Evening star., 1942-04-12

uiolCtuenI OF Mr. LEWIS py MS g. ]. Q.
critics that he has made a political bed
fellow OF Mr.. Hutcheson, whom they
describe as one OF the "arch-conserv-
atives" Of the labor movement.
No Record Of Loans.
G. 7. o. officials brand the ATTEMPT to
collect s1,5o0,00o from the organization
as simply another move in the Lewis
campaign to embarrass and discredit
the present c. I. o. leadership. The
amount In question, they say, has never
appeared on the c. l. O. books as a loan
or loans, and can only be explained as
representing gifts made by the United
Mine Workers to strike funds and or
ganizing campaigns over term of years
gifts Of the sort that all the c. l. o.
unions are expected to make to the COM
mon cause, as the need arises
All the note-Secured loans made by the
United Mine Workers as the principal
financial angel of the C. 1. o. in its
organizing battles are declared to have
been repaid in full-among them $500 900
by the Steel Workers Organizing Com
mittee and some 100000 by the United
Automobile Workers
When Mr.. Lewis kept his promise and
stepped down from the headship of the
c. /. o. at the Atlantic City convention
OF November, 1910, it seems clear now
he expected to remain the power behind
the throne; Mr.. Murray, on his part, felt
a sense of obligation to Mr.. Lewis and
was inclined to go long way in placating
him. But relations fast became strained.
Mr.. Murray supported the foreign
policy of the President; Mr. Lewis avidly
seized the issue which this offered and
became one of the country's most vocal
isolationists. Mr.. Lewis had already, in
the Willkie campaign, denounced Mr..
Roosevelt as war monger. Now his
opposition to the President became in
creasingly bitter. In May, 1941, speaking
at Harrisburg, Pa, he said the war was
IAN imperialistic war" in which the
United States should have no part.
The bitter internecine fighting OF the
c. I. o. during this period saw Mr.
Murray on one side, as the leader of the
right wing, and Mr. Lewis on the other,
in alliance with the Communists in the
organization They, too, at this time,
were strongly isolationist. The picture
changed overnight with the invasion OF
Russia by Germany in June, ls4l.
Communists Abandon Lewis.
The Communist supporters Of John L.
Lewis fell away from him and became
ardent for the war they had denounced.
Mr.. Lewis was again pulled up short in
his effort to beat back to power. Mr..
Murray was now firmly in control. Last
November the national c. !. o. con-
vention at Detroit put the stamp of its
approval on Mr.. Murray by resounding
Endorsement of the Roosevelt foreign
policy.
Pearl Harbor came in December, the
quarrel over Intervention went out the
window, and John L. Lewis was left
without an effective issue. Driven by
the compulsion that rests on any revo-
lutionary to keep moving If he is to
attract attention and gain power, Mr..
Lewis now. without consulting Mr.. Muir
ray, brought out his peace plan for the
reunion of the A. F. L. and the c. l. o.
Mr.. Murray accused Mr.. Lewis of making
"a Pearl Harbor attack" and the
maneuver was scotched. The A. F. L.
and the c. I. o. are now moving closer
and closer together, but not under Mr.
Lewis auspices.
We come now to the beginning of a
new phase in Mr.. Lewis activities. What
is he up to at present?
Mr.. Lewis current drive for power,
with finances provided from the bulging
treasury of the United Mine Workers
100000 members, is being made prin-
cipally through the agency of the highly
flexible District so of the U. M. W.,
originally set up to take in the workers
in by-products of coal.
District so has been stretched to in
clude even cosmetic workers; according
to c. I. o. officials opposed to Mr.. Lewis,
it represents now a political effort on
the part of Mr.. Lewis to extend his
personal machine, regardless of indus
trial or craft lines.
The intensely personal character of
the effort is indicated by the fact that
two of Mr.. Lewis principal lieutenants
are members of his family. Denny
Lewis, his brother (salary, 100000, is
the head of the construction workers
prong, and Kathryn Lewis, his daughter
SALARY. $7,500), is secretary. treasurer of
District so of the U. M w.
Has Organizers in Field.
Mr.. Lewis is said to have some 100
organizers in the field-henchmen who
are beholden to him for their salaries
and who follow the strict Lewis line.
On the convenient theory that there
is an industrial relationship between
coal miners and milk producers, because
certain of the by-productS of milk COM
pete with certain of the by-products of
coal, Mr.. Lewis has started an intensive
campaign to bring dairy farmers into
his District so.
where, according to the United Mine
Workers Journal, about 5000 signed up
some three months ago, and has spread
to New York and other States.
District so now claims total of more
than 10000 members in Its United Dairy
Farmers Division. After a recent meet
ing in Washington between District so
officials and a group Of afiliated farmers
from New York, the U. M. w. announced
that general policy had been formu-
lated upon which to base organization
of the 100000 dairy farmers Of the
United States"
It's new wrinkle in trade unionism,