Evening star. [volume], January 28, 1937, Page A-11, Image 11

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

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Right to Work
May Bring
Violence
Stage Set for Tragic
Climax of Might Is
Right in Strike.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Externally, there's a dead
lock In the strike negotiations
and on the surface men axe
moving back into some of the
automobile plants In Michigan to
work, but internally—within the
plant—there has been precipitated a
situation in
which the law of
the jungle now
may prevail,
namely the theory
might makes
right and that
physical force is
the only law that
counts.
For when em
ployes who want
to keep on w ork
ing see a sit
down striker try
ing to tie up their
plant, they will David Lawrt„ce.
not deal with him
as a person entitled to protection
under the law, but as one who is
himself a trespasser.
This result flows naturally from
the statement authorized by the
Secretary of Labor here to the effect
that the question of legality or il
legality of "sit-down” strikes is a
vague twilight zone that has not been
determined.
Such a comment is derived from
the theory that a workman some
how acquires a right of property in
the Job Itself and that he can seize
a portion of a plant as a means of
holding his own Job against some
one who might be hired to replace
him.
Works Both Ways.
But If this theory is sound, it works
both ways In practice. General Motors
claims It has 79 per cent of its em
ployes anxious to go back to work.
Within the last 24 hours, various
plants have been reopened and loyal
workers have gone into the plants.
What will happen when some one tries
Inside a plant to prevent them from
working will probably be unknown to
the outside world, as it will be a
case of might makes right—majority
rule under force.
This regrettable situation, which
turns the clock back many centuries
and substitutes anarchy for democracy,
is the direct result of the unlawful
seizure of company property by
atrikers in the first instance and the
unwillingness of the Roosevelt ad
ministration to condemn such un
lawful acts publicly or of the authori
ties of the State of Michigan to en
force the laws of property in that
State.
Already it is reported that, in other
auto plants, outside the General
Motors Co., “sit-down” strikers have
been roughly treated by their feUow
workmen. Hitherto, violence due to
picketing has gone on outside fac
tories in the public thoroughfares,
but now it will occur Inside the plants,
where the law will be taken into the
Workmen’s own hands.
Tragic Climax Feared.
Such a situation cannot go on with
out a major episode that la calculated
to bring the whole controversy to a
tragic climax, and It Is this aspect
of the developments which Is most
feared today.
Meanwhile, the reported request of
the Secretary of Labor for more power
from Congress to compel various
parties to an Industrial dispute to at
tend conferences called by the Govern
ment may prove superfluous, because
General Motors executives are said
to be willing to come to Washington
to discuss collective bargaining or any
other Issues when their properties
have been restored to the owners.
It may well be that the General
Motors strike will, for the time being,
resolve Itself into a battle between
those who want to work and those
who wish to prevent them from work
ing. This would be an extraordinary
situation, especially as the right to
6trike ha* always been emphasized in
labor warfare and rarely has there
been much assertion of the right to
work.
Workers May Protect Jobs.
Ordinarily workers have looked to
the police and public authority to
protect them against a minority who
tried to picket them by violence. And
the courts have issued injunctions
against those who have been guilty
of the use of physical force Instead
©f peaceful persuasion.
But now, since the local authorities
decline or hesitate to act, the work
man must furnish his own protection.
The outcry in a recent mass meeting
of loyal workers, who were asked by
one of the speakers whether they
were ready to flght for their jobs, was
a significant chorus in the affirma
tive.
When, therefore, workmen have to
flght for their Jobs and have to sub
stitute their own fists for the protec
tion of the law that they formerly
had, a crisis in labor relations may
be said to have arrived.
The Washington administration
thus far has dealt with the situation
as if it were a battle between forces
entitled to use any weapon at their
disposal irrespective of the law.
Whether this policy will be changed
by untoward happenings remains to
be seen, but the issue of the ‘‘sit
down’” strike clearly means trouble,
and every incident aggravating the
controversy is going to make more
difficult the eventual settlement.
(Copyright, 1937.)
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News Behind the News
Roosevelt’s Slaps in Auto Strike Give Rise to Mistaken
Inconsistency Inference.
BY PAUL MALLON'.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT has been moving by indirection all through
the auto strike situation. His words and actions, therefore, naturally
have caused confusion. He has never cleared his mind publicly on
the subject, but only emitted a little thought here and there.
Nevertheless there seems to be no Inconsistency in his attitude or
actions as they are pieced together by spokesmen competent to speak for
him. That is. his purpose is clear to those who are close to the situation.
They thread it together this way:
He and his spokesmen, at the start of the strike, were strong for John L.
Lewis, believing the agitation would solve or point to a solution of their labor
legislation problem. Later, Mr. Roosevelt is supposed to have been advised
(probably by the Attorney General) that the sit-down strike method was
probably illegal, could not stand up in court and therefore could not be
defended by the Government. Lewis was then crowding the President for
support. (Apparently creditable reports indicate Lewis called the White
House three times at this stage of the situation and could not get the Presi
dent on the telephone.) Then came the Lewis blow-up against the President
and the President’s rejoiner, inviting Lewis to step out of the headlines for
a while.
Later, Alfred P. Sloan walked out on Miss Perkins, and the President
seized the opportunity to rebuke Sloan, thus evening things up after his
rebuke to Lewis, demonstrating his Impartiality, etc., etc. He considered
this last rebuke very carefully, consulted his best publicity advisers as to the
probable public effect.
They did not anticipate that this would lead the unwary public to
think Roosevelt was first on the side of Lewis, then against him, then back
on his side against Sloan.
That does not seem to be the situation at all. There is every
reason now to believe that when the time arrives the President will
necessarily fail to defend the sit-down strike method, without which
the strike cannot be effective. But if Sloan declines to confer, he is
bound to encounter White House wrath.
The fundamental truth is the President could not handle Lewis or
Sloan and neither Lewis nor Sloan could handle the situation.
Some Washington developments are becoming as unfathomable as a
Chinese kidnaping or a Moscow propaganda trial. For instance, the White
House threw down Senator Minton very hard when the Senator emerged
from the presidential office one day and announced the President would
call a wage-hour conference soon. The President was supposed to be very
angry about Minton's erroneous announcement and was going to call him
on the carpet.
Minton has been called in frequently since then, but not on the carpet.
In fact, he has been a frequent night visitor to the Executive Mansion.
The general senatorial cloak room impression seems to be that Mr.
Minton has become a presidential trial balloonist.
The terms “liberal” and "conservative” seem to have become ao mixed
up that no one here can tell who’s what.
T. V. A. Chairman Morgan, the Norris appointee, is being roundly
denounced as a conservative for espousing a power program which was
considered extremely radical no more than a year or two ago. The de
nunciation comes from his former liberal friends. Senators Norris and
La Follette, who have been convinced by T. V. A. Commissioner Ltlienthal
that what they formerly favored as liberals Is now reactionary.
The truth seems to be there are no conservatives left, only
liberals. But the liberals have split on this issue, like the Com
munists, not only into Stalinites and Trotskyists, but into Mot
ganists, La Follettists, Norrisists, Lilienthalists, McNinchert (Frank
R) and even Cookies (Morris L.J.
Note—If the La Follettists
have any 1940 presidential ambi
tions, they chose the right ally
in Lilienthal. The latter has been
very busy in the South politically.
What will come out of the
current Wheeler railroad investiga
tion first is a proposal to break
up railroad holding companies.
Legislation wiU be offered by
Senator Wheeler before the end
that's wheui
TMiSTHiUt-ftELOHCS.
of the present session of Congress. w
He expects it to be passed, but it probably will go over iintil next year.
The only one sure of appointment as one of Mr. Roosevelt s six
passionate anonyms (if Congress lets him have the six more re
quested assistants) is Tom Corcoran of R. F. C. Corcoran is to be
legal anonym.
New Deal Publicist Charles Michelson returned from a Florida va
cation and informed the President there ought to be a law against
returning from vacations. Incidentally, he favors ait-down vacations,
but not necessarily in Michigan.
Chief problem in most Government bureaus is where they will wind
up in Government reorganisation. Cooke’s rural electrification will prob
ably go to the Agriculture Department; C. C. C. to Social Welfare or
Ickes' Conservation Department; forestry from Agriculture back to
Ickes’ Conservation.
(Copyright, 1937.)
EISEMAN’S
SEVENTH AND F
PRE-INVENTORY
ODD LOT SALE
No exchanges or refunds. All sales
final. Sale starts Friday morning at 9:15.
32 Suits and Overcoats
Were $25 and $27.50. Good $
patterns and materials.
Broken sizes.
$25 Suits
Vz off
*16"
Save exactly 1-3. Regu
lar $25 Suits for $16.67.
Plain and sport models.
$30 Suits
y% off
*20“
Fine quality Suits re
duced 1-3. Browns, blues
and greys. All sizes.
2 TWEED TOPCOATS, were $24.75,
now $10.75
Sizes 42 and 44 long. All wool.
7 ALL WOOL TOPCOATS, were $24.75,
now $12.75
Spring shades. Smart tans and greys.
252 55c Silk Neckwear .29c, 4 for $1.00
37 $2.45 Pigtwin Gloves-$1.29
161 $1.29 Madras and Broadcloth
Shirts_ 85c
22 $1.39 Pajamag (slightly soiled) _ _50c
15 $8.00 Nunn-Bush Shoes_$3.95
29 $3.95 Pullover Sweaters_$2.89
CTHB opinions of the miters 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.
Sloan Action Deplored
Case Held Weakened by Refusal to Enter Conference
With Miss Perkins and Lewis.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
A GOOD many quips are min
gled with the serious com
ment on the refusal by Presi
dent Sloan of General Motors
of Secretary of Labor Perkins' Invita
tion, amounting to a request, that he
alt down with her and Chairman
Lewis ox the la
bor organization.
It Is said that
Mr. Sloan Is jit
tery about the
very term "sit
down." There is
more substance
In Gen. Hugh
Johnson s repeti
tion of a remark
he has often
made, that he
would dt down
with the devil if
he thought he
could induce the
latter to reduce
Mark Sulllran.
the temperature of hell. The remark Is
made for its wise-crack value alone.
It does not identify any one with the
devil. Nor does it imply any expecta
tion on Gen. Johnson's part of spend
ing any time in the place about the
temperature of which he shows con
cern. The remark is meant merely to
express a homely philosophy. It is
kin to President Lincoln’s comment
when Gen. McClellan was reviling
him. Lincoln said he would gladly
act as hostler to Gen. McClellan’s
horse if he thought he could thereby
win the war.
Most of the serious comments de
plore Mr. Sloan’s refusal. He was
asked by Secretary Perkins to come to
her office and confer with Mr. Lewis.
Mr. Sloan put his refusal on the
ground that Mr. Lewis’ sit-down
strikers are illegally in possession of
General Motors plants, and that he
would enter into no negotiation with 1
Mr. Lewis until after the illegal pos
session is ended.
That puts Mr. Sloan’s refusal upon
a sound principle. But there are two
principles involved—at least, there is
a dictum of propriety almost equal in
force to the principle. Any request
from either the President or a mem
ber of the President’s cabinet, such as
Miss Perkins made, is commonly re
garded as a command. Between this
rule and the principle Mr. Sloan stood
on there is not any necessary con
flict. Mr. Sloan could have conformed
to both. He could have accepted Miss
Perkins’ invitation and come to Miss |
Perkins’ conference. There he could
have made his statement that he;
could not pay any price for evacuation !
of General Motors property, not even !
the price of agreeing to negotiate—
that the sit-down strikers must be |
withdrawn as the rectification of an
Illegal act: and that only after evacua
tion would he enter upon negotiations.
Mr. Sloan is in a struggle that has
many fronts and is conducted in sev
eral arenas. No doubt he feels he
must stand on principle. He must do
this not merely for the sake of th*
principle, but also as an act of loyalty
to those of his workers—a majority of
all—who do not participate in the
sit-down. At the same time Mr. Sloan
must keep himself right in the arena
of public opinion. He must also be
watchful about his relation to the
President, who is at once a reflector
of public opinion and a creator of it.
Mr. Sloan must watch his step, not
only in one respect, but in so many
that he needs to be a highly intelligent
centipede, with exceptional command
over his motor nerves. Had he been
familiar with politics he would have
been particularly wary about Wash
ington just at this time. He knew
that President Roosevelt had last
week administered a slap on the wrist
to Labor Leader Lewis, and he might
have surmised that if occasion arose
the President would next administer
a balancing slap to the General Motors
side. Because he did not handle his
feet with sufficient caution, he re
ceived not a slap on the wrist, but a
sock in the eye. Within the space of
one hour the President did two things.
He told his press conference to tell the
world that he regarded Mr. Sloan’s
action as "very unfortunate,” and he
had Mr. Lewis as a visitor to the White
House.
The recent development* have
brought some further light, though not
yet a conclusive light, on the central
question Involved. That 1* the ele
ment of “sit-down” in the strike, and
what America should do about this
Innovation. This Is so much to the
front that nearly everybody has for
gotten what other Issues there are In
the strike. This Is unfortunate be
cause It muddles the situation and
precludes consideration. Of the broad
question of General Motors' labor
policies and practices and the Justice
of some complaints made against It.
Mrs. Perkins Condones Sit-Down.
On the legitimacy of the sit-dawn,
President Roosevelt has taken no posi
tion. Secretary of Labor Perkins has.
She condones it. She says General
Motors’ attitude Is “legalistic.” She
appeals from the law to religion, quot
ing: “Forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those who trespass against us."
She says that "the public interest Is
more important than the private In
terest.” But more than one kind of
public Interest is involved. There Is
the public interest in ending the strike.
And there is the public interest in
preserving the right of private prop
erty as a permanent corner stone of
American society. Miss Perkins ap
parently thinks the first is paramount.
Many do not agree with her, but hold
the same conviction as Mr. Sloan.
Had Mr. Sloan accepted Miss
Perkins' invitation and come to Wash
Floods Old Routine
»
Widespread Damage and Misery to Be Followed by
Inaction as in Labor Strikes.
BT JAT FRANKLIN.
THE great rivers of the West are In flood again, and again we have
the dreary spectacle of families driven from their homes In thou
sands, farms and houses washed casually downstream, damage
approaching the blllion-dollar mark and the aftermath of misery
and disease threatening whole provinces.
We’re used to It by now. Like clockwork the newsreels and roto
gravure sections show us rowboats In business streets, muddy waters swirl
ing through breaks in the levees, refugees huddling wretchedly on high
ground in the mud and rain, and the Red Cross—so brave and cheerful
—dishing out hot soup and coffee to long lines of bewildered human beings.
Again people will uncomfortably remind us that these floods are
not unavoidable, that reforestation will delay the run-off of the
rains, that storage and check dams on the head-waters will equalize
the flow of the rivers and pay for themselves in light, power and
navigation.
The President Is again sending a masterly report to Congress on the
subject and again the power companies and the courts will stand shoulder
to shoulder against any proposal which might put the people in profit
able control of their natural resources.
a a a *
And probably little or nothing will be done about It We can take &
lot of punishment. Of course, It Is too bad about the people who are
drowned or ruined by these floods, but they are-other people after all,
and we, who have lived improvidently on this continent for three centuries,
are developing a hearty detachment from the troubles of other people.
Another river is also In flood: the river of labor unrest. It, too, Is
overflowing the banks, breaking through the levees and swirling over the
Industrial countryside.
It happened In 1834, It happened in 1919, it happened in 1903, It
happened In the ’90's and the ’70’s. It has been going on for a long
time.
There has been a strike for about a year In the Birmingham steel
area, but until the La Follette committee brought out the facts, few of us
knew about it. There is the maritime strike still grinding along. The
Railway Brotherhoods have suddenly demanded a big wage increase
labor’s best-behaved boys suddenly biting the rails that led them. In rub
ber, automobiles, steel and plate glass. John L. Lewis and the C. I. O.
are staging the most ambitious, clever and determined strike program
in our history.
We are used to this sort of thing, too. The photographs and newsreels
will show us the picket lines, the soup kitchens, the special deputies, the
Militia, the police, the strike-breakers.
Presidentt of corporations and labor leaders will blossom into
headlines, politicians will issue gravely evasive statements; the air
will be full of tear-gas, police batons, brick-bats, bottles, charges and
counter-charges, ivrits and injunctions. Men will be killed and
r wounded, property damaged and destroyed, wages, dividends, time
and wealth will be lost.
Once again we shall be reminded that the way to check floods on this
river of discontent is to stop them at the source, by planting wage, hour
and labor conditions to check the run-off, by constructing dams of indi
vidual and collective security to equalise the flow of goods and services,
to conserve our efforts and energies by an over-all concept of social Justice,
and to end the panic and demoralisation which forces men to seek Justice
by direct action.
And again there will be the same voices which, accepting such a
program of wise statesmanship in theory, will sabotage it in practice.
Once again the Investment bankers and the courts will stand shoulder to
shoulder against any social policy which gives the people power over their
economic destinies.
Probably we can take It. We have been taking it for a long, long
time, but that we are approaching the limit of our ability to absorb this
punishment is suggested by other factors than the headlines. The
falling birth rate hints that life in America, under these conditions, is
beooming increasingly worthless to human beings. But that is another
story.
tCopyrlsht, 1037.)
ington, he could have used his visit
here as the best possible leverage from
which to give the widest publicity to
the merit of the principle on which he
stands. Simply to enter a conference
room with Miss Perkins and Mr. Lewis
need not have committed him to any
thing and would have been at once
an act of courtesy and respect for Gov
ernment officials and a convincing
show of reasonableness of attitude on
the part of General Motors officials.
(Copyright. 1937.)
Sneezing Outlawed.
Sneezing has been forbidden by the
public health department of Copen
hagen, Denmark, where influenza has
been raging. An official notice in
street cars reads: “The city medical
officer for health orders all persons
seized with sneezing or coughing fits
immediately to place a handkerchief
before the nose and mouth out of con
sideration for the health of their fel
low passengers.”
Headline Folk
and What
They Do
Disaster Recalls Jadwin,
Author of Vast Flood
Control Plan.
BV LEMUEL F. PARTOX.
IN 1927 Congress approved the
Jadwin plan calling for the
gradual expenditure of $325,000,
000 to tame the Mississippi, with
80 per cent of the funds to be pro
vided by the Federal Government.
The plan was the most searching, de
tailed and, according to leading en
gineers, the most hopeful ever offered.
This present flood, It is estimated,
already has swept away many more
millions than the above.
Gen. Edgar Jadwin, head of the
Army Engineers, died in March, 1931.
His life work has been so strongly
projected Into the future that it be
comes pertinent in today’s tragic epi
logue of his career. He was. perhaps,
American’s greatest flood-flghter. He
was a quiet, self-effacing man whose
life story was written solely in chap
ters of achievement, most of it un
known and disregarded until the
deeds were done.
In the early 1890s, New York first
heard of Capt. Jadwin, West Point,
1890, who had done some remarkable
engineering work in tripling the size
of Ellis Island. Then, later, one Capt.
Jadwin was extolled for brilliant ex
ploits in building the Galveston sea
wall; again a Maj. Jadwin had
worked wonders in building the Gatun
Locks, as co-builder of the Panama
Canal with Goethals. When the World
War started, Lieut. Col. Jadwin cut
through a morass of red tape to land
his regiment of Army Engineers in
Europe in a hurry. After the war,
the news leaked out that one Lieut.
Gen. Jadwin had Just about every
kind of domestic and foreign decora
tion a man could have.
The big flood of 1922 shocked Con
gress into action, or at any rate mild
curiosity. In the succeeding years,
with Herbert Hoover, as Secretary of
Commerce, eagerly interested, various
proposals boiled down to the Jadwin
plan, which Gen. Jadwin, a self
starter, had been quietly and diligently
evolving. Calvin Coolidge gave it his
blessing. From Cairo to the Gulf,
along 1,815 miles of river bank—in
cluding both sides of the river—there
were to be flood channels, spillways,
diversion floodways and a great
heightening of the levees all the way.
Young Bob Pastor will be up against
a sizeable job of flood control Fri
day night when he fights Joe Louis.
He is a nephew of Ro6« Pastor, whirl
wind battler against poverty and
sweatshops, who married G. Phelps
Stokes, the millionaire reformer. He
is of Spanish-Jewish parentage and
has read not one book, but many.
When he turned professional, he lost
the scholarship which was keeping
him at New York University. He is an
earnest, well-spoken lad of 22, who
says he wants to win fights to get
money to complete his education and
become a newspaper man—not a Jour
1 nalist.
I always depend on Camay for that
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I pecembtr 9, 193
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