Evening star., 1937-07-02
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

"o6LCl AdOOI IcIdIlOIlS ACT winch WILL
put some curb on the activities of labor
organizations in this country is growing
on Capitol Hill. The lawless manner in
which strikes have been conducted in
the automobile and steel industries is re-
sponsible for the immediate demand
Senator Vandenberg of Michigan, who
last Monday offered three amendments
TO the Wagner act, has been deluged
with letters and kilograms from all parts
OF the country, praising his proposals.
Only one letter, he said, out of some
10000 has been critical The writer of
that letter objected because In one of his
proposed amendments Senator Vanden-
berg made American citizenship obliga-
tory to hold an office in labor union.
That, 1t seems, is almost too much to
bear, according to the Senator's critic.
X
The amendments to the Wagner act
proposed by Vandenberg are salutary,
even though they come from a Repub-
lican source. The Democratic adminis-
tratlon will not consent to their adop-
ton. II 1t gets around to the view that
the Wagner act needs amendment, the
amendments will be submitted by Demo-
cratic Senators and Representatives.
That is the technique of any party
Democratic or Republican-if it has con-
troll of the White House and the Con-
gress. The White House has so far
given no public approval to any legisla-
tive proposal to curb the operations of the
G. l. 0. or any other labor union. There
has been no proposal from the admin
lstration to amend the lopsided Wagner
act.
The Vandenberg amendments to the
Wagner act are three In number. The
nrst, which seems reasonable enough.
would give the employers OF labor the
right to ask for an election among their
employees to determine who is to repre-
sent them in collective bargaining. The
employees have this right under the act
as 1t now stands-but not the EMPLOYERS.
His second amendment provides that a
voluntary agreement entered into be-
tween employer and employees must be
set down IN writing. That is one of the
demands made by the C. l. O. in the
present steel strike. But the amendment
goes further. 1t would require that be-
lore any strike is called, it must be voted
by majority OF the employes-not called
merely by So-called labor leaders. Such
a sanitary rule already is in effect in the
railroad brotherhoodS, among the most
substantial labor organizations in the
country. 1t is obviously not in effect in
the automobile and steel industries. in
which strikes have been called by clio.
leaders without the slightest effort being
made to ascertain the desires of the
majority of the workers. This second
amendment also requires that anv
breach OF contract, if not corrected upon
order of the National Labor Relations
Board, shall suspend the right of repre-
sentaton of the employees.
X X X
The third amendment proposed by
Vandenberg sets up fair practice code"
Tor labor-a counterpart of the code
established in the law today for en-
ployers. This code would prohibit COM
pulsory political assessments upon union
members; require that all officers, agents
and representatives of a union be Amer
lean citizens; make it unlawful to force
any worker to join a labor union by
means OF threats, intimidation, coercion.
or physical violence, or to damage or
destroy the property OF any person or to
violate any persons rights in real or
personal property, or to strike for the
purpose OF coercng or forcing any per-
son to violate any contract or the laws of
any State or Of the United States.
The Vandenberg amendments have
been actively and favorably discussed
by members OF the Senate and House
since their introduction. Many of the
Democrats are said to believe that the
country will have to come to some such
legislation. The British, after the at
tempted general strike in 1927, drafted
and enacted laws much more drastic.
They reached the conclusion that Eng
land should not have to undergo an
other disaster like the general strike The
British trades union act of 1927 makes
it illegal, for one thing, to call a SYM
pathetic strike-when a union not con-
nected with the industry in which a
strike is going forward is called out. In
the event such sympat thetic strike is
called, the ofncers OF the union may be
put in jail
Responsible labor leaders in this coun-
try are anxious that there be more dis.
clpllne in the unions themselves. They
believe IN living up to contracts, and
they do SO. There are others, however.
less scrupulous. 1t is due to them that
additions to the law are needed.
The alliance between the Roosevelt
administration and the C. 1. O., headed
by John Lewis. which seems to have
been in effect although not publicly pro-
claimed by the administration, is getting
under the hide of some of the Demo-
cratic members of Congress. Two of
them from Georgia, Cox and Deem, have
already expressed their disapproval of
the c. I. o. and of Lewis in forcible
language. Deem declined to fill a speak
ing engagement for the Democratic Ma
tional Committee in Alabama when he
found that his travelling expenses were
to be paid by Labor's Non-Partisan
League, of which Lewis is chairman of
the board, acting for the Democratic
National Committee. He did not like, he
said, the 'sit-doWn strike tactics of
Lewis and his organization.
Representative Cox took the floor in
the House on Wednesday to denounce
the c. I. o. and to charge that Lewis is
seeking to set up labor despotism" in
the United States. He warned that a
deadly economic plague" is creeping over
the country as result of the C. ]. O.
efforts and that 1t would end in civil
war If not checked.
X
Cox charged that the Federal and
some of the State governments are aid
ing and abetting John L. Lewis and his
associates in forming "a labor-political-
communiStic movement"
If we are going to pursue policy of