Denver labor bulletin., 1918-05-18
s E N A T E REACTIONAR1ES
FAIL IN SCHEME TO GAG
SECRETARY WILSON.
No Change in War Labor Pro-
gram So Successfully Inaugu
rated and Employers and
Employees to Share Alike
in Giving Best Efforts
to Winning the Gil
gantic Struggle.
By LAURENCE TODD
Especial Representative The Denver Labor
IEuIiefInD

Huiietin.l
WASHINGTON. May 1l.-There
will be no war labor administrator,
after all Secretary Of Labor Wilson
will continue to be United States la
Dor administrator, despite the an
nounccment two weeks ago that the
control Of labor on war work would
be taken out Of his hands. Once more
the old reactionary anti-union crowd,
hoping against hope TO turn the flank
of the labor movement, has been
beaten back in its drive, and has
suffered a disastrous defeat.
President Wilson has not merely in.
dicated that he is more firmly behind
the secretary of labor than ever. but
he has appointed the secretary's own
choice, Felix Frankfurter. TO be per-
sonal assistant to the secretary in
the task Of joining up all the new
divisions Of the labor administration
which the war has brought TO the
secretary's control.
The appointment of Prof. Frank
-iurter-the man who was secretary
Of the Presidents mediation commits
sion which reported on the Bisbee
outrage. the Mooney case, the timber
workers grievances and other labor
troubles in the West, and the man
whom Judge Dunno of San Francisco
denounced for having shown the need
Of a new trial for Mooney-this ap-
pointment is sad blow to Senator
King of Utah and the other anu-labor
agitators in Congress. King has
taken pains, while posing as n friend
of the President, to endorse the Bisbee
deportations and ridicule the report
made by Frankfurter and the media
ton commission on that crime.
Advocate for Plain People.
As to Frankfurtcr's being "radi-
CAL" il must be admitted that he is
pupil of that other radical LOUIS
ID. Brandeis, now justice of the United
States supreme court. and that he
was the successor Of Justice Brandeis
in defending before that court the
constitutionality Of the women's eight
hour and minimum wage laws which
have been appealed by the employers
of Oregon and California. He also
defended before the court, with equal
success, the ten-hour law for men,
adopted by the Oregon legislature.
Later he was special assistant TO
Secretary Of War Baker. in arrang-
ing labor agreements with the big
international unions. Recently he
vent to Europe with Baker. and stud
led industrial relations in England
ana France espeClaiy.
Secretary Wilson asked Secretary
Baker to let him have this man, and
after some protest Baker agreed that
Frankfurter was just now needed in
the labor department. The fact of
his going there is almost as impor-
tant victory for the labor movement
as the creation of the national war
labor board.
Arbitrate Telegraphcrs Case.
This national war labor board has
gone thru the prcliminaries with the
case of the Commercial Telegraphers'
organization against the Western
Union and the Postal Telegraph COM
panies. and has selected Messrs. Taft
and Walsh as final arbitrators of the
dispute as to whether the companies
shall discriminate against union men.
As they took part in the earlier de-
cision of the board that the compan-
les must not dismiss men for belong
ing to the union, the next step will be
a decision along that line. When the
companies refuse to obey, and matters
come to showdown, it is possible
that one of two things may happen;
either the President may send them n
letter asking whether they propose to
hinder the conduct Of the war by pro-
voking n strike, or he may simply
commander their property and place
it under the control of the postmaster
general.
The one thing absolutely certain is
that the President, having established
the board with the consent of the or
ganized employers of the United
States to abide by its principles and
it's awards. is going to see to it that
no employer conducts n successful re-
holl;op auaipst this government ali-
thority during the war.
Women Strikers Win Out.
The first strike settled by the ma