Evening star. [volume], May 18, 1948, Page A-9, Image 9

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

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Both Parties Declared
Inconsistent in Stand
On 'Civil Rights’ Issue
Truman and G.O.P. Chiefs
Failed to Denounce Mob
Violence in Minnesota
By David Lawrence
There's a. good deal of incon
sistency if not sheer hypocrisy, in
the stand being taken by both Re
publicans and Democrats on the so
called "civil rights’’ issue.
Here is the city of South St. Paul,
Minn., which is unable through its
police force to protect the right of
the citizen to work. Here are a city
and a State which have done noth
ing as yet to punish the 200 or more
members of a mob who broke into a
plant and kidnaped the .personnel
and subjected them to violence.
Did any Republican nominee for
the presidency and particularly for
mer Governor Stassen of Minnesota
denounce the union which permitted
such an act of violence? Did Presi
dent Truman or any Democrat in
the Senate or House condemn the
action of the union? Have William
Green of the AFL and Phil Murray
of the CIO. who are so vociferous
about the "civil rights’’ program,
said anything about the crime of
mob violence in South St. Paul,
Minn?
A few voices have been raised in
Congress, but they are the exception
rather .than the rule. The view
seems to be that civil rights are the
business of the city of South St.
Paul and the State of Minnesota
and that there is no reason to apply
Federal laws or Federal power to
the situation.
Traditional View.
This has been the traditional view
for many decades past. It was the
view of the majority of the Senate
and House when the Wagner Labor
Relations Act was passed and an
amendment was vcted on, which, if
passed, would have put the protec
tion of the Federal Government be
hind the establishment of law and
order in labor disputes.
The Taft-Hartley Act does forbid
economic coercion and interference
with the rights of workers to enjoy
freedom from "interference” by
labor unions or management. -This,
however, means only civil steps as
against a union wnich violates the
law. Thus an injunction order by a
Federal court forbidding a union
from engaging in illegal acts would
not undo the unong that has been
done by the CIO meat packers em
ployes union.
Likewise the calling out or tne
National Guard does not In any way
bring punishment to those who tres
passed on the property of the em
ployers and Injured the employes.
The very fact that the union per
mitted the mob violence and then
sent a delegation to the Governor
of Minnesota to protest his action
in calling out the .National Guard
Indicates that trade unions often
think they are beyond the law.
The theory that “lynching” of
nonstrikers is justifiable is widely
held by many union members. The
many instances of “mass picketing”
In recent months reveal that vio
lence Is considered a more effective
way to win a strike than through
the processes of negotiation or
reason.
So far as the "lynchings” in the
South are concerned, they are few
and far between today compared to
the violence committed against
workers right along in Northern
States. Intimidation short of vio
lence, is a commonplace of modern
trade unionism.
A Shameful Record.
In the case of the outbreak in St.
Paul, defiance of the State courts
and the city police presents a
shameful record which unfortu
nately has had its parallel in other
Northern and Western States. Yet
there hasn’t been a single proposal
to amend the so-called antilynch
ing bills now pending In Congress
so as to cover all forms of mob
violence.
If it. is within the Federal power
to punish local sheriffs and local
police who fail to safeguard the
lives of prisoners accused of crime,
as proposed in pending legislation,
it is clearly and logically as much
within the Federal power to protect
workers who report to a plant for
duty during a strike.
The answer, of course, Is that the
States should be strong enough to
protect their citizens. The police
power is a State power primarily.
There is no good reason to extend
it either because of labor disputes
or racial conflicts. But the States
will weaken and the power to cor
rect abuses will deteriorate in the
States unless public opinion Is strong
in its condemnation. The denunci
ations of lynching that have ema
nated from Northern States in
recent years have prompted the
Southern States to take remedial
measures they have never taken be
fore. Likewise, a condemnation of
the politically corrupt city govern
ments which play favorites in labor
disputes and condone violence,
whether from the employer or the
union side, will help to form public
opinion and strengthen the will of
the States to eliminate "mass pick
eting” and mob violence on the
labor front.
(Reproduction Richts Reserved )
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This Changing World
Lull in Slugging Match With Russians *
Called Deceptive, May Be Advantageous
By Constantine Brown
Evidence continues to pile up
showing that we have now entered
one of those lulls in the flow of
I international politics which are at
! once deceptive
and advantage
ous.
If we had not
had so much
experience with
Soviet Russian
tactics we
might be influ
enced to believe
that perhaps
the Kremlin
has reversed its
policy of expan
sionism, has de
cided to get
along with the
other great
Constantine Brown.
power in tne world—the united
States—and has set itself now to
make its particular brand of state
socialism work within the Soviet
dominated sphere.
Some developments of the past
week do, of course, point in that
direction. The news that Andrei
Gromyko is leaving the United
Nations as Russia’s delegate might
be considered as something of an
improvement in relations between
the two great powers in the U. N.
But we do not yet know in what
manner Mr. Gromyko's successor
will represent Russia’s intere-srs at
Lake Success.
Mr. Gromyko was anything but a
conciliatory element in the U. N.
debates. His function at Lake Suc
cess undoubtedly was not only to
attempt to embarrass the Western
democracies, but to stymie U. N.
action in any sphere where it could
be effective. If his successor proves
co-operative and avoids the recrim
inations and acrimonious speeches
which characterized Mr. Gromyko,
w e may be encouraged to think that
something new has been injected
into American-Soviet relations.
There have been smaller bits of
evidence—praise on the propaganda
radio for American and British con
tributions to the war effort, reports:
of a purge of the upper military
ranks of the Soviet administration
in Berlin, one of the hot spots in
American-Soviet relations—which to
the casual reader might indicate
some kind of shift toward amity j
within the Soviet top command.
Indeed, such a shift may be in
progress, but the weight of evidence
is not yet great enough to support
such a belief. Much more positive
evidence must be presented before
the American people can feel cer-;
tain that better times are ahead
in our relations with Russia, for
there has been no fundamental
change in the basic aims and in
terests which underly American
Soviet rivalry.
We may be in the presence then
of a conscious effort to deceive us in
to the belief that Russia has drop
ped her aggressive aims since the
Italian election. Certainly the
Italian election marked a dividing
line between the openly antagonistic
campaign Russia had been carrying
on against us and the more subtle
campaign which apparently is un
derway today.
Undoubtedly the Italian election
persuaded the Russians that their
tactics were wrong in that they
alienated large blocs of voters and
made it impossible for Communists
to win free elections. But there is
no evidence that the Russians have :
been persuaded that their over-all
aims are ill-conceived, from their
point of view.
The lull, then, that has come in
the slugging match, while likely to
deceive many, has certain advan
tages for as, if we know how to util- ]
ize them. One of them Is the great-1
ly diminished chance that the Rus-;
sians will commit some great mis-:
step, some grave miscalculation, j
from which an open conflict will
result in the immediate future.
The chance that the United
States and Russia ultimately will
be drawn into conflict in settlement
of their rival purposes in the world
is not diminished even a tiny bit
by Russia's tactical shifts; but the
imminence of such a conflict is
somewhat reduced, how much we do
not know.
If we count on Russia watching
her step a little- more closely, and
avoiding open provocation, we cer
tainly benefit from the time we
gain to prepare our national de
fense against the day when a show
down may become inevitable.
We can use this free time or throw
it away, according to whether we are ;
short-sighted or far-sighted. If we)
realize the function this respite j
plays in American-Soviet relations
we will shun the short view and
take the lohg view that preparedness
will be necessary as long as there
exists in the world a power whose
ultimate aim is to encourage, if not
to provoke, the destruction of our
way of life.
New Effort for Controls
Resources Board’s Standby Program
To Cushion Spending Stalls, However
By Doris Fleeson
In the making are new attempts
to install some safeguards in the
American economy before the Euro
pean Recovery Program and the
new rearma
ment spending
hit it amidships.
The National
Security Re
sources Board,
charged with ad
vising the Presi
dent about such
matters, has
drawn up a
trenchant report
on the current
prospects which
appears to be
drifting aimless
ly somewhere in
the vicinity of
the White House.
Doris Fleeson.
Obviously the new Government
competition for goods and services,
plus the new military draft of man
power, will have a tremendous im
pact upon the Nation's economic
life. The board points out that its
job Is to collect and analyze the
story of what Is happening; then
to make recommendations about
wTiat must be done to protect the
national security.
Asks Standby Controls.
It urges immediate enactment of
stand-by controls which the Presi
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dent, with the consent oi congress,
can put Into effect whenever such
recommendations reach him.
This puts the board squarely in
line with past presidential efforts to
obtain some form of price controls,
priorities, allocations and similar de
vices to keep the cost of living within
bounds. It is not quite clear, there
fore, why the board's report is being
stalled. The Budget Bureau has
displayed a desultory interest with
out seeming quite sure of what the
board's functions and purposes real
ly are.
The board was Installed some
months ago with considerable fan
fara. Its chairman is Arthur Hill;
its members include the Secretaries
of State, National Defense, Interior
and Commerce.
So far, of course, the President
has had less than no success in in
teresting Congress in the fact that
the important and expensive legisla
tion it is passing is bound to have
certain jarring effects upon a none
too-steady economy. The few mild
measures they consented to enact
have seemingly been of no effect.
The ones with teeth in them—price
controls, rationing, etc.—they have
refused to discuss.
Council Also Rebuffed.
The recomendations of the
President's Economic Advisory
Council have been similarly re
buffed. These were to have been the
concern of the Joint Economic Com
mittee of Congress. However, a
presidential candidate and Senate
leader, Senator Taft, is chairman of
that committee, and he has frankly
no time for it. Some hearings were
held and the wrists of some steel
operators lightly twisted when they
raised their prices, but no more.
The Resources Board naturally
thinks its findings are important
and that its recommendations
should be heeded. They would prob
ably buttress the President’s case
for a fight on inflation. But as a
practical matter, this Congress
would have to display a considerable
change of heart before recommenda
tions of that character could be
come law.
LOUIE —By Harry Hanan
I cj^eewARe i
“WARE TlLSim V7
cb PlCK^OCHtTS --»3_
On the Other Hand
Senate Asked to Keep Pledges '
Which House Would Repudiate
By Lowell Mellett
During the campaign of 1944 the
Republican candidate, Thomas E.
Dewey and the whole array of ora
tors who took the stump for him,
said one thing
thing over and
aver again. They
said it was not
proposed, if the
party came into
power, to give
up any of the
social gains
made during the
New Deal years.
Whatever else
they had to say
against the
Roosevelt A d
m i n i s t r a tion,
they were will
ing to concede
Lowell Mrllett.
that the measures enacted in tne
name of social security were long
overdue: that these measures must
not be abridged; that, indeed, they
must be extended to cover a greater
part of the population.
The orators were echoing their
party’s platform. “Our goal is to
prevent hardship and poverty in
America,” said the platform. “That
goal is attainable by reason of the
productivity of free American labor,
industry and agriculture, if supple
mented by a system of social secur
ity on sound principles. We pledge
our support of the following:
“l. Extension of the existing old
age insurance aijd unemployment
insurance systems to all employes
not already covered.”
Pledge Not Kept.
The pledge, of course, has not
been kept. Instead of extending the
insurance coverage to those here
tofore excepted, Congress is in pro
cess of taking away the insurance
orotection of some of those now
covered. A joint resolution passed
by the House will have this effect.
Tire Senate has not yet acted.
The campaign promise to protect
all social gains usually was accom
panied by the promise to administer
the laws better. We'll do the same
things, but do them better, said the
speakers. Here, too, they had the
backing of the party platform.
“The National Administration,"
said the platform, “has become a
sprawling, overlapping bureaucracy.
It is undermined by executive abuse
of power, confused lines of author
ity, duplication of effort, inadequate
fiscal controls, loose personnel prac
tices, and an attitude of arrogance
previously unknown in our history.
The times cry out for the restora
tion of harmony in government
Two weeks ago the House passed
a bill drastically slashing the ap
propriation requested by the Budget
Bureau for the Social Security Ad
ministration. It cut Commissioner
Altmyer’s immediate staff by two
thirds and his information and
research staff by one-half. It re
duced the funds for unemployment
insurance and employment service.
The effect on "harmony in gov
ernment’’ is described in a protest
to which 40 well-known disinter
ested citizens—editors, social sci
entists and government students—
affixed their names.
At Expense of Aged.
“The cut in funds.” says the pro
test, "and the unprecedented ad
ministfative reorganization steps
legislated by the House, endanger
the present balanced development
of social security. They will cut
this country’s social security pro
gram into four unrelated and com
peting segments. They will force
each segment—old age insurance,
the assistances, the children’s serv
ices, and employment security—to
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build up supporting pressure groups
and to vie with one artbther for
appropriations. • * * If the House
action is not corrected in the Sen
ate. this country's social security
program will not have any cohesive
and effective direction.”
This is what, in the pretense of
economy, the House has done to
carry out the Republican Party’s
campaign pledge. It has done it at j
the expense of a Government agency
which, according to the protest,
“has been acclaimed from its be
ginning as a model public agency,”
with a reputation for “non
political, efficient administration.”
And at the expense of the aged,
widowed, orphaned and unem
ployed.
McLemore—
Bums Take Over
Beautiful City
By Henry McLemore
CIUDAD TRUJILLO.—This is DO
time to visit Ciudad Trujillo, even
though the weather is perfect, the
birds are in full foliage, and the
flowers at tne
height of their
plumage.
No! Any one
planning a trip
to this delight
ful and inde
pendent little
Dominican Re
public should
wait a few more
months. You see,
the Brooklyn
Dodgers trained
here this spring,
and at the mo
ment the town is
just a slice of
Henry McLemore.
Brooklyn witn a uarioDean setting.
It possible, Ciudad Trujillo is
even more rabid about the Bums
than Brooklyn. It was love at first
sight, insofar as this city is con
cerned. Before you could say
“Jackie Robinson,” the folks who
live here opened their doors and
their hearts to the Bums and now
they talk of little else.
There is talk of changing the
name of the main street to Senor
Lippy Durocher Drive, and of haul
ing down a few of the statues of
Trujillo (which a grateful Trujillo
had erected in honor of himself)
and replacing them with granite and
bronze figures of Pete Reiser crash
ing into an Ebbets Field wall; of
Pee Wee Reese going to his left
for a hot sizzler; and of Branch
Rickey boring a gathering with his
oratory on the veranda of the Hotel
T a ra cr 11 a
Hotel Clerk Wears Spikes.
I went straight from the airport
to the Jaragua, and I hadn’t been
in the hotel a minute before I
realized the impact the Bums had
made on the place. The room clerk
was wearing spikes and a sliding
pad, and "Mac’’ McClintock, the as
sistant manager I had met last sum
mer, was out by the salt water
swimming pool shagging flies hit
to him by a bellhop.
I asked the clerk for the same
r®m I had had the year before.
“Oh, no, Mr. McLemore.” he said,
shoving the registry toward me
with a deceptive underhand mo
tion. “Oh, no, we have something
much better. I am going to give you
the same room in which Hugh Casey
slept. Yes, sir, you are going to have
the privilege of sleeping in the same
bed. using the same shower, and
looking into the same mirror that
were Hugh Casey’s when he was
here. And just across the hall
from you is the one that Bruce
Edwards occupied.”
The clerk’s face was pure rapture
! when he told me this. If he had
been announcing that I was not only
to sleep in the bed where Washing
ton had slept, but was actually going
to share the bed with the Father of
Our Country, he could not have
been prouder.
-“No extra charge for all this?” I
asked, being a thrifty soul who
would rather have a $6 room that
once had been the home of a utility
infielder from the “Sally” League
than pay $10 for one that had once
sheltered the mighty major league
relief pitcher. •
“Not one extra penny.” the clerk
said. “Courtesy of the house.”
Whereupon he excused himself, say
ing he was already late to a radio
party where Ciudad Trujillo's fash
ionable set was all set to listen
to a broadcast of a Brooklyn game.
Shown the Sights.
I engaged a guide to show me
the sights of the lovely city. She,
for she was a woman in her middle
twenties, took me first to the ball
park and. eyes aglow, showed me
where Durocher sat while directing
practice, and where Stanky, before
he was traded, turned his ankle
rounding third, and where Vaughan
robbed a hitter of a triple with a
great catch, and where Jorgensen,
with a mighty leap, speared a hard,
high one to start a double play.
From there she took me to the
favorite fishing grounds of the
Dodgers and pointed out the ripples
where the beloved Bums had caught
all manner of members of the finny
tribe.
In short, all my guide showed me
reeked of Brooklyn.
I got back to the Jaragua steeped
in batting averages, fielding per
centages, etc. Assistant Manager
McClintock was Just limping in.
“If I could only hit." he said
mournfullv. “If I could only hit,
right now I would be with the Bums,
instead of having to live in this
paradise.”
(Distributed by McNsuslit Syndic»t«, Inc.)
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