The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1943-02-04

| 1t was too bad that Capt. Ricken-
hacker had to let loose the other day
with that crack about unions. 1t was
1ill-tempered and it was ill-advised.
1t can be excused only on the
grounds that Rickenba cker, back from
narrowing experience, is so aflame
with the desire for war production that
his powers of observation and reason
ing have got just bit out of focus.
Nobody with any experience in
manufacture will believe that men
could be brought back from the front
lines, put into airplane factories and
bring production jumping upward 80
per cent.
| With the proposal that when men
return from the war they are to be
employed regardless of union agree
ments, with seniority running back to
the date of induction, we have another
matter.
1t must be agreed that the relation
between union and public has changed
and will change more; also that the
| relation of unions to the government
has changed and will change more
But when men start jumping the
unions and discussing postwar rela-
| tiOns between unions and soldiers, let
it be remembered that without the
unions to maintain standards and
wages, the returning soldiers after the
war would face sad and sorry con.
ditiOn, indeed.
There were a great many critics
who talked like that during the other
war. They heaped sarcasm on the silk
shirt, the symbol of that wars wage
prosperity. They got their lesson in \
union values when the great depres-
sion followed the war and unions did
more than any other factor to give the
workers some degree of protection
under the whitening frost of diminish
ing pay rolls.
The fact must be faced that the old
days of complete freedom of action by
unions is over.
Supervision, to some extent began
when the Wagner Act was signed. 1t
has increased greatly. 1t probably will
continue to increase.
It can be expected, among other
things, that taX-hungry authorities will
not be too long looking longingly at the
possible take" from union treasures
that run to ten million proportions.
Nor are other heavily taxed iastitu-
4 l-n1,, %N Il f1,n
sibilities of Rocking up a row for the
taxing of union funds.
1t is time to think hard about the
| counter argument and to see to it that
the union case always rests upon Il
foundation of justice and fairness.
There can be destructive back
lashing of public opinion and more
than Il little of that is now resident in
the halls of Congress.
X x X
A number of generals in the field
have sent word home as to their deep
appreciation of what labor is doing
in the war plants. But one blast from
Il Rckenbacker can undo what a half
dozen generals may say.
There will be others who will come
back and echo Rickenbacker because,
far from home they have heard one
sided tales A carbuncle is but a tiny
fraction of the body surface, but it's
the carbuncle of which you're con-
scious. We always center thought on
the sore spots. Industry has some;
labor has some.
But the vast bulk of our machinery
is humming as never before.
But however that may be, labor is
getting fOre-taste of what it may
expect in growing volume as the war
wears on. There will be dead cats
hurled, by the uniformed, the careless
thinkers and the vicious persons who
never need reason when they can
find an excuse instead.
Victory will bring great and grave
problems. Now is ont too soon to begin
planning how to meet them.-CMW.