Evening star., 1940-10-30
ext Of Senator Wagners Speech in Reply to John Lewis

and today, the membership Of
organized labor has risen from
four million to nine million; the
auto workers union has grown
from 10000 to 100000; and the
steel workers union from 10000
to 100000 Since Roosevelt be-
came President, the machiniStS'
union has grown from $1,000 to
100000; the maritime unions
from $4,000 to 100000, and the
teamsters' union from 10000 to
half a million.
In 1882, the United Mine Work.
erS Union had only 10000 men,
berS, and labor conditions
dropped to a pitiful level of pow
erty, oppression and hopelessness
worse than during the 1905. To-
day, the same union has $4,000
members, almost the entire in
duStry is unionized, and the min
er's weekly wages have been dou-
bled.
Under the Labor Act, the work.
er has become a free man.
On the very day that I de-
Tended the Labor Act before the
Senate committee, some of the
enemies of the act gathered in
conclave to continue their fight.
1t was not surprising to find Tom
Girdler among them-the man
whose name has become the SYM
Dol of labor-baiting and the op-
preston of labor. But it is shock
ing to recognize, in a man now
bidding for the presidency, the
same Wendell Willkie who at
that meeting acclaimed Tom
Girdler as lone of the true heroes
of America" And it is equally
shocking to hear the Republican
candidate pose as labor's friend,
when the man who is soliciting
the funds for his campaign is
Ernest T. Weir-the Weir who
set the precedent for defying the
labor provisions of N. R. A; the
Weir who uses thugs and spies
against his workers, who is first
and foremost in fighting every
thing that unionism means to the
worker.
BY their friends shall you
know them. Wendell WILKES
friends trust him because they
know him, and because they trust
him we can judge him.
Willkie Nominated on Day
OF Adverse Court Decision.
On the day that Mr.. Willkie
was nominated for the presi-
dency, a United States Circuit
Court handed down a decision
against a utility company in his
Commonwealth e. Southern Sys-
tenn. This decision upheld the
labor board in breaking up a
company-dominated union-the
kind of union made and paid by
the employer to give him mas
terry over all sides of the bar
gaining table-the kind of union
that goes hand in hand with
espionage and blackliSts and per-
secution Of free unions of free
workers. The charges in this case
were brought by a C. I. o. union.
Three separate Willkie companies
have been ordered to dissolve
these sham labor organs, typify-
ing a situation recently de-
nounced by officials of the A. F.
of L. as lone of the blackest spots
on the utility map"
By their deeds shall you know
them. By this record of indus
trial oppression, and last ditch
legal battles tc ohstruct work.
erS' rights, shall laboI and the
friends of labor recognize Wen
dell Willkie.
Today, with election day near
by, the Republican candidate
says, and I quote him:
Il was for the National Labor
Relations Act before it was passed
and 1 was Tor it after it was
passed-and I am for it now"
do not know whether Wendell
Willkie has made a promise to
put labor leader il his cabinet
if elected. But if Wilkes ideas
of labor representation in Gov
ernment are like his dealings
toward labor representation in
the industries he served-then
labor would be led into a Willkie
cabinet as a captive company
union dominated by the boss. 1t
is the Republican custom to Of
fer labor fancy job or two. But
what is this compared to the mil
lions who would go back to the
dole under the Republican plat
form pledge to return relief to
the States?
The Democratic administration
has recognized something more
than any one mans self-asserted
title to particular office. Our
policies have created over nine
million new jobs in private in
dustry for all labor instead of
-so1r i