Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-11-14
Lewis Sets
A Few Knees
To Knocking
But Mr.. Roosevelt Knows
Country Is With Him
BY PAUL MALLON

Thunder-bolt conjurer John
l.. Lewis threw a few UNDER
hand blasts around inside the
government after his new per-
sonal declaration of war. They
were in the form of indirect
threats designed TO brighten
officialdom. and frankly. they
set a few knees to knocking.
Biggest threat was that the
Detroit CIO convention Mon
day would be turned into a
bedlam of New Deal opposition
which might eliminate in a gen.
eral strike. Easier TO believe,
however, was the one that the
captive miners would walk out
on schedule Saturday and tie
up steel production: or that the
100000 United Mine Workers
would join them and tie up all
defense. Thus, there was no
doubt early in the game, Lewis
was trying TO edge Mr.. Roose-
welt into negotiating a captive
mine agreement before the
Saturday deadline and the
Monday convention.
The White House was well
advised. however, that both
Congress and the country were
fully behind Mr.. Roosevelt. Con.
gressional leaders gave personal
assurance Congress would pass
any preventative legislation Mr..
Roosevelt wanted - nothing
without his leadership.
TNHE labor mediation board
L which voted against Lewis
is a closed-shop board. It's men,
bership favors the closed shop
principle in general, z TO 4.
Real unexplained reason why
1t voted against Lewis is that
members could not espouse his
arbitrary personal tactics. There
is no evidence whatever that
F. ID. r. exerted any pressure.
The closed shop had become
lost in a conflict between Mr..
Roosevelt and Mr.. Lewis as to
who was the bigger authority.
When it got down 10 that. there.
was no possibility of any one
voting for Lewis except his own
henchmen.
THERE was no doubt from
l. the start about the eager
ness OF the army TO operate the
machines. Chief cause of army
grousing has been the COM
paratively low wage of the
American fighting men with the
American worker. But there was
a real question how it could be
done. This was the first army
seizure case in which reluctance
of strikers TO work might be
expected. There is an old saying
a man cannot be required to
work unless he wants to.
\ BURST of unseemly honesty
"A is appearing in Italian COM
muniques. The official prevari-
Gators there (more commonly
known as censors) are not only
confirming Italian sea losses and
bomb damages, but promptly.
Within few hours after the
heavy sinkings in the Mediter-
ranean, Rome confirmed the
figures and in one case seemed
to surpass the British claims.
Up to then, il was the unbroken
MussoliDs custom to laugh off
British damage and then con-
firm about so per cent of it two
weeks later.
Obviously something has hap
pened, and more than an inkling
OF what ii is, has reached here.
Three-cornered internal trou-
bic between the Italian political
regime. the army and the navy
has come to higher head. The
politicians blame both services
for failing to fight as well as
they promised, and truth is
emerging from the mixup.
But similarly the censors in
Berlin have somewhat loosened
their restrictions upon Ameri-
can reporters. Details of Ger
man difficulties as to food,
clothing, the Russian campaign,
and so on, are being revealed in
recent Berlin dispatches. A year
ago censor who passed such
things would have been shot.
The two developments to-
gether are advisedly accepted
at this end as a forerunner of
an Axis peace proposal.
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