The Washington times., 1937-01-08
POWER
BEHIND HUGE
AUTO STRIKE
BY EDWARD B. LOCKETT
Internntio News Service

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The furor of the automobile
strike RACES in Michigan, but the
brain behind the paralyzing jiu
jitsu labor is applying to the giant
General Motors reposes back OF a
glass-topped desk here, in the
shaggy brow of that veteran OF a
hundred labor Scraps-John
Llewellyn Lewis.
The statements come tr o m
Homer S. Martin, president Of the
United Automobile Workers. in De
troit; the pressure is applied in
G. M. plants, but not statement
is issued, not a move made without
the advice, consent, and direction
of John Lewis.
Every morning about IL o'clock
the switchboard girl in Lewis
United Mine Workers headquarters
here rings her boss private office
"Mr. Martin is calling, Mr..
Lewis" she says.
"All right" rumbles Lewis
bass voice, put him on"
HE DOESN'T WAIT
The labor chief, who runs the
Committee for Industrial Organi-
zation-Lewis is also president OF
the Mine WorkerS-doesn't wait
for the United Automobile Worker
President in Detroit to say hello.
He picks up the telephone daily
and says:
Hello, Homer, how are things
going with you?"
For the next ten minutes
Martin reports developments to
Lewis, detail by detail. Then he
tells him of impending events on
the strike front.
Then, the big boss" Of the
automobile strike issues his orders
and they are carried out to the
letter.
Used to Fighting
This is a fight Lewis is waging
with General Motors but he is
not ruffled. The big Welshman
is used to fighting; he has been
fighting throughout his entire
career. In the thick of it, he is
cool as a cucumber, although, as
always, restless.
This imperturbable demeanor
did not come without practice. 1t
is a product of dozens of battles
with industry, some lost, some
won. Even as a boy, John Lewis
saw labor unrest and troubles,
and was closely associated with
miners organizations seeking to
improve living conditions and
wages of miners.
His father, Thomas Lewis,
shortly after John was born in
February, 1880, was blacklisted by
operators for organization activi'
ties, and became a nomad miner
roaming from coal field to coal
field seeking work.
During his formative years anc
afterwards Lewis was associated
with Samuel GomperS, that i'm
mortal champion Of the working
man, and GomperS soon recog
nized in the swarthy Welsh miner
an aggressive force, bound for
leadership.
John Lewis demonstrated that
aggreSsiveneSS and leadership in
a battle which eliminated in his
election as President of the United
Mine workers shortly after the
war. Since then he has had ample
opportunity for fighting.
His first big battle came in 1920
when the miners struck and de-
clared the famous Lever emer-
gency act of wartime coal regula,
ton invalid because the war was
over. Judge Anderson, in Indian.
apolis, held Lewis and all other
officers Of the U. M. W. in con
tempt of court, and directed Lewis
to order his men back to work.
This order gave Lewis an oppor-
tunity to show his genius. With
the contempt order hanging over
his head, he wrote the order call
ing the miners to work 50 cleverly
that, first it satisfied the court
and secondly. was so framed that
every miner knew he didn't want
them back at work. And not a
miner returned to the mines.