Evening star., 1937-04-17

when victor and vanquished come to-
gether. In this case, the victor con-
'sists Of two allies, labor and the ad-
ministration-John L. Lewis and
President Roosevelt. The vauquished
is industry. With respect to the issue
Of collective bargaining, industry
comes to this conference much as the
Germans came to Versailles-it comes
to sign whatever terms the victorious
allies impose. Industry, 80 far Is 1t
has resisted labor, has been about as
Thoroughly beaten as any combatant
can be. The war came to an end with
the recent decision Of the Supreme
Court on the Wagner labor act, by
which decision, as Miss Perkins ac-
curately puts 1t, collective bargaining
Is established as the law Of the land"
Marked BY Single Letter.
On the eve Of the conference in
which the vanquished must acknowl-
edge defeat, it Is appropriate to re-
view the war. 1t began early in the
administration. It was symbolized, aS
important trends are often symbol
lied. by = phrase. Actually. this was
less than . phrase-it was a word.
Indeed, it was less than a word, 1t
was a single letter-the letter. "r,"
which, properly placed, makes the
difference between "of" and "for."
Miss Perkins, soon after she became
Secretary Of Labor, said she thought
the title Of her ONCE ought to be
Secretary for Labor. Throughout her
tenure OF ONCE, she has held to that
conception OF her function. Labor
has been the ward Of the administra-
ton; industry has been regarded as
the common adversary OF labor and
the administration.
An early statutory declaration Of
the administrations purpose about
labor WAS embodied in N. r. A. and
became famous as section Ia, of
which the essential principle was:
Employees shall have the right to
organize and bargain collectively
through representatives Of their own
choosing ."
For reasons too complex to state
here, section Ia did not work well.
Even labor and the administration
admitted that. Within 4 year, even
while N. r. A. as q whole was still in
effect, it was recognized that section
Ia would not do, and Senator Wsg-
ner, on behalf Of the administration,
was writing . new charter for labor
When N. r. A. was found unconstitu-
t;ope1 hy tho 0,,prnro> No,,r< ~, Nav
a., 1895, section Ia, OF course, went
with it. But Senator Wagner's new
charter WAS practically ready. 1t was
enacted, as q separate statute, on July
S, 1885.
Few Understood Act.
Few except lawyers and others
directly concerned understood what
the Wagner act was. Not that the
Wagner act is obscure-it is perfectly
clear. Nearly everybody assumes
that the Wagner act was . measure
TO arhitrate labor controversies. It
was nothing o. the kind and did not
purport to be.
The Wagner act was = declaration,
in effect, that all bargaining between
labor and employer must be collec-
tive; that in every plant must be a
union, and that this union shall be
the exclusive bargainer for all the
labor in the plant And the Wagner
act 50 defined unions as to outlaw
what are called company unions" or
workers councils" or other local
unions set up with the approval Of
employers. Every employer must
make his contracts through a repre-
sentative Of . union which has an
interest adverse to the employer, which
sits on the other side Of the table
from the employer. On the unions
the Wagner act put no obligations.
It is on employers that the Wagner
act put all Its obligations. And the
employer who fails in any way to live
up to the practices prescribed by the
act Is subjected to heavy penalties.
To enforce its provisions, the War.
ner act set up . National Labor Re-
lations Board. Nearly everybody
thought this was q board with a judi-
cial function intended to arbitrate