Evening star., 1938-10-23

college COM
mencements; he
Is for labor; he is c,.... x,.,.,..
for capital, and ~ ''''
he is for the Ten Commandments
with possibly some reservations as
to the NINTH.
In the first Of these incarnations he
recently assailed the Wagner Labor
Act, which he said led either TO
Fascism on the right or Communism
DIN the left"
The Senator charged, among other
things, that the act precipitated and
prolonged the depression, and he
demands its amendment.
That sounds pretty terrible. How are
We going to assay Senator Vanden-
berg's comments when they are COM
pared with the views of one Of the
largest employers Of labor in our
country? The General Electric Co. is
not supposed to be either fascistic
or communistic, nor might it be sus-
pected OF any desire to prolong the
depression. Yet, the other day, Vice
President w. r. Burrows. under whose
jurisdiction the labor relations OF the
great corporation come, made this
statement to League Of Women
Voters in New York State:
I'VE have had no trouble with the
Wagner law. 1t was designed to take
the part of the employe who can't
take care Of himself. My suggestion
would be to let the Wagner law ride
and let some of these employers who
haven't tried it give it 4 try"
Cites Firms Labor Policies.
The General Electric executive said
a lot Of other things that must sound
like high treason to those who have
been belaboring the National Labor
Relations Board. He cited the labor
policies Of his corporation and per-
haps these have something to do
with the long absence OF friction
between his organization and its
employees. First, he said. they made
up their wage scales by doing little
better than the average OF wage rates
in the community. Then. they care
fully trained foremen and supervisors
SO that these would listen to state
ments OF grievances and dispense fair
treatment. Most revolutionary OF all,
they encouraged and were liberal with
unions in their formative stage. This
startling departure from the habit
so carefully cultivated by other masters
Of great corporations of sternly stamp
ing out the first approach Of unionism
has resulted in peace instead Of strikes
over long period OF years.
Perhaps equally revolutionary Is the
policy he announced OF raising pay
rates as result Of surveys Of the
wage situation without waiting for
demands from the union. He said that
three times year his outfit had sur
veys made in comparable plants and
whenever the result OF these examina- =
tions Of living costs and average wages
showed that the General Electric was
In danger Of falling behind the pre-
vailing rates. automatically their pay
rolls went up.
Vice President Burrows told his
hearers that he had no important
changes to suggest in the Wagner
Act. which brings him in direct con-
fiict of thought not only with Senator
Vandenberg but with Ex-President
Hoover, Senator Bridges OF New Hamp-
shire, and Congressman Hoffman Of
Michigan, Col. Frank Knox, who
thought he was running for the vice
presidency in 1885, and various other
Republican spokesmen. And to make
confusion worse confounded these Re-
publican statesmen are in complete
disagreement with II leading Repub-
lican Senators who voted for the
measure.
There Is not much diversity in the
criticisms Of these statesmen of the
Wagner Act. They agree that 1t
foments Communism. that it Is be-
gotten of brutal desire to destroy
business, and that it is breeder of
strikes. They have minor differences
among themselves. Some Of them
think that 1t is an outrage that con-
tracts between employers and employees
should be written; some OF them
thing that the outrage lies in the
circumstance that this is not directly
provided for in the act itself. As
against these declarations by the gen.
tlemen who see chaos and doom in
everything Democratic. we have only
the testimoney Of a huge corporation
which complies with the law and u
perfectly happy in its effects.
1t comes down to what has been
pointed out 10 often: That 1t is the
creed Of the minority party that by
no circumstance, or even accident,
can there be merit in anything that
the Roosevelt administration brings
into being.
The minority party's solution for
the difficulties they conjure up in
relation to the Wagner Act is natur-
ally the election Of Republicans to
the Senate and the House Of Repre-
sentatives in next months election.
When November Is past and the
Senate and House show their custom
ary Democratic majority, We may
look for q subsistence Of these attacks.
incidentally, the General Electric
Co., some Of whose plants are Fedora
ton Of Labor and some Committee for
Industrial Organization, seems to get
along with both fairly we'll, perhaps
because 1t regards strife among labor
unions As none Of Its immediate busi-
ness. While the corpora ton would
undoubtedly be happier II there was
unity among its employees. 1t is OBJ
viously Mr.. Barrows' philosophy that
1t Is not his war or the wsr Of his
company and that the disadvantases
Of the situation are simply some Of
the ordinary difficulties Of business
in which he has neither the desire
nor the purpose Of interfering.
But then, Vice President Burrows
Of the General Electric Co. Is only
businessman who realizes that
there u no profit to anybody in .
fight between capital and labor, who
has learned that the output Of finished
products Is greater and better with 4
competent and contented stan than