Evening star., 1936-07-05
|LEW|S-GREEN FEUD
LINKED TOPOL|T|CS
Eagerness to Gain Votes of
Steel Workers Evidenced
by New Deal.
RY CARLISLE BARGERON.

BY CARLISLE BARGERON.
Between John l.. Lewis and the New
Deal. the conservative labor leader
ship which william Green has given
the country since the death Of Sam
uel Gompers is hanging on the ropes
The outcome of the efforts to orga""
ize the steel workers will probably de.
termine whether it can battle through
the present troubled state of afiairs
or whether it takes the count. II
Lewis wins, there can be but little
doubt that it takes the count.
The movement against the steel In
dustry is more than a labor move
ment. 1t Is a political movement as
well. There is every indication that
it has the support of the New Deal.
There are some observers who argue
that while there is no doubt as to
where the administration will be in
the case Of a showdown, that the
movement right at this time is em-
barrassing to the administration be-
cause 1t would prefer not to be put
in the position Of having to choose
during the campaign. The evidence
to this writer is decidedly to the
contrary, that instead Of it being
embarrassing to the administration
that the New Deal is right with Lewis
in his efforts TO get showdown.
Pressman Legal Adviser.
Prof. Tugwell, for one thing, has
been counseling with Lewis. He has
been a frequent visitor in the latters
Alexandria home. Only recently one
Of his men, Lee Pressman, was turned
over to Lewis as his chief legal ad-
wiser. Pressman was one Of that
group Of brilliants that was purged
from A. A. A. when Tugwen was
down at Warm Springs with Mr..
Roosevelt that time. He was taken
over to Resettlement with TugweL,
and although the appearances have
been that the professor was to DO
kept very quiet during the campaign,
his activities apparently have nos
been checked in the least.
Lewis organizers already are argu-
ing as they did in lining up the coal
miners three years ago, that the United
States Government wants them to
ioin his union and that they will be
protected even to the point OF being
supported with relief funds in the
event of q strike, which from the
attitude Of the steel barons there most
certainly will be If the organization
movement is pressed.
It is not known what Is running
through Mr.. Roosevelts mind in the
matter. The way the more militant
of his advisers are thinking Is very
clear.
The nomination Of Landon by the
Republicans has turned the New
Deals strategy around. They realize
now that they must have the indus
trial workers of the East. Indeed, re.
cent polls have shown Mr.. Roose-
welt skidding in the agricultural sec.
tions and picking up in the Eastern
industrial centers. The frenzy with
which they went about getting Gov.
Lehman to stand for reelection at
tests to the importance they attach
to New York.
Pennsylvania Is Just as important,
To insure carrying it they want TO
bring the steel workers under their
wing. They are not under their wing
now. The aristocracy of labor that
they are, 1t is doubtful If the class
consciousness stirred up by the New
Deal has registered very much with
them. According to figures available
to this writer. they are receiving high
er wages and more men are employed
in the industry than in 1929.
This is no argument against unioni-
2ation, Of course. The threat Of un-
ionization has undoubtedly gotten
them to the point they are. With en-
ployers so afraid Of the union as are
the steel barons, the threat Of unioni-
zation usually gets the employe more
( than the unionization itself.
Men Fairly Content.
From the fact that one hears of no
pronounced unrest in the industry.
the men must be fairly content. They
are organized into company unions
which seem to be serving them salts
factorily now, but, to repeat. the rea-
son they are, undoubtedly, is the
threat of outside unionization.
But as long as they are under thi.
sort oil organization and satisfied, men
with families and homes and making
good money. they are not the mall
contents upon which the New Deal
can confidently depend.
The labor leaders and the New
Dealers can shout until they are blue
in the face about the right OF these
men to join an organization OF their
own choosing. It is an inalienable
right and incidentally has been writ
ten into statutory law long before the
New Deal was heard Of The trouble
comes in enforcing it because 1t is
also the inalienable right of an en-
ployer-to stick to the legalistio
phases-to fire his employees.
Several States have long had laws
designed to assist the working man in
organizing. Texas for years had and
probably still has. law making it
unlawful and subject to all sorts Of
fines and imprisonment. to discharge
man for belonging to a union.
1t required that when a man left
an employer. either voluntarily or in.
voluntarily, that he be given "clear-
ance" telling why he had left. There
was a railroad in the State notori.
ously anti-union. Every time it dis
charged a man it gave him this
clearance saying that his services had
been satisfactory but that he had
been let out for one reason or an
other-nothing to do with the union.
The watermark of this clearance was
a stork. If the stork'S head was
dropping the employe was marked.
Yet you couldn't prove anything on
the railroad. It was entitled to its
whimsical designs in stationery.