The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1940-08-09
TheCherry
/" Where with our
roo Little Hatchet we
tell the truth
about many things, sometimes pro-
foundly. Sometimes fippantly,
sometimes recklessly.

There are indications that Mr.. John
L. Lewis is trying to find way to re-
gain some of the political punch he
carried before he left for the Philadel-
phia convention.
When he made the pilgrimage to the
City of Brotherly Love he checked out
as a political power, by virtue of his
speech of laudation for Mr.. Hoover,
which piled up neatly on his previous
statement in which he cut all ties with
the New Deal.
Seldom does man who must main
tain show of power go SO far out on
a limb, unless he intends to make for
himself new position thereon.
If Mr.. Lewis were to say definitely,
"a plague on both your houses" and
upon the basis of some high principle
enter minority party, the case would
be something else. But he didn't do
that.
Mr.. Lewis made a bluff at third
party, clearly indicating that Senator
Burton Wheeler was his choice for
leadership in that party, whereupon
Senator Wheeler, thinking better of
deseration, elected to remain Gas is"
leaving Mr.. Lewis with the ground
removed neatly from under his feet.
1t was all a strange affair. Seldom
has such a series of breaks been wit
messed.
But Mr.. Lewis never has been noted
for ability to see far down the road
ahead.
That holds good, from the time,
years ago, when Mr.. Lewis sought to
unseat Samuel Gompers, right down
to now.
When NRA, with it's IA came
along, John L. Lewis started going
great guns.
Under the National Labor Relations
Act he went still further.
But he could not seem to see that
he could ride on down that same road
only by being consistent in his policies.
| The G. |. 0. leader has not been con-
sistent. His tactics have been battle
tactics, the tactics of surprise, with
the exception that they haven't always
surprised.
A labor movement has to have a
philosophy and a philosophy is con-
stant. Mr.. Lewis doesn't seem to ap-
preciate that simple fact.
And that's one reason why the great
general of the sit-down is in his pres
ent dish of soup.
John L. Lewis may again rivet pub
lie attention upon himself.
But it seems unlikely that he can
ever again compel the fear that once
was felt toward him in the camps of
some of his opponents. Nor will there
be the same measure of respect for
his judgment.
When the Chicago convention came
along his closets aides and friends
were lined up solidly, tightly within
party folds, and with more or less of
an icy chasm between them and their
chief.
The chief wasn't doing much COM
manding.
Added to the political zig-zag is an
almost equal zig-zag on the issue of
preparation for war and participation
in a possible war.
The course has been one of incon-
sistency.
And so we come now to point
where Mr.. Lewis doesn't seem to be
front page news. He is lucky to get
space on the inside pages.
There is some talk about mistakes
having been made because of faulty
advice from such men as Lee Press
man, C. l. O. chief counsel.
1t would be surprising if there had
been no bad advice. But it will be
difficult for chief to alibi himself out
of the hole by trying to lay the blame
on an employed counsel.
A chief is supposedly elected, al
though C. I. O. elections are about like
Nazi elections.
But there is, just the same, diff
ference between Mr.. Big and Mr.. At
torney, who holds tenure at Mr.. Big's
pleasure.
No, Mr.. Lewis will have to shoulder
his own blame-and a pretty sackful
it is, too.
Of such stories are the pages of his
tory made.