Evening star., 1937-06-10

machinery h
been placed at the disposal of the
c. 1. o. and that every Government
agency is hesitant to take any action
which might offend the c. I. O., even
though this might be at the same time
a denial Of justice to other groups of
citizens.
The age-old right to work, which
has remained fundamental liberty of
the citizen from the very beginning of
the Republic, now has been set aside
by the assumption of an unlimited
right on the part of other workmen
not only to strike, but to use any
means they choose in preventing
fellow Workmen from continuing in
employment.
The steel strikes in Ohio and Mich
igan plants, with their attendant riots
that have occurred in the last week,
have clearly outlined that picketing,
which has hitherto been confined to
peaceful means. now is characterized
by armed intervention.
Whether the employers. with their
arsenals and strike breakers, or the
employees groups, with their imported
strong-arm men, have had sufficient
provocation, the fact remains that the
carrying of concealed weapons or the
brandlShlng of firearms or weapons of
any kind by labor pickets or by guards
for employer groups reflects on the
capacity of the local authorities to
maintain law and order.
For the last four years the opponents
OF the Roosevelt administration have
insisted that States rights should not
be abolished in favor of a centralized
government. Today the administra-
tion is indifferent to the local dis
turbances, taking the position that
this is something for the States to
handle.
In so far as the preservation of order
is a local matter, the administration
Is right, but there have been in the
last fortnight many instances of
direct interference with the stream
OF interstate commerce and the use of
physical violence to prevent shipments
of goods destined for interstate COM
merce
There Is every reason to believe that
the President has from the beginning
believed that the violence would be
short-lived and that the situation
would mend itself. He has relied on
the labor leaders not to allow matters
to get out of hand. But the inter-
ruptlonS in the electric light and
power plants in Saginaw and Flint
show that, Notwithstanding the pro-
tests of John Lewis himself, the
sabotage has continued
To what may this be attributed?
Either to the existence of groups of
malcontents of Communist inspiration
who burroW their way into union
organizations and take advantage of
their innocent brethren, or to the fact
that, in the State Of Michigan, Gov.
Murphys handling of the sit-doWn
strike in General Motors has been
taken to mean that the sky is the limit
Tor the labor union activities.
Gov. Murphy won the applause of
many persons when he was able to
bring to a peaceful termination the
General Motors strike, but today the
people of Michigan, if not the people
OF neighboring States, may be paying
the penalty for his well-intentioned
avoidance Of the firm hand in govern
ment.
To use troops to take sides, of
course, has long been denounced as
an improper employment of force by
a State government, but to insist
neither employers nor employees shall
carry weapons or apply physical force
to induce or resist collective bargain
ing efforts is logical function as
we'll as obligation of the Governor of
State.
Time was when matters of this kind
used to be handled by proper exertion
OF the judicial arm of the Government.
But, in the middle of a delicate labor
situation, President Roosevelt himself
has denounced the Judiciary and en-
couraged the masses to believe that
the courts are neither fair nor euui-
table. If, therefore, the strikers, MANY
OF whom are not American citizens,
but aliens, are led to believe that they
need not pay any more respect to the
courts than does the President of the
United States, crisis necessarily de-
velops in which aggrieved citizens feel
the necessity of taking the law into
their own hands.
The spectacle of big steel COM
pany begging for protection for its
workmen, who fear the coercion and
threats of union organizers, is not a
healthy one and the irony of it all was
that the Wagner labor relations act
was to have brought an end to strikes,
or at least to have curtailed their
number and scope. Today strikes are
more extensive than they have been
in long while and are characterized