Evening star., 1938-08-12
PRESS VIEWS ON
LABOR RELATIONS
Press Commentators Maint . in
Tribunal for Industrial Affairs
Should Recognize Two Sides
of Every Controversy.

0uVulO 1tcCO8n1Zo xWO 0lVcS
I Of Every Controversy.
An attack on the practices Of the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board by COM
mtttee Of the American Bar Association
receives Endorsement from the press. It
Is held that the labor tribunal should be
required to consider both sides and to
give consideration to the interests Of the
employing groups as well as Of the
unions.
"The monumental turmoil" according
to the Providence Journal, that has
flared out of administration OF this act
has not been inevitable. 1t has resulted
from the rankly one-sided view that the
privileges are all those Of labor, the
penalties all those of capital. 1t does
not pay to get hot under the collar with
zeal. The purpose of this act should be
to produce adjustment, not strife. And
since the act provokes strife rather than
adjustment it should be amended, If for
no other reason than the compelling,
basic one that business and industry in
the United States literally cannot with
stand continued disruption by unneces-
sary warfare"
Some way will have to be devised to
keep the powers Of the board within
reasonable limits" thinks the Whining
ton DelO News, and the Roanoke Times
concludes: when the Government or
any OF its agencies ceases to be an
umpire and becomes a partisan in pass
ing on the relations between any groups
OF It's citizens it lets itself in for dimin-
1shing confidence and diminishing re-
spect on the part of the people at large"
The board stands today" charges the
Nashville Banner, Justly accused OF
being-deliberately or otherwise-a tool
OF such vicious partisanship as this Ma
ton cannot safely abide. 1t is repudi-
ated alike by ranking schools OF sober
labor thought, by industry and all versed
In constitutional law: by every citizen,
that is, clinging to the traditional prin-
ciples of Americanism and unwilling to
see this Nation plunged into such ignoble
civil strife as the antagonism abetted by
the Labor Board contemplates."
Provisions of the Wagner Act" argues
the San Jose Mercury Herald, prove the
statement Of the committee of the
American Bar Association that the Wag-
ner Act is the deliberate embodiment Of
a new social policy in which the Govern
ment has departed from the traditional
role OF mediator and arbiter,' for they
deny the constitutional principle OF
equality before the law"
III the board" contends the Wall
Street Journal, 'can define the express
sion OF opinion by an employer, in his
own words or those of others, as inter-
ference with or coercion Of employees,
where shall the line be drawn? Is it,
after all, up to the board to make this
distinction? 1t seems that another i'm
portant flaw in the Wagner Act has come
to light in practice, in this case a loose
term which Congress in the next session
should clarity if employers are not to be
exclusively deaf mutes'
*
The San Antonio Express concludes:
The bar association frankly charges
partisanship and points out that the in
evitable result is intensified class an
tagonis.m. 1t considers the Wagner Act
the deliberate embodiment of a new
social policy in which the Government
mas departed from the traditional role
OF mediator and arbiter.' Amendments
suggested by the committee would OBJ
serve the traditional requirements of fair
play, guarantee an impartial hearing and
give to an employer and employe alike
the right of presenting complaints ,
There Is nothing in that criticism which
has not been pointed out many times
before by business and labor experts,
but the concurrence of eminent legal
authorities adds emphasis to its obvious
Justification"