Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-05-15

and not necessarily those of The
Detroit Times.)
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
IN YESTERDAYS essay on
the fallacy of Senator Rob-
ert La Toilette l made a slight
mistake in saying that John L.
Lewis, at the time of the steel
strike at Johnstown. Pa, wired
President Roosevelt warning
him of an invasion of the town
by 10000 of his mine workers
and attempting to disown re-
Sponsibility for violence that
might occur.
Lewis did not wire President
Roosevelt 10 that effect, but
telephoned Frances Perkins. the
secretary lahar and Gov
ernor Davey of Ohio that
somewhere in this land there
should be authority TO prevent
the contemplated butchery Of
our people in these mills to-
morrow"
He was speaking of the
struck steel plants in Ohio
where his CIO pickets were try
ing TO prevent other men from
going TO work.
He wanted the mills closed
by the powers of government
where the picketS and others
had failed 10 achieve that ef-
feet for him.
HOWEVER. Senator La Fol-
II lette's report on the situa-
tion in JohnStown employs
quotation m ar k around the
''rumored invasion" of the
troubled city by Lewis coal
miners and what I want to
show is that this was not an
imaginary danger but an actual
one.
Russell Porter. the New York
Times reporter on the scene In
jopnStoWn. wrote that Mr..
Pagan fthe president of District
, Of the mine workers. said
10000 was a conservative esti-
mate Of the miners who would
come from the western and
central Pennsylvania coal fields
10 attend mass meeting cf
. tho Go steel strikers tomor-
row al which Philip Murray.
the chairman Of the Steel
Workers Organizing Commit
tee would be the principal
speaker
In the face Of this threat,
Governor Earle. the New Deals
own boy in Pennsylvania at the
time and a man who had mo-
nentarv though juvenile aspira-
tions 10 the presidency, did for
Lewis just what Lewis wanted
done. and obliginglv closed the
mills by the armed forces of the
state
THE invasion was not a
mere "rumor" but an actual
plan to march 10000 massed
parfiSans into a scene of con-
tention and Lewis was per-
mnted to save his face and
escape moral responsibility for
anything that might have hap
peued when the governor sur
rendered 10 his union.
The men who had been work
ing and who apparently wanted
10 continue TO work obviously
were not planning 10 attack
10000 coal miners. plus the
steel syikers who were out OF
the plants. and any theological
dcSporadocS who might have
Sneakcd into the situation.
If civil war had broken out.
followed. as in Herrin, by mas
Sacre. II would have been a mis-
take 10 seek the aggressor on
the side Of the nonstrikers.
As 10 whether the Go would
have dared 10 assume the re-
SponSlbllity for this meeting in
these circumstances. we can't
ever know. Governor Earle
cracked down on the victim Of
the implied menace and the sit.
udliOn uISSOlNe1.
In the Herrin case Lewis
telegram TO his miners told
Them thep-ue4ilA- he Justified IN
regarding the nonStrikers. who.
incidentally. were members of
another union. in the same
light as they do any other COM
mon Strike-breaker.' ,
A FTER the violence. Lewis
"A deplored the situation.
denied that his first telegram
could have instigated it and said
the ranks Of his mine workers
had been infested with thou
sands of detectives and secret
service operatives whose en-
ployincnt by the coal companies
depends on their ability TO pro-
woke violence and disturb pub
lie tranquility"
This may have been true. but
The community was intensely
partisan to Lewis union. and II
Lewis had legal evidence to sup
port his charge it is strange
mat not a single person ever
was punished.
OF course, this is old material.
but it all bears on my conten-
ton that the "rumored in
vaSion' of Johnstown by 10000
men was no myth and, in
congressional docu ment, de-
serves presentation without the
q.