory
Into Stratosphere.
BY LEMTEL F. FARTON.
NEW YORK, January 26—The
book Isn’t at hand, but, If I
remember rightly, Kipling'*
Tomlinson got on a dead
center somewhere up in the strato
sphere and couldn’t get one way or
the other. Our own Tomlinson does
better. He comes down through a
cold pea-soup fog at Princeton, N. J„
after 1,200 miles of blind flying at an
altitude of 35,000 feet, in a tempera
ture of 75 degrees below zero.
Tommy (D. W.) Tomlinson’s regu
lar work-a-day Job is to tease the
grim reaper and see how much he will
stand for. That’s routine as he mans
the “flying te^ tube” for T. W. A.
Last September T. W. A. started to
spend $350,000 in feeling out the
stratosphere as a possible express
highway for planes. -This meant that
their research worker must keep his
laboratory in the sky. This he has
been doing, testing transport speed,
control, take-off and, above all, fudg
ing higher and higher up into the
stratosphere—carrying on where Wiley
Post left off.
Lieut. Tomlinson was one of the
Navy’s sea hawk trio, a rollicking crew
of fair acrobats. In those days, avia
tors’ stunts had to be something spe
cial to be noticed. Lieut. Tomlinson’s
attention-getter was three downward
outside loops at San Diego in 1928.
This was a hair-raising exploit. Big
headlines pried him into the ofllces of
the commercial magnates, looking for
test pilots.
In May, 1935, he and his co-pilot,
Joseph Bartels, broke eight world
records, Involving various details of
speed and performance. In partly
blind flight from Kansas City to New
ark, the route he covers again, Just as
demonstration that “this is the kind
of weather we shouldn’t fly in.” He is
the Simon Legree of the robot plane,
now assistant to the president of T.
W. A.
tCopyrlsht. 1937.)
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