Evening star., 1937-07-29
M'GRADY ACCUSED
OF FAVOR|NC c. |. 0.
Nye Charges Labor Official
Ignored Result of
Election.
3y the Associated Press.

Dakota, told the Senate yesterday he
had been reliably informed that Ed
ward F. McGrady, Assistant Secretary
of Labor, was insisting that the Apex
Hosiery Mills of Philadelphia bar
gain with c. l. O. representatives after
the employees had Overwhelmingly
voted against that labor organization.
Settlement of the strike was an
nounced today.
Nye said an election held by those
In the community, after the Labor
Board had ignored pleas for an cleo
ton, resulted in only 81 c. I. O. votes
out of $500 employees He asserted
1000 failed to vote.
The North Dakotan said he had
been told that McGrady, despite this
vote, had gone to the management
and insisted that it accept the
spokesmen Of the c. l. o. as spokes-
men for the employees"
Had Not Talked to McGrady.
Denouncing the incident, Nye said:
IF great government is going to toll
crate an administration by board or
bureau which tolerates practices Of
that kind, the hour is not far Off
when Americans are going 10 be re-
minded that it can happen here"
Senator SchWellenbach, Democrat,
of Washington, asked if Nye had dis
cussed the case with McGrady, but
the North Dakotan said he had had no
opportunity.
Nye said he found the story difficult
to believe, and yet have it on such
fine authority that can't ignore it,
Schwellenbach said he got the i'm
preston from listening to Nye that his
exclusive source" of information was
the pastor of the Resurrection Luther
an Church of Phila lelphia, with whom
Nye said he had held three-hour
conference Tuesday.
When Nye said the pastor was mot
the exclusive source Of his informa-
ton. Schwellenbach asked him who
else had verified the story. The North
Dakotan asked to be excused from an
sWering the query.
Tells History of Dispute.
The North Dakota Senator told of
the history Of the Apex controversy in
great detail, as he said it had been
related to him by the Philadelphia
pastor. The story. he said, was a
''challenge" to American labor.
The Apex plant, Nye said. had $500
employees, but the c. l. O., which had
organized neighborlng plants, had sue
ceeded in getting less than 200 sigma
lures from Apex employees,
On May 6, Nye said, word went
around that there would be a great
demonstration at the plant. Neigh
boring plants were dismissed for the
day, he told the Senate, and 10000
persons gathered at the Apex plant
A delegation moved into the plant
Nye said. and "out of a desire to
demonstrate their power" picked up
typeWriters and chairs and smashed
them against the floor. He said he
had pictures of the plant after the
incident
Sit-DOWn Declared.
Then came cry from the leaders
We declare a sit-down strike" Nye
asserted. He added that the demon
strators then brought in cots and
hundreds of men were tablished in
the plant.
Each day" he said, Leaders waited
upon the management and insisted
they be received as the representatives
of the $500 workers"
Nye said the Labor Board was
asked five times for an election in the
plant. but each time denied or lg-
nored' the requests, until finally the
community took the matter into its
own hands and decided to hold an
election
Before the election, he said employees
we're subjected to unbelievable treat
ment" by c. l. O. organizers in the
streets and warned not to participate
In the election.
Nevertheless, the Senator said, 1900
did vote and only 80 voted for the
c. I. o. with l.412 ballots being cast
for an employees organization in the
unit.
1T seems to me that was the most
emphatic evidence that the employees
wanted no aff1liation with the c. I. o."
Nye said.
Wagner Challenges Nye.
Senator Wagner, Democrat, of New
York, promptly challenged Nye's ar
guments as "unfounded," and accused
him Of not even asking the Labor
Board for its version of the dispute
You shouldn't criticize the board
until you've tried to get the facts he
snapped.
Nye then finished his speech with a
declaration the first step in estab-
fishing dctatorial governments in
Russia. Italy and Germany" was the
suppression of voluntary, independ-
ent unions"
Again challenged by Wagner, Nye
conceded he had never heard of
single employer who contended that
the boards elections were not "ab-
solutely fair and impartial
Senator SchWellenbach then sprang
from his chair to brand Nyes' state
ments the most specious ever offered
In Senate debate"
Last week we were told that the
first step toward fascism and commun-
Ism was control of the courts by the
Executive" he shouted. Now we hear
that the first step is control of labor
unions"
I'm getting awfully tired of listen
ing to these arguments that every
thing the Administration does to
help the great masses of American
people is step toward fascism and
communism"
He challenged Nye to name single
Russian union which was suppressed
by the Communists, and asserted:
THE truth is that there weren't any