Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-05-09
BY JOHN NJ. CARLISLE,

BY JOHN NJ. CARLISLE.
w WHERE will Poker-faced John
n ! L. Lewis, the most astute
wv and dominant labor leader
Of his time, take the mill
tant labor movement under the
blazoning banners of his Committee
for Industrial Organization?
With new citadels captured for the
vertical union movement in the steel,
automobile and glass industries, with
the strengthening Of the old union
fortress in the coal industry, and
with the valuation Of labors own
bill of rights, the Wagner act
where does John Lewis go from here?
Does this one-time pick-and-
shovel miner. f-educated, self
made and self-confident in the Lin
colnian tradition, aspire to be Presi-
dent? Does he want to found the
first labor party in America and be-
come labor dictator? Does he want
to change the capitalistic system?
What does Lewis want now for
labor and for himself?
These are questions which the man
in-the-street has been asking since
fast-moving developments on the in
dustrial front in period Of economic
change have made Lewis the symbol
OF union labor under the New Deal.
The administration has recognized
Lewis as labor's spokesman in the
mass production industries.
Not Communist, He Insists.
Well, what has Lewis to say?
Il am not Communist" Lewis
told this interviewer. II am not q
Democrat or a Republican. Neither
am I Socialist nor a Fascist, nor
any other kind of list I'm Just an
American who is for anything that is
good for Americans.
This organization of the mass
production industries is a modern
American labor movement. It ex-
pands and extends Americas strength
The best insurance policy this Nation
can take out, as have said before, is
to permit a larger number of Ameri-
cans the right to participate in the
capitalization OF Government poll
cies.
Let the American workman have
sufficient participation in the in
creased efficiency Of industry. Let
him have decent wages, own his home,
educate his children.
Create a citizen with 4 stake In
the country and at all times he will
fight to protect that stake. He can be
trusted not to follow false gods or
false leaders to a point where the
stability of the Nation in its domestic
economy would be impaired"
Lewis was talking in the Offices Of
the United Mine Workers Union, of
which he is president, in the Tower
Building here The spacious and we'll
appointed ofices of the largest union
in the Nation provided him with a fit
setting as an executive devoting his
energies to new type of big bust
ness-the mass unionization of work.
ers
He sat bolt upright, his 230 pounds
overfllling q red leather easy chair,
with all the noiseless office manage
ment efficiency circulating about him,
with secretaries lowering nearby, with
long distance calls from prominent
public officials constantly demanding
his attention.
Opening Typically Bluff.
On his face was the inevitable Lewis
frown and in his mouth was the in
evitable fat cigar. His was a typical
Lewis opening-bluff, abrupt and on
the offensive.
If you have any questions-shoot!''
Now that the Wagner act has been
validated, where is labor going under
Lewis and the c. I. O.?
THE Wagner act" he replied
affects only the mechanics Of the
labor situation. It legalizes labor's
right to organize. its right to have
representative bargaining.
I'VE propose to do what we are
doing labor. We demon
strated the ability OF labor to organize
in advance Of the valuation of the
act and the valuation justifies what
We are doing. It gives labor the imple-
ments with which to continue organ
izing.
II think the vote Of employees OF
the Packard Motor Car Co. in Detroit,
giving the United Automobile Workers
Union sole collective bargaining rights,
was commonplace thing. It was
obvious the employees want to be or
gained in the automobile industry
The result was to be expected.
I'VE Of the G. /. O. are obviously
trying to organize in the mass produc-
ton industries those who are unorgan-
lied.
1T IS big program in itself. But
we won't stop there. We intend to be
Of service to other groups.
Not ReorganizinE the Organized.
I'VE are concerned now with organ
king the unorganised and not with re-
organizing the organized. That will
be our program If organized groups in
the American Federation Of Labor do
not perversely annoy us. Then W
may have to pause long enough to
protect ourselves.
The establishment Of collective
harsatuinS In tho mAls production