Evening star., 1940-05-01
n. |. R. B. Officials S
Interest in T.. !. 0.
Steel Drive Told
Investigating Committee
Sees BIonkenhorn
Note to Sidney Howard
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.

Heber Blankenhorn. a special in
vestigator for the National Labor
Relations Board, wrote in a letter
that he had been mixing in plans"
for organization of the steel work.
ers by the c. I. O., the Smith COM
mittee learned today.
Edmund M. Toland, counsel for
the House group, produced a letter
which Mr.. Blankenhorn wrote the
late Sidney Howard. a playwright,
June 6, 1896. stating:
Meanwhile I am most anxious to
see all emphasis shifted from the
political to the economic field. So
have been mixing in to plans for
steel organization, which as you see
took a mighty step forward. Steel
is the place for all good men to
come to the aid Of their party"
Tried to Be "Guillotined."
The Supreme Court in April of
that year had upheld the Wagner
Labor Relations Act, and Mr.. Blan-
kenhorn started his letter to his
friend, Mr. Howard:
THE threat of the guillotine and
the nine old women on Capitol Hill
has the opposite of any terrors for
me. And I am as noble as Sidney
Carton. In short, the policy
have advocated for the National
Labor Relations Board is that its
duty is to join the suicide club. So
we have done our darndest to be
guillotined this year along with the
rest of the alphabet. instead of next
winter, but instead we are con-
demned to live"
did you mix in union activities
in behalf of the c. I. O. while you
were on the pay roll of the Gov
ernment?" Mr.. Toland demanded.
Il did not said the witness.
Are you telling the truth now or
when you wrote that letter."
Il have always tried to tell the
TRUTH said Mr.. Blankenhorn.
Mr.. Blankenhorn, who attended C.
I. o. conventions as an observer,
reported that he saw the attitude
of John L. Lewis organization to-
ward the board change from hos
tility to admiration, the Smith Com
mittee learned earlier.
Mr.. Blankenhorn reported to the
board on October 18, 1887, after the
c. I. o. meeting in Atlantic City,
that it would be very much Of a
mistake to underestimate the feel
ing against certain board decisions"
The investigator added: ITO the
C. I. o. leaders their move in criti-
cizing the board was part of their
fight with the A. F. of L. They saw
themselves throwing brickbats
through the boards plate glass win
dows straight at Bill Green" (Wil-
liam Green, president of the Amer
ican Federation of Labor)
Attitude Changes In Year.
But year later, after the Pitts
burgh convention of the Congress
of Industrial Organizations. Mr..
Blankenhorn informed the board:
"The attitude of delegates to the
board was of sweeping support and
continuous praise. I made many
private inquiries along the line. Yes,
the board seems to be doing pretty
well. but how do the boys really
regard it in your area? Give me
the lowdown on the kicks"
There was only one complaint at
the. Pittsburgh convention-delays.
"In short" Mr.. Blankenhorn
added, "the c. I. o. sentiment Is
that If anybody is going to save the
law and the board 1t is the C. I. O.,
and they are organizing to do so.
You would think the law was their
personal possession. The decisions
reinstating large numbers of men
with back pay are what the dele
gates talked about"
Mr.. .Blankenhorn admitted, un-
der questions by Mr.. Toland, that he
furnished the board with informa-
ton which the La Toilette Senate
Civil Liberties Committee had sub
poenaed but never placed in the
record. Mr.. Blankenhorn acted as
a sliaison man between the commit
tee and the board.
Asked If he had been d 'propa-
gandist" before joining the board,
the witness said he objected Violent
ly to the word. Mr.. Toland inquired
whether Mr.. Blakenhorn had not
taken part in overseas propaganda
for the Americans during the World
War.
Mr.. Blankenhorn explained that
he was q captain attached to the
general staff and had been commits
stoned to arrange for leaflets to be
dropped on the enemy lines. But
President Wilson, the witness said,
had vetoed any suggestion Of propa-
ganda and insisted that the leaflets
be confined to news bulletins. Some
If the vsarSt4ran DrneiAaV4t,s sy,Anehng