Evening star., 1934-09-09
LABOR MAY FIND MOOSE
OFCOVERNMENT ON NECK
Provisions of n. r.. A. Codes Give
President Absolute Power to
Cancel Or Modify Act.

I
of business interests. 1t is childish
to suppose that these alterations
recurrent throughout history, have
ceased. The very nature of the
human mind causes it to try to cure
its eternal ills first by remedy and
then precisely by a counter remedy
Nothing is surer than that we shall
some day have President quite un-
like Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Let us thereupon inquire: If that
President is anti-labor, and if he is
crafty and cunning, what will he do?
Will he repeal the national industrial
recovery act?
Will Use Provisions.
Most assuredly he will not. He
will retain the national industrial
recovery act and he will use its pro-
visions-particularly section lob and
the last part of section 7a-to change
the codes at his pleasure in an anti
labor and pro-employer sense.
This sort of possibility was forever
in the mind of Samuel Gompers
when he was president of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor and when
he continuously rejected all proposed
plans for a partnership" between
labor and government He in essence
contended that in such a partner
ship" the American Federation of
Labor might find itself holding only
a small minority interest" while the
overwhelming majority interest" was
held by governmental authorities less
sympathetic to labor than to capital.
Mr.. Gompers' repeated warnings
must now frequently be recalled by
many labor leaders. The difficulties
encountered with the public by the
cotton textile strikers are associated
directly with the labor provisions in
serted into the cotton textile code.
The public believes that in those labor
provisions the Government laid down
a just and fair charter for cotton
textile employees. The strike seems to
the pubhc-generally speaking-to
be some sort of attempt by economic
force to rewrite a Government docu-
ment called code but also regarded
as lawe The cotton textile strikers
thereupon seem to multitudes of neu-
tral observers to have entered into a
contest both against Government and
against law. Such difficulties for la
Dor would be even greater under cer-
tain other codes.
Code Provides for Wages.
Consider, for instance, the code of
the coat and suit industry. In that
code there are provisions not only
! for minimum wages for the unskilled
but for quite high wages in skilled
classiflcations. Jacket helpers are to
get 81 an hour. Jacket fnishers are
to get $125 an hour. Jacket press
ers are to get $l.35 an hour. Jacket
operators are to get 81 so an hour.
Machine preSsers are to get $1.8O an
hour.
Here is complete ladder of wage
scales reaching to high remuneration
for numerous highly skilled indi-
viduals. Suppose then that a Presi-
dent-or his ministers in the N. r. A.
should decree a reduction of those
scales. A strike to restore them to
| their present level would obviously be
strike against the Chief Executive
of the country and against the su-
preme authorities of the United States.
No such strike could conceivably sue
coed.
| 1t would seem evident accordingly
that the present policy of the Amer
lcan Federation of Labor in seeking
partnership with Government is a
policy with two phases. The first is
a phase of instant advantage to labor
The second is a phase of strongly
possible ultimate disadvantage. The
two phases together constitute
gamble on actual present gain of
money against potential future loss
of liberty.
That loss for labor has already oc-
cured in most of the countries of
Europe through the wide acceptance
there OF omnipotent governmental
ism. 1t has occurred not only in the
Fascist countries, but also in Russia,
which claims to base its governmental
/ power on the will of the proletariat.
Cites Low Economic Levels.
The veteran attorney of the United
Mine Workers of America, Mr. Henry
Warrum, has just returned to this
country from visit to the principal
regions of Europe, including Russia
He reports the low economic level at
which the Russian working masses
| live. He also reports the position of
| impotency to which the Russian gov
! ernment has relegated the trade
union organizations of the Russian
working class. He says:
sian people is worth about 2l2 cents
1 was told that the average skilled
/ factory worker gets $50 roubles a
month. Wages are subject to an in
/ come tax of l per cent. housing tax
of 10 per cent and a cultural tax of
l per cent. This miserable shadow of
wages is reflected in the very cloth
/ ing worn.
The visitor to Moscow has sense
of Suffocation. The life of the people
! seems to lack the oxygen of indi-
! viduality. They do not come to Mos
| COW or leave it without permit based
on an acceptable excuse Their va
! cations are spent in places selected
/ for them. Their homes are rooms
assigned to them. Their clothing is
/ vi ~ dlIu W ldlBe tAJeHJ ragged OF
patched They seldom smile; and on
/ the crowded streets one never hears
whistle or song.
The role of labor unions in this
communistic society is made much
of by Soviet writers; but it is diff
cult to understand what real part
the labor unions can play in this
economic set-up. All industrial re-
lations are determined by the Com
munist labor code and its govern
mental administrators. The unions
are kept alive in name probably only
for propaganda. I have previously
quoted the frank statement of Stain
as to the manner in which the Com
munist party controls these bodies
They operate not so much as agencies
for their membership as for the
state"
Mr. Warrum's remarks have an
applicability here. Labor partner
ship with government will some day
here force labor to choose between
serving its membership and serving