Evening star., 1938-02-20

west Futy-SeDenth street, NeD York
City, who informs The Star that the
writer identified here only by his
cryptic signature "GT-99," is a jor-
mer labor spy." .,Dhose desire for
anonymity is understandable. The
Star prints the letter as an interest,"
ing stdeli0ht on a controversial ques-
ton.
7 M AN ex-labor spy. The Senator from
Wisconsin, who 80 ably addressed the
Nation from the microphone of the
National Radio Forum on the night
of February IA. is responsible for the ex
in my designation.
To doubt the sincerity Of the statesman's
remarks would be folly, but to differ with
his idealistic opinions is my privilege, in
accordance with the right Of free speech"
which the gentleman from Wisconsin de-
fends His remarks on the air as well as
the report Of his committee to the Senate
last December have brought no rebuttal
from either industry or the detective
agencies he called on the carpet. It is
readily understood that they desire as little
publicity as possible in connection with this
unsavory subject and reply would only
prolong the discussion to their continued
embarrassment. Little did it ever occur
to me that I would feel inclined to appear
As paladin for either group. but in the
interest of fair play, 1t is believed that q
little more light should be cast on this
situation Three particular phases of the
picture as it now stands are somewhat
misleading. And again no claim is made
that there has been a willful intent in this
direction; the honest Senators simply have
never had extensive experience along lines
OF industry, accounting or personnel man
agement and their errors are of the mind
and not of the heart.
Too High an Estimate?
The figure of S4,900,0O0 was used by
Senator La Toilette as he addressed the
National Radio Forum to indicate the
amount OF money spent by industry in the
year 1885 for labor espionage. I believe
that this is the entire amount expended
ny industry that year for detective services
of all kinds The figure included the cost
OF guards engaged by a company to protect
valuable shipment Of merchandise or for
uniformed men employed to circulate
among the throngs of shoppers in a de-
partment store during the Christmas season
as protection against shoplifters. This is
an obvious error and should be corrected.
Another feature of the senatorial investi-
CATION which might well be cleared up is
the attempt on the part OF the committee
to discredit the intelligence of some Of the
witnesses called before it. On one oc-
casion the secretary Of large and power.
full manufacturers association was on the
witness stand. He admitted that the as
sociation had spent twenty thousand dollars
during a recent year for information re-
garding the trend of labor affairs in the
community This practice had existed for
twenty years or more Senator Thomas
took it upon himself to suggest that the
association and its members had been taken
for ride" by the agency to whom this
money had been paid. Well, the members
OF the association are the ablest manu.
facturers in America. They might be taken
for q twenty thousand dollar ride for one
year or even for two years, but it's pre-
posterous to suggest that this custom might
continue for a generation. These men
knew what they wanted and they paid a
fair price to get it-and they got it. And,
as with all satisfactory business DEALS the
next time they were in the market they
came back for more-to the same purveyor.
What Is the Substitute?
Another point that has been overlooked
is this No business of the scope and
magnitude of the labor espionage industry
can be completely and entirely removed
from our economic program without
satisfactory substitute being offered. As
yet, none has been presented. To illustrate
my point, let me draw a simple picture
OF the situation which brought labor
espionage into existence
Let US suppose that company is formed
for the purpose Of manufacturing radios
Let's say that the two Senators most in
terested in this investigation were the
founders of the project. They invested
some Of their own hard-earned money and
they sold stock to their friends and eventu-
ally they built a fine, modern plant and
equipped it with machinery to make their
product They received q lot of orders
and In the course of q couple of months
they have hired, say, i've hundred men.
It is probably that the officers, Messrs.
La Toilette and Thomas. will invite or
ganized labor to prepare q closed shop
contract. But whether they do or not, they
are going to have the same situation that
Is found in other ashops regardless of
whether they are closed or open. The
people they employ are going to be human
beings. The human beings employed by
the La Follette- Thomas Radio Corp. are
going to be pretty much like the human
beings in Congress or in q shipyard or q
college or in packing house or bank. Re-
sardless OF the efforts of the employment
department. the caliber Of employe inslarge
organizations is very similar.
The Minority Of Malcontent"
In other words, La Follete- Thomas will
have \ big majority Of men whose only
interest Is to work hard in the hope Of
advancing to better positions and In
creasing their earning power. Then there
Will be some-a few-whose principal con-
Germ u to create q much discord - pos
sibls. These are called malcontents and