The Daily Alaska empire., 1937-08-04
A Rift in LabOr's Clouds
Philadelphia Record)

tPhladephla Record)
 The signed statements issued jointly by William Green president of the American Federation of Labor, and John L. Lewis head of the Committee for Industrial Organization the first rfts in clouded labor situation
 They hold out a shred of hope for peace between the two main wings of the labor movement and peace between them would go long way toward ending ursdctional strikes with all their business disruption and the antagonism they create against labor unions the part of the general public
 The two rival leaders agree to moderate their rivalry to the extent of cooperating in specific labor situa tons Had this agreement been in effect before, it might have avoided many situations like the recent general truck strike in Philadelphia where the A. F. of L. tied up all deliveries for almost twenty-four hours in protest against an invasion by the C. | O. Of the truck field
 The public inconvenience caused and the con- tracts broken by the A. F of LIS general truck strike Philadelphia give added significance to the strong position taken against such strikes by MT Green. He said in his statement:
 "A general strike cannot be guaranteed without violating contracts honorably entered into. The American Federation of Labor believes in the ob- servance of contracts and the maintenance of said contracts nvioate One of the chief assets of the American Federation of Labor is the record it made during one-half century of negotiating wage agree ments and maintaining them inviolate
 Furthermore, general strikes mean revolution, The innocent victims of general strike in com munty will not long tolerate such action. Conse- quently public opinion turns against strikers when they engage in general strike. For these reasons the American Federation of Labor cannot extend approval to general strikes"
 We are sorry that MT. Lewis did not include similar declaration in his statement. His record in the U. M. w. A. observance of contracts has been an excellent one, but this unfortunately-for labor as well capital-has not been true in the of the Automobile Workers in General Motors. We hope he will take a strong position against violation of contracts in future statement
 In our opinion the greatest contribution that MT Green and MT. Lewis could make to the cause of labor would be CD to make peace between A. F. of L. and C. O. (2) to work out joint policy for policing unions to weed out irresponsibes and punish those guilty of breaking contracts 3 to frame legislation that will insure union democracy and outlaw strikes in which there is issue between employer and employee.
 The alternative to such three-fod program Is an increased public reaction against labor unions be- cause of the abuses of of them and the enact ment of legislation that would curb the legitimate activities of labor unions and hamsring organization of workers instead of merely insurng fair practices and union democracy
 Labor's biggest problem is to curb its extremists These extremists playing directly into the hands of the reactionarieS, is the continued division of the labor movement between A. F. of L. and c. I. O.