Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-27
WILSON IS DOOMED
FOR LABOR PLACE
"UncIe BiIIy's" Cabinet Claim
Is Based on Respect and
81 Coalition Idea.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


On the eve of Thanksgiving day Presi-
dent Hoover received suggestions that
he should appoint to the Secretaryship
OF Labor, about to be vacated by Sen
ator-elect James j. Davis, another
Pennsylvanian-Will B. Wilson, who
was Secretary of Labor throughout the
eight years of the Woodrow Wilson adj
miniStration. Mr.. Wilson is Demo-
crat, but is a veteran and highly re-
spected figure in the labor movement
whose partiSanship has never been
especially militant.
Uncle Billy as he is affectionately
known In workers circles ran for the
United States Senate against William
s. Ware in Pennsylvania in 1925. Carry
ing the Democratic colors against the
Philadelphia Republican boss, Wilson
won majority of the counties OF the
State, and for more than two years
conducted a contest for the Ware seat
before the Senate Committee on Priv
Heges and Elections. Later, the Senate
refused to admit Ware on grounds of
excessive campaign expenditure.
Wilson Is Respected.
Although William B. Wilson is SO
years old, he still is active in the labor
field. About a year ago he was en-
gagged as permanent arbitrator between
the miners and operators in the Illinois
coal industry. Few spokesman of Amer
lean workers enjoy higher repute than
Uncle Billy" both among organized
and unorganiZed labor Wilson also
commands unusual respect among the
country's captains of industry. He is
conservative of the type of Samuel
Gompers and William Green in the
domain of labor policy. incidentally,
Wilson is a strong dry.
wilson's friends think it would be
Hoover ten-strike with the Republican
Progressive element now so aggressive
In the Senate to ask it to help confirm
the Pennsylvanian's nomination to the
Labor cabinet post Senator Norris of
Nebraska, Progressive commander in
chief, campaigned for Wilson during
the Pennsylvania senatorial fight in
1925. Wilson also measures up to Presi-
dent Green's demand that Davis sue
cessor shall be a Federation of Labor
man. TIE country's only two Labor
Standardization and DaviS-are
both affiliated with the A. F. of l..
Apparently President Hoover is con-
fronted by the same set of embarraSs-
ing circumstances which haraSsed him
two years ago when he was building his
cabinet and looking for Secretary of
Labor. First this man then that one
upon whom the President-elect's favor
fell proved to be unsatisfactory to this
or that group in the labor world. AS
many as half a dozen different men were
picked out for the labor portfolio in the
Hoover administration only to be
dropped, one by one, as result of
drlm-fire from some direction or other
which the incoming President did not
desire to offend. The net result was
Mr.. Hoover's decision to keep Jim"
Davis in the job.
Coalition Idea Argued.
The idea that William B. Wilson
should now be put in Secretary Davis
place is that the formers appointment
by President Hoover might justifiably
be made effective for a period of the
next two years at least. His friends
argue that as Washington is about to
enjoy the blessings of the coalition era,
thanks to the offer of the Democrats
to cooperate with the administration
In measures for economic recovery, Mr.
Wilson might we'll be renamed Secre-
tary of Labor. even though his party
afhliation is Democratic.
Wilson Is a Scotsman by birth. but
came to the United States when he
was eight years old. He began life as
q miner in the Pennsylvania anthracite
fields. He was an official of the old
years. and in that capacity was elected
to the House of Representatives, in
which he served for SIX years. At the
end Of his congressional service Will
son became Secretary of Labor in the
cabinet Of President Woodrow Wilson,
. portfolio he occupied uninterTuptedly
from 1918 to 1921.
Uncle Billy" ran against Ware for
Senator four years ago as the coalition
candidate of the Democratic and Labor
parties of Pennsylvania. The Repub-
hcan majority against him, due to the
heavy vote in Philadelphia and Allie
ghany Counties, was 173.447, as against
the 100000 and more which Jim"
Davis recently secured as the regular
@. o. p. candidate In the keystone
State. Wilson is now required to spend
a good deal of his time in Illinois I'M
der his arbitrator contract, which ex-
pires March 81, 1882, but his official
domicile Is Blossburg, Pa.
CCopyrisht. 1900