The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-08-10
Fdcing the Facts
With PHILIP PEARL


enough to lead with his chin sometimes
and get away with it. But John L..
Lewis is not John L. Sullivan. The
white hope of the c. 1. o. led with
his chin the other day before the
House Labor Committee and he is still
seeing stars and hearing the brides
sing.
The verbal encounter between Lewis
and Cactus Jack" Garner will go
down in history as the "battle of eye
brows." The Vice President, with his
hands tied behind his back and his lips
sealed by his official position, spotted
the C. l. O. dictator more than 100
pounds and won in the first round.
Lewis tried his old stunt of breathing
fire but the flames boomeranged and
singed his eyebrows.
The Vice President taught Lewis
that in the game of political power,
just as in the card game, you can't
bluff on every pot and expect to get
away with it. Garner called Lewis
bluff and when the cards were laid
down on the table for all to see, Lewis
had nothing. Naturally he was wiped
out.
For all his remarks about the other
peoples whiskey drinking, Lewis dem
onstrated to the country that man
can get far more drunk on ego than
in liquor. Intoxicated with his own
Importance, Lewis disgraced himself
before the whole country. He made a
holy show of himself. And his hang
over will be long and bitter
AS the mists seethe around his tor
tured mind, Lewis will also experience
a severe case of the I'D. Us" He will
see not only "evil old men" but prac-
tically the entire population of the
country dancing around his PROSTATE
form. How have the mighty fallen!
The Next Chapter
1t is now apparent even to his own
followers that Lewis is through. He
has taken the count too often. He is
getting slug-nutty, as they say in the
fight game. He can't hope to stage q
comeback. He shouldn't be allowed
even to try. Not that anyone is
worrying about Lewis absorbing more
punishment, but because a repetition
of such farcical performances will
just about ruin the membership Of the
C. |. o. and hurt the cause of labor
generally.
The damage already done by Lewis
to the labor movement is becoming
evident on all sides. He has accomp-
lished just the opposite of what he set
out to do. He has been clossal fail
ure. He tried to ride the crest OF
radicalism, only to be submerged in q
heavy backwash of public protest.
Labor cannot afford to permit the
progressive accomplishments of the
past few years to be engulfed and de-
stroyed by reactionary wave. Labor
no longer can afford John l.. Lewis
He is too expensive luxury. II he
is permitted to continue his mad course
unchecked, the present wave of reac-
tion may become tide.
More and more rapidly the workers
of this country are losing interest in
are learning that Lewis has no real
interest in them. They are learning
that Lewis has no real interest in the
trade union movement. They are be
ginning to realize the truth. And the
truth is that Lewis's only interest il
the workers of this country is to use
them as catpaws in the furtherance o1
his own personal, selfish political am
bitions.
Those Whom the Gods Would Destroy
1t is no longer any secret that Lewis
is out to promote his own power
rather than the welfare of labor. He
doesn't care continental about help.
ing the laboring masses, except as il
may help him control these masses
The trade union movement has always
been regarded by Lewis merely as q
stepping stone-a stepping stone tc
the domination of our country.
Here is a man who has utter con
tempt for democracy. Here is man
with delusions of grandeur. Here is a
man whose mentality matches that OF
Hitler or a Mussolini. Here is the
great "I Am"
His whole record proves that. Look
at the way he has subjugated the coal
miners to his personal control and die
tatorship. Look at the way he has
pulled the strings of his c. |. o. pup
pet. Any Lewis movement is a one
man movement. Any Lewis organiza-
tion is one-man show.
Look at what he has done to the
automobile workers. We have just
come back to Washington from short
stay in Detroit. What we saw there
was tragic. Lewis never tried to or
ganize the automobile workers. He
tried to mobilize them. He has sue
ceeded in wrecking them. Then men
in the ranks are now demoralized. The
industry is demoraliZed. There has
been nothing but constant succession
Of strikes and more strikes, every
variety of them under the sun. The
men are now sick of strikes. Their
wives are even more disguSted They
are fed up with Lewis brand of fake
unionlsm. They are fed up with be-
ing c. |. o. catspaws and stooges for