Evening star., 1941-10-28
The Labor Problem


the President probably was we'll ad-
vised to avoid specific discussion of
the outstanding issue of the day
the attitude of labor in defense in
dustries-in his address to the Nation
last night.
The speech was planned as a Navy
Day address. 1t was not intended as
discussion of the labor problem and
it was drafted, at least In outline,
before the President was confronted
with the latest defiant challenge
from John L. Lewis Furthermore,
the real issues arising out OF the
labor question are not Of the sort
that can or should be dealt with in
a presidential address. Verbal ap-
peals, as the record plainly shows,
are hopelessly ineffective. The solu-
ton lies in fair but firm action, de-
signed to hold labor to standard Of
responsibility commensurate with it's
privileges.
| A few hours before the President
began his talk, he received a reply
to his second appeal to Mr.. Lewis to
call off the strike in the captive"
coal mines, which supply fuel to the
| major steel mills. 1t was essentially
the same as Mr.. Lewis first response
"a blunt notification that the miners
would be ordered back to work when
| the demand for union shop was
| met, and not before. To be sure, Mr..
Lewis said that the strike would not
impair the production Of vitality
needed steel for an indefinite pc
riod," but at no point did he indicate
| that he would withdraw his union
shop demand when the point of &C
tual impairment has been reached.
1t must be remembered, however,
that Mr. Lewis, despite the fragrant
character of his defiance of govern
mental authority, is not the only
offender. On the West Coast, Ameri-
can Federation of Labor welders have
| gone on strike as the result of a
strictly intraunion row. There is no
quarrel whatsoever with the en-
ployers-they are merely the victims,
along with the rest of the Nation,
of labor's unwillingneSs to manage
its own affairs in an orderly fashion
In Brooklyn, an important shipyard
has been closed by C. I. o. strike.
Possibly there is merit to the union
complaint, but the fact remains that
once again the workers have elected
to strike at the expense of the de-
tense program instead of availing
themselves of the machinery set up
to handle their grievances. And
there have been scores of similar
strikes in the past, and, as matters
stand today, there will be still more
in the future.
The cause and the cure Of this
evil, it would seem, are plain. Strikes
abound because we have enacted a
series of laws which encourage strikes
and make them profitable, regard
less Of the validity of the reasons
underlying them. These laws were
passed on what was once the sound
assumption that labor was relatively
weak and needed special legislative
treatment. But who believes that
labor is still the weaker participant
in the vast majority OF industrial
disputes?
In the official text of his address,
| the President, as has been his Gus
tom, denounced with fine impair
tiality what he called a dangerous
minority of industrial managers who
obstruct the defense program and an
equally dangerous and equally OBJ
structive minority of labor leaders.
But that Interpretation finds no
support in the facts of the case and
it is significant that the President, in
delivering the address, softened his
denunciation of the industrial man.
ayers and strengthened his comment
on recalcitrant labor leaders-this
latter revision eliciting the most en-
thusiastic response of the evening
from his audience.
In final analysis, however, the
President cannot meet the challenge
posed by labor's attitude with any,
thing that might be said in speech.
It can be met only when the Presi-
dent and Congress, wholly aside from
the immediate problem of national
defense, make up their minds that
the time has come to do away with
special privileges created in labor's
favor by law and restore the fair bal
ance that should exist in the indus
trial scales. 1t is obvious that most
of the people have made up their
minds that this should be done. It
is their elected representatives who
hesitate and back away from a prob
lem which thrives on a diet of ex-
pediency and temporizing.
News photographs recently showed
a clergyman blessing a group of
children's bicycles as a protection
| l..