Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1940-11-08
GEN ERAl
HUGH S.
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Washington, d. c..
LABOR AND MIR. LEWIS

washington, u. u
LABOR AND MIR. LEWIS
The attacks on John Lewis from
some elements of labor, because he
lndorsed Mr.. Willkie in the cam
paign now closed, have no sweet
taste.
Mr.. Roosevelt's claquers MAIN
tanned that he is the only friend of
labor. John Lewis said not and SO,
to them, that makes him an "enemy
Of labor"
A worker who could swallow that
must have been SO far gone in emo
ton that he could be persuaded that
black is white. The New Deal has
depended upon Mr.. Lewis more than
on any other single laborite-until
now.
Then Fiorello LaGuardia ranked
him with the forces of evil.
Maybe as politics, that is under
standable, but the back stabbing by
leading lights of the workers can't
be eXcused-especially in the CLIO.
Never before John Lewis was
there any full and effective labor or
ganization and collective bargaining
in our greatest industries-steel,
automobiles, rubber, oil. electrical,
lumber and shipping. Never, except
for John Lewis, would they ever
have come.
Other labor leaders so opposed it
that John could only do it by seces-
SiOr and tho 1f
He believed in protection and or
ganlza;ion for all of labor, the lowli-
est as well as the aristocracy of
labor They didn't. He parted COM
pany The result was an addition
10 the ranks of organized labor of
1000 600 workers and a tremendous
improvement in wages and working
conditions for all workers.
Exactly that was what | was try
ing 10 do in NRA. There is not a
single advance in the condition of
organized labor that didn't have its
birth in the nest of the Blue Eagle
the acceptance by industry of the
nights of labor to organize and bar
gam collectively free from the in
nuence of child labor-the creation
OF Labor Relations board for the
settlement of disputes.
Mr. Roosevelt says that the men
who opposed that oppose him now
Well, John Lewis and this writer op-
pose him now, and we helped do that
when to do it was such pioneering
and battle against both reactionary
employers and reactionary labor
leaders that sometimes l felt
hadn't friend on earth.
had at least two. One was John
Lewis. The other was William
Green 1t is sad to me to see these
TWO men split today. In those days
never asked either for sacrifice
Of his position for the common aim
mat was not made. l never asked
either for help that was not given.
Nelther ever gave me a promise
mat wasn't kept.
can't say that those early efforts
Tor labor had equal help from people
VINO support Mr.. Roosevelt now. His
secretary of labor sniped at it con-
SANITY. Mr.. Wallace's organization
poisoned the farmers against it
sad agriculture should get theirs be-
lore labor, and tina, higher wages
under MIRA raised the price of over
aus and cotton gloves. Mr. Roose-
veil himself countenanced disloyal-
" In the organization itself which
led /" lis downfall
LII here, as elsewhere throughout
h!s whole line, John Lewis fought
night and day with all he had TO give
tof the common man in the ranks of
'aoor-fought to victories that ad
VaAced that cause more in a few
years than in all the years of the
,aoor movement since its beginning.
ne never led labor astrav in his life
ErvpI nVrJyTNr., sENSUS