Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-08-07


n YEARLY three years of sensation
studded vivisection by the Senate
v Civil Liberties Committee of the
labor relations policies of important
segments of American industry will lead
to the introduction this winter of legisla-
ton designed to blot out labor espionage,
industrial munitioning and allied methods
OF combating employe organization and
strikes
In addition, support will be sought in
favor of legislation to perpetuate the COM
mittee itself as a permanent governmental
guardian of American civil liberties. a
subcommittee Of the Senate Committee on
Education and Labor. its work has been in
the hands of Senator La Toilette, Progress
sive, of Wisconsin and Senator Thomas.
Democrat, of Utah, with Senator La Fol-
lette serving as chairman. In its pre!im-
mary reports, the committee made plain
its expectation Of proposing legislation to
cope with some of the evils uncovered. ana
only few days ago Senator La Toilette re-
iterated this intention.
Although the legislation recommended
tons are not yet drafted as the committee
fights its way through another startling
phase of the expensive and dificu.-to-
comprehend labor policies Of some of the
powerful steel companies. the pattern OF
such recommendations may be disce.i.eG i'll
the impressive record compiled dIling
the many months Of public hearings.
Enrc>s Irnfriendlv IN To- nr
Vested with the task of studying ''vio-
lations of the rights of free speech and
assembly and undue interference with the
right of labor to organize and bargain
collectively" the committee has confined
itself almost wholly to the commitment of
such violations by forces unfriendly to Or
ganized labor
In its very inception sponsors OF the
legislation authorizing the investigation
were concerned entirely with the field of
labor relations and interference exercised
by employer forces against the employe
Consequently, the resolution was worded
and interpreted in such way as to confine
the probers only to intimidation and pres
sure brought against labor. with little or
no supplementary attention given to any
such tactics, if and where practiced, by
labor.
To procure it's evidence it relied largely
upon the workers and their unions, upon
such agencies as strike breaking and de-
tective firms; upon some of industry s
proudest. who have most frequently in
trusted the shaping of their labor policies
to detective and strike breaking agencies,
and. recently, upon varied collection of
employer associations and mysteriously
financed public movements invariably ex-
ercising their influence in behalf of the
employers.
Needless to say. except for isolated in
stances, cooperation was forthcoming only
from the unions and the workers as COM
mittee investigators encountered all types
OF obstruction in other quarters. Instances
of records being destroyed or falsif1ed have
been numerous, not only among the de-
tective and strike-breaking agencies, but
also among the industrial concerns en-
ploying the agencies.
Such tactics were matched, further. by
the attitude Of many responsible men of
industry on the witness stand under oath
as they suffered convenient attacks of am
nesia, frequently contradicted themselves
gave testimony in conflict with documentary
evidence and occasionally went to the ex-
tent of refusing fatty to answer direct ques-
tons.
In spite Of such obstacles, however, the
committee has constructed an amazing
record of the blacklist side of industrial
warfare, costing dozens of lives and much
bloodshed as well as millions of dollars Of
stockholders money. Its cost to society
and the economic health of the Nation is
incalculable
Figures on Pinkerton.
In the way of statistics, for instance, the
committee established that the Pinkerton
Detective Agency had 300 industrial clients
in the years 1888 to 1886, Corporations
Auxiliary had 499 and the William j. Burns
Agency had 44O. Ample evidence was COL
lected, and is part of the record, to show
that virtually all this type of work was
directed at combating employees in the ex-
ercise of their lawful right to organize.
Included among the imposing list of
clients of the dealers in labor spies were SO
employer associations, ~ railroads, IA
corporations of Nationwide character %
firms in the automobile industry and more
than so concerns in the steel and iron in
dustry.
In its records under heading of tex
penditures on industrial espionage, mu-
nitioning and strikebreaking' the commit
tee has listed disbursements Of many thou
sands Of dollars by hundreds of we'll
known corporations from 1888 to 1896.
Some of the largest disbursements, COW
ering one or more of the items above, and
in some cases including additional strike
expenses, follow:
Baldwin Locomotive. $15s,O7S; Chrysler,
$275,534; Consolidated Edison, $ll2,8O7;
Curtis Publishing, $74.796; General Motors.
$1,019.056: Goodyear Tire & Rubber, $72,-
66l: National Biscuit. $72l ,4Sl; New York
shipbuilding, sl30,754; Radio Corp. Of
America &l.oo7, $50; Tennesses Coal b