Evening star., 1937-03-20
Whose Responsibility

Yesterdays Senate debate on the sit
down strike brought out rather clearly
the division of thought on the issue as
oraWn In Michigan today There were
no defenders of the sit-doWn strike as
such. The sit-down strike received al
most universal condemnation as a dam
gerous and pernicious form of anarchy
that carries grave threat to orderly gov
srnment In the United States. Il think
1t Is generally agreed that it is a form
OF violence which a government of law
and order cannot recognize" said SEN
stor Borah.
But on one side of the debate were
those who view the st-down strike, as
deplorable or as dangerous as it may be,
merely as the result of what they regard
ed as inequitable law enforcement, in
equitable division of the fruits of labor
and OF property, inequitable construc-
uon OF the Constitution. On the other
side were those who see the sit-down
strike merely as the forceful attempt of
minority of labor in the automobile
industry to seize for itself exclusive con-
troll of the institutions throughout the
industry which are affected by the strike"
Regardless of the causes or the motives
which have contributed to the sit-down
strike, the important thing now is the
policy to be followed by constituted au-
thority in bringing it to an end and pre-
venting its repetition.
The plan now being followed in De-
sroit by Gov. Murphy and other authori-
ties, including those in WASHINGTON, is
substantially the same that prevailed in
Flint Efforts are being made to bring
the Two sides together on some agreement
that will permit the peaceful evacuation
OF the plants. In return for some con-
cesslon on one side, the other side will
concede to something else. There is hope
that peace will be gained by compromis-
Ing with the law.
Granting the seriousness of the dilem-
ma faced by the Governor of Michigan
and other authorities, is this the wise
course? If pursued, it will only mean
that the sit-doWn strike again has been
condoned as a method of exerting pres
sure. 1t will mean that the orders of
the court have been disregarded once
more, f1outed at will to gain point. 1t
will mean another sit-doWn strike. an
other spread OF sit-down strikes. each
time more serious and each time more
productive of general diSrespect not only
of the courts, but for all law and order.
America could disintegrate in another
swift and reckless sixty days." said SEN
ator Vandenberg "if todays illegal con-
tagion is not stopped
How can it be stopped? It can be
stopped, and instantly, by expressions
from the President of the United States
and those high in his administration
that the sit-down strike lacks their SYM
pathy and tacit support; that this form
of violence is not to be condoned and
must be ended, and that neither the
preservation of labor's rights nor the
attainment Of labor's hopes depends, in
the United States, on the violent seizure
of property and defiance of the courts
and the law. The silence of those in high
authority in this crisis amounts not only
to agreement with the methods of the
strikers, but to encouragement of their
tactics. The responsibility in this crisis
and the responsibility in ending sit-down
strikes are not so much with the
harrassed Governor of Michigan as with
the President of the United States. His
silence becomes more eloquent the longer
1t Is maintained.