Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-07

David Lawrence. demOrallZed lne
industrial machinery OF the Nallon
can not but bring millions OF votes
to the Willkie cause and may COM
pletelv insure his election. -,
Nothing could have illustrated
more clearly the paramount weak
ness of the whole American defense
situation than what has happened
IN the last few days in Washington.
Although Congress has never paSSeo
a law to that effect, Attorney Cen
eral Robert H. Jackson has just an
nounced what he calls an informal
ruling on labor disputes that hau
brought CONSERVATION to the RANKS
of the very industrial executives
who are counted upon to speed up
Americas production of tanks, ar
planes, guns and ships.
Called New Deal Radical
For weeks the administration mas
studiously been trying to give the
American people the impression
that the businessmen summoned 10
Washington for the defense COM
mission really had authority TO get
things done. Now it turns out thaI
when the defense commission wants
to know about how Government
contracts for war weapons can De
fulfilled if there is a labor dispute
II must ask a New Deal radical
the ATTORNEY Generation his opln-
ion and he, without warrant OF law,
calmly announces that if the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board makes
a finding" adverse to the employer
the latter is a law vlolator ana pre-
sumably the pending contract can
not be carried out.
It doesn't matter, evidently, Wheth-
or a finding by the Labor Board
is in itself unjust-and that Con-
eress itself provided for court re-
views to secure juStIce-the contract
for defense weapons must stop then
and there. This denial OF the flght
to 90 on with the work pending an
appeal to the courts attacks the
foundations of impartial and tar
administration in America. but the
New Deal long ago abandoned the
traditional theory of constitutional
law and began making precedents
of It's own, feeling that it had Fed
eral courts filled with its own ap-
pointees who would uphold almost
ANYTHING the New Deal agencies did.
Perhaps in a realistic sense the At
tornev General is right in saying
finding" by the Labor Board is con-
elusive and binding because court
review with a Supreme Court DOM
mated by five New Dealers nova
DAYS. more often than not, is su-
perfluous.
America can never get its defense
program organized efficiently by
such sabotage. The American eX-
perts who drew up the defense plans
after years of study foresaW Just
such a contingency in their report
submitted last year This report has
never been made public by the ad-
ministration and an attempt has
been made by the President himself
70 depreciate its importance. Yet
in that report it Was specifically
urged that war defense preparations
ne TAKEN over w opCI4d- DOtNA 10 "AAN'
agencies created for that purpose
and with full power to act in the
Nations interests. Mi. Roosevelt,
however, refused to accept this ad-
vice because it would have meant
side-tracking the Zealots and ex-
ponents of class friction who hold
office under him.
Only Reflects Philosophy.
Attorney General jackson as an
individual should hardly be blamed.
He is merely rejecting the philos-
ophy that dominates the whole New
Deal from the President down. 1t
Is that politics must take priority
over national defense.
Indeed, just as soon as the in
formal ruling was issued, intlma-
tions began to be given in official
quarters here that iC really didn't
amount to anything in practical
way, that it was done merely as a
~os IN ou,ic Nf the = q