The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1936-02-21
Washington
SCENE
LEWIS & GREEN b82eata
DRAMA OF THE SEA SON
y LN De eAux

| ~
LEWIS & GREEN b92e s.
DRAMA OF THE SEASON ~
The Al Smith speech to the Tih.
erty League, the Roosevelt night
message to Congress, the passage
OF the bonus, the appearance IF
Cne great ) P. Morgan himself
DeIore the Senate munitions COM
mtEee, all paled into obscurlty
as Jonn Il. Lewis and VIM. Green
staged their dramatic battle over
the body and soul of American la
Dor. ~>''' -
washington is accustomed to
Drama. For ages the greatest ora
tors OF the nation have nouthed
their pieces on the Senate floor
while imitators practiced in the
House. So when it is learned that
two people are going to clash YER
pal swords the citizens merely
smut off the. alarm and roll over.
That is what they did when
Green and Lewis faced each other
at the United Mine Workers con-
vention. But most Of them went
around holding their heads for
the rest Of the afternoon in an
gulshed thought at what they had
missed.
! They missed an open clash be-
tween two of the most powerful
men in organized labor. They mis-
sed the drama Of a president of
the greatest organized body of
working men in the United States
trying desperately to reach the
hearts and minds Of the members
Of his own union. They missed
witnessing his disnay as he rea-
lized he was failing, his renewed
burst Of appeal, and his final hu.
initiation at the hands of the
ttawny haire>. TohI i. Lewis.
+ Green's trouble, alnUnA rtterx
was that his audience was too pol
lite. They listened in stony silencE
to his fevrid pleas to stay inside
the federation, to his threats o.
evil days to come if they left the
federation, and his reminders thai
he himself once swung a pick anC
shovel. It was harder to bear thar
Eany booing. It. was more dishears
ening than any open demonstra
tiOns Of hostility. 1885,:
. The only time they gave his
chance to pause was when he re
ferred to the decision of the exec
utive council in asking the com
mittee for industrial organization
to diSband. Their boos Stung hin
!. into throwing the autonomy issu
into their faces and observers
!. hard-boiled reporters used to tn
rough and tumble tactics Of Cap
! itol Hill, gasped Gas much as Ties
I inhuman beings ever gasp Jas tn
! sly appeal went out. =
i Perhaps it was that that cause,
Green's rough treatment at tn
! hands Of the infinitely more skill
. full actor, Lewis. Perhaps it wa
: that that Lewis meant as the tw
. exchanged hot words at the en-
! and Lewis said, "Why didn't vol
3 tell me what you were going t
? say, Bill ?"
Green attempted to present tn
: issue as one between craft union
t ism and industrial unionism in tn
< | A. F. Of L. According the the Lew
Z Is group, the issue was whethe
: those still unorganized shall eve
! ! be organized. They insist the
g have no quarrel with the A. F.. o
L. groups already organized on
n craft basis. They merely deman
e that steps be taken to organic
d those outside the ranks, and the
& contend those groups can only. b
n organized effectively into indus
trial unions.
n The issue never squared off. Tn
It personalities did. The decision 0
), the issue will come in Novemoe
i at the American Federation or LII
, Dor convention in Tampa.
NEUTRALITY Law