Evening star., 1940-03-13
Wagner Denounces
Smith Committee S
Plans 10 Revise Act
Declares Amendments
Would Be Weapon to
Cypress Labor
~ the Associated Press.

.SSS'
~ the Associated Press.
Senator Wagner, Democrat, Of
New York, champion of the Labor
Board, declared in Senate speech
today that amendments proposed by
the Smith Committee would turn
the National Labor Relations Act
into "a delusive remedy for the
worker and a concrete weapon for
the oppression of labor"
Meanwhile, Chairman Mary T.
Norton predicted that the House
Labor Committee soon will report
out some sort of bill making changes
in the Labor Act, following an ex-
ecutive session at which the COM
mittee took up the preliminary re-
port of the special Smith Committee
recommending drastic amendments
to the law.
Silent on Nature of Changes.
Mrs. Norton made it clear she was
not speaking for the committee and
she would not venture to forecast
the sort of bill which the group
would recommend.
The only definite action which the
committee took was to set next
Tuesday to start actual considera-
ton of all the suggested amend
ments to the act-those of the Smith
Committee and others which have
been suggested to the Labor Com
mittee.
Senator Wagner, who sponsored
the law, said he was ready to sup
port any sound" changes proposed
by others and was seeking himself to
advance suggestions which would
'lead to a still better national labor
policy"
But he expressed blanket opposi-
ton to the Smith amendments and
set forth eight conclusions" about
them in explanation of his position.
The amendments were drawn by a
special House committee headed by
Representative Smith, Democrat, of
Virginia, after weeks of inquiry into
the Labor Board. They had the
support of three of the five commit
tee members, including Mr.. Smith,
and were opposed by the other two.
In general, they call for creation of
q new Labor Board limited to judi
cial functions, delegation of admin
istrative functions to an independ-
ent officer and numerous changes in
board procedure.
Committee Action to Wait.
Before Senator Wagner spoke,
word spread about the Capitol that
President Roosevelt, although op-
posed to the Smith recommended
tions, was willing to accept amend
ments designed to improve the labor
laws functioning without impairing
its collective bargaining principle
Mr.. Roosevelt conferred yesterday
with Mrs. Norton.
While granting that N. L. R. B.
administrative procedure might be
improved, Senator Wagner urged
Congress not to make radical
changes until it could be guided by
the report of the Attorney Generals
Committee on Administrative Law
a group of judges. lawyers and
teachers now studying the N. L. r
B. and other agencies.
Law Called Helpful
Summarizing his opposition to the
Smith proposals, the Senator as
serted that:
l. The Smith Committee has failed
to develop ANY substantial facts to
refute the overwhelming weight of
the evidence that the Labor Act has
promoted industrial peace and pre-
served industrial freedom"
2. Greater public understanding
and judicial clarification have made
the Labor Act more helpful to busi-
ness men today than when it was
enacted" and radical and incon-
siderate tampering" with it will re-
suit in grave uncertainty until the
courts get through interpreting the
new law"
3. The amendments would more
than repeal the Labor Act: thev
would make it delusive remedy for
the worker and a concrete weapon
for the oppression of labor"
a. Proposals for substantive
changes would not only remove the
provisions designed to redress labor
economic inequality, but moreover
would place upon labor's right to seek
legal redress unique limitations never
applied to any other group"
Held Matter of Personnel.
S. Proposed procedural changes
would hamper administration of the
law and prove "a blessing to those
anxious to disobey the law"
8. The administrative defects re-
vealed by the Smith Committee in
qulry constitute almost entirely a
matter of personnel administration
and would be multiplied by the pro-
posed amendments"
7. The amendments are providing
a strategic rallying point for the
enemies of the Labor Act"
8. The act "and all who believe in
1t are now faced by new threat, as
menacing as any which they over
came in the pact" and 'the friends
of industrial democracy must again
rally to repel this latest danger"
Mrs. Norton said majority of the
House Labor Committee members
seemed to feel that the Smith report
went too far" in its recommended.
tions.
All 81 members of the committee
were present at the session today
With three members called out o1
the committee room when a vote
was taken, the group voted, II to l
to take up all Wagner Act amend