Evening star., 1941-02-02

| rolung Speecn tnat ne pr0ugnt with MN
when, as a youth, he came over from
Blantyre in Scotland to the New World
to work in the coal fields of Pennsylvania.
Besides his burr. Mr.. Murray brought
out of his early environment other things
Scottish. A quiet, calm determination
which has sometimes caused his oppo-
nents to label him stubborn is one Of
them. Courage and decent modesty
are other attributes that go back to
| his origins.
While he was born and lived in the
village of Lanarkshire, in Scotland, until
the age Of 16, Mr.. Murrays parents were
both Irish by descent. But it was the iron
discipline of the Scots that seemed to
have set the pattern of this mans tenn
permanent No matter what was the rel
ative contribution of heredity and en-
vironment, in the job in which he now
finds himself, Phil Murray has need of
the virtues of both peoples. For as the
new head of the Congress of Industrial
Organizations he has one Of the toughest
assignments ever given to any leader. 1t
is hard to see how circumstances could
have contrived to make the task more
difficult even if Mr.. Murray's worst
enemy had arranged the whole thing.
Internal and External Pressures.
In the midst Of the defense crisis, or
ganized labor is faced with a strong de-
mand to surrender hard-won games. Re-
dictionary forces would like to use the
crisis to break the strength of labor This
situation is aggravated by the prolonged
feud between the A. F. L. and the C. I. o.
Within the c. l. o. itself there are strong
currents of diSSension.
Add to this MIR. Murray's own rela-
tionship with John L. Lewis-the con-
flict of ancient loyalties with the need to
re-orient the C. I. o. and start in some
what different direction. Two more
unlike men than Mr.. Lewis and Mr..
Murray it would be difficult to find.
To see them lunching together at Mr..
Lewis favorite table in the dining room
of the Carlton Hotel is an object lesson
in character study. In mood and appear
ance Mr.. Lewis is leonine, commanding
in gesture and manner to the point of
theater: Mr.. Murray is self-contained,
little withdrawn, inclined to be intro
spective.
They have been friends for many
years, the bravura Welshman and the
meditative Scotsman, having come up
together in the United Mine Workers.
They know each other intimately and
wel1 uai1 thof NH,trr ;r of
the very few who can kid the solemn
Mr.. Lewis and make him like it.
1t is hardly a secret that Mr. Murray
has disapproved of certain of the moves
that Mr.. Lewis has made. He has been
dubious of Mr.. Lewis moves in the
direction of Mexico and Latin America
And while he will say nothing about it,
he has been suspicious of Communist
influence within the c. I. O., particu-
larly as it has been related to Soviet
foreign policy.
Mr.. Murray might we'll want to make
changes within the C. 1. O. organization
now that he is in charge. But such
action would certainly be interpreted as
a rebuke to his old friend and chief
So he moves cautiously. He removed Lee
Pressman, c. I. o. general counsel, from
his important post as secretary of the
Legislative Committee, but at the same
time he made Mr.. Lewis man, John T.
Jones, C. I. O.'s legislative representative
on Capitol Hill.
No Suspicion Shown.
Whether Mr.. Lewis has really surren-
dered leadership of the movement he
started is debatable. Many of his former
associates believe that the old lion is
nursing his wounds in solitude, prepar-
ing for comeback when the time seems
opportune. He may regard Mr.. Murray
as no more than stopgap until he him
self can ride back into power, and even
greater political power than he ever
welded in the past.
But if any mutual suspicion exists be-
tween these old friends, they have not
shown it. At the last c. I. o. convention,
Mr.. Lewis with tears in his eyes i'm
portuned Mr.. Murray to take the post
that he was giving up. 1t was a dra-
matte moment in the lives of both men,
climax to their differences in the CAM
paign when Mr.. Lewis was vociferously
for Wendell Willkie and Mr.. Murray un-
obtrusively for President Roosevelt.
AS boy of 6, Phil Murray went
with his father to a strike meeting of
the coal miners local in Lanarkshire
1t was a solemn meeting, particularly
solemn for the boy because his father
was president of the union. They took
vote at the meeting and majority
voted to end the strike. The miners
| pay was increased IL cents a day to
| s1.65. This episode made an indelible
impression on him. At the age of 10
| he went down in the mines as his
fathers helper at wages of about 80
| cents a day.
That was just before the turn of the
century. In 1902 when Philip was 16,
the Murray family, father. mother and
| nine other brothers and sisters, emil
grated to the United States. Their boat
| reached New York harbor on Christmas
morning and waited for midnight to
come so that the steerage passengers
could be cleared through customs. Late
the following night the Murray clan ar
rived at Irwin, Pa, coal mining town.
They walked s miles through a bitter
storm to the home of relatives.
His First 'Union" Fight.
Life in Pennsylvania was outwardly
not very much different from life in
Lanarkshire. Phil and his father went
| down In the mines by day, and by night