Evening star., 1937-04-18
ROOSEVELTIS CRITICIZED
FOR "SIT.DOWN" SILENCE
Forthrig hit Attitude of Byrnes
Praised-Split Over Court
Bill Is Forecast.
ii Is Forecast.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

BY MAhh SULLlS AN.
> r Z IS likely that the President, and
also Secretary of Labor Perkins,
came to be identified with the sit
L down strikes without being aware
OF what they were in for. They be-
gan, long ago, with policy that dur
ing the Roosevelt administration,
labor in its relation to employers
should acquire a greatly elevated
status. Starting with this intention
they passed into state Of mind which
sympathized with the more aggressive
labor leaders and encouraged them
Presently the labor leaders were
practicing a sit-down strike at Flint,
Mich. That Flint strike, there can
be no doubt, had certainly the open
support of Miss Perkins and, it is
fair to say, the tacit support of Presi-
dent Roosevelt. Possibly the fact
that the sit-down element of the
strike was new, and very revolution
airy, did not impress itself upon either
the President or his Secretary of
Labor. When public disapproval of
the Shutdown brought the nature of it
to the administrators attention, the
President was disturbed But appar-
emily he hesitated to disapprove the
sit-down lest he should seem to lack
sympathy for the labor advance gen.
orally.
Friends Of John L. Lewis claim that
he was in much the same position
with respect to the sit-down as Presi-
dent Roosevelt and Miss Perkins
They say that Levi did not initiate
the sit-down idea, and that when it
arose he was disturbed They say the
slt-down was initiated by younger
labor leaders, who were in Lewis Or
ganization, and subordinate to him,
but whom he could not control. Lewis
could not repudiate them without
damaging his organization and his
own position.
Position of President.
In the situation, President Roose-
velt is obliged to seem a little weak
Any one in a position like the Presi-
dents who, for any motive, or because
OF any trait in his personality, does
not publicly condemn that which he
does not believe in, loses moral au-
thority. Some of the c. I. o. leaders
and organizers seemed to realize Mr..
Roosevelts position and took advan-
tage OF it. In several places they used
ahe Presidents name in a way that
called for reputation by him.
In NaU TorSpu fhn
sent circulars to workers soliciting
them to join, the circulars being in
closed in envelopes marked, "A mes
sage to you from the President" The
President" might have been, of
course, the president of C. I. O.-but
also it might have been the President
, Of the United States.
That this incident was called to the
Presidents attention by Democratic
leaders goes without saying. That the
President did not repudiate the use of
his title is matter of record-though
Mr.. Roosevelt is ordinarily quick to re-
sent any unauthorized attribution to
him OF a position, or views, which he
does not want to be known as holding.
Lack of reputation by Mr.. Roosevelt
led to greater boldness by the C. I. O.
organizers. In New England some
- G. I. O. organizers distributed circulars
and posters calling on workers to join
the G. I. O., and describing c. I. o.
as headed by John l.. Lewis and
backed by President F. D. Roosevelt"
Failure Of the President to repudiate a
thing so direct as that left him in
position where his critics we're free to
attribute to him complete sympathy
with c. I. O.-with all of 1t and all
Its practices.
Balk at Sit-Downs.
Popular feeling that the administra-
tion sympathized with the sit-down
strikes brought the President very
close to break with some of his party
leaders in Congress. Leaders who,
however reluctantly, had gone along"
with him on his Supreme Court pro-
posal baked at the sit-down strike.
Leaders who were closest to him, who
had supported his measures Loyalty
throughout his first administration
and up to now, found the sit-down
strikes too much.
=. In the Senate are three leaders
whom everybody looks upon as repre-
tenting President Roosevelt. They
are Robinson of Arkansas, official
Democratic Senate leader; Harrison of
Mississippi and Byrnes of South Caro-
lima. Practically everybody in Wash
ington assumes that their fidelity to
the President is achieved at some cost
to their personal convictions, and
sometimes their personal pride. Mr..
Roosevelt is not considerate master.
He Is a smiling master, but one who
takes faithful obedience for granted.
When he wanted Congress to change
. the Supreme Court for him he did not
consult his leaders in that body. He
sent for them only to give them a bill
written out by him or one of the re-
naming group of his brain trust and
told them to put it through.
At the beginning of this session
OF Congress it was felt that Senators
Robinson, Harrison and Byrnes might
be more independent; that they
might feel under less compulsion to
accept all Of the Presidents meas
uree; that they might feel more free
to think of themselves, not as the