Evening star. [volume], February 12, 1937, Page A-11, Image 11

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

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Nobody Won,
Public Lost
in Strike
Observer Sees Academic
Gains and Fostering
of Bargaining.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
EFFORTS to claim victory in the
auto strike are meaningless
because neither General Mo
tors nor John Lewis won, and
Instead the American people lost.
Fbr the auto strike was one of the
coatllest in history. The workers in
Michigan ana
elsewhere whose
wages were re
duced to zero for
several weeks lost
the strike. No
union is going to
pay them back
the money they
lost nor is the
purchasing power
represented by
the many mil
lions of dollars of
pay roll going to
be recovered for
the communities
in which the auto
workers live.
David Lawrence.
The question naturally arises
Whether the strike gained anything
for anybody and whether it could
really have been shortened. Any on?
who examines the terms of settlement
cannot but come to the conclusion that
General Motors granted at the final
settlement and John Lewis obtained
through it precisely what could have
been got on January 4 last, when the
peace parleys began in Gov. Murphy's
office.
Error of Strategy.
The mistake made by Lewis was In
breaking up these peace negotiations
by a demand for exclusive recognition
for his union as a bargaining agency.
This was untenable from the outset,
and many labor union strategists say
that the technique of a strike is never
to demand something that cannot be
compromised and which leaves one's
side open to attack if a retreat has
to come.
As for the General Motors Co., its
original mistake was in insisting that
negotiations be carried on in plants
instead of with the one general man
agement, a position, however, from
which the company receded promptly
enough to escape the blame for pro
longing he strike. *
Law and order didn't come out so
well in the strike, but, if the truth is
ever confessed by the union leaders, J
they will be compelled to admit that
the granting of an injunction against
the "sit-down” strikers was a very
vital point in the whole strike strategy
because the Lewis union was put in
an embarrassing position with pub
lic sentiment. On the one hand, .o
withdraw the "sit-down” striker was
to acknowledge defeat and lose the
only leverage the auto strikers really
possessed as a minority, but on the
other hand, to defy the injunction it
self was to swing public opinion from
the "sit-down” strikers.
Quick Conclusion Forecast.
The more it became apparent that
the local police at Flint would have
to be augmented for a battle in which
the militia might have to join, the
more it was evident that the strike
had to come to a quick conclusion.
In this respect, the pressure of the
Injunction itself worked the strike
negotiations to a climax, and yet there
was no pitched battle or open war
fare such as might have come if the
negotiations carried on by the Gov
ernor had come to naught.
Gov. Murphy was in a tight spot
throughout. He was carrying the load
of an administration at Washington
which had messed up the situation
considerably and he was facing in
Michigan demands for enforcement of
the injunction which he knew might
mean a tragic ending. So while he
stalled off the sheriff and angry cit
izens of Flint, and in this sense law
and order may be considered to have
been ignored, the fact remains that
"sit-down” strikes now have been
Widely condemned by public opinion
and a by a court of law, so the next
time they occur in other situations
the demands for the use of eviction
orders will be prompt and doubtless
effective immediately.
There were, from an academic
standpoint, gains by both General Mo
tors and Lewis in the final settlement.
Lewis succeeded in focusing the at
tention of workers generally—his
prospective members—on what can be
done by an insistent minority and he
did succeed in getting recognition for
his own membership as a group in any
general parleys on wages and hours
With a big industrial corporation.
Murphy Becomes Umpire.
From a labor standpoint, every con
cession, no matter how small, is mag
nified in a membership drive, but the
letter from General Motors and the
agreement itself make It quite clear
that no exclusive bargaining rights
have been granted and that the rights
of the Lewis group as well as the non
Lewis workers will have to be defined
by Gov. Murphy himself as the fu
ture mediator during a period of six
months. It’s a sort of compulsory ar
bitration for a limited period on a
collateral issue—how a minority can
bargain without injuring the majority
In a plant.
General Motors, on the other hand,
succeeded in maintaining successfully
that it would not recognize any group
as the exclusive bargaining agency
for non-union or any other workers in
their plants who might be affiliated
with the A. F. of L. This principle
has an important bearing on the fu
ture of Industrial warfare and much
will depend on whether the Wagner
Labor Relations Act is declared un
constitutional. If it is held valid,
then some amendment of the law is
bound to be compelled by public opin
ion so that the rights of the minority
will be protected against a majority
or vice versa. These Issues are far
from settled.
Meddling by C. S. Seen.
Basically, the strike is a sad example
of how political ijoveinment, refusing
to act through Federal mediation ma
chinery, prolonged a strike that could
have been settled locally, namely by
the Governor of Michigan, weeks ago.
If the national administration had not
got mixed up in the politics of the
Lewis controversy with the A. F. of L.
as to the form of union that shall rep
resent workers for collective bargain
ing In America.
Collective bargaining, of course, now
has been more widely advertised than
ever and the public has beer educated
on various aspects of modern labor
warfare, including the technique of
“alt-down” strikes, but if the lesson
learned is that reason and persuasion
and Impartial administration at Wash
ington can do more to forward the
cause of the workers than anything
else, the strike may not have been
fought altogether in vain.
« (Copyrlyht. 1937.)
News Behind the News
Roosevelt Patronage Hints Do Subtle Lobbying for
Court Proposal.
BY PAUL MALLON.
THERE are all kinds of ways of making Congressmen see the
broader aspects of President Roosevelt’s court repacking program.
It is quite possible, for example, that some of those Senators
who have been called down privately to Attorney General Cum
mings’ office since Tuesday have come away with new light on the subject.
At least, they have reported to their colleagues they can now see that far
more than the question of controlling the Supreme Court may be Involved
as far as they personally are concerned.
Of course, Mr. Cummings would never lobby among Senators for
the program of his boss, but he cannot escape the fact that there
are about eight Federal judicial vacancies and, try as he may, he
cannot avoid consulting Senators from those districts about recom
mending appointees. He need not point out that a Senator's candi
date will have a much better chance of getting the appointment if
the Senator will support the President's reorganization program.
Any one with intelligence enough to be a Senator knows that.
More than one has been deeply impressed.
Congressmen calling at the White House lately also report that they
have been more affected by what they saw than what they heard.
More than one has noticed a large book on the Executive desk con
taining details of the plan for government reorganization. The book is
said to contain a list of Jobe which . _ .
will have to be filled or refilled If
and when the reorganization goes
through.
No argument could be more elo
quent with a Congressman than
this one without words.
* * * *
The President really had to take
hold of the situation because his
whole system of executive lobby- ,
Ing with Congress has buckled un
der the strain of the court pro
posai. , , ,
Knee-weakness has spread like a plague among the usual congressional
lobbyists of the White House. Many a congressional leader upon whom
the President usually depended has developed a heart too heavy for this
particular business. 'They are going through the motions of cracking the
presidential whip, but they made little secret of their listlessness at th*
outset. . . ......
The heavy work fell first upon the two official presidential lobby
ists, Charles West and Jimmy Roosevelt, but it was too heavy. Mr.
West has been getting along only reasonably well, and Jimmy not
at all As this is young Roosevelt’s initial introduction into lobbying.
he has been going along to the Capitol with West more or less as a
sightseer. But even as an accompanist, his presence seems to have
failed to bring desired results upon legislators. They are not able to
acclimate themselves readily to talking trades with the young son
of the President.
This is why Congressmen lately have received invitations to the White
House singly, and in droves.
The difficult situation which Mr. Roosevelt Is up against with Con
gress could be seen behind the action of the House In pushing that Sum
ners bill, giving retirement privileges to Supreme Court justices.
House Judiciary Chairman Sumners left the impression with in
quirers, after a White House call, that the Preeident was not against push
ing that bill ahead of the rest of his program. The statement did not accu
rately describe the real underlying situation, which was simply this:
Every one of Mr. Roosevelt’s leaders In the House was glad to skim
this sugar from his court pill. Their action made it far more difficult for
Mr. Roosevelt to get the only important part of his program through—
the remaining part authorizing him to change the complexion of the Su
preme Court.
a. * *
A spokesman competent to speak
for the Norris-La Follette crowd
says they do not believe Mr.
Roosevelt can get six good liberal
lawyers for the Supreme bench out
of the whole country. That, they
say off-the-record, is the real ex
planation for the fight they are
making.
If you question their deduction,
they will name names.
The President would not try to appoint Prof. Frankfurter of
• Harvard, they say, because "that would be too raw." They mean
Frankfurter might not be confirmed by the Senate, although their
judgment on that is subject to question. Senator Wagner would be
satisfactory to them, but he would not be eligible if he votes on the
judicial expansion program. Neither would Senator Robinson, who
would not be acceptable to them even if he were eligible. They do
not want Attorney General Cummings, S. E. C. Chairman Landis is
too young—and that ends their list.
Outsiders may have considered it strange that such an excellent
reader of handwriting on the wall as Senator Sheppard of Texas neglected
to jump out against the court proposal after his Texas Legislature opposed
it. His colleague, Senator Connally, did.
The answer is Sheppard had committed himself before the Legis
lature acted. (Copyright. 1937.)
(THE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
1 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.
Sophisticated Valentines
Lace and Red Hearts Archaic in This Complex
• Day.
BY DOROTHY THOMPSON.
THE habit of giving presents
should always be encouraged
and all holidays perpetuating
the custom should be sup
ported. Still, lace paper and scarlet
hearts Is somewhat childish. One
night substitute the ever-welcome gift
of books to call
attention to the
feast of hearts.
So here Is a list
of suggested Val
entine greetings
to some of our
leaders and popu
lar heroes.
For Franklin
Delano Roosevelt:
"Quo Vadls.”
For Henry
Morgenthau, jr.:
"Never Ask the
End.”
For Harry Hop
kins: "Mutiny on
Dorothy Thompson.
the Bounty.”
For James A. Farley: "The Big
Money.”
For Lieut. Col. James Roosevelt:
"The Sun Also Rises.”
For Eleanor Roosevelt: "Around the
World In Eleven Years."
For the United States Congress:
“In the Steps of the Master.”
For the Supreme Court: "One More
Spring.”
For the Democratic party: “A Back
ward Glance O’er Travelled Roads.”
For the Republican party: "Wake
Up and Live."
For Landon.
For Alfred Mossman Landon: "Live
Alone and Like It.”
For John Hamilton: “The Sound
of Running Feet.”
For Herbert Hoover: “My Life and
Hard Times.”
For William Lemke: "Gone With
the Wind.”
For Earl Browder: "The World’s
Illusion.”
For Father Coughlin: "Why Not
Try God.”
For Joseph Stalin: "Dead Men Tell
no Tales.”
For Adolph Hitler: "How to Win
Friends and Influence People.”
For Gen. Goering: ’’The Old Lady ,
Shows Her Medals.”
For Benito Mussolini: "This Ex- i
panding Universe."
For Leon Blum: “The Last Civilian.”
For the Duke of Windsor: An an
thology of the plays of Shakespeare,
containing the following: “As You
Like It.” Comedy of Errors," "The
Tempest,” “Much Ado About Noth
ing,” “Love’s Labor Lost,” "All’s Well
That Ends Well” and "The Merry
Wives of Windsor."
For Mrs. Simpson: "Death Comes
for the Archbishop.”
For Mr. Baldwin.
For Stanley Baldwin: "The Last
Puritan.”
For Carter Glass: "The Goldbug.”
For Walter Runciman: "The Twelve
Pound Look.”
For Samuel Untermyer: "Nathan
the Wise.”
For Norman Davis: “Look Home
ward, Angel!”
*
uOnce more, Jake, and we'll be even with
the cook for switching from Wilkins Coffee"
, , /
\ . #
For Halle Selassie: "A Passage to
India.”
For John L. Lewis: "The Oreen
Murder Case."
For Alfred E. Sloan: "A Man Could
Stand Up” and “Some Do Not.”
For Gov. Murphy: “Between Two
Worlds.”
For Gen. Hugh Johnson: "The
Sound and the Fury.”
For Walter Winchell: "Private
Lives.”
For Clifford Odets: "Return I Dare
Not.”
. For Mrs. Elizabeth Dllling: "Eliza
beth and Her German Garden.”
For Mae West: “Gray’s Anatomy.”
For Peggy Hopkins Joyce: “Nine
Old Men.”
For John Barrymore: “What Every
Woman Knows."
For Shirley Temple: “My Life in
Art,”
For Leon Trotzky: “Condemned to
Live.”
For Dr. Townsend.
For Dr. Townsend: “Over the Hills
to the Poor House.”
For Upton Sinclair: “This Believing
World.”
For the Dionne Quintuplets: “If I
Had Four Apples.”
For John D. Rockefeller, «r.: "No
Quarter Given.”
P. 8. It Is not necessary to send this
column “My Ten Years in a Quan
dary" or “Leave it to Jeeves.” We
have copie* already.
(Copyright, 1937.)
Old Letter Held
Proof of Britain’s
Aid to South
B) the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, February 12 —A letter
found recently in New York district
files was described yesterday by Prof.
Richard B. Morris of the College of
New York, regional director of the
Federal archives survey, as final proof
that Britain was actively aiding the
Confederacy in the Civil War.
Sent on March 5. 1862, by the Eng
lish firm. Oermie Brothers & Co., to
J. M. Mason, ‘‘commissioner of the
Confederate States of America," it re
lated the contract terms for providing
the Alabama and other ships to a new
company, the Liverpool & New Orleans
Mail Steam Navigation Co. One para
graph said:
“In the event of the Confederate
government requiring these steamers
for purposes other than conducting op
erations of a warlike nature against
ihe British government, they are to be
at liberty to charter the same or any
of them, on the same terms as the
Cunard Co. contract to do with her
majesty's government.”
American demands that Britain pay
for damages wrought by the Alabama
almost led to war after the United
States had protested its construction
in Liverpool.
This Changing World
British Cabinet Split on Methods of Dealing With
Germany.
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.
THE German-British conversation! which are proceeding under a
cloak of extreme secrecy In London will prove of utmost Importance
to the peace of Europe.
The British cabinet Is divided. Some members with an eye
on the anti-Nazi public opinion want to tell Hitler and his advisers to go
where It’s hot. They want to adopt a dictatorial attitude and enforce their
ideas of peace on the Germans
without giving the Reich any prac
tical satisfaction regarding terri
torial expansion.
Other members of the cabinet
and many political thinkers arc of
the opinion that the British gov
ernment must be more bending,
examine the German claims care
fully and try and meet Hitler’s de
mands with an open mind. These
people are concerned over the fu
rotcwroww!! lenient* J
ATTfnipe p annuoy <
ture or the empire and wish their government to ao all tnat is in its power
to avert another outbreak of hostilities.
They all -point out that Great Britain is more vulnerable today
than it was during the World War; that the German people are
backing Hitler with more enthusiasm than they backed the Kaiser
or even Bismarck, the builder of the Reich; that Germany cannot
longer be coerced ivio accepting the point of view of other nations
because the nationalistic spirit is stronger than it has ever been in
the history of the empire and Germany can resist today a blockade
more successfully than in the past. The German people have had 20
years of starvation experience, and tightening of belts has become
a fine art with them.
Furthermore the majority of the British people are scared of en
tanglements. The Baldwin cabinet has gone far enough in pledging
Britain’s support to France and Belgium in case of an aggression from
Germany. This pledge, which is in keeping with the British policy of
self-preservation, is acceptable to the British masses, but they do not
want it extended any further. That is to say, they do not want their
government to maintain that guaranty in the event of France going to
Czechoslovakia’s or Russia's rescue, thus inviting an attack from Ger
many on the Rhine.
It Is In the light of these political tendencies that the British govern
ment is examining these davs the request of Hitler presented to the foreign
office by Ambassador von Ribbentrop for the Reich’s territorial expansion.
Political observers Interpret as significant the fact that Foreign Secre
tary Anthony Eden has decided to take a fortnight’s furlough at this
moment, leaving the negotiations with the Reich in the hands of Lord
Halifax, the Lord Privy Seal. Halifax la less doctrinaire and more Im
personal than Eden; consequently more apt to deal without passion with
the Hitler demands.
* * * *
The British do not Intend to open even tentative conversations for a
reciprocal trade agreement with the United States'until the Congress has
passed the new neutrality bill.
It is understood that the British government definitely has made
up its mind not to sign such a treaty unless it is absolutely certain
that raw materials it intends to purchase in this country in time of
peace will be available to them in time of war.
Hence it is important for Downing street to know whether raw ma
terials will be exempt for an embargo or whether the President will be
given discretionary powers to deal with an eventual embargo on raw ma
tenals in the event of a world con
flagration. In the latter case they
would want to have it in black and
white in the reciprocal trade agree
ment that they will have access to
raw materials at any time, war or
no war.
Letters addressed to the Duke of
Windsor reach Buckingham Palace
at the rate of 150 a day. They
come from all parts of the world,
but 75 per cent of them come from
tne united oiates. iney vary from sweeping condemnation to high
praise. Sir Godfrey Thomas, the former ruler's private secretary, reads
them all and forwards to Austria those he thinks would please the Duke.
Fatal Blast Wrecks Building.
AVIGNON, France, February 12 OP).
—One person was killed and one seri
ously injured yesterday when an ex
plosion wrecked a three-story build
ing. Twelve families had to move
from their homes because supports of
adjacent buildings were weakened.
The cause of the explosion was not
determined.
Lardner Asks Marriage License.
LOS ANGELES, February 12 OP).—
Ring Lardner, Jr., 21, son of the late
humorist, and Miss Silvia Schulman,
23, secretary to Screen Producer David
Selznick, applied yesterday for a mar
riage license.
They said the wedding probably will
be within two weeks. Lardner is writ
ing for the films.
We,
The
People
Non-Lawyers May Be
Named to Supreme
Court.
BY JAY FRANKLIN.
NOT SINCE the early days of
N. R. A. has there been such
a rush of corporation lawyers
to Washington. Grave and
dapper, with brief cases, expense ac
counts and veneration for the Con
stitution, they leaped as though stung
by hornets last Friday and glided
Into the Nation’s Capital by plane and
train. It looks like an alfresco meet
ing of the bar association as the law
yers’ union goes to work at lobbying
against the judiciary bill.
This column Cncts their anxiety a
little silly, so far as it concerns the
threat to “pack” the Supreme Court
with six New Deal justices. The Su
preme Court Is like a bride’s valise—
it doesn’t stay packed very long. From
time to time our Presidents have sent
the court off with a lovely "going
away” costume only to find that Its
judicial demeanor in its “second-day
dress” is disconcertingly independent.
So long as the court retains the
power—if not the constitutional right
—to declare Federal laws unconstitu
tional, this must remain the case. This
power means that the court is deep in
politics, for the ultimate right to de
termine the law is the essence of po
litical power. And when, as here, this
power is buttressed by the support of
all the organized corporate wealth of
the United States. It is no fragile thing.
Political majorities come and go, but
United States Steel and Standard Oil
go on forever.
By appointing six new Justices,
President Roosevelt might reasonably
expect to validate some of the basic
New Deal proposals—N. R. A., A. A. A.,
Social Security, T. V. A. and labor leg
islation—but once these are settled, he
would find, as other Presidents .have
found, that the Supreme Court rolls
its own policy In the long run.
Far from being alarmed by the pres
ent proposals, the legal fraternity
ought to thank their stars that Mr.
Roosevelt took the least radical course
open to him and did not trench upon
the Supreme Court's real power or
upon the Constitution as now inter
preted by “the nine old men.”
Where the lawyers should be
alarmed, however, is over the distinct
chance that all of the new members
of the court will not be lawyers.
Assistant Attorney General Bob
Jackson’s recent New York speech
dropped the suggestion that there
was no constitutional reason why only
lawyers should become Supreme Court
Justices. This very important hint—
for Mr. Jackson would scarcely speak
without approval from his superiors—
passed almost unnoticed at the time.
There is, moreover, a growing be
lief that the general public and the
Interests of the people should be rep
resented on the Supreme Court as
well as Wall Street and the legal pro
fession. This principle is already re
flected in the Federal Reserve Board,
which is no lonfeer composed exclu
sively of bankers. So it is easy to
guess the spot where the next presi
dential bombshell may land.
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