Evening star., 1941-04-16

satlOnal deVla-
tions from David Lawrence.
American custom in the matter OF
obeying the law and preserving
order. Chairman Summers of the
House Judiciary Committee has just
called attention to an amazing
statement by Harold Christoffel, the
G. I. o. chieftain who led the strike
at the Alhs- Chalmers plant which
lasted several weeks.
The C. I. o. News Can official pub
hcation of the C. L o. in its issue
of April ID, according to Mr.. Sum-
ners, quoted Mr. Christoffel as say
ing: I'VE defeated the combined ef-
forts of the police, the courts, the
employers and Washington to break
the strike and we won a real vic
tory
Press dispatches report the murder
of four individuals in a piece of
union picketing at mine in Ken
lucky.
Capital Held Unconcerned.
Press photographers who were on
the scene at the Ford plant and at
the Bethlehem, Pa, steel plant in
the last few weeks took pictures
which plainly show pickets engaged
in overturning police cars and in
beating non-strikers.
Yet nobody in Washington is ap-
parently in the slightest degree con-
cerned. Not a word has come from
the President or the Secretary of
Labor or from anybody else in
authority condemning such acts of
violence or attempting to put into
motion the machinery for the pre-
vention of such plain violation of the
simplest right in a democracy-the
right to work.
There is good deal of passing of
the buck Whenever there are acts
of violence in connection with labor
disputes, such as Shutdown" strikes
or forceful prevention of work by
pickets, administration officials
shrug their shoulders and say, Its
a matter for the States"
Yet If some pants presser, EN-
ploying a couple of men, refuses to
bargain with anybody else but his
own employees, he can be hailed be-
fore the Federal courts and charged
with violating the laws OF interstate
commerce governing labor relations.
Justice Department Inactive.
Although there are Federal stat
utes specifically barring extortion in
the form of exorbitant initiation
fees, the Justice Department does
nothing about it, preferring to
spend it's time fighting business men
by working up intricate antitrust
suits that hamper and retard de-
fense operations.
Although its has been testified re-
peatedly before the Dies Committee
that many G. I. o. unions contain
Communists, nothing is done to
cause unions to forfeit their privi-
leges under the Federal law.
The various States up to now have
had fully organized National Guard
units. But when the war emergency
came the Federal Government called
into the Federal service all National
Guardsmen. The States were sup
posed to form home guards. But
most of the equipment needed for
such a purpose has been taken by
the Federal Government.
Request for Aid Unheeded.
The spectacle of the Governor OF
Wisconsin being stoned by pickets
Is one that recently enlivened the
front pages of the American press.
The request of the Governor for aid
from the Federal Government went
unheeded. The very union which
was guilty of such violations of the
simple principles of democracy
government without violence-has
received full recognition by the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board.
Although the seizure Of property
has been condemned, there have
been cases in which workers seized
plants for brief intervals and, when
they were discharged for usurping
private property, the employers
have been compelled by the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board to
reinstate these men.
Although Communists are avowed
enemies of the American economic
system and although Communist dis
turbances have provoked strikes in
defense industries, the Secretary of
Labor, Miss Perkins, says her repre-
sentatives have instructions to pay
no attention to the Communist
angle of the industrial situation.
Evidence Kept From Congress.
The Federal Bureau of Investiga-
ton has amassed evidence showing
communistic activities in the strike
situation but, under orders from the
President, no such testimony can
be made available to Congress.
How can there be enthusiasm
behind a war program designed to
aid the cause of democracy when
In the citadel of government itself
there is such studied indifference to
the principles of law and order?
What, 1t might also be asked, is the