Evening star., 1938-02-15

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ercise his civil rights.
The National Labor Relations Act q
really a codification Of those flnda-
mental rights rs far as they concern
the American working man. The act
seeks to give the employe redress II
he is discharged or Disseminated
against for freely exercising his fun.
damental rights, and to free him Alto
gether from the fear Of punishment
or retaliation by hts employer II he
joins or is active In a union. The Ma
tional Labor Relations Act imposes
only one duty on the employer in mat
ters of association or organiza tion and
that is to grant to his employees the
same right and freedom to self -organ-
tzation which he exercises himself.
This is the true American way, the
way OF freedom and Of liberty. 1t
means the extension into the realm Of
industry of those fundamental rights
for which the founding fathers fought.
1t requires only that the rights of our
political democracy shall be freely ex-
ercised in the economic world 10 that
industrial democracy may become .
reality.
Employers Fought Law.
On the surface it is hard to see how
such a simple and fair statute as the
National Labor Relations Act, having
these objectives, could have raised
such a storm of excitement and pro-
test. The hostility to the act can be
understood only in view of the long
and relentless campaign waged by
many employers and groups of en-
ployers In this country against the
organization of workers into trade
unions. This campaign employed
methods which denied the exercise of
the fundamental rights of citizenship,
free speech and free assembly
1t was the resistance to the Wagner
Act which in part was responsible for
creation of the subcommittee of the
Senate Committee on Education and
Labor, of which the ..ble and dis
tinguished Senator Ebert D. Thomas
of Utah and are members. This
subcommittee was appointed in June,
1896. under Senate Resolution 266,
which authorized the investigation of
violations Of the rights of free speech,
free assembly and undue interference
with the rights of labor to organize
and bargain collectively 1t is COM
monty known as the Civil Libertie
Committee"
At that time, you may remember,
the National Labor Relations Act was
| held up all over the land by injunc-
tions, and the Labor Board could not
function. Our subcommittee had re-
ceived numerous complaints. Most
prominent were those by unions to the
effect that their members were being
spied upon by industrial detective
agencies and that their efforts to Or
ganiZe were being broken up by these
spies
Preliminary investigation revealed
that this labor espionage was, in itself,
business. carried on by detective
agencies under contract with employ
ers who were determined to prevent
organization of their employees. The
detective agencies which engaged in
this work also offered other anti Dor
services, such as providing strike
breakers and thugs in times Of labor
disputes. Closely allied with these
agencies, sometimes by interlocking
business arrangements. we're three
firms selling tear and sickening gas TO
industry for use in strikes These three
activities, which may roughly be classi-
| fed as eSpiOnape bv detective apencies
strikebreaking by detective agencies
and industrial munitioning. formed the
subject matter of the first phase of
the committees work.
Legislation to Re Offered.
This phase of the committees in
quiry has now been concluded, and
legislation to curb these abuses will
shortly be introduced in the Senate.
The IA volumes Of testimony which