Evening star., 1941-11-02
Will Strikes Wreck Defense?
Labor Seems Obivious Gravity of Americas Peril
BY CharLesG C. Ross


pend on the degree to which sentiment
in Congress had been aroused by such
acts as those Of Mr.. Lewis in holding out
against the Presidents appeals in the
matter of the captive mines.
Meantime, there is fresh discussion in
Congress of the cooling-off period, and
If any legislation is formulated, either
by Congress on its own initiative or in
response to a signal from the President,
it is likely that the appropriate provi-
sions of the Vinson bill, in the beginning
at least, will form the nucleus of the
proposal. Both the factions of the labor
movement have come out vigorously
against an enforced cooling-of period.
What are the conditions which have
made and produced in Congress-and
perhaps in the President as well-a state
of mind conducive to the curbing of
labor?
Lewis Action Paramount.
Part Of the answer to this question can
be found in the action of Mr.. Lewis,
head Of the United Mine Workers and
the former president of the c. I. O., call
ing out the $4,000 captive coal miners at
this critical time-action taken in de-
fiance Of the direct request of the Presi-
dent that the men be kept at work In
the interest of defense of our country"
Nothing has SO hurt the cause of
organized labor in Congress as this &C
ton
Generally speaking, the answer can be
found in the daily headlines telling of
strikes in the defense industries.
Now it is true that figures on the man.
hours lost through strikes in the defense
industries are likely to give a distorted
and unfair picture of the strike situa-
ton 1t is true that they are but very
small percentage of the time worked on
defense: that they fail to tell the story
of notable instances of cooperation by
labor: that the time lost through indus
trial accidents, many of them prevent
able, is infinitely greater than the time
lost through strikes; that the quibbling
of employers to get favorable contracts
with the Government has likewise set
back the defense effort; that an incal lcul-
able amount of time, far greater than
the time loss attributable to strikes, has
been wasted by the Governments far
too-long application of the "business-as-
usual policy to the national economy.
What Average Man Sees.
All these things are true; yet what
the average man sees-what Congress
sees-is the fact that there are strikes
in this hour when civilization itself is in
the balance; that these strikes how
ever small may be the resultant loss of
time in proportion to the time worked,
do cut into the defense effort; that some
OF these strikes, by the average mans
standard of measurement are mex
cusable; that among the labor leaders
of unquestioned integrity are racketeer-
ing leaders; that among them are men
more animated by greed for personal
power than by devotion to the rank and
file they misrepresent
This is the other side of the strike pic
ture, the side that arouses the resent
ment Of the public and provokes in Con-
gress the demand for restrictive action.
That action has been held in abeyance.
Whether or not it will come depends on
labor itself. If it does come, 1t may be
action produced by wave of emotional
ism more calculated to hurt than to help
the national interest
If the writer. as one who has watched
the development of the strike problem
here at Washington and seen it in con-
crete form in number of important re-
cent strikes. may venture a personal
opinion, it is this: That once the rank
and file of labor come to appreciate the
gravity of the national crisis, the strike
trouble will be largely cured.
That Is the Task Now.
1t is the purpose of the President and
the 0. P. M. to arouse labor to reali-
zation of the danger with which it would
be faced through Nazi victory British
labor has shown its awareneSs of the
danger. The effort to drive home to
American labor the full meaning of the
Nazi threat has been only partly sue
cessful. Labor, Of course, is not unique
in this respect) Whether it can be
wholly successful short Of an all-out war
effort by this country I do not presume
to know. 1t is only certain that the
patriotism Of labor is as good as that
of any group. and that once labor is
convinced of the danger to the demo-
cratic institutions of this country and
the world. labor while not getting rid
of its growing pains overnight, will make
short shrift of those leaders who would
seek to retard the defense effort by un-
justifiable strikes or to aggrandize them
selves at its expense. Once labor sees
clearly the need for supreme effort,
all occasion for restrictive legislation in
Congress will vanish.