Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-03-25
RooseveI+'s
s5s
Predicamen+
Serious One
Strikes Beset His Efforts
AS Employer Of Labor
(The opinions expressed BY
Westbrook Pegisr are not neess-
sarily those Of The Detroit
Times.
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

IN OTHER times and circum-
u stances there might be ironic
mirth in the present predicament
EFF President Roosevelt as the
greatest individual emplnyer Of
labor in the United States. beset
by strikes and bedeviled by the
scuttlebutt lawyerism of profess
sionaf unioneerS vino have
studied the law and the tricks of
their trade and know their
rights.
If the conditions were not so
alarming il would be mild fun TO
point to President Roosevelt as
a man who enjoyed the worry
and harasSment of the private
employer when the unioneers
were Safeguarding every BUSH
ness, which would not instantly
meet all demands in full, and
the labor relations board was
melting them to go TO IL.
But. unhappily, President
$ Roosevelt, in the role of the
greatest individual employer OF
labor IN the United States. is
also the bargaining agent of the
nation against the unions and
the general manager. so 10
speak, of the whole American
firm.
LIE INVITED, and was given
II the job of war president and
now, as war president, he finds
himself in a situation much the
same as that of the individual
businessman which. in less dam
gerous days under the New Deal.
was so very amusing to the po-
ItICal epitheticianS and stink
bomb publicists of the extreme
left.
President Roosevelt gave these
powers to these private organiza-
lions and now in terrible
emergency. when every hours
work counts, they are being
abEsed to the detriment of the
nation
In this situation tho discon1-
future of the President is shared
by every American and the ma
tional popular sense OF hurnor is
not equal to the effort OF forcing
a laugh at the Presidents OK
penSe.
A F'TER all, President RooSe-
"A Welt is the man who has
the first responsibility in the
United States today.
IL this country fails 10 de-
fend itself through the refusal
Of the organized unions to per-
NIT production of the materials
OF war. history will blame him
just as the responsible head Of
any organization is blamed for
disaster. ~
Just now the greatest task
Of all his strenuous career in
leadership is embarrassed by the
logged refusal OF a few spoiled
and headstrong unioneers, some
OF them very ignorant men. TO
treat the government any more
reasonably than they have been
encouraged in the past 10 deal
with individual employers.
II is not merely that the
unions concerned In these strikes
and the haggling delays refuse
10 produce the stuff themselves.
THERE are millions of Ameri-
l. cans. both union members
and workers who never have
Joined any union, who would be
glad TO turn in with patriotic
will and work fast for long
hours at wages TO be set by
the government on a fair reck-
oning of the employers profits
and their own living costs.
But the unions concerned not
only refuse themselves to pro-
duce the tools of war but refuse
TO let other Americans do il.
And union politics and prac-
tice are such that a few arro-
CANT unioneers, no small pro-
portion of whom are Muscovites
devoted to destruction. can pre-
vent loyal Americans from
smashing through their picket
lines and turning out the guns.
A MILLION mon would he
"A willing TO do just that this
very day if the President we're
TO issue a call in the interest OF
national safety
But Mr. Roosevelt is conf
mitted to the fallacy that.
union charter is a certificate OF
high purpose. and that unions
have rights and interests SUI
perior even to those of the ma
ton which permits them to
exist. .~ss
And they surely would cease
TO exist if this nation should fall
for lack of the very materials OF
war which some Unions now
forbid production.
There are no labor unions in
Germany. Russia or Italy. and
there would be none here If this
obstruction of war work should
make il necessary for the sailors
and soldiers to meet the enemy
without weapons.
Copyrighted BY United Features synd.. Ina