The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-11-27
The Cherry Tree
Where We Hutched Out
The Truth
Q JOHN ON TOP
BUT NOT FOR LONG
Q GOVERNMENT MUST AND
WILL BE SOVEREIGN POWER

. WILL BE SOVEREIGN POWER
At this writing Mr.. John l.. Lewis
has the captive coal mines tied up and
for the moment he sits on top of the
world.
But the world spins pretty fast and
the perch is precarious. When you
read these lines something probably
will have happened.
The purpose in bringing up the
matter at this uncertain juncture is
to remark unon a thing which seems
to be forgotten by lots Of persons. 1t
| is this:
Governments cannot afford to be
licked.
That is simple statement, but it
is of very great Importance.
There is a very clear reason why
Governments cannot afford to be
| licked.
Government is the supreme SOW
ereign power of the area known as
the United States of America. Sow
ereign power cannot afford to be less
than sovereign.
Does that seem clear? And doesn't
it seem reasonable?
x X X
Another little thing to bear in mind
is that the correct title Of this nation
is THE United States of America.
THE U. S. A.
Now and then someone will refer to
"THESE United States," which is not
correct.
When you get that word "the" fixed
in your mind, you get a clearer idea
If the meaning Of the sovereignty of
the Federal Government. That little
word in the name of the nation is
what makes it a nation.
"THESE" United States would give
us group Of states, related, but not
united.
Mr.. Lewis drew an issue with THE
United States and not with THESE
United States.
In these columns there has been an
effort, at the risk of criticism from
several quarters, to point out the I'M
pending demand of Uncle Sam for
continuous production-to point out
the supremacy of national need over
individual or group desires in time Of
national crisis.
Mr.. Lewis has headed into exactly
what these columns have been talking
about-and there are others heading
in the same direction
x X X
For a moment or so again let us
dwell upon that matter of sovereignty.
Of course it means sovereignty
under law. For, barring complete
military rule, we have law and the
Federal Government is by no means
above the law. 1t makes the law under
which it lives and exercises its SOW
ereignty.
But, under existing law, it has a
lot of power Nobody knows quite how
much power it has, because not all of
it has ever been used.
However, with national safety at
stake, Congress will, as we observe
clearly, quickly provide any added law
that may be needed.
And the doings of a few so-called
labor leaders have so infuriated the
public, meaning all of the people, that
for the moment there would be ample
public backing for a great deal of
added restraining law.
That may be too bad, but that's
how it is.
1t is better to read the signs and
know where to stop than to ignore
them and go in the ditch.
+
Most national labor leaders today
know great deal about what Amer
leans call "public relations" which
merely means guiding your policies so
that you don't get in bad with the
customers, or with the public. This is
obviously very frank statement OH
very important public issue. But
there seems no reason not to be frank.
Now, if some leaders have been
very wise, some others have been very
much the opposite. So, they have
BUNDLED along, laying down the law,
acting as if the crisis might be an
orange full Of juice, or an oyster full
of juicy substance, to be gathered in
by whomever might have the strength.
But that isn't the case-as Mr..
Roosevelt made very clear to Mr.
Lewis.
Of course Mr.. Lewis has d lot of
things on his mind and nobody knows
quite what may be his reasons at any
given moment for any given action.
But by and large, it is going to be
very wise to understand that ma
tional crisis is on the doorstep, that in
fact we are at war and that war is
an imperious master-and very wise
to remember that little thing about
national sovereignty, which really
means supremacy.-CMW.