The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1936-05-15
Washington
SCENE
By LEN DE CAUX

lllhllllllI IlllliI lI
Another daub of black paint has
been added to- the already pitch
black coat worn by Americas cap
tains of industry by the subcom-
mittee investigating the violations
oof civil liberties.
The subcommittee took up it's
task as the result of a resolution
introduced by Senator LaFollette,
Progressive of Wisconsin and son
of the famous Fighting Bob" La
Toilette who got 100000 votes in
1924 in race for the presidency
on a third party ticket. Tech
nically, the subcommittee is ex-
aiming the field preparatory to
discovering whether or not a need
for an investigation of violations
of civil liberties exists. Actually,
it is doing a very substantial por-
ton of the job of investigation it.
self.
So far the committee has shown
that the practice of using spies and
and stool pigeons to report on the
activities of labor organizations is
one which is very wide spread.
The committee has shown the tie
up between the most vicious of the
labor hating industrialists and the
defenders of the constitution" the
Liberty League.
The committee has shown the
force and might of the Industrial
ist, able to spend in the aggregate
$80,000,000 a year for spies and
stoolpigeons, opposed to the single
handed efforts of labor unions
possessed of nothing but their
power to refuse to sell their labor
in an industrial system which puts
the price of their labor very low.
The committee has shown that
the mere existence of the espion-
age agencies is a menace to the
industrial peace about which the
National Association of Manufac-
lures and its kind pirate so loftily.
Like the munitions makers in the
international game, the home town
boys who peddle tear gas and ma
chine guns, pit one force against
the other to boost sales of their
products.
No wonder the Liberty League
screams about stirring class hatred.
One danger turks in the investi-
cation now being made. 1t should
not be forgotten that it is only
investigating the necessity for an
investigation.
The Congressional run around
works too smoothly and once the
headlines have spouted their brief
glory, and the last witness has
testified, it is an easy matter to
sidetrack the real purpose. Cen
gressional leaders whose mental
mechanism operates in terms of
votes cannot conceive of an in
vestlgation for any purpose other
than to serve a vote getting end.
"4Ou'e made your splurge. You've
gotten your picture in the papers.
Now leave US alone," is their tune.
To the son of Fighting Bob La
Toilette falls the mantle his father
wore. The ability to think in
terms of other than vote getting
terms was something that made
the father stand out from his fell
lows. The political sagacity and
the essence of gumption that was
IN the fathers make up, led him
to battle with the forces against
which his son is pitted and come
out of the battle with notches on
his rifle. A congressional run
around would not have been easy
to perpetrate on Fighting Bob.
His mantle should fit the son.
Danger number two of the in
yestigation is the possibility of
the creation of the impression
that the only thing that causes in
dustrial unrest is the presence of
LABOR spies and stool pigeons.
Labor spies and stool pigeons,
nefarlous as their work is. are
but expressions of the deeper root
ed, more fundamental conflict be-
tween workers and the owners Of
industry.
Besides having the stool pigeon
and cnioc ~ ho1v. 49,. - = -.