Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-06-03
The Political Mill
Businessmen Struggle Against Blank Wall
In Effort to Amend Labor Act

permit the amendment Of the Labor
Act.
All over the country are many
businessmen who insist that the
amendment of the act will not be
suff1cient-it must be repealed, the
present board must be done away
with. Some weeks ago the National
Association of Manufacturers pre-
sented a program of national leg
islative proposals. There was a
great deal Of comment because the
association did not make any recon-
mendations for amendment Of the
Wagner Labor Relations Act. In
some quarters, the association was
characterized as liberal" far more
so that the United States Chamber
Of Commerce.
Wanted Repeal.
However, that may be, the real
reason the manufacturers associa-
ton did not propose amendments
to the act was because out in the
States was a demand for out and
out repeal, and the manufacturers
said they would not stand for mere
amendment Of the act. So the sub
ject was omitted from the report
made by the national organization
many constituent members having
threatened, it is said, to withdraw
from the organization if it recon-
mended amendment Of the act and
not Its repeal.
Notwithstanding all the efforts Of
the American Federation-which de-
sires amendments Of the act so that
the board will not be in a position
to play constantly into the hands of
the c. I. O.-and Notwithstanding
the constant urging of many busi-
ness organizations, all proposed
amendments to the Wagner act have
been bottled up for months in the
Labor Committees of the Senate
and the House. Hearings were post
poned for long time--and now that
they have been granted the hear
lngs threaten to run on like the
brook, forever.
The latest move is an appeal by
Senator Thomas of Utah, chairman
OF the Senate Committee on Edu-
cation and Labor, that the propo-
+ nents of Wagner Act amendments
get together and outline Just what
they wish.
The supporters of labor act
amendments, however. have differ
ent ideas. The American Fedora
ton OF Labor is opposed, for exam
pie, to the amendments offered by
Senator Burke of Nebraska, although
Senator Burke has included in his
proposals all the amendments asked
by the federation. The Burke
amendments go much further than
those of the federation. The c. TO-,
headed by Pres. John L. Lewis,
and Labor's Non-partisan League
which Is charged with being a po-
litical adjunct of the C. 1. O., are
violently opposed to any amendment
OF the act at all
Opposition to Wagner Labor Act
amendment now appears to be as
settled an administration policy as
that of continued Government
spending on large scale. And yet
this no-amendment policy threatens
to perpetuate strife between the two
great organizations of labor. and
between workers and employers
just as the spending policy threatens
to perpetuate the huge national
debt. President Roosevelt's recent
speech to the Retail Forum, in which
he said in effect that the national
debt should not be worry since 1t
was owed by the American people to
the American people. was interpreted
by wag as meaning that The ma
tional debt, by the people, for the
people. to the people shall not
perish from the earth"