Evening star., 1941-10-31

Cupied by Mr.
Tavlor who. in David Lawrence.
cidentally, is not only member OF
the Board of Directors of the United
States Steel Corp. and its former
chairman but also the handy man
of President Roosevelt when 1t
comes to a rowing mission in Europe,
including the difficult and delicate
task of maintaining relations be-
tween Mr.. Roosevelt and Pope
Plus XII.
That Mr.. Taylor is diplomat will
be attested by all who know him,
but it is a matter of great curiosity
on every side as to what happened
In that five-hour session between
Mr.. Taylor and Mr.. Lewis which
caused the latter TO order the coal
mines to reopen and to issue state
ment which is so lavish in its praise
of the steel man.
Subject of Talk Puzzling.
Mr.. Taylor didn't communicate
with any of his directors-netther
Mr.. Morgan nor any one elSe--when
he conferred with Mr. Lewis and
later with President Roosevelt. The
proposition was a simple one which
the President had laid down-to
have Mr.. Lewis reopen the mines
and let the National Defense Media
ton Board tackle the closed-shop
question once more. 1t didn't re-
ouire any conference with a Board
of Directors to accept such pro-
posal.
But what was the long argument
about? Mr.. Lewis was right the
other day when he said it wouldn't
take 10 minutes to say yes" or no"
to the closed-shop question. Yet it
took five hours to say yes" or mo"
to something else which Mr.. Lewis
was doubtless trying for.
The best way to deduce what
might have happened is to look back
at the record. The mediation board
doesn't like to recommend a closed
shop and If at the end of the forth
coming negotiations it does so it
will be only in connection with some
broader phase of the whole program.
In these dispatches the other
day, it was set forth that when
Mr.. Lewis said the closed shop
had been "goVernmently approved
before, he was referring to what
happened last spring in the con-
troversy between the Southern
coal operators and the United Mine
Workers Union. In that case the
mediation board recommended that
the Appalachian wage agreement
be accepted by the Southern as
well as the Northern commercial
coal operators. In that agreement
vas the closed shop clause. True
enough, this clause had been in
the previous agreement made two
years before, so it might be said
VA the closed shop existed in
most of the mines of the industry
befGe. But the fact remains that
the Harlan County (Kentucky)
mines were not on a closed shop
basis this year and when the medi-
alton board recommended aCcep-
tance of the Appalachian agree
nent, it was in effect recommending
that the open shop be abandoned
in Harlan County. The closed shop
Issue was in itself not raised be-
fore the mediation board, but the
result of It's findings was to force
the closed shop on the small per
cent of the Southern coal mines
which had previously resisted the
closed shop.
West Coast Case Cited.
II, however, this instance is not
a clear precedent, being open pos
Sibly to the view that it was a grant
of the closed shop only by inferen-
tial action rather than by in
dorsement no such equiyocation
can be cited with respect to the
award of a closed shop to the
unions in the Bethlehem Steel Co S
shipbuilding plant on the Pacific
Coast. In that case, the Defense
Mediation Board said:
THE master agreement has been
approved by all the shipbuilding
employers on the Pacific Coast ex-
cept Bethlehem and by representa-
tives of all craft unions involved as
an instrument for stabilizing work.
ing conditions and contributing to
the uninterrupted production of
defense.
Under these special circum-
stances, the board recommends that
the master agreement be accepted
and signed by the Bethlehem
Steel Co.
This happened on June 10. Sub
sequently, the Mediation Board
made a serious mistake in applying
just the reverse argument in the
Eastern shipbuilding industry, where
the closed shop was rarity and the
union maintenance arrangement
also was an exception to the rule
The recommendation was publicly
made by the board in August that
the United States Steel Corp. &C
cept the union maintenance or mod
flied closed shop scheme at Kearny
N. J. For failing to agree, the cor
poration had the plant seized by the
President.
Trade Seen in Farley.
Last Friday the Mediation Boaro
made clean reversal and declared
that it could not force a closed shop
on anybody. But maybe the boaro
will not be asked to do this here
after. For if Mr.. Lewis has beer
given by the President a plan where
by the c. I. o. can get the CLOSED