Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-20

bership clause
been ordered by David Lawrence.
Congress to be inserted in employer
employe contracts. Nowhere in the
so-called war powers" granted by
Congress to the President has any
authority been given to the Execu-
tive to regulate employer employe
relations in wartime. And nowhere
In the peacetime statutes has any
power been delegated to the Presi-
dent to enable him to tell employers
how they shall deal with the main
tenance- of membership problem in
labor unions.
Never has the National Labor
Relations Board, acting under the
Wagner law, ordered a maintenance
membership clause into q con-
tract between employers and en-
ployes.
As Commander in Chief.
Whence, then, comes the author
ity whereby the President tells q
mail-order house which is not even
a part OF the Governments war ma
chine to obey an edict of the War
Labor Board? Mr.. Roosevelt's an
swer may become a historic prece-
dent. His exact language Is as fol-
lows:
"As Commander in Chief in time
Of war expect all employers, in
GLIDING Montgomery Ward Il Co.,
and all labor groups. to comply with
the provisions of Executive Order
No. 90l7, as supplemented by Execu-
tive Order $3.50. I, therefore, direct
Montgomery Ward & Co. to comply,
without further delay, with the Ma
tional War Labor Boards directive
order of November S, 1912 I con-
slider such a course of action essen
tial in the interests of our war
effort"
Labor unions may be benefiting
by the order in the present case,
but, if they are not asleep at the
switch, they will begin to wonder
whether the President hasn't really
opened the way to handle the entire
manpower situation without so
much as asking Congress for any
authority to deal with it
If all that's necessary is for the
President to say he considers some
course OF action essential in the
interests Of our war effort" then
there is no limit to the compulsion
that can issue from the Executive
during the war.
The Constitution does not grant
TO the President any such title as
Commander in Chief in time of
war" 1t speaks only of a Com
mander in Chief of the United
States Army and Navy. AS such, he
is the head of the combined military
and naval forces. but this does not
give the President, as head of the
Army and Navy, any powers over
civilian life unless they are spe-
officially delegated to the Executive
by Congress. And Congress has not
acted many such proposals; in fact,
there has never been any statute
passed authorizing the creation of
a War Labor Board. 1t exists and
functions wholly by Executive fiat.
Decree Trend Grows.
The trend toward Executive de-
erees that are not supported by acts
Of Congress appears to be growing.
But while the salary control regula-
tions which have been issued re-
Gently are supposed to be derived in
theory from the anti-infiation law,
the Executive order compelling an
employer to dismiss a union men,
Der who doesn't pay his dues or
comply with union rules has no
foundation even remotely in any ex-
listing statute.
More important than the contro-
versy over whether the war effort is
helped or hurt by making worker
stay in union which he has joined
and prohibiting his withdrawal ex-
cept at the expense of losing his job
Is the assumption by the President
that, AS Commander in Chief in
time Of war;" he has some extraor-
binary powers that Congress never
granted and the Constitution never
mentions.
If the President is right that, as
military head of the Nation, he can
exercise the power of military COM
pulsion over employers, it must
mean that he can do the same over
labor unions, over farm organiza-
tons or any other group of citizens.
Military dictatorship usually is as
ISOLATED with the declaration of
martial law. but the problems of
mail-ord house in labor union con-
troversies is far cry from situa-
ton requiring a declaration of mar
tia1 law.
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