Evening star. [volume], December 09, 1945, Page C-2, Image 51

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

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ffje Sunday gjfar1
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C—2 SUNDAY, December 9, 1945
The Public Pays
Public opinion will hold the op
erators rather than the union to
blame for the failure of the Com
missioners’ attempt to bring about a
settlement, through arbitration, of
the damaging truck strike which
seriously affects the public interest.
The reason for this is that the
operators have declined to accept
the arbitration formula finally pro
posed by the Commissioners, with
the adyice and counsel of the United
States Conciliation Service. The
formula was acceptable to the union.
The operators contend that the
formula was “union dictated,” and
It may very well be that in the opin
ion of the operators the union is to
blame for having refused the arbi
tration plan acceptable to the op
erators. The operators further con
tend that the union’s attitude, from
the start, has been “all or nothing.”
In such circumstances, the for
mula itself will have to stand ex
amination on its own merits. The
one proposed by the Commissioners
and acceptable to the union sub
mitted all the union's contract de
mantis to arbitration. The oper
ators wished the question of wages
alone submitted to arbitration. As
the dispute is not over wages alone,
it seems reasonable that all of the
issues in dispute should be arbi
trated.
The Commissioners’ formula pro
vided for selection of an arbitrator
by Commissioner Young or by Chief
Judge George C. Barse of the Mu
nicipal Court. That is uncertain
and subject to criticism. But, as the
operators were willing to submit the
matter to an arbitrator selected by
Judge Barse from the bench of the
Municipal Court, the difference be
tween the two proposals certainly
should be subject to further discus
sion rather than flat rejection as
being dictated by the union.
The public is pretty well con
vinced by this time that wheja tht
two sides in a labor disput# becotfft
hopelessly deadlocked over Issties
normally pertaining to wages and
working conditions, as they are in
this case, and where a substantial
public interest is involved, the only
sensible recourse is to bring in a
third party and abide by the deci
sion. The alternative is economic
pressure by both sides until one
gives in. But in this case It is the
public which suffers more than
either of the disputants, and the
public will not lose much time in
making up its mind as to the source
of the injury which is inflicted.
Spiritual Sustenance
John D. Rockefeller, junior, has
given a million dollars for religious
reconstruction. The field of work
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tlcularly, but the need for a spiritual
renaissance all ’round the earth is
conspicuously apparent. Much of
the suffering which mankind has
endured in the past thirty or forty
years traces back to the materialistic
conceptions which, beginning nearly
two centuries ago, replaced the faith
which made bright the times some
what arbitrarily called “medieval."
Millions of people were taught to
adjust their lives to expediency.
Traditional codes of ethics and
morals were mocked and ridiculed
by mistaken “philosophers,” It
gradually became fashionable to be
agnostic with regard to the doctrines
of Jesus as well as to Jesus Himself.
Political and economic notions of
purely adventurous character were
permitted to assume the value and
quality of law among all classes of
people. The meaning of individual
ity was perverted in the interest of
building whole systems of slavery
for the masses. It became dangerous
to disagree with the theories of
“security” which the architects of
totalitarianism invented.
Out of such defiance of essential
reality war and revolution were cer
tain to arise. The first global con
flict brought forth another planetary
struggle of even vaster proportions.
Multitudes died that freedom might
survive. But it was not for liberty
alone that blood and tears were
shed. Freedom must be employed
constructively, if it is to be worth
its cost. The citizens of the nations
that fought for liberty are justified
In wanting its natural fruits. To
meet their need the 8an Francisco
Charter was designed and the United
Nations Organization established.
But they will fail, as other, earlier
endeavors of the same sort failed,
unless they are sustained by popular
Idealism based on the noblest wisdom
the sun ever has looked down upon—
the wisdom of Judaeo-Christian
tradition.
Mr. Rockefeller is but one man
Who realizes the compelling demand
for a rebirth of religion. Many
others will Join with him In the
cause of reconstruction to which his
latest benefaction is devoted. The
number of helpers, however, must
be legion, if the work 1$ to succeed.
Admiral King's Report
After its magnificent achieve
ments in this war, there is no need
to ‘ sell” the Navy to the American
people, and Admiral King, in his
final report as the directing head of
a fighting fleet, is wisely content, for
the most part, to set forth the facts
and let them speak for themselves.
The report deals primarily with
the seven-month period ending last
October 1—the period which saw
both Germany and Japan go down
in total defeat after the hardest,
bitterest and costliest fighting that
the world has ever known—and
also treats in broad outline the more
important aspects of the manner in
which the Navy was built and fought
throughout the war. There is no
occasion to review these matters
here, nor to attempt an evaluation
of the Navy's role in achieving final
victory. It seems pertinent, how
ever, to present Admiral King's own
summarized conclusion, based on
information obtained after our entry
into Japan. This is what he said:
Never before in the history of war had
there been a more convincing example
of the effectiveness of sea power than
when a well-armed, highly efficient and
undefeated (Japanese! army of over a
million men surrendered their homeland
unconditionally to the invader without
even token resistance. True, the devas
tation already wrought by past bomb
ings, as well as the terrible demonstra
tion of power by the first atomic bombs,
augured nothing less for the Japanese
than total extinction; yet without sea
power there would have been no posses
sion of Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa
from which to launch these bombings.
True, the Japanese homeland might
have been taken by assault in one final
amphibious operation of tremendous
magnitude, yet without sea power such
an assault could not have been at
tempted.
Those who desire to debate the
question of which arm of the service
won me war, or contributed most to
winning the war, may challenge this
statement. There will be few to
contend, however, that we could
have won this war without command
of the seas, nor to deny that this
control of the oceans was primarily
dependent upon our own naval
power.
Admiral King also spoke out
bluntly against the proposals for
unity of command in Washington,
his most pertinent observations
being presented in these words;
Unity of command at the highest mili
tary level, in Washington las an exten
sion of the principle of unity of com
mand;, was never attempted, nor, in
fact, seriously considered (during the
war;. It is a matter of record that the
strategic direction of the war, as con
ducted collectively by the joint chiefs
of staff, was fully as successful as were
the operations which they directed. The
joint chiefs of stall system proved its
worth. There is no over-all "paramount
capability” among the joint chiefs of
staff to warrant elevating one of the
Members to a position of military com
fiuuwJer of all the armed forces—nor, in
my opinion, is there any known system
or experience which can be counted
upon to produce the man qualified for
such a position. This war has produced
no such man—for the records of the
Joint chiefs of staff will show that the
proposals or the convictions of no one
member were as sound, or as promising
of success, as the united judgment and
agreed decisions of all of the members.
This is a statement by the head of
our wartime Navy which bears di
rectly on the debate now revolving
around the question of unification
of the armed services. Admiral
King refers to certain records in the
belief that they support his views
in opposition to unity of command
in Washington. Why should not
these records be made available for
public examination In a matter of
such importance as this?
The Consumers' Side
The Senate District Committee
has acted wisely in affording oppo
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practices bill a full opportunity to
morrow to present the consumers’
side of the case. The consumers,
after all, have a right to be heard,
for it is from their well-worn pocket
books that the additional retail costs
of many standard brand commod
ities will be extracted if the pending
legislation becomes law. Up to now
only one side of the issue on the
Saltonstall bill has been heard—the
manufacturers’ and distributors’
side. The implications of the meas
ure are too far reaching to permit
of casual consideration, especially in
view of the evidence that some of
the States in their haste several
years ago to follow California’s lead
in adopting such legislation even
copied unintelligible phraseology
caused by a typographical error in
the California law.
Actually, no convincing reason has
been advanced for speeding action
on this bill. On the contrary, there
is every good reason to ponder all
the potential e'ffects of any proposal
which will boost prices in this era
of high prices. That the “fair trade
practices” bill will make the cus
tomers of chain store and other cut
rate establishments pay more in
many instances for such necessities
as drugs and toilet goods is con
ceded. That is the very purpose of
the bill—to outlaw prices under
those fixed by the manufacturer of
nationally advertised “trade mark”
articles. Thus, as opponents of the
plan have declared, the bill might
more properly be called a “price
fixing” bill than one to insure "fair
trade practices.”
The announced objective of the
legislation is to protect manufac
turers from misuse of their products
by retailers employing the “loss
leader” method of stimulating sales.
Under this method, cut-rate dealers
advertise nationally known products
A
%
at prices representing an actual loss
in the hope of attracting customers
to their stores and selling them ad
ditional articles at substantial
profits. But the proposed bill would
not be limited in application to "loss
leader” tactics. It would make it
unlawful for the retailer to sell his
goods below the nationally fixed
price, whether he could still make a
reasonable profit by so doing or not.
Hence, the dealer who desired to
pass on to the public savings ac
cruing from his efficient merchan
dising methods would be prevented
from doing so. These are but a few
of the arguments on the consumers’
side of the "fair trade practices”
bill. They are worthy of the most
careful consideration by the legis
lators weighing the Saltonstall bill.
The Moscow Meeting
The announcement that the For
eign Mii *'fers of the Big Three are
\to meet H Moscow comes as en
couraging news for two reasons:
First, because it suggests that sub
stantial progress has been made
toward-cnding the deadlock that has
impaired Anglo-American-Soviet re
lations ever since the failure of the
London Conference, and, second, be
cause it indicates that Russia is in
a mood to give co-operative consid
eration to the procedures recently
outlined in the Truman-Attlee-King
proposals for the control of atomic
energy.
As jointly explained by the three
powers, the meeting, which has been
called in keeping with the Yalta
agreement and which will begin
next Saturday, will take up “a num
ber of matters of current concern.”
These matters, presumably, include
the Iranian situation, Japanese con
trol policy, strife in China, the task
of working out European peace
treaties and other grave items that
have tended to fill the international
atmosphere with mutual acrimony
and suspicion. The Foreign Min
isters of China, France, Britain, Rus
sia and the United States got no
where with these problems at Lon
don, and, since it is doubtful that
the new discussions would have been
scheduled unless some progress had
hppn madp mpanwhilp through rpsr
ular diplomatic channels, the forth
coming Moscow meeting, though
limited to the Big Three, definitely
raises the hope that the impasse
may yet be broken.
Similarly hopeful is the fact that
the business of the meeting will also
include “an exchange of views on
the subject of the control of atomic
energy.” In their joint declaration
last month, President Truman and
Prime Ministers Attlee and King
set forth excellent preliminary pro
posals for a United Nations com
mission to work out a step-by-step
system for the international super
vision and development of this
fearsome new power, and they
made clear that the secrets—such
as they are—of its industrial appli
cation would be shared with other
members of the UNO, on a recip
rocal basis, “just as soon as enforce
able safeguards against its use for
destructive purposes can be de
vised.” When this statement was
issued, some too-excitable conclu
sion-jumpers asserted that it froze
out Russia, but obviously it did
nothing of the sort. On the con
trary—as, of course, it had to be—
it was a sensible and far-sighted
move for co-operation, and that it
is to be discussed at Moscow is not
only logical, but also an encouraging
sign that the Soviets realize, no less
than we, that one of the greatest
imperatives of our time is that na
tions deal with the harnessed atom
in the closest possible harmony.
Not until the forthcoming meeting
is ended, of course, will it be pos
sible to measure its significance as a
move to check the recent deteriora
tion in Anglo-American-Soviet re
lations. The mere fact that it is
being held, however, is promising,
because it at least indicates that the
statesmen of the Big Three are
aware that conditions cannot be jd
lowed to grow any worse than' they
are without endangering the whole
future of collective security. In the
circumstances, it does not%eefh un
reasonable to hope that genuinely
good news may be heralded to the
world from Moscow in time for
Christmas.
Pponl a t.nllr ahnuf Amorira oc
being “traditionally isolated” from
the Old World. Yet it was none other
than Lieutenant Colonel George
Washington of Virginia, whp, at Fort
Necessity in Pennsylvania in May,
1754. started the Seven Years’ War
which devastated Europe and, ac
cording to the Encyclopaedia Britan
nica, “laid the foundations of the
British Empire.”
Barriers were installed at the
Pimlieo race track to keep dope
away from horses. Nothing was
done, however, to keep bettors with
the wrong dope away from mutuel
ticket windows.
The Army is about to release 40,000
doctors to civilian practice, but with
the handicap that while in the Army
they had no practice whatever in
waiting a year or more for their bills
to be paid.
How can anybody doubt the exist
ence of hell? All one needs to do to
prove its reality in one’s own ex
perience is to stand on a street
corner in the rain and wait for a
bus that never arrives.
Only eleven mothers at the most
can recognize their sons on the new
three-cent Navy stamp, but at least
eleven times eleven already have
done so.
The character who begins by say
ing, ’1 am a man of few words,” is
too often technically correct as to
number, but uses the same ones too
often.
Conciliation Service
Wins Praise for Work
Proposal to Strengthen It Called
Major Achievement
By E. B. Mittelman.
Although the National Labor-Man
agement Conference, after deliberating
for more than three weeks, misfired on
most issues it had been called to con
sider, it did succeed in setting off one
charge that may, in the long run, re
deem all the failures, and certainly
equal, if not exceed in importance, the
President’s subsequent recommendation
to Congress on fact-finding machinery.
This is the labor-management recom
mendation that every effort be made to
reorganize the United States Concilia
tion Service, and that Congress make
available funds for improving and
strengthening the service.
Looking at the agenda again, now
that the conference is over, it does not
require too much hindsight to realize
that the conference could not have
ended in anything but failure. It mere
ly provided labor and management with
an opportunity to air their ancient dif
ferences on the National Labor Rela
tions Board, wild-cat strikes, and juris
dictional disputes. For good measure
management was given an opportunity
to stake out the field of management, on
which lpbor, thereafter, was not to
trespass, and at least one part of the
labor delegation took the opportunity to
declare itself for a general Increase in
wages. In the course of the delibera
tions management, in effect, asked labor
to agree to legislative restrictions upon
itself, for management alone could not
commit the conference to anything; on
the other hand, while the entire labor
delegation stood pat on legislative re
strictions, the CIO delegation asked
management to agree to higher wages.
* * * *
The one issue on the agenda on which
labor and management found common
ground was the Conciliation Service.
Both, from the very beginning, were in
agreement on the need for improving
the service. Management at first inti
mated that the service, when improved,
ought to be independent of the Labor
Department. In this management raised
an issue of more than 30 years’ standing,
covering practically the full life of the
department. Management has always
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ment, feeling that it was created to serve
labor, just as labor has generally been
skittish about the Commerce Depart
ment, feeling that it was created to
serve commerce and industry. The con
ference compromised the issue by recom
mending that the service be left In the
Labor Department, but that an advisory
committee, representing labor and man
agement, be appointed by the Secretary
of Labor to advise the service on ques
tions of policy, procedure, organization
and personnel.
This was a wise solution of the prob
lem. Since labor calls upon the service
more often than management, it was
wise to leave it in the Labor Depart
ment, but since management is equally
Interested in the result it was wise to
give management an equal hand with
labor in determining the character of
the service rendered.
In spite of the Importance of con
ciliation, only now being realized, the
service has always been something of a
stepchild in the department. Mo6t
subdivisions of the department exist by
virtue of special acts of Congress; the
service is merely an extension of the
power given the Secretary of Labor to
act as mediator in labor disputes and
to appoint commissioners of concilia
tion. Not based on a special act, and
thus not having withstood the scrutiny
of Congress, the service had to make
its own way. Starting with only a de
ficiency appropriation of $5,000, back in
1913, it, up to the outbreak of the Sec
ond World War, had only about $300,000
a year to cover the entire country. One
way of making such small amounts go
as far as possible was to pay low sala
ries. Even in 1944 these salaries ran
around $3,500 to $3,800 a year. But no
competent staff of conciliators could be
recruited and maintained on such sala
ries. The conference realized that and
recommended that salaries be high
enough to attract persons having the
necessary qualifications.
* * * *
Another difficulty besides limited
funds was that the department itself
did not until recently fully realize the
potentialities of the Conciliation Service,
in spite of the voluntary nature of its
activities. Just because its activities are
voluntary, the service should have hired
men of the highest caliber even If that
meant hiring fewer men, well Informed
on the technical and economic phases
of industry, and impartial. Instead,
the first Secretary of Labor tried to
hire “diplomats,” thinking that it was
up to him to develop “diplomatic duties
with reference to labor disputes and
analogous to those of the Department
of State with reference to international
controversies.” By way of contrast the
Labor-Management Conference recom
mended that the personnel of the serv
ice “should be characterized by impar
tiality, integrity and a knowledge of
labor-management problems.”
In addition to recommending a better
type of personnel all around, the con
ference recommended that the personnel
used for conciliation purposes should
not, as heretofore, be used also for arbi
tration purposes. Instead the arbitra
tors should be drawn from a list of
capable, trained and impartial persons,
willing to serve on a per diem basis only
when requested by both parties to a
dispute.
The disappointment with the Labor
Management Conference, if the Pres
ident’s subsequent recommendation to
Congress on fact-finding machinery may
be taken as an indication of public feel
ing, is that the conference did not
recommend such machinery itself. This
omission, whatever may be said of It,
only re-emphasizes the importance of
the chain of sequences, as well as the
individual links, in keeping the peace
in industry, and in the end, the im
portance of the conference action for
improving the Conciliation Service. As
between fact-finding oh the one hand,
and conciliation and voluntary arbitra
tion on the other, the latter, in the
long run, is by far the more important
of the two. Fact-finding, on everybody’s
admission, is important only as a safety
valve. While it is necessary to have a
safety valve where the public interest is
involved, if the regular machinery is in
expert hands, there is so much less need
to rely on the safety valve. This would
generally be more acceptable to labor,
management and the public.
, Whatever the relative values, however,
it is rather unfortunate that the Pres
ident, in recommending action on fact
Sectamini Caritatem: Aim at Charity
By the Most Rev. Lawrence J. Shehan, S. T. D.,
Auxiliary Bishop-Elect of Baltimore and Washington.
(Editor’s note: Bishop Shehan will he consecrated at St. Patrick’s Church
Wednesday.)
On the eve of my consecration as
bishop, The Star has done me the
honor of asking .me to write the re
ligious editorial for this Sunday
issue. In accepting this honor, I have
chosen the text which appears on my
episcopal coat of arms: ‘‘Sectamlni
Caritatem—Aim at Charity.”
We residents of Washington have
special reason for heeding this ex
hortation which St. Paul gave in his
first epistle to the Corinthians. Many
of us have come to this city from
all parts of the country and regard
Washington simply as our temporary
place of abode. We work here and
live here for the time being; we
admire the broad avenues, the stately
buildings, the beautiful parks; we
enjoy what the city has to offer in
the way of entertainment and amuse
• ment—but our deeper interests are
back home. The friendships we form
are, for the most part, but passing
ones. We have a nodding acquaint
ance with out next-door neighbors.
We have associates, few or many,
according to our position and the
requirements of our social life. But
the deeper friendships and the closer
bonds characteristic of the more
stable communities some of us have
known In our younger days are
strangely lacking.
As for the poor, they seem far re
moved from us. They occupy obscure
corners and remote by-ways of the
city, oiten we are naraiy aware oi
their existence, to say nothing of
their needs. We have little interest
in what happens to their children.
If the Institutions for the neglected
and the wayward are inadequate,
that is simply a problem for the pub
lic authorities. Conditions which
may exist in homes for the impov
erished aged cause us little or no
concern. The result is that our Na
tion's Capital often seems strangely
lacking in the spirit of charity.
* * * *
Some will maintain that this con
dition is the result of circumstances
Inseparable from life in a large mod
em city. Men are too busy. They
live in isolated units of huge imper
sonal apartment houses, where there
Is no Incentive and no room for that
kind of hospitality which is one of
the flowerings of charity. They eat
in restaurants and are drawn away
from home for their recreation. Un
der such conditions there is no op
portunity for the development of
those contacts which are the neces
sary setting of the exercise of charity
in the true sense of the word.
To some extent all this is true, but
the real cause of the lessening of the
spirit of charity lies deeper than this.
It is to be found in a changed atti
tude toward life and, In particular,
in a changed estimate of the nature
and value of the individual, which Is
tied up with men's religious concepts.
One of the things which set the
early Christians off from their pagan
contemporaries was their love of
their fellowmen. "See how they love
one another” was the comment of the
pagans concerning them. And that
love was not confined to their own
group. It embraced the pagans
themselves (although the pagans
naturally were unwilling to admit it),
so that they were willing to risk life
itself to carry the gospel to their
unbelieving brothers. That love had
its origin in Christian faith, in be
lief in God our Father, in belief in
the brotherhood of all in Christ our
Saviour, in the unalterable convic
tion that every human soul for whom
Christ shed His saving blood is some
thing infinitely precious not only to
God but also to all who love God.
It was this charity born of religious
faith which changed the face of the
earth and gave rise to our Christian
civilization.
* * * *
If today this bond of charity,
which alone can bind men together,
is suffering decay, it is because the
essential religious element has been
removed from its texture. For ail
love of one’s fellowmen, which is not
a mere passing sentiment, must have
its origin in religion alone which
gives the foundation for the concept
of the true brotherhood of man. It is
religion alone which gives an ade
quate motive for universal and en
during love of our fellowmen with all
t.Hpir ImnArfortirtne thaic
and their stupidities. And we should
never forget that it is religion alone
which justifies others in taking our
selves to their hearts. The concept
of brotherhood and the philanthropic
spirit may endure for a while after
their religious foundations have been
destroyed; but, deprived of their spir
itual sources, sooner or later they
must wither like the vine that has
been cut off from its roots.
If then today we are witnessing a
general decline of the spirit of char
ity not only here in our own city but
throughout the world, if there is a
growing lack of friendliness among
men, if there are multiplying ten
sions between the racial groups which
compose our communities, if there is
mounting suspicion and jealousy and
even hatred of nation toward nation,
are we not justified in attributing all
this to the decline of that religious
faith and to the abandonment of
those religious concepts on which our
Christian civilization was built? If
men return to pagan concepts, they
must ultimately return to pagan con
duct. After all, we cannot love our
fellowman as a brother unless we
know he really is our brother. And
we cannot know him as our brother
unless we know God as our Father.
If then we would aim at charity, we
must turn our face toward God in
whom all true charity has its birih
and its abode.
Capital Sidelights
By Will P. Kennedy.
The House cloakroom, where mem
bers gather In privacy, has been experi
encing a metamorphosis from a cross
roads country-Store, cracker-barrel type
of discussion on "the state of the
Union" to the more cultural quality of
an old-time salon. House members have
turned to literary, biographical and his
torical discussions. Each week some
little-heard-of book, containing a gold
mine of valuable food for thought, is
recommended for reading and analysis.
For the coming week the selection is
"Steeplejack," a two-volume work by the
late James Gibbons Huneker. It was
recommended a quarter of a century ago
by three Pennsylvania Republican
members, highly esteemed—"Hampy”
Moore, later Mayor of Philadelphia, au
thor of "Roosevelt and the Old Guard";
the highly respected ordained minister
in politics, Representative Henry W.
Temple, and "the grand Old Man of the
G. O. P.," the late Representative George
P. Darrow.
* * * *
“Bill” Hassett, private secretary to
President Truman, as he was for Presi
dent F. D. Roosevelt, and Representa
tive Charles A. Plumley, formerly his
teacher and later boon comrade, joined
forces recently to pay tribute to a vet
eran at the Capitol, whom they both
loved. "Bill” wrote and "Charlie” de
livered before the Vermont Society of
the District a well-deserved tribute to
the late Charles A. Webb, long time
Congressional secretary and President
of the Vermont Society. Other mem
bers of the society, like Walter Husband
and George Wales, formed a coterie that
cannot be replaced. Soon after gradu
ation as one of the men who have con
tributed mo6t to Dartmouth’s "spirit.”
Mr. Webb became associated with Mr.
Husband, ever afterward his closest
friend. He came to Washington first
aivui a vcuuuJti cuibv/i o tuau no ocuc
tary to the late Senator William P. Dill
ingham, subsequently to the late Rep
resentative and Senator Ernest W. Gib
son. and then to Senator Austin.
* *■ * *
The octogenarian House clerk, South
Trimble, who came to Congress 45 years
ago, is not interested in the "westerns” or
"wild West” tales, because he has lived
through most dramatic incidents in his
home State, Kentucky, and now is re
viewing nearly a score of famous Ken
tucky tragedies and trials. He has been
recommending to House members the
following list for perusal: Rowan-Cham
bers duel, Jackson-Dickinson duel, Hol
man-Warlng duel, assassination of
Francis Baker by Isaac B. Desha in 1824,
assassination of Solomon P. Sharp by
Jeroboam O. Beauchamp, Richardson
Waring tragedy, Wilkinson trial, trial of
Matt F. Ward, execution of Sue Mundy,
Thompson-Davies tragedy, assassination
of Judge John M. Elliott, Tolliver-Mar
tin or Logan feud, Goebel-Sanford kill
ing, Swope-Goodloe tragedy, Colson
Scott tragedy, Goebel assassination,
Hargis-Cockrell feud and death of Judge
James Hargis.
finding, did not at the same time follow
through with a recommendation for an
Immediate improvement of the Concilia
tion Service along the lines recom
mended by the Labor-Management
Conference, particularly, since, with
fact-finding hanging over them, the
parties to future disputes will want to
exhaust the full possibilities of concilia
tion and voluntary arbitration, before
laying themselves open to further public
action. In its present condition the
Conciliation.Service is not going to be
equal to the task.
Fifty Years Ago
The custom of calling city streets by
numbers has been an American habit
at least for 50 years,
Street Numbers possibly for twice that
And Names ,ong. In The Star for
November 26, 1895, it
was said: “New York has a greater total
of numbered streets than any other city.
Its highest is 222d street. Chicago’s
highest is 138th street. • • • Brooklyn
has a 109th street. Curiously enough,
Keene, N. H., with a population of less
than 10,000, has a 93d street. Philadel
phia does not go above 72d street in
numbered streets.” The most popular
name for streets was Main—450 of them
had been counted. There were 375 cities
each remembering the first President
with a Washington street. High streets
were listed in 275 cities. Broadways ex
isted in 175 different communities. The
Nation’s Capital had a Tin Cup alley.
So did Lexington. Ky. But nobody ap
peared to know why.
* * * *
Said the Star of November 30, 1895:
“There has been discovered in Bir
mingham, in the
Objects of Worship wry center of
Mode to Order Christian Eng
land, a factory
where idols are made for heathen na
tions. Many attempts to obtain admis
sion to the factory have been made, but
a strict watch is kept upon outsiders
anxious to pry into the secret chambers
where the heathen gods are made and
reporters especially are prevented from
entering the works, idols of all kinds
are turned out, representing the gods of
all heathen nations from Tokai to
Timbuctoo. The export trade to heathen
countries is a fairly large one, although
more gods are sent out to foreign deal
ers in curios in the bazaars of Cairo,
Damascus, Colombo, etc., for sale tn
unsuspecting travelers anxious to take
home some mementoes of their stay
abroad." Some of the faked deities
brought fantastic prices in London when
offered as “stolen by a sailor during the
Chinese war." In Egypt, however, the
Birmingham gods, it was (explained,
“may run up from $100 to anything."
Curiously enough, the fraudulent pro
duct was “more correct in form” than
the real articles.
* ♦ * *
Services in rnemosy of Alexander
Dumas the Younger, who died on No
vember 37, 1895, were re
Funerol of ported in The Star for De
Dumas cember 3 of that year as
being “unostentatious, in
accordance with the wishes of the de
ceased author and dramatist.” The body
of the dead writer, according to a cable
message from Paris, ■'was interred in
the cemetery of Montmarte in the pre
sence of a vast concourse of literary
men, artists and actors.” Nothing was
mentioned about what Dumas, Ills, left
to guarantee his lasting place in the
history of letters — his novel “La
Dame aux Camelias,” better known as
“Camille" or in its operatic form “La
Traviata." But perhaps that did not
matter. The obvious gains nothing, it
seems, by repetition.
* * * *
Front page space in The Star of De
cember 4, 1895, was devoted to an ex
ha u stive
First Convention of chronicle of
Washington Diocese * the primary
meeting of
the new Diocese of Wa tiington. The
place of assembly was St. Andrew’s
Church, Fourteenth a id Corcoran
streets. Opened by the R ght Rev. Wil
liam Paret, Bishop of Maryland, the
gathering heard a sermon delivered by
Truman Motivated by
Conference Failure
Collapse of Meeting Inspires Re
quest for New Labor Law.
By Raymond Moley
That the failure of the Labor-Man
agement Conference caused President
Truman to make his proposal for a law
fully imposed fact-finding committee
and a cooling-off period is evident.
President Truman says exactly that in
his message. He moved Government
into the picture because every one else
has failed.
The President's proposal is a mild
first step. If it is tried and is not
effective, further measures will be taken
by Government toward compulsory ar
bitration. That is inevitable.
The proposal, in itself, is not new. It
follows the pattern of the Railway La
bor Act. M. W. Clement, president of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, no doubt in
spired by his experience with thie Rail
way Act, brought a similar proposal to
the Labor-Management Conference
some weeks ago. Mr. Clement's proposal
differed from Mr. Truman’s only in the
time schedule. The procedure he sug
gested would run beyond the 25 days
recommended by the President. It al
lowed 10* days for appointing the boards.
30 for investigation and 10 more for
carrying out the recommendations. But
the principle is the same. The principle,
established in the railway industry, is
that some strikes are of such vast im
portance to the whole country that their
solution cannot be left entirely to pri
vate negotiation. They become na
tional emergencies. This latest pro
posal develops now because the parties
at issue have failed.
Management has failed. The sad
ending of the Washington Labor-Man
agement Conference proved that. At
the beginning of the conference H. W.
Prentis, jr., quoted the late Justice
Brandeis to the effect that democracy
is the substitution of self-restraint for
external restraint. That reminder by
Mr. Prentis should have been the key
note of the conference. We were wit
nessing a vital test of whether those
who are running businesses for stock
iiuiucio wan piuvivic, wibu ur wiuiuui
the agreement of labor, a formula or a
rallying cry which can win the confi
dence of the public.
* * * *
Management did not meet that test.
Instead, it acquiesed in a meaningless
mumble-jumble of words. This was the
price paid for unity within management
and between management and labor.
Not only in the statements of agree
ment with labor, but of agreement with
in the management group, generalities
were used which inspired no public con
fidence. The failure of the whole effort
is shown by the comments made by
some of the participants later. They
said, in effect, that the conference did
something, because it pointed out the
differences between labor and manage
ment. In the name of common sense,
those differences have been clear for a
long time! It didn't need a conference
to bring them out! The failure of man
agement to clear the air calls for a
better apology than that.
The major trouble in the manage
ment group was that four or five of its
members were for apparent, rather than
for real, agreement. They favored what
a political convention favors—namely,
the bridging of a gap by vacant gen
eralities. And apparently, the pussyfoot
minority prevailed.
The better final alternative would
have been the drawing up of a declara
tion of the rights and demands of man
agement, followed by an appeal to Con
gress for specific relief. This might
have rallied the country. But it was
not done.
A sad comment by one of those who
participated for management was that
the best speech for private enterprise
was made by John L. Lewis. Mr. Lewis,
however, was not primarily concerned
in providing management with leader
ship. He had an ax to grind on the
labor side of the table. He was moving
himself into a dominant position on
the APL side and, in the course of his
maneuvers, he was throwing assorted
monkey wrenches into the CIO. This
was all very well for Mr. Lewis, but it
was of no help to a suffering public.
It will not be helpful for some time
for management to make speeches on
the evils of Government regimentation.
The failure of all parties concerned In
the recent conference is a direct invi
tation for action by a reluctant Gov
ernment. If, as a result of this situa
tion, Government does hasty and un
wise things, it will be regrettable. But
it will not be surprising.
• • • •
When compulsory arbitration has
been imposed by governments in foreign
countries, it has never come through
the initial action of a government. It
has come by default. It has been a last
resort—a course hateful to labor, crip
pling to management, embarrassing to
government and unpleasant to the pub
lic. It may not come here for a long
time, but the failure of the conference
in Washington was a step in that dire
direction. President Truman's pro
posal is another step, but it is a neces
sary and inevitable step.
SBBBSSSSSSaEBSKS
the Rev. Dr. J. B. Perry, rector of St.
Andrew’s parish, stressing the need to
banish "all personal ambitions and let
all be done for the greater glory of God
and His church.” 1116 Rev. H. Allen
Griffith was elected temporary secretary
of the convention. As to the name of
the new diocese, the Rev. Dr. Randolph
H. McKim obtained unanimous agree
ment that it should be “The Diocese of
Washington.” When Bishop Paret left
the chair, the Rev. Dr. John H. Elliott,
rector of the Church of the Ascension,
was chosen in his place as presiding of
ficer. Mr. Grifllth, let it be remarked
parenthetically, is supposed to be the
last survivor of the participants in the
Initial diocesan meeting. He was pres
ent at the anniversary service at Wash
ington Cathedral last Sunday after
noon.
* » * *
A featured story in The Star for De
cember 5, 1895, was that of the opening
of the carnival of
C. A. C. Carnival the Columbia Ath
Opening letic Club "In the
spacious home of
the organization on G street last night. *
The success of the occasion was attrib
uted to "brilliant men and bright-eyed
women” who collaborated to that end.
Booths were allotted for the sale of toys,
flowers, candy, lemonade, perfumejg,
plated ware, china, dolls and popcorn.
On the program of entertainment jiiHsa
Zoe Rigby danced "fancy dances’’ and
Arthur Plant demonstrated - "flub
swinging.” * - £