The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-05-29
GREEN'S REPUTATION AS AN
AGITATOR GROWS

The President of the American Fedora
ton of Labor is building for himself repa
tation such as is now stamped upon tn
countrv's chief agitators = Hooey Long
President German of the textile union, anc
certain of the more vociferOus OF the ma
tons reddest radicals. The Texas Week.!
has this to say.of the latest and most VIC
lent outburst of Mr.. William Green:
Another kind of threat was made by Mr.. Green
in his New York speech. 'We will refuse 10
work. he declared, "and we will mobilize our
entire economic strength until we get our rights
In revolutionary jargon, this is threat OF "di-
rect action as differentiated from action by the
ballot The rights" which Mr.. Green proposed
to enforce in this way are indicated in the AS
sociated Press report of the speech "A nation
wide general strike,' says the dispatch, was
threatened Thursday by William Green, presl-
dent of the American Federation of Labor, I'M
less Congress extends the NRA for two years
and passes the Wagner labor disputes bill and
the Black-Connery thirty-hour week DILL.
threat of this kind is threat of revolution, Tor
it is predicated on the assumption that the Gov
eminent can be compelled by force to do the
will of the labor unions. We are frank to say
that this kind of threat does not seem to US TO
be as menacing as the threat of political punish
ment For it is not as likely to be carried out,
and if carried out is not as likely to succeed IN
attaining its end. A nationwide general strike,
such as Mr. Green here proposes, would inJure
labor more than it would injure anybody else.
All past experience proves this. And 1t would
be disastrous to such an organization as the
American Federation of Labor But Mr. Green's
declaration is significant, nevertheless. 1t gives
rise to serious reflection If II hts of this kind
arc made when the American Moderation of La
bor is no more powerful than it is today and
when it represents only a fractional part OF inc
workers of the country, what might we not ex-
uect from that body it, as result OF the legls-
ation it demands it became a great deal more
powerful If it became the representative OF
most of the workers of the country, if under the
NRA and the Wagner bill most workers were
compelled to become members of its constituent
unions and to pay dues into an immense war
fund" would it not become the dictator Of both
industry and the government? That is the real
menace of Mr.. Green's remarks. They reveal the
menace to American institutions embodied in the
very legislation he demands. They raise the ques-
ton as to whether it would be safe to place sucn
power into the hands of the leaders of the Amerl-
can Federation of Labor as this legislation would
give them In other words, Mr. Green's threat Is
in itself the strongest kind of argument against
the measures he advocates.
The Texas Weekly probably attaches
too much importance to the mouthings Of
President Green. If the country was polled
It would be found that about ninety per
cent. of the population believes Mr.. Green
S bluffing when he talks about a general
strike consequently his threats have no.
body worried. His state of mind may have
raised Green's temperature, but 1t has had
absolutely no effect on the country. OF
course The Weekly's estimate is correct, II
but we do not believe he does. His
has bluffed and bulldozed the
politicians in Washington for so many
years that it is practically impossible for
Green to understand that there could pos
sibly come time when Senators and Con-
gressmen would fail to shake in their foot
wear at the sound of his bellowings.
The fact is that Mr. Green's American
Federation of Labor represents less than
ten per cent. of the working people of the
country; and large percentage of the
of his own organization would
not be found whooping to follow him into
a general strike However, his statement
was made before the announcement of the
Supreme Courts decision in the NRA cases,
and the opportunity is now wide open for
him to make good or shut up.