Evening star., 1942-05-06

labor, for the first time, had been
given advantages as consequence
Of a liberal administration.
Mr.. Biddle has been criticized
widely for both his statements. In
his message to the Pennsylvania
Federation of Labor, however, he
minced no words about labor
racketeering, and it may be pre-
sumed that his wholehearted sup
port will be given now toward the
pending legislation which is being
sought in order to cure the weak
nesses in dealing with racketeer-
ing as revealed in a recent Supreme
Court decision.
During the early years Of the.
present administration" he said,
almost for the first time in their
history, labor unions became ma
tionally active in politics and sup
ported an. administration in which
they believed. For the first time
they were able to exert their in
f1uence effectively in fighting for
badly needed social legislation.
Insists on Responsibility. .,
"The necessary result of such
gains Is that where labor begins to
rely upon the Government for sup
port, the Government in turn must
necessarily insist upon the added
responsibility OF labor. . -
"As long as there are leaders In
the labor union whose integrity IS
questionable, unionism in general
will be in danger. There will al
ways be articulate enemies of labor
ready to pounce upon the activi-
ties Of dishonest labor leaders and
exploit such evidence, however iso-
lated it may be, in an effort to give
the impression that all unions are
led by racketeerx, and that labor In
general is selfish and unreliable.
UNFORTUNATELY there are still
racketeering labor leaders. have a
report before me covering some re-
cent cases involving abuses. 80
Labor untfied and determined,
must also meet the points OF just
criticism-excessively high initia-
ton and dues, racketeering and lack
Of accountability, 80
Members of labor unions should
think of themselves as expressing |
the interests of the general public.
Thus it would have a tremendously
potent effect on the country at large
if unions were not only willing to
accept public accountability of their
finances but themselves insisted on
it."
There Is q bill pending before
Congress to require labor unions and
trade associations to register and
make an accounting. The legisla-
ton thus far has been fought by
both groups. The opposition Of
some of the business elements is as
shortsighted as is that of the labor
leaders
With the support Of Attorney
General Biddle, who may be pre-
sumed to be speaking for the Presi-
dent. and with the recent expression
OF somewhat similar views by Sec
retary of Labor Perkins, 1t may be
assumed that the administration is
beginning to take cognizance of the
rather widespread uneasiness to-
ward the labor union movement
which lately has been revealed on
account of the irregularities of a
comparative few.
Recalls 1893 Trend.
The same thing happened when
businessmen and bankers were on
the griddle in 1888. The sins Of
few were visited on all, and the
rather drastic and often unjust pro-
visions of the Securities and Ex-
change Act came about not because
of the 80 or more per cent who were
honest in their dealings, but be-
cause of the minority who were un-
scrupulous in their handling of the
funds of investors.
Many honest and in every respect
innocent labor leaders resent the
implications about racketeering and
manipulation of union funds which
have been cast unjustly toward them
because of guilty comrades. But as
long as the labor unions do not
themselves clean house and as long
as they resist all forms of labor
legislation which may seek to protect
innocent workers from exploitation
the entire labor movement will find
itself condemned at the bar of
public opinion very much as business
and banking elements were in 1888
for their failure TO take the initi-
ative and clean up their own wrong
doers.
Reproduction Rights Reserved