Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-05-13
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
A VAST volume of wordage has
been produced in print and in
Congress on the question of union
organization. sometimes inaccu-
rately described as labor's gains.
and. in the excitement, most of
us have lost sight of the fact
that the subject dates back be-
fore the beginning of the war
and is not confined to the prob
lem Of national defense.
1t is terribly true that many
professional unioneers have inn
peded the war program, and we
know that the damage done in
this field has been minimized and
misrepresented lest the whole
people of the country lose pa
thence with the administration
for shielding these persons.
We know that TO say that So
and-so many man hours have
been lost may be to conceal the
extent OF the damage, because II
the man-hours are lost in a key
operation they will later cause
a pile-up in other operations and
that the man-hours lost then will
multiply by 10.
These protestations are so
plainly political and so trans
parently false that they shake
faith cause a government
which asks the people TO go all
out for defense or war is not
honest with the whole people
when il excuses and minimizes
wrong done by the agents OF
special element.
DRESIDENT ROOSEVELT is
L supposed TO be President Of
and for the whole United States
and, in this emergency, the labor
unions have no more right to
block preparations for defense
or war than any employer.
But the wrong existed before
the war, the wrong is written
into the Wagner Act, which some
emotionalist called labor's Magma
Cartd, and II would still exist
even if the Wagner Act were
totally repealed.
The fundamental wrong lies in
the compulsion TO join a union
which was exercised long before
the Wagner Act was passed.
No private organization should
be permitted to compel Ameri-
can citizens to join its ranks.
even though il be a perfectly
democratic and honest union. as
not all OF them are.
We find. and must accept as a
fact OF life in the republic. daily
infringing the rights OF people
who think that they are free,
that closed shop agreements are
permitted to require that Amer
lean citizens join private organi-
cations as a condition of their
right 10 hold their jobs.
Wrong though it be. that Is
the law OF the land today.
OUT WE also find that these
~ private. organizations are
subject TO none of the supervi-
sion and restraint that govern
other private groups.
Only the religious bodies en-
JOY equal immunities. but the
people are not compelled to join
any church.
However. a religious man can
be compelled to join an organi-
cation whose detectives include
the abolition of religion and TO
contribute of his earnings for
that purpose.
The Wagner Act does not
provide for scrutiny of the con-
stitutions of unions by any gov
eminent agency.
The act makes no provision
for honest elections. for the
regulation and the honest ex-
penditure of dues. taxes and
assessments or for the admission
to unions of qualified workers.
1t forbids coercion and op-
preston of employees by employ
ers, but does not deal with the
protection of nonunion workers
from union agents.
THESE are not all the wrongs
l. against free men which are
permitted at a time when all
the people are called upon and
most of them fervently desire
TO be united in an all-out effort
to arm for defense or war.
They are the more dramatic
and tragic in time Of peril. but
they would be fundamentally
wrong at any time.
And come peace or war,
Americans will not be free until
the Wagner Act is repudiated
down TO its original core. which
consists only of the right of men
to bargain collectively through
agents of their own choice.