Evening star., 1937-07-27
BY WILLIAM II. FORT.

John Lewis and the C. l. o. are
sponsors of terrorism and laWlessness S,
promoting and encouraging violence
and disregard for law. With many Of
It's leaders avowed Communists and
with its terroristic methods, c. I. O.
constitutes the most dangerous threat
against the preservation Of democracy
in the United States
Standing alone and taken at their
face value, these and other similar
statements make OF Thomas NJ Grid
Ter, the tWo-flsted chairman of Re-
public Steel and president of the
American Iron & Steel Institute, just
about as stubborn, hard-headed and
unreasonably obstinate person as it
is possible to imagine
Tom Glrdler has made those and
equally frank declarations many times,
and he stands by them now. Yet, with
out proper setting giving his ex-
plantations of why he made them and
why he maintains his stand-pat posi-
ton, they give no accurate picture
either OF his position or of the man
himself.
No Evidence Of RuthIessness.
Tom Girdler has shown himself to
be fighter, but he gives no evidence
Of being the ruthless, fire-eating slave
driver which his enemies like to paint
him. He is not very tall, but he is we'll
set up. with no suggestion of paunchi-
ness. He has friendly smile which
lights up his eyes and, when he talks,
there is no suggestion Of the bulldog in
his speech. Merely an expression of
his position, logically stated, with an
obvious desire that what he says will
not be misconstrued And he has
convincing explanation for everything
he has done since the strike was called
by c. I. 0. in the plants of independent
steel
He has no hatred for John Lewis,
not even contempt. He merely is con-
Vlnced that he is fraud and for that
reason will have nothing to do with
him nor allow his men to have any,
thing to do with him or the C. I. o.
organization. There was no evidence
OF bitterness against Lewis or against
the c. I. o. as an organization. And
when told that Lewis held him person.
ally responsible for the death of the
10 men during the Memorial day riot
at the Republic plant in South Chi
cago, he merely smiled and went on
talking to show how everything he had
done had been done with the interests
Of his men in mind
That was the reason-and the only
reason-he said, why he had refused
to sign and would continue to refuse
to sign any agreements with the C. I.
o. or any other labor union, and not
because he was opposed to unionism
or collective bargaining.
Denies Being Extremist
Sitting behind a big desk in one of
the conference rooms of the Republic
Steel Corp. in New York he teetered
back and forth in the big armchair.
You know" he said, Il have been
held up before the public as a violent
extremist-a hard-headed, cold-blood-
ed opponent of collective bargaining.
AS matter of fact, am the least ex-
tremlSL or any one IN the steel DuSl-
ness. There is no one who is closer to
his men than am. Some others think
they are, but l don't believe so.
collective bargaining? I am not
opposed to collective bargaining. I
am a firm believer in it and have been
all my life, ever since I knew any,
thing about it. We have had it for
years at Republic and it has benefited
both the men and the company. But
l did refuse-and still refuse-to sell
out my men to an irresponsible outfit
headed by man whose only purpose
was to get more power and more
money for himself. And that's all
John Lewis wants-poWer and money.
All he wanted a written agreement
for was so he could use it as cudgel
on the men, to drive them into the
union so he could get their dues and,
through the check-off system, have
the company collect them for him.
What c. I. o. wanted was very