The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-08-18
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National Topics Interpreted u fYYYTFTTN2
by William Bruckart ASnN1TH1F


amazed at the ire
Great Drive mendous driving
for Recovery force that is is being elm.
eral schemes to awaken the nation and
get business going again. II is as
though the war engines of powerful
foreign enemy were pounding at the
Notifications marking the threshold of
our country which, indeed, is true, ex-
cept that the enemy, depression, is
and has been among us through almost
four years. think ! can say without
fear of successful contradiction that
governmental activity is as feverish,
as wildly unsystematic, if you please,
as any we observed during the trying
days of the great World war. Though
it is along different lines, the activity
is none the less as direct and as posi-
tive, and in some respects as militaris-
tic.
In such an analogy as this, it should
be stated that the federal forces are
now being subjected to more severe
influence throughout the land than
they faced during the preparation for
and prosecution of the World war.
Then, there was physical fear which
could be held up before the people as
a reason for united action. That
threat cannot be employed now. In
its absence the government is unable
TO overcome the innate selfishness that
must be largely overcome to make the
general recovery program a success.
In the beginning of the World war,
in was necessary to strike quickly and
hard at the enemy military plans. In
the current campaign, it is necessary
TO strike quickly and hard or else some
business interests will wait to see how
the picture is going to look in order
to gain some advantage for themselves.
Thus, the campaign is at least partial
~ spoiled. The reason for the thun-
derous drive, the mental and mus
Gle strain of these days becomes APP
parent. If the objections of those who
are hesitant about signing are broadly
heard, others who had wanted to con-
form get suspicious about the conces-
sions they have made and begin to
shy away.
Therefore, throughout the govern
ment one finds today weary-eyed exec
utives, tired clerks, near exhaustion
from the endless hours of labor. For
example, in the agricultural ADJUST
ment administration and in the ma
ton recovery administration, clerks
are working in three shifts, and the
executives may be found in their of
fees anywhere from sun-up until long
after the following midnight. Wheth-
er you are completely convinced of the
efficacy of the various plans and pro-
grams. or whether you just hope they
may be successful, your admiration
and respect for those who are trying
to construct this new machinery GER
tainly is warranted.
AS a sample of the driving force
that has been exerted and is being
exerted every day to
President greater or less ex-
Saves the Day tent was rs the solu,
presented in the Pennsylvania strike
situation. That was not an ordinary
strike. Its portents were nationwide.
1t involved questions the answers to
which meant the making or the break
ing of the basic recovery principles.
In the first instance, the most pow
erful corporate unit in the world-the
United States Steel cOrporation-was
the governments adversary. I say the
governments adversary because unless
the recovery administration was able
to reconcile the differences between
the corporation and the union workers,
the program of blanket codes and
group codes and everything else was
imperiled. Gen. Hugh S. Johnson, re-
covery administrator, could not get the
warning groups together. He was
ready to throw up the sponge. But
he had one more trick in the bag and
that was to call for help from the
President of the United States. Some
how, that trick worked. Whether the
merits of the case were with the cor
poration or whether they were with
the government, the power of the gov
eminent was and had to be supreme
in the emergency.
While observers here are not in
clined to defend the steel corporation
fully for taking the position it did, it
can be said with equal force that most
of them believe there was real danger
of infringement of private property
rights. In this sense, therefore, the
CORPORATION was within its rights in
resisting. When it yielded, it appears,
il yielded not to the labor unions
which had stirred up the trouble, but
to the sovereignty of government.
The basic controversy involved in
the steel corporation case was the
question of soAcalled company unions.
Labor leaders, the professionals, nat
urally want to have all workers in the
national organizations. Otherwise, the
strike as a weapon is ineffective. Be
ing quick to see a vulnerable spot, la
Dor took advantage of the situation to
lick the steel corporation which here
tofore has permitted its employees to
belong only to company unions. In
other words. it has been an open shop
In view Of these facts, it seems to me
that organized labor is as much en-
titled to criticism in the circumstance
as is the greatest corporation in the
world. Organized labor has been
welding too much influence in the re-
covery organization according to the
consensus here, and its insistence on
advantages promises further difficult
ties.
The Department Of Agriculture has
set for itself the big job of establish
ing fair prices for