Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-07-02
w. A. White
Shuns Labor
Fight Issue
Refuses to Back Reed
Battling Keasas Unions
By WEsTBROOK PEGLER

WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
w who would answer II you
called him Mr.. Kansas. has
written an editorial. or piece,
which, / suppose, may be taken
as the considered judgment of
the people of Kansas on the
most angrifying domestic issue
of the day.
Clyde Reed, the junior sena-
tor. called on him to discuss his
candidacy for the Office of gov
ernor and Mr.. White. who
rightly. if immodestly. considers
himself a political institution,
told Reed he would not support
him.
Here II a man who, when he
II well, IL a dynamo OF energy.
also who Is eager to get things
done which he thinks should be
done for his state and country"
Mr.. White wrote.
"He finds himself In Washing
ton hogtied by Democrats. He
Is surrounded by n Gordon Of.
inaction on one Of the things he
wants done and every one who
knows Clyde Reed knows that
when he wants IL done he wants
IL done pronto.
He went back from WASH
ington to his homo town, where
a big defense industry Is being
Installed, and found that no man
In Parsons could get . Job who
did not first pay some kind Of
toll To the labor unioneers out
OF Kansas City.
ssyTNHEY came down 20 prey on
l. the working people Of
southern Kansas by compelling
them to pay a big union initia-
ton fee and heavy dues rs the
price OF working for their coun-
try In time Of war.
"He saw rs great national
EVIL the thing happening In
Parsons.
Tt is happening all over the
country"
Local labor II being exploited
by labor unioneers.
Reed tried nationally TO get
a law passed to stop the exploit
tation. The Democrats I'm the
Senate. and particularly the ad-
ministration, said thumbs down;
nothing doing; 90 play with your
ball; what's IL to you:
$50 he comes out of Kansas
full of wrath against the injus-
tice. Then, against the advice
Of most Of his friends and his
family. Clyde Reed OF Parsons
plunges into this fight TO drama
the, at least to Kansas and the
Middle West, the gross and ter
rible injustice TO American clti-
zens who have to pay dues Ia
work on the war industries Of
their country In its hour OF peril.
"Of course, the senator IL
right, dead right, and he thinks
II can be done by q model state
law In Kansas. Certainly he In
going on the rampage.
eff he Il elected governor ne IL
willing to chuck that good Wash
ington Job and take n poorer one
for the sake Of q wrath which n
burning his heart, and wrath. as
you know, affects Clyde Reed
like a boil"
Mr.. White then predicts that
Reed will be beaten badly be-
cause:
THE Kansas Senator has too
little for an issue and he got In
too late. Labor unions, however
evil their abuses may be, are not
an issue-not a major Issue
anyway, In Kansas"
I CAN respect Mr.. White as a
Il prophet on Kansas politics.
but TO me there is as much
cause for alarm in the old mans
complacency. his flippant dis
missal of this terrible thing.
which he not only acknowledges
but describes and condemns, as
too little for an issue"
This means that the rot has
infected William Allen White.
too, a man who always in the
past could be expected to attack
anything so evil as this ex-
ploitation carried on at the
expense of his own friends and
neighbors of Kansas and OF the
government itself and 10 the
peril of the very freedom for
which the Kansas war plants
are being built.
II is not merely that he has
decided not TO support certain
candidate. which disturbs me.
but that this man, who often
before has spoken for a people
noted for their political wisdom
and their passion for the rights
OF man, and who may speak for
them in this case, thinks this
issue is political trWiality.
He acknowledges that the
administration in Washington
stopped attempts by the ma
tional legislature to redress this
outrage against the workers
rights and freedom, wherein ne
comedies that the executive
branch controls the legislative.
And he might honestly have
added that the dues which -
unioneers take from these -s.rs-
ers is placed at the disposal or