Evening star. [volume], April 10, 1947, Page A-14, Image 14

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

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A—14_THURSDAY, April 10, 1947
i i ■ all \i/!_
ivir. uneninui vvm»
. The confirmation of David E.
Lilienthal brings'to an end a battle
which was as bitter as it was un
worthy of the United States Senate.
If the fight had been over the
competence of this man to under
take what is undoubtedly one of the
most important posts of the day there
would have been little basis for
complaint. But that was not the
issue, for Mr. Lilienthal is an able
man. In no sense is he “indispensa
ble,” and many of those who sup
ported him would have been better
satisfied had the President nomi
nated some one else to head the
Atomic Energy Commission. Yet
the President chose Mr. Lilienthal,
and the only question properly
before the Senate was whether he
was qualified for the job.
Since It was obvioua that the
nominee could not be successfully
attacked on that ground, however,
his opponents, or their leaders, re
sorted to a campaign of smear and
innuendo which has had few par
allels in the Senate. To say. that it
was thoroughly discreditable to those
who took part in it is to state the
case mildly.
Now that the fight has ended in
victory for Mr. Lilienthal and his
associates, it is to be hoped that
those who fought the nomination
will not carry on a sniping cam
paign against the Atomic Energy
Commission. Too muGh time has
already been lost, and too much
damage done to this agency. The
work which it is supposed to do is
vitally important, and it should be
allowed to get on with its Job.
Drinking has fallen oil in the
Nation’s Capital. <:Let us hope there
soon may be fewer traffic accidents
occasioned by driving while drunk.
Soviet Atomic Policy
There is nothing particularly new
' in Andrei Gromyko’s statement that
the Soviet Union favors the Ameri
can principle of world control and
inspection | at alb stages of atomic
development. He has said substan
tially the same thing before, and
. so has Foreign Minister Molotov.
Neither, however, has as yet shown
any readiness to give the principle
the teeth of specific policing meas
ures. On the contrary, in his latest
remarks on the subject, Mr. Gro
myko has made clear that Russia
dislikes even the relatively mild idea
of aerial surveys.
Yet it is obvious that there can be
no real control of the atom, no real
security against clandestine viola
tions, without an effective inspec
tion system involving much more
than aerial surveys. Such a system,
in addition to requiring a powerful
world authority unhampered in any
respect by the great-power veto,
calls for a large number of elaborate
and complex safeguards. These
safeguards must include efficient
day-to-day operations in all coun
tries by an international force of
hundreds of atomic “detectives”—
men specially trained in the tech
nicalities of the problem and in
telligent enough to draw a wise line
between legitimate policing and ex
cessive snooping.
oucii a system is i/v
genuine control. Without it no na
tion could feel safe. Even with it,
of course, there would-be no absolute
guarantee against deadly violations.
Thus, as the War Department is
reported to have concluded in a
secret study, if our American plan
were in full force five years from
now (an unlikely prospect at the
moment) and if some country de
cided to violate it, that country
could use the atom plants inside its
borders to produce A-weapons
• within a year’s time. This danger
must exist under the most rigid
kind of world supervision. Given
the supervision, however, there
would be clear warning signals, well
in advance, should any power dare
to break faith.
It is for this reason that the War
Department hopes to see our Ameri
can plan adopted. The plan would
not completely do away with the
possibility of atomic aggression, but
it would greatly minimize that pos
sibility. The risks involved in it,
in other words, would be far less
than the .terrible risk all nations
will Yace if it never goes into effect
—the risk of a nuclear armaments
race. Canada already is stockpiling
small quantities of plutonium, the
explosive material of the A-bomb.
French sources declare that France
knows how to do the same thing.
Russia undoubtedly is working hard
on the problem. Five or ten years
from now, whatever we may do with
them, our American secrets probably
will be the property of every im
portant country. In short, without
international control of the sort
k
*
- s
proposed by the United States, the
world will have nothing to look for
ward to but the collective insecurity
of the deadliest arms competition
In history.
As of today Russia alone is block
ing tiie effort to change this pros
pect from one of mutual fear to one
of mutual confidence. It Is doing
so by paying only lip-service to
principle. It Is doing so by refusing
to back up the principle with con
crete enforcement measures. It can
keep on this way for Just so long.
Sooner or later, it must either agree
to effective control or bear the
blame—with all the consequences
that that can bring—for pursuing
an atomic policy calculated to create
a nightmare world.
De Gaulle's Hat in the Ring
The launching of an organization
called “The Reunion of the French
People” brings Into the political
arena the hitherto uncrystallized
movement headed by Charles de
Gaulle. Whatever may be the out
come, this bold venture seems bound
to have profound repercussions upon
the entire French political situation.
That some such crystallization
was in the cards has been evident
ever since the former leader of the
French resistance and first pro
visional president of liberated
France emerged from his long re
tirement to deliver the series of ad
dresses which, beginning at Brune
val and continued at Strasbourg,
will be followed by others in key
cities throughout the country.
De Gaulle’s immediate objective
is to arouse an irresistible public de
mand for a referendum on the re
vision of the existing constitution,
which he and his supporters have
from the first condemned as leaving
France a prey to factional weakness
in a critical period when a strong
executive is a prime necessity. De
Gaulle points to the fact that the
constitution was adopted by only a
million-vote margin (9,000,000 as
against 8,000,000), with another
8,000,000 voters abstaining. He
counts heavily on those abstainers
to reverse the popular verdict if an
other referendum 1s obtained. And
his new political organization is de
signed to awaken French public
opinion to the vital need for consti
tutional change.
The Reunion of the French People
professes to be a nonpolitical move
ment, in the sense that it invites
adhesion to it from members of all
existing parties and plans to bore
from within them all in order to
rally to itself those in every party
who put the issue of constitutional
reform ahead of other matters. In
deed, this is the maneuver which
many of De Gaulle’s supporters say
should have been made right after
liberation, before the present par
ties had solidified.
Behind the paramount issue of
constitutional reform lies De Gaulle’s
opposition to Communist infiltration
and its threat to dominate France.
Although he has not yet emphasized
this theme, De Gaulle has already
made it clear that, in the last
analysis, he stands with the western
democracies in the diplomatic tug
ui-wtu imw cviueuL Derween tnem
and international communism in
spired from Moscow.
Both these issues have naturally
aroused the French Communists to
bitter denunciation, echoed in
slightly less pronounced fashion by
the Socialists. As for the Popular
Republicans and Radicals they are
in a state of embarrassed confusion.
Only the Rightist groups, De Gaullist
in sympathy from the start, are
jubilant and ready to fall in behind
the campaign which De Gaulle has
definitely started.
Ukase Against Lippy
There probably will be more than
a few tears in Brooklyn over the
cruel thing that has happened to
Leo Durocher of the sainted Dodgers.
What partisan of Dem Bums can be
happy? The Lip’s peculiar charm
will be gone from Ebbets Field for
the whole of 1947. And why? Just
because his deportment was worth
something less than an A! Justice?
Humbug! If there were any Justice,
how come Czar Chandler let Larry
MacPhail get away? In fact, how
come Happy failed to do a really
good job and suspend himself as
well?—a question that may be
shared by some of the irreverent
far removed from the sorrowing
precincts of Flatbush.
But these are matters so technical
that only the savants of baseball
can discuss them with authority.
Lippy’s fate may or may not be
deserved. The gnashing of teeth in
Brooklyn may or may not be justi
fled. A great number or laymen,
Ignorant of Flatbush and interested
merely in badminton or croquet, can
hardly be expected to know. The
nonfan, the sedentary student of
politics, the eager-to-learn foreign
observer, is likely to be excited by
the Chandler decision in only one
respect^-the utter finality of the
last paragraph, the stark, bold, not
to-be-questioned ukase that “All
parties to this controversy are
silenced from the time this order
is issued.”
How splendid in its simplicity!
Mr. Chandler has a formula here
that might be a boon (depending
on whose ox is gored) to all engaged
in the hurly-burly of politics. What
a wonderful thing if the President
could employ this silencer against
people we happen to disagree with!
How fine If Congress could use it
to cut the guff and gab on Capitol
Hill! Imagine its possibilities in
the United Nations as a device to
keep Mr.*Gromyko from saying no!
In ever so many ways it could make
life a great Joy—assuming, of course,
that it would be applied just as we
wanted.
Alas, though, the real world Is not
the world of baseball. If It were, It
A
\
would be a quite pleasant place
even with Zippy suspended and
with ebullient Brooklyn temporarily
brooding over the bitterness of it all.
We Lead the Nation
It is with pardonable pride that
Washington and its neighboring
communities have learned that their
overwhelming response to the 1947
Red Cross campaign has won them
first place among all American cities
in percentage of oversubscription.
There is cause for real gratification
in the announcement that the
Metropolitan Area went over the
top to the tune of 154.67 per cent.
According to Chairman Joseph G.
Grew, this was well above the highest
percentage recorded anywhere else
in the counfry.
There had never been any doubt,
of course, that the District and the
neighboring counties in Maryland
and Virginia would raise their quotas
in the drive. We have been doing
that regularly since 1942, when the
city failed to attain its quota and
was reproached by President Roose
velt. There were reasons for that
failure, just as there are reasons for
subsequent successes. In the early
days of the war the public was con
fused by multiplying appeals for
funds and by uncertainty as to the
needs to be met. Campaign organ
izational work, too, was in need of
Today none of these handicaps
exists. The magnificent achieve
ments of the Red Cross in World
War II are still fresh in the public's
mind. Few were the families whose
members failed to see the Red Cross
in action—saving lives on the battle
fronts with blood plasma, attending
the wounded and sick in crowded
hospitals at home, aiding prisoners
of war, preparing bandages, doing
the many other things Which only
the Red Cross is trained and
equipped to do in time of yraf or
other emergency. The campaign,
therefore, was not a “selling job”
in the usual fund-raising sense. It
was a job of organizing the teams
of solicitors so thoroughly that every
citizen and every business and every
Governmental agency was given the
chance to share in the undertaking.
The phenomenal success of this
year’s campaign is an eloquent
testimonial to the traditional gen
erosity of Washingtonians and their
neighbors, to the splendid campaign
organization headed by Mr. Grew
and to the esteem in which the Red
Cross is held by a grateful people.
This and That
By Charles E. Tracewell.
"KENSINGTON, Md.
"Dear Sir:
After reading your column, one eve
ning, I decided that I must let you
know that we have had the red-breasted
nuthatch at our feeding station for
two months.
"The day after you reported the hermit
thrush we had one here. Have also had
a ruby-crowned kinglet as well as^ purple
thrushes and bluebirds. Saw our first
robin the other day.
“The goldfinch has been with us all
winter, too. We have three varieties of
woodpeckers—the hairy, downy and red
bellied. Our sparrows include the chip
ping, white-throated and song sparrow.
“We enjoy your column and seldom
miss reading it. "Sincerely, A. B.’*
* * * *
“FALLS CHURCH, Va,
“Dear Sir:
rne second official day of spring was
the first day the earth was unfrozen in
many months and afforded local gar
deners an opportunity to break the
ground and scatter a few seeds.
“While I realize your column is not a
strict garden editorial, I believe your
readers will be interested in an experi
ment which was fruitful to me and the
early birds.
“Late last fall I worked over the
ground and fertilized it with barnyard
manure, covering with dried leaves and
garden refuse, and the entire stretch was
covered with wire netting to keep the
lcftvcs intact.
“With the first thaw I turned over the
soil, which had responded to the win
ter’s weathering and blended nicely, and
this operation furnished my hens with
dozens of grubbing worms, as they fol
lowed me with each spadeful, and the
robins found the spot more accessible for
their favorite worms.
"After scattering a handful of lettuce
seeds, I again covered the spot with wire
netting and expect good results from this
first garden venture.
“Sincerely yours, O. E. C."
* * * *
“BETHESDA, Md.
"Dear Sir:
About two weeks ago one of our reg
ular female cardinals appeared on the
feeding tray without a tail.
“We were quite concerned about her
and have watched to see whether It
would grow again.
“Today it is about an inch long, and
she seems none the worse for the loss.
“Last summer the same thing hap
pened to two of our favorite song spar
rows. Eventually they grew out again.
Which leads me to ask if this is unusual
or just what is to be expected summer or
winter?
“A pair of brilliant bluebirds visited
our tjray yesterday. And we have had
several of those beautiful purple finches,
as well as goldfinches.
“We enjoy your column very much.
"Very sincerely, L, M. B.”
* * * *
It is difficult to tell who enjoys spring
most, people or birds.
It is almost pathetic, as the saying is,
to see people come into the yards at the
very first “break” in the weather, as if
they could wait no longer.
They rake and clean up leaves and
bum them, too, and spend hours at tasks
which, to the observing eye, seem to
achieve very little.
The achievement, of course, is partly
mental.
It begins maybe days ahead, with those
catalogues with the big, red tomatoes on
them. . ,
In recent years perhaps flowers have
taken their place, on the covers, but you
can always find the tomatoes somewhere,
If you look long enough, and, of course,
you always do. Few publications are
read more diligently than the annual
seed catalogues. The fine thing about
them is that one may specialize on flow
ers, but always gets a great “kick” out
of the vegetables, too.
Every one should eat more vegetables,
and even if one is not as industrious as
our correspondent, reading about them
and seeing the colored illustrations will
whet the appetite.
Birds often have their tail feathers
pulled out in winter by another bird or
mishap or wandering animal. Loss of
tail feathers is seldom serious—not la
ths same class with loss of wing feattMfs.
Letters to The Star
Urges Care in Labeling Those
" of the ‘Left’ or ‘Right’
Tb flwMitar at The Star.
In keeping with its tradition of public
service, The Star baa stimulated and in
formed its readers with timely editorials
cm semantics. It has stressed the historic
significance of such newly coined words
as genocide, the crime of destroying
national, racial, cultural or religious
groups. More recently it called attention
to the literary treasure-trove of for
gotten words, such as burke, currently
resurrected to denote procedural euthan
asia for legislation bearing a political
bar sinister. In the same spirit of dedi
cation this writer would like to alert
the thoughtful readers of The Star to
the graye jeopardy to our civil liberties
Inherent in current perversions of the
science of semantics. Reference is made
to the Hitler-like technique of deliber
ately in-breeding the conventional
meaning of a ward to give It malign
effect and application.
This perversion of semantics attained
gruesome fertility in the Lilienthal im
broglio. In an unprecedented debauch of
political miscegenation,' Senators Taft
and McKellar co-fathered the accusation
that Mr. Lilienthal was a Communist or
at least a Communist sympathizer. In
making this preposterous charge Mr.
Lilienthal’s accusers knew full well that
communism Is anathema to freedom-lov
ing Americans. To be called a Commun
ist is the most loathesome epithet with
which one can smear honest integrity
and probity. Hitler-like, they perverted
semantics by making the ambiguity
demagogic and repeating It endlessly.
The danger to our civil liberties lies in
4V.. 4n4.t.4!An. a# 4bA«A htVia Viatta
already descended to such un-American
perversions of semantics. Our President
has issued a much-needed executive order
to purge bonafide Commftnists and sabo
taging fellow travelers who have infil
trated Government service; But if in ac
complishing that house-cleaning we are
going to pervert the leaning of words as
they were perverted in the case of Mr.
Lllienthal, then the civil liberties of no
honest political dissenter are safe.
We are conducting an epochal ideo
logical debate within our own national
family. Our political left is no more com
munistic than our political right is fas
cist. Our left aspires to an all-encom
passing bureaucratic paternalism. Our
right champions a competitive capital
istic economy with a minimum of bur
eaucratic interference or regulation. We,
the people, will compromise at an .ever
moving point to the right or left of
center.
For the right to call all to the left of
center Communists is to give commun
ism approval and numerical strength its
consummate infamy little deserves. For
the left to call all to the right of cen
ter Fascists is to disparage the demon
strated ability of capitalism to provide
the four freedoms and to out-produce
any form of regimented economy. Let
us not pervert semantics, because its
perversion will aid rather than enjoin
communism.
THOMAS E. MATTINGLY, M. D.
Helping the Handicapped
To thoEditor ot The Star:
Your editorial, "For the Handicapped,"
in The Evening Star of March 31, gives
warranted recognition to an Important
group of American civilians.
We in the Federal Security Agency
agree with you that MaJ. Gen. Graves
B. Erskine, in his capacity as retrain
ing and re-employment administrator,
has aided materially in encouraging
ACWgUlUlUil UU V* AC pa-X 1/ ux LX 1C puuixc,
and particularly employers, of the fact
that physically and emotionally handi
capped men and women—prepared for
and placed in the right Jobs—make ex
cellent employes.
We share your expectation of further
progress through the newly formed Na
tional Association for Employment of
the Handicapped.
I am sure you will wish to call to your
readers’ attention the fact that Gov
ernment services for this purpose do not
come to an endjwlth the termination of
the Retraining and Re-employment Ad
ministration. We have in this country
a continuing Nation-wide Federal-State
partnership devoted exclusively to the
job of converting the handicapped into
productive, self-sustaining, tax-paying
men and women.
Each State, the District of Columbia,
Alaska, Puerto Rico and Hawaii has its
own program of vocational rehabilita
tion services. Right now more than 100,
000 civilians are receiving the services.
The Federal aspects of this program
are administered by the Office of Voca
tional Rehabilitation, a constituent of
the Federal Security Agency. Some 87
State, territorial and district agencies
constitute the operating partners in this
enterprise. Last year they provided voca
tional rehabiltation services at an aver
age cost of less than $400 for each dis
abled person fully rehabilitated and
successfully placed on the right job.
This is a one-time cost, in contrast to
$600 required to maintain a disabled per
son in dependency. It is an expenditure
which brings substantial returns on the
investment. In the first year after their
rehabilitation, many of these people will
pay income taxes in excess of the cost
of rehabilitation. The aggregate earned
income of one year’s rehabilitants rose
from $11,600,000 to $56,600,000 in the first
12 months.
In addition to this Nation-wide pro
gram in which,we here in the Federal
Security Agency have a part, the Vet
erans’ Administration, the Veterans’
i Rfrrvfrfr t>ifr Rt.flt.fr TTImnlnv
ment Services and other agencies, pri
vate and public, are working to achieve
rehabilitation and employment of the
handicapped. The National Association
for the Employment of the Handicapped
thus has a strong network of publicly
and privately financed and operated
agencies to give point to its efforts. The
problem is too large and too important
to expect any one association to bear
the burden alone. ,
MICHAEL J. SHORTLEY,
Director, Office of Vocational Rehabili
tation.
Its Days Numbered?
To tho Editor of The star:
Your April 3 editorial, "The Russian
Question,” strikes the nail an the head.
I am afraid that you forget the fact
that only a few months ago, the “liberal
mlnde#' Russians canned several writ
ers because their creative works became
too personalized and ceased to portray
the spirit of world revolution.
It was a purge, reminding all creative
writers and artists that they were being
paid and honored highly for only one
reason—the Red revolution.
No matter what Simonov writes and
no matter how many lectures Hya
Ehrenburg delivers in Moscow, the days
of the Red Kremlin axe numbered,
PYRRHUS JOHN DELIAS.
A
Mental Care for Veterans
Clinical Treatment Now May Cut the Load Facing
Oifr Hospitals Later On
(First of Two Art'Mas.)
By George Beveridge
Dr. Eugene C. MacDonald, a psychiatrist at the VA’s Mental Hygiene
Clinic at 1825 H street N.W., is shorn administering medication pre
paratory to narco-analysis, a technique devised to help the patient and
the doctor recover past experiences which may be the basis of the
veteran’s nervousness and of which the veteran may be completely
unaware. —VA Photo.
A small, poorly-armed group of med
ical "specialists is waging a bitter war
against mental disease and emotional
disorders that threaten to cost the Na
tion millions of dollars and untold years
of the lives of Its veterans.
The group Is the Neuropsychiatry Divi
sion of the Veterans’ Administration. It
Is barely managing to keep its head
above water in a job that has mush
roomed fantastically during the last few
years.
Fifty-three per cent of to® 117,000 beds
in veterans’ hospitals now are devoted
to the care of veterans tfith mental dis
orders. Two-thirds of the veterans served
during World War n.
This large percentage does not Indi
cate that mental patients are entering
hospitals at a faster rate than other
patients. Zt means that their periods of
- hospitalization are much longer. Last
year, for example, only 12 per cent of all
hospital admissions were for neuropsy
chiatric ailments. About 83 per cent were
for general medicine and surgery and 5
per cent were for tuberculosis.
Veterans’ Administration doctors be
lieve that 300,000 World War n veterans
In civilian life now need mental care.
In addition, they say, another 69,000 in
hospitals and homes for other treatment
could benefit from mental hygiene care.
They say 50 per cent of those In soldiers’
homes suffer from sometapersonality disa
order. For those hospitalized with such
gastro-intestinal ailments as ulcers, the
figure is thought to run as high as 80
per cent.
Preventing Future Hospitalization.
Faced with the future need for thou
sands of new hospital beds, the division
Vine loimaViaH nn fnfoncivO nrovPflfhra of.
tack to try to keep veterans from ever
reaching hospitals. In the past, ex-Ola
have been freely admitted to neuropsy
chiatric wards, many to stay for the jest
of their lives. Now, doctors are trying
to treat them as soon as emotional up
sets are discovered.
About 10,000 such veterans now are
being treated in about 50 mental hygiene
clinics throughout the country. The new
Washington clinic at 1825 H street N.W.
is an excellent example.
Doctors say the veterans coming in for
treatment can be divided generally into
two groups.
The largest is made up of men who
were not completely adjusted emotion
ally before they went into the Army or
Navy, The others—the pick of American
lighting men—went through long conj
bat periods with hardly ever the need
for seeing a doctor.
Veterans in both groups have returned
to find civilian life as they remembered
it completely disorganized. Many, after
the strain of war service, have been over
come by worry and obsessions. Their
personal problems have become magni
fied—heightened by troubles of finding
a place to live, getting back to work and,
suddenly, being forced to make their own
decisions away from regimentation of a
soldier’s life. Others, also under strain,
center their worries on national and
world problems.
With this group, doctors say they are
makine most nroeress. Without the
clinic care, iney nimun jd per 01
those being treated would have to be
hospitalized. "But we must treat them
now. Every month that passes makes
the treatment vastly more difficult," said
Dr. Daniel Blaln. chief of the division.
Demand for Facilities. '
Most In the former group would prob
ably need care at some time, but the
time has been greatly shortened by war
service. Dr. Blaln stressed that for
some hospitalization Is the only answer.
An example is the psychotic*-—those who
remove themselves from reality and
falsify the practical side of their every
day life. No disorder as serious as tills
is treated In a clinic.
For all the work being done In clinics,
Dr. Blaln believes only about 6 per cent
of the Job is being done. Of the 300,000
veterans, doctors figure half would come
In for care if facilities were available.
But every one of the clinics now Is
handling a capacity load. At some,
veterans are being turned away, and
others are forced to remain closed be
cause of personnel shortage.
Some veterans come by themselves to
the clinics for aid, but most are routed
in by others—their physicians, guidance
officers where they are In training,
Veterans’ Administration contact repre
sentatives and; often; their families.
The Washington clinic now has four
full-time psychiatrists and six on part
time duty. The rest of the stall includes
six psychiatric social workers, two clin
ical psychologists and one nurse. Doc
tors have found they can work most
efficiently in three-man teams—psychi
atrist, psychologist and social worker.
The veteran visiting the center first
sees the social worker, who gets lnfor
mauon on ms carry me ana emuuwuu
background. He next sees the psychi
atrist, who determines type of treatment
he will get. The psychologists are called
on largely to give personality and mental
tests that also are used to determine
treatment.
The treatment may be limited to con
ferences with the psychiatrist. But in
some cases, doctors use hypnosis, psy
choanalysis or narcoanalysis to draw out
problems and get veterans to talk about
them. Different doctors have their own
pet techniques. A study of them will be
undertaken soon to determine results
and efficiency of the various methods.
One of the most successful, according
to Dr. Robert W. Webb of the Washing
ton clinic, has been the group therapy
method. Here, veterans with similar
types of problems—after numerous in
terviews with psychiatrists—are gath
ered in groups of four up to 12 to talk
about themselves. Dr. Webb explained
that the ex-GIs often see their prob
lems in a more objective light after
realizing that others have the same
troubles.
There is no set time for length of
treatment. Some patients have been
carried for as long as 65 hours by psychi
atrist interviews alone. Others have
been released after 10 or 15 hours, to
return periodically for discussions with
doctors about their progress.
(Tomorrow: Training Doctors to Meet th»
Demand.)
The Political Mill
By Gould Lincoln
President Truman vetoed the Case
labor bill during the last session of
the last Congress — before the 1946
congressional elections—but his actian
did not bring victory to the Democrats
at the polls. In fact, this veto, together
with the fumbling of the Democratic
administration over labor-management
relations, was one of the reasons the
Republicans were swept into control of
the House and Senate.
With this bit of history in mind, the
President will before many weeks have
to decide whether he is to veto a new
labor bill—a labor bill which in all
probability will be more far-reaching
than was the Case bill. The pressure
brought upon Mr. Truman to apply the
veto will be tremendous. Those
Democratic leaders who fear the leaders
of organized labor will undoubtedly
plead for a veto. Perhaps not a little
will depend upon Just what the new
labor bill contains. In view of the fact,
however, that the President and his
Secretary of Labor have turned their
backs, seemingly, on pretty much any
labor legislation, except for legislation
aimed at secondary boycotts, the
chances of a veto appear bright.
Both the chairman of the Senate
Labor Committee, Senator Taft of
Ohio, and the chairman of the House
Labor Committee, Representative Hart
ley of New Jersey, Republicans, have
whipped labor bills into draft form.
Their respective committees will work
on the measures during this week.
Representative Hartley has promised
the Republican leadership of the House
to have a bill before that body the first
of the week—with the expectation that
the House will pass the measure
promptly. Senator Taft’s plan is to
have the bill finally through his com
mittee by next Monday night.
So the hour of decision—for members
of Congress—on labor legislation is
virtually at hand. There seems no
shadow of doubt that the House will
put through the Hartley bill—whose
exact terms are still to be made public—
by a big vote. During the last couple
of Congresses the House was always
able and ready to pass legislation re
straining the arbitrary action of labor
leaders and equalizing the labor laws.
The Senate was the stumbling block,
in those days, with the aid of the White
House. But in the Senate today there is
good prospect of putting through labor
legislation just as drastic as any that
may come from the House.
Chairman Taft, however, in committee
faces a bit different situation, for it
happens that three Republican mem
bers of the committee, Senators Aiken
of Vermont, Ives of New York and
Morse of Oregon, are inclined to balk
at parts of the Taft bUL They, with
>
the Democratic opponents of the leg
islation, make the count 7 to 6 in
opposition. Nevertheless, the commit
tee will bring out a bill. And when
it reaches the floor of the Senate, the
preponderance of support for a bill
with teeth in it will make itself mani
fest.
The Taft bill, which in its original
form has already been made public,
amends the Wagner Labor Relations Act.
It undertakes to make unions respon
sible for their deliberate actions, just
as employers are now made responsible.
It specifies unfair labor practices on
the part of unions—which is a new
wrinkle entirely. Under existing law
the only unfair labor practices speci
fied are those which may be attributed
to employers. It outlaws the "closed
shop,” but does not forbid a "union
shop.” In a closed shop, it is impos
sible to employ any worker who is not
already a member of the union. In a
union shop, a worker not a member of
a union may be employed, but he or she
must join the union within a period of
30 days after employment begins. Un
der the Taft bill abuses of the union
shop are forbidden. The aim is to pro
tect the freedom of action of the work
ers. For example, if any employe is
willing to pay union dues, no employer
can dismiss him simply because the
union refuses to admit him, or expels
him from the union; further, a union
shop is illegal unless at least half the
employes vote for it.
* * * *
The Taft bill specifically outlaws sec
ondary boycotts, jurisdictional strikes
and strikes in violation of collective
bargaining agreements. They, if at
tempted, would subject unions to suits
for damages and injunctions.
These are only part of the provisions
of the Taft bill. The question of in
dustry-wide strikes is dealt with tnly
indirectly, however, and is one with
which the Senate itself is expected to
deal. The telephone strike, the coal
strikes of the past and the proposed
telegraph strike have added impetus
to the demand that something be done
about industry-wide strikes that may
affect the welfare of the whole people.
President Truman’s first test on labor
legislation will come, however, on the
so-called “portal-to-portal” pay bill,
designed to put an end to the labor
union suits for billions of dollars which
aroused the country at the turn of the
year. This bill is in conference, hav
ing passed both houses. It will go to
the President soon, however. It has
been suggested the President may sign
this measure and* save his veto for the
main labor bill. By approving the
portal - to-portal pay bill, he would avoid
the charge he is opposed to any and an I
remedial labor legislation. <
i
Truman and Congress 1
Playing Labor Politics I
plan S#«n to Lat Strike* Multiply
Untfl PubKo la Arouaad
By David Lawranca
Pnridenl Truman apparently has no
yjwefaTt to offer to the preeent Indus*
trial crisis and. so far a* any one
knows, the plan now is to lot strikes
multiply in the hope that an aroused
~,hu« opinion or an economic crash
wtnjnake it food politics to “do some*
thing.”
John L. Lewis has demonstrated con
clusively what the Wagner Act and the
eloaed together can accomplish to
Interrupt coal production. Ha ha* out
maneuvered Mr. Truman and his cabi
net ae well as the courts. As a conse
quence steel operation* are already be
ing curtailed, due to shortage of fuel,
and hundreds of products needed in the
industry will be further
auijva. •:
There to * steel strike to the effing,
toa A were of strikes to earning beoens*
the .bottom hee dropped out of the ed
mlnlstnttkm’s determination to do
something shout unrestrained use of
monopoly power by untooe. tb» ap
proach of the IMS elections has mode
the President timid, and It baa also
sent shivers of apprehension up and
down the-spines of the Republican
Steering Committee In the House.
Prepeead Bffl Is Tame.
The proposed labor Mil to a tame
affair and will not diminish strikes or
Impair the monopoly power of unions.
On the subject of closed shops, the Re
publican steering Committee hee put
its stamp of approval on one form of
closed shop known as the “union shop."
In the esse of a completely dosed shop,
the employer cannot hire anybody but
a member of the union which does the
type work f<g which workers may b*
needed. Under the "union ghop," the
employer can hire whom he pleases but
he must tell the prospective employes
that within 30 days after they start
work, they must join the union or be
aiscnargea.
This la compulsion Just the same, and
It benefits only those unions which can
not supply employes or who wish to be
rid of the responsibilities of an employ
ment agency. The result is the same
under both forms of closed shops—
union membership Is compulsory.
There Is a provision that If a majority
of the employes vote for a “union shop”
they may have it, provided the employer
agrees. That’s exactly the situation
which exists already but the Republican
Steering Committee apparently intends
to legalize the monopolies, which eer- '
tainly makes its proposal a pro-labor
measure—much to tnb surprise of those
observers who had expected some real
restriction on closed-shop rrjonopolles.
The right to work is not recognized
as a fundamental liberty by the House
Republican Steering Committee’s bill.
The right of concerted action to pre
vent others from getting Jobs unless
they agree to Join unions is upheld.
This is the essence of the monopoly
power which has brought John L. Lewis
to his position of supremacy In America
—a position so strong that neither the
President nor the Congress IS willing to
recommend legislation to alter that
position.
Fiction of "Voluntary'* Action.
The fiction that the employer must
agree does not make it a “voluntary"
action. The Wagner Act sanctions
closed-shop contracts now if the em
ployer and the union agree voluntarily.
But the pressure exerted makes the
contract hardly voluntary.
It is stipulated in the proposed bm
that there cannot be a strike to get a
"union shop.” So long as it is legal
to “negotiate" for a “union shop” with
its compulsory membership in labor
unions, the union in question will not
concede that a strike is ever called on
that issue. It will strike for some of
the many other phases of working rules
and conditions, and when the time
comes for negotiating a settlement it
will insist on the “union shop” being
granted “voluntarily” by the employer
as a condition of the settlement.
Just why the Republican leaders hesi
tate to affirm the right of American
citizens to work wherever they please
and just why the right to exclude a
man from a job is delegated by the
Government itself to a private organi
zation is difficult to understand. It
had been thought that the Republicans
understood the temper of the country
on labor matters.
(Reproduction Rlshtc Reserved.)
The 'Cap' Fits
From the New York Times.
Impolitic and badly timed as was his
charge against the President, Mr. Bevin
has reason on his side In complaining
that a government cannot give advice
and make demands, as Washington has
freely and repeatedly done on the Pales*
tine question, unless it is ready to as
sume responsibility for the policy it
insists upon. How much have we done
to provide outlets for displaced persons?
How far were we ready to underwrite
and enforce partition or any other solu
tion? The British decision to turn over
the mandate to the United Nations will
impose on this country a larger share of
responsibility for Palestine than we have
been willing thus far to bear.
Send Harold the Bill
From the Denver Post.
Talk by former Secretary of Interior
Ickes about It costing $5,000,000 to re»
store the name “Hoover Dam” is silly.
All that really needs to be changed is
the name plate on the dam. Expense
of that is not expected to exceed $3,000
or $3,000.
Certainly, it didn’t cost $5,000,000
when Ickes changed the name to
“Boulder Dam.” Whatever the expense
of restoring the name “Hoover Dam*
amounts to, the Government should
send the bill to Ickes.
The Perfect Problem
My son’s report card frightens mo
straight A's
from English, mathematics, through
behavior;
Can any bay be normal who can gate
Upon his teacher as ha would a savior?
He seems too punctual, too bright to by
His father's son who majored tn the
trick
Of hiding in his tall geography
The Rover Boys, Tom Swift, and Dead
Eye Dick.
He is no pig-taU-in-the-inkwell chHd;
No thumb-tack champion or sptt-bad
wizard;
His desk is orderly, his papers filed—
Nothing is nicked or whittled, scarred
or scissored. ,
And ^announcement “to grow up Hm
Wat quite the biggest shock 1 ease
A *