Montana labor news., 1932-11-10
BITTER FIGHT in
A. F. OF l.. MEETING
CONTINUED from page one)


Thomas in Idaho. Protests from or
ganized labor in those States, en-
gagged in trying to defeat these anti
labor senators, had been received by
Green. Vol, as was expected, pro-
fessed to know nothing of the endorse
ments of "yellow-dog contract" SEN
ators by his lieutenant, Flynn. He
said that when his attention was call
ed to the fact that letters urging the
reelection of these foes Of labor had
been issued on his Conference sta
tionery by Flynn, he wrote Flynn,
forbidding him to repeat the mistake.
He did not, apparently, think it neces-
sary to notify organized labor in
Utah and Idaho that he repudiated
Flynn's trick.
While this scandal was being aired
in the council, Vol counter-attacked
by accusing Green of improperly in
allowing Edward F. McGrady, legis-
lative agent Of the Federation, to
work for the labor division of Roose-
welt campaign headquarters while on
leave from his job in Washington.
VOLTS grievance against McGrady is
said to date back to the time when
McGrady made a strong appeal, be-
fore the Senate Committee on Manu-
facturers, for generous federal relief
appropriations for the unemployed.
Vol was in close touch, at the time,
with the White House politicians
Reed, Bingham and Smoot-who were
blocking federal relief of the hungry.
But Vol and his friends seem not
to have stopped with an attack on
Green. They denounced the action of
Donald R. Richberg, counsel for the
standard rail labor organizations, in
supporting Roosevelt and opposing
Hoover. Richberg recently furnished
to Sen. Norris a written statement Of
the incident in which Secretary of
Labor Doak, seeking to compromise
the anti-iniunction bill which the
Federation had at last within sight of
passage in Congress, limited that Rich
berg could have a federal judgeship
if he would favor a weakening of the
bill.
Richberg has represented organized
labor in the railroad industry in all
its legal battles and in presenting its
arguments to committees of Congress,
ever since the death Of Glenn Plumb
in 1928. He is an ardent progressive.
He is feared by the Railway Execu-
tives' Association, the National Asso-
citation Of Manufacturers and other
employer groups. He has the conf
dence Of all the progressives in the
capital. In the struggle to prevent
the promotion of Judge Wilkerson,
whose injunction smashed the strike
Of the Federated Shop Crafts in 1922,
Richberg alone appeared as a witness
for the rail workers. The Wilkerson
case is still before the Senate; dis
crediting Of Richberg's position with
organized labor would be a triumph
for the union-disrupters. Behind the
Vol attack on Richberg, therefore, is
seen the anxious hope of every anti
labor force in the country, including
the Hoover campaign headquarters
and Secretary Doak.
Who and what win control the A.
F. of L., when it meets in convention
this month? Will an investigation of
the strange maneuvers Of the past
year be ordered by the delegates ?
When the country has overwhelming
ly repudiated Hoover and Doak and
the National Association of Manu-
facturers, will the A. f. of L. become
an adjunct of VOLTS high-tariff lob
by? The council majority wonders,