The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1937-07-30
THE WIND is SHIFTING

Inc AlueTlCdu pCOpiO oiC AOI Gus
lily aroused, but there are signs in the
wind that they are getting sick and
tired of some of the things that have
been happening along the labor front
1t has seemed discouraging for
months that the great American pub
lie seemed to condone the inactiv-
ity of spineless public officials. 1t
seemed, for a time, that while recog-
nizing the rights of labor to collective
bargaining, that the public neither
knew nor cared what methods were
used by various labor organizers, or
whether or not the rights of the man
who wanted to work were disre-
garded.
But apparently the wind is chang
ing its direction. Suddenly we find the
politicos, whose ears have been glued
to the ground we may be sure, chang
ing their tactics. Do you suppose
that they just happened to change
their minds? Do you imagine that it
was after long study and meditation
that they decided that the man who
wanted work needed protection, that
perhaps the owners of property had
a few rights after all, and that may
be sitdown strikes were illegal?
Not on your life! They have an
eye on the next elections. They are
just one jump ahead of the parade,
and that parade is not going in the
direction some of them thought it
was going a few months ago. They
see now that the wage earners, the
farmers and the small business men
are getting fed up on the way things
have been going. The politicos didn't
get their ideas from their colleagues
in Washington, or at the state capt.
ais; they got them in the form of
letters from their constituents in the
rural areas, and in form of reports
of things that were happening in the
small towns and small cities.
The first dim suspicion that per-
haps not everybody was going to
cheer for the sitdown crowd came at
Hershey, Pa, where few hundred
solid farmers showed the sitdowners
trick or two. Then there was that
little affair at Monroe, Michigan,
where the wage earners stood up and
fought for their right to work and to
earn a living for their families.
Youngstown and Johnstown showed
again that few men cannot rob
thousands of their jobs if gangster
methods are ruled out. In these and
scores of other communities all over
the country small business men, pro-
fessional men and the average cit
liens have seen the danger and have
expressed their feelings to their loo
al officials in no uncertain manner.
So now we find that various Gov
ernors are seeing the advisability of
using firm hand against the antics
of radical organizers; state legis-
latures are seeking means of elimin-
ating the sitdown strike, which Miss
Perkins has finally conceded to be
illegal; and that the real friends OF
labor are loudest of all in their de-
mands that steps be taken to make
the unions responsible for their act
ions. They see the danger to labor OF
situation such as that in the case OF
General Motors, where wildcat"
strikes have caused more than 200
separate shutdowns violating the
agreement signed on March IL.
The lesson Of the last few weeks
is that no man can ignore the power
of public opinion, particularly when
it is voiced by people in small COM
munities all over the land. Not for
long. - National News Service.