Evening star., 1939-11-13

warfare inside labOr'S ranks.
The Nebraska Senator does not
attempt to say who is at fault but
calls attention to recent attacks on
the labor board from both the
c. I. o. and the A. F. of L. and adds
that neither side is satisfied with
what the labor board does unless
1t gets what it wants."
But many critics of the Wagner
law feel that any statute which
can be stretched one way or the
other to suit pressure group is
not fair statute and that Con-
gress ought to legislate specific
standards for the boards guild
ance.
Statement Is Surprise.
The public statement by Mr.. Nor
rls will occasion considerable sur
prise because it Is not often that
he has anything to say in criticism
of labor. The incident, moreover,
will take on especial significance
because only last week President
Roosevelt summoned both John L.
Lewis and William Green to the
White House and talked about the
pending controversy between the
A. F. OF L. and the c. I. o. Up to
the present week it may we'll be
that Mr.. Roosevelt exerted only the
power of personal appeal, but now
he may have determined to use
tactics open to him for some time
but which he doubtless has hesi-
tated to use.
Mr.. Lewis, it will be recalled, has
carried on campaign against
amendment of the Wagner Act in
any particular and against chang
ing the powers of the labor board.
The American Federation of Labor,
on the other hand, has been urging
a set OF amendments which it
adopted last year at its annual con-
vention. Then came two investiga-
tions, one by the House Labor Com
mittee and the other by the Senate
Labor Committee A voluminous
record of technical data was built
up and filed. Now there's another
investigation in the offing by
special House committee headed by
representative Howard Smith of Vir-
ginia, the Democrat on the Rules
Committee, whom the administra-
ton tried unsuccessfully to purge"
in the 1888 election.
The Smith committee has had its
Investigators at work for several
weeks and the plan has been to start
hearings soon. after which congress
would be asked to pass amendments
to the present law. 1t may well be
that the administration is anxious to
avoid the exposures and disclosures
which the Smith committee may
be planning to make and that
sudden effort has begun to force the
A. F. of L. and c. I. o. to get to-
gether, failing which the administra-
ton itself may take the lead in
sponsoring changes in the Wagner
law, which amendments could settle
the question for instance of which
Is or is not an appropriate" unit
as between craft and industrial
unionism.
Discretion Would Be Narrowed.
The labor board has already set
forth some general principles, but
these have been applied the same
way in every case, the boards argu-
ment being that the facts and cir
cumstances differ. But a specific
statute giving the labor board in
structions on how to ascertain the
appropriate unit" for collective |
bargaining may do away with much
of the controversy between the A.
F.. Of L. and the c. I. o. because
the board would have its discretion
narrowed, if not taken away al
together.
If the President had cared to say
the word any time earlier this year,
Congress would have acted on the
pending amendments to the Wagner
law. So long as the c. I. o. and |
the White House were working |
peacefully together the action on
amendments demanded by the A. F.
OF L.'was in various ways squelched. |
Congressional committees showed no
inclination to bring the amendments
to the floor, in fact the view was