Evening star., 1939-04-17
Burke
Continued From First Page.)

"might"s destroy the quasi i-judicial
nature of the board.
Il am still in hopes that the board
may continue the functions of other
administrative agencies" he added.
We'll, wouldn't your proposal be
departure from the set-up in
other administrative agencies?" Sem
ator Hill, Democrat, of Alabama
asked.
Yes" Senator Burke replied.
Quoting Plutarch and Webster,
Senator Holman shouted that the
Wagner Act has led to a reign
of terror"
The only reason I am in the
Senate today he added, lis that
1 was the first man in public Office
to make law and order speech" F."
Blaming the C. I. O.-A. F. L. split
for much of his States labor grief,
he proposed a new nine-man board.
Denying any unfriendliness toward
labor or intention to "emasculate"
the act, as has been alleged, Senator
Burke remarked:
Il know there is q fashion cur
rent among blind partisans of the
present act and its administrative
board to make light of the sugges-
ton that anything need be done to
make this law fair. Let me re-
mind them that there are major
powers in the world today which
have contempt for fair laws. Those
in authority there have imposed
their own ideas of labor peace. !
do not believe that we should fol-
low their example into that kind
of labor peace
1T is the height of folly for the
Labor Board and its defenders to
assert that those who insist on sub
stantial changes in the act, and a
complete revamping of the enforc-
ing agency, are enemies of labor
and are seeking to Cypress and en-
slave industrial workers. The real
friends of labor are those who recog-
nize the defects in the National
Labor Relations Act, and in its
administration"
Again Assails Board.
On the issue of employer petitions,
Senator Burke again assailed the
board as solely responsible" for q
condition which has convinced most
open-minded people that the board
has had no intention or willingness
to play fair"
THE employer is required to bar
gain with any organization that act
ually represents majority of his
employees" he said. There are fire.
quent unfounded claims that ma
jority has been secured 1t is not
unusual to have two or more groups
making the claim at the same time
The employer deals with any one
group at his peril. If he guesses
wrong, he is in trouble. Yet the
board has insisted upon imposing this
hardship upon every well-inten-
toned employer for fear that some
employer might sometime ask for
an election before the favored union
organizers had sufficient time to
complete an organization drive. It is
an attitude of this kind on the part
Of the board that has made a good
many people see red"
Brushing aside the statistics of
Senator Wagner and of the board
purporting to show increasingly
peaceful labor relations under the
law, Senator Burke declared:
"The simple truth is that labor
strife is rampant under this act
designed to usher in an era of in
dustrial peace. Apart from charts
and statistics, every thinking person
knows that although the cry Is for
industrial peace-there Is no peace" "
Approves General Prohibitions.
Summarizing the general prohibi-
tions of the act at present, the wit
ness spoke approvingly, but added:
IF the Labor Board had been
willing to confine itself to the en-
forcement of these provisions, it
could have rendered a distinct serv-
ice. Instead of doing that, it de-
ternoined that there is enough lati-