The Wilmington morning star., 1941-11-29
Labor's Love Lost

| 1.ahor's bitter internecine strife, involving
the rival American Federation OF Labor ana
the CONGRESS Of Industrial Organizations, has
come to temporary halt-for common
purpose.
| This costly, insane clash Of arms over
pittanee of union dues and the respective
friehts and alarms of the entrenched leader
ship of William Green and John L. Lewis
which once called forth from President Roose-
welt an apt Shakespearean quotation, "a plague
"a both your houses" has been quleted for
mutual airn-the defeat Of anit-strike leglsla-
tion now being drafted by an out-of-patience
Congress.
This should serve to confound the hot-heads
within both major labor organizations who
have contended that the AFL and the C1O nev'
er can lie down together. One serves the
nrinciple of VERTICAL or industrial unionism;
the other the time-honored crafts organization
theory.
Both have their strong and their weak points,
but with that we are not Immediately con-
cerned.
It is our thought that if the forces of Bill
Green and John Lewis can forget their quarrel
in the interests Of common battle, then 1t
must follow inexorably that their differences
are not so deep-seated that they cannot be
adjusted to the benefit of all concerned-h the
will is there, and the honest effort is put FORTH
Anti-strike legislation, even in time OF
national emergency, is not good. However, 1t Is
indisputably true that labor, itself, blindly has
driven the representatives OF an aroused, re-
sentful people to consider such measures in
the light of millions Of man-hours Of vital
production lost through str.les at an hour
when the nation is in peril.
We have only sympathy for labor IN its
struggle to secure for itself just share OF
the wealth its collective hands creates. Labor
has suffered there is no challenge on that
contention.
But labor cannot afford to retard its pro-
gress; it cannot afford to jeopardize its many
gains, by striking against the national Sc
curity. That principle, enunciated in the Boston
police strike, overnight catapulted Calvin Cool
idge into the irnelight and, eventually, into
qualification for the highest honor the nation
has the power to bestow upon one Of its sons.
There is lesson labor well may review.
It is true that labor can say: employers
now are making great profits: II we do not
get our share now, we shall be faced with the
evidence
But, we lately have noted many signs on
the part Of management that indicate newer,
broader view toward the laboring masses.
Voluntary wage increases; enlightened 1egis-
lation; bonuses; vacations with pay; shortened
labor contracts-an these things point the way
to brighter era for labor-if labor does not,
itself, choose to take the backward step.
So, let us urge upon the two houses, so that
there may be no plague called down upon
them:
II you can lay aside your real or fancied
grievances when faced with a common prob
lem, then you can sit down with equal facility
at conference table and work out a fair,
just and equitable division Of the labor move
ment. Our own thought is that labor is labor,
no matter under what banner it may march.
The carpenter in the AF'L has the same
goals and ideals as the coal-miner in the
C1O-future security for himself and his, and
freedom from immediate want With these
common denominators as starter, why must
labor be embroiled in strife that only can
serve to disrupt great humanitarian move
ment and play squarely into the hands of the
vociferous but fortunately few economic feuda-
lists who, even in these progressive times
would return labor to state of serfdom?
Isn't it worth thinking over, gentlemen Of the
AFL and the CIO?
Wilmington's Challenge
Wilmington is face to face with challenge.
Upon the manner in which it is met depends
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