Evening star., 1939-12-20

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Labor Board, has brought out the
fact that Mr.. Phillips did claim to
have prevented In another instance
the publication of news article in
one OF the Cincinnati papers, and
that he had access to various news
paper reporters in the American
Newspaper Guild, an affiliate of the
c. I. O., and boasted that he felt
grateful to guild members for
putting us wise to what goes on
behind the scenes"
There is no evidence in the record
of the Smith committee here that
Mr.. Phillips or any members of the
American Newspaper Guild were in
any way responsible for the omission
from American newspapers gen.
orally of the important facts in the
Circuit Court of Appeals decision in
the Empire Furniture Co. case.
Opinion on November 8.
But there still is no explanation
as to why this case did not get
circulation until more than two
weeks later, when attention was
called in these dispatches to the
omission. The opinion of the court
was rendered on November 8. On
that same afternoon. the Cincinnati
Times-Star published brief routine
item which made no mention of the
rather sensational quotations in the
decision. The next morning. the
Cincinnati Enquirer printed on page
10 a routine article with one quota
ton from the decision but om;tting
all reference to the fact that
unanimous court, including Judge
Florence Allen, liberal judge widely
known for her sympathies with la
bor. concurred in the opinion of
Judge Simons, or to the fact that
the opinion accused the board of
having attempted to substitute sur
mise and guess" for proof" in
evaluating the testimony.
The three national press associa-
tions are dependent, as a rule, for
their clues to important news de-
velopments on the accounts IN local
newspapers. The press associations
do not employ special staffs to cover
the courts or other sources of news
from which only occasionally SEN
sational piece of news might ema-
nate. If the local papers play
down" or bury an article, the
chances are that it will be overlooked
by the correspondents and the press
associations who supply out-of-
town newspapers and services.
Tells of Inquiry.
Mr.. Phillips, on the stand, told the
House committee that he had in
quired at the office of the Associated
Press about the Empire case when
criticism was raised about it two
weeks after the decision was handed
down, and that the Associated Press
men said the item was overlooked
because of the congestion of news
and concentration of attention on a
local election the day of the de-
cision in question. But Mr.. Phillips
was not asked and did not volunteer
the information as to why all three
press associations overlooked the
same item. The reason probably
was that by a reading Of the routine
headlines and cursory report of the
Empire Furniture case as published
in the Cincinnati papers, the signifi-
cance of the decision was not ap-
parent.
The episode may be just a curious
coincidence due to faulty reporting
by the Cincinnati newspapers, which
failed to note that the Labor Board
had been reprimanded for reaching
conclusions on 'Surmise" and
guess rather than proof, and it
may be a coincidence, too, that the
regional director of the Labor Board
had expressed previously in memo
randa to the board at Washington
that he felt he could keep out of the
press certain items "derogatory" to
the board.
Available Here November 20.
1t so happens that no copy of
the Cincinnati decision was avail
able to the press at the ONCE Of
the Labor Board in Washington,
either, until November 20, but Mr..
Phillips claims he sent it to Wash
ington a day or so after it was
handed down on November 8. The
board here does not consider that
it is supposed to issue to the press
court decisions on labor matters
that happen in other cities, though
heretofore it has not failed to
make these decisions available
promptly, The delay of nearly two
weeks may have been an incident
In the routine of the Labor Boards
operations in Washington.
The fact remains that both at
Cincinnati and at Washington a
momentous decision reproving the