Evening star., 1943-05-08

agement, labor and the public-re-
veals it's conclusion that the Presi-
dents mangling of the wage-control
formula by executive order has made
a revision of the order imperative.
Similarly, the OPA has announced
a roll back of food prices, and
there is a well authenticated report
that Mr. Lewis charge of violation
of price ceilings has been found
correct in more than 400 cases by
Government Investigations carried
on in certain mining districts.
Contradictory Policy.
For several days it has become tine
fashion TO heap criticism on the
head of Mr. Lewis, when it is Mr..
Roosevelt who is really to blame for
the present mess and for the clumsy
and contradictory labor policy which
has angered labor union leaders
from many parts of the country.
The President is busy man and
he gets confusing advice from his
subordinates. The administration
has been so active in trying to put
John Lewis in hole that it has
turned out just the other Way-Mr
Lewis has put the administration on
the spot and exposed the defects in
Its so-called labor policy.
Even the charge Of traitor" flung
SO carelessly against Mr.. Lewis has
been unjust because the present ad-
ministration has tolerated strike
after strike since Pearl Harbor and
never has so much as punished a
single labor union or leader. Usually
it has rewarded the striking unions
by giving them most of their de-
mands or maintenance of men,
bership" clause to help keep the
union intact
May Be Smoke Screen.
If all the other leaders of strikes
heretofore in aircraft plants and in
other war production areas have not
been condemned by high officials,
why is it right now to single out
Lewis for such Characterization?
The answer may be that by CEN
tering responsibility on Lewis and
letting the country become absorbed
in the behavior of one man in
the miners union a smoke screen
will be raised to divert attention
from the blunders of the admin
istration in handling wartime in
terruptions of production.
Lewis had the courage to stand
up for his viewpoint. He fought
to gain concessions for his union,
just as has every other union leader,
and he went to the lengths of al
lowing a walkout because he un-
questionably felt there was no other
way of revealing to the public the
absurdity of the April 9th hold
the-line" order. Every labor union
leader of prominence will privately
admit that, while Lewis did a dar-
ing thing, something dramatic had
to be done to reverse the April s
executive order
1t will be argued that Lewis should
have gone before the War Labor
Board and should not have per-
mitted any walkout. The same
thing can be said about all the
strikes that have happened since
Pearl Harbor. Until the admin
istration puts it's influence behind
a no-strike law, the situation will
continue to drift.
No "Anchoring" Law.
Every attempt to get "no-strike"
legislation has been" squelched by
the administration or its lieuten-
ants on Capitol Hill When the
"no-strike" agreement was an
nounced from the White House in
December, l94l, this correspondent
pointed out that it would not be
adhered to because it wasn't the law
of the land
That same agreement was con-
trary to the understandings of man
agement. 1t was forced from the
throat of management in one of the
most fantastic uses of the word
agreement" that can be offered in
Che history of governmental labor
policy.
Today the country is reaping the
iad results of an executive labor
policy that can change from day to
day because it is not based on law
but on executive orders and on the
changing tides of politics and WASH
ington labor feuds.
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