Evening star., 1940-02-15
OfficiuI Blacklist

The revelation that the National
Labor Relations Board has sought to
coerce employers into accepting its
edicts by endeavoring to deny them
Government contracts and Recon-
struction Finance Corporation loans
is so alien to the American sense of
fair play and to the procedure con-
templated in the Wagner Act that it
would be extremely difficult of belief
were 1t not for the fact that the
disclosure came from ]. Warren
Madden, chairman of the board.
Congress, in passing the Wagner
Act, provided that Labor Board
orders directed to employers should
be enforceable in the Federal circuit
courts. This, it was thought, would
give to the board all needed power to
enforce its orders, while preserving
for employers the traditional and
fundamental right of judicial review.
1t appears, however, that this ar
rangement was not altogether salts
factory to the members Of the Labor
Board.
Testifying before the Smith Com
mittee OF the House. which is
investigating the board, Chairman
Madden admitted there had been
negotiations with persons in the
Procurement Division of the Treas
ury Department and in the r. F. G.
apparently with some encourage
ment from the latter two agencies
with a view to denying Government
contracts and loans to certain en-
ployers.
But this punitive action was not to
be confined to cases in which board
orders had been reviewed and upheld
by the courts. 1t was to be applicable
as well to cases in which employers
had only been adjudged in violation
of the Wagner Act by the board, and.
apparently, even to cases in which
there had been nothing more than
the issuance Of a complaint against
an employer. From these facts there
can be drawn no other conclusion
than that of Committee Counsel
Edmund M. Toland, who said the
board was trying to set up black
list" of employers, and it is equally
clear that this was to be done for the
reprehensible purpose Of forcing
employers to surrender important
rights, notably that Of appeal to the
courts, which are supposed to be
guaranteed to every American.
It, has not been established to what
extent the board was successful, if
at all, in carrying out this UNDER
taking. The effort to bar some en-
ployers from Government contracts
step which Congress has repeatedly
refused to take-failed when the
Controller General ruled that It would
be plain violation of the law re-
quiring that such contracts be
awarded to the lowest responsible
bidder. R. F. c. loans may or may
not have been held up in collabora-
ton with the board, and that Is a
matter which should be fully ex-
plored by the Smith Committee.
For Congress as whole, these ad-
missions, coupled with prior dis
closures, including the fact that
members of the board and some of
its employees have engaged in lobby
ing at Government expense to ward
OF cuts in appropriations and amend
ments Of the Wagner Act, pose a
very serious question. That ques-
tion is whether the responsible men,
bers of the board, on the basis of all
the facts which have been brought
to light, can be said to have inter-
preted the law as enacted by the
Congress, or whether they have added
to it, without benefit of congressional
action, amendments of their own.