The Wilmington morning star., 1940-09-21

NEW YORK, Sept. 20. When
President Roosevelt plucks a goose
il takes time to collect the fea-
theirs. and a lot of them get away.
But 1 want to do a little cleaning
after his speech to the Transfers
union last week.
Eat times" Mr.. Roosevelt said
to the Transfers, internal OBJ
stacles to the growth Of labor
unions have come in those rare
instances where the occasional
scoundrel has appeared. in position
of leadership" This followed a por-
ton in which he reminded t h e
Transfers that his administration
had imbedded in the law the I'M
trammeled right of labor to organ
ize and bargain collectively. That
claim of a political debt certainly
does not suggest that Mr.. Roose-
welt was speaking as President,
but I am now going to bear down
on the question.
I have t~ransposed the two por-
tons of the speech because I want
first to say that the appearance of
the scoundrel in union leadership
has not been rare and that I don't
believe the speaker himself,
whether candidate or President, is
so ill-informed as to think so.
Just as the speaker himself has
winked, politically, at the defiant
crookedness Of his party in Chica-
60, Jersey City, Louisiana, Florida,
Kentucky and Kansas City, so the
American Federation Of Labor, in
that edifice which might be called
its White House, has elaborated
with crooks Who are prosecuting
labor and undermining the popu-
lar faith in the American form of
government. Just as the speaker
himself went to New Orleans and
gave public aid and comfort to
men well worthy of the name of
scoundrel, so William Green ap-
peared before a big union conven-
ton and Endorsed the leadership of
a man who as made it plain that
he would keep crooks in office and
would stand or fall with the crooks.
Just as Mr.. Roosevelt wangled the
appointment to a lucrative semi
public office Of a faithless rem
gade, SO Mr.. Green, within this
year, had certified the moral char
acter of an interloping traitor to
the cause of labor who was known
to all who knew him at all as the
criminal agent of a gang of under
world terrorists, preying on the
workers.
1t is not merely that the &C.
casional scoundrel has multiplied
enormously but that IT,, high lead
ership of the American Federation
of Labor has refused to interfere
on behalf of prosecuted workers
and, until recently, refused even
to acknowledge the existence of
the problem. Worse, the A. F. of
L. denounced as enemies of labor
whoever invited its ~hypocritical
wrath by disclosing proof of cor
ruption in the unions.
So also, it may be observed here,
Mr.. Roosevelt and his subordinates
in the public pay attack as enc
mics Of human rights and of the
underprivileged all those who re-
veal corruption in his party and
defend the republican system of
government guaranteed by the
constitution.
1 think too well of Mr.. Roose-
velt'S intelligence to believe he was
unaware that in establishing la
boris right to organize his admin
~istration also abolished the equally
sacred right of Americans not to
organize and placed vast numbers
at the mercy of the many scoun-
drels who sweep unwilling workers
into crooked unions, steal h e
pay. jerk them out on strikes
called for the purpose of black
mailing employers, nevc: consult
their wishes and exclude from Jobs
untold thousands of decent citizens
because they will not submit or
merely because the unio.s prefer
to monopolize employment for
their limited membership. 4