Evening star., 1943-01-22
Curb Needed
On Strike
Sabotage
Congress Should
Enact Penalties
For Leaders
BY DAVID LAWRENCE,

by DAVID LAWRENCE,
The public interest has been de-
feated again, Most all of the strikers
IN the anthracite coal regions have
gone back to work, and nothing will
happen to them-all seems to be for
given. But the American people who
Iost the production of tens of thou
SANDS OF tons of coal in the midst
OF cold winter, with a coal shortage
OF extraordinary proportions, suffer
the real penalty.
Tine was when the Government
OF the United States-either the cX-
ecutive or the legislative branch
said that strikes could not be per-
mitted against the public interest.
especially in those articles vital to
the every day life Of the people. But
Congress has been prevented from
legislating on the subject of strikes
IN wartime by the President, who,
as Commander = in Chief of the
Army and Navy, can find plenty of
reasons for ordering a mail-Crder
house to grant maintenance of -
membership to labor union, even
though there are no other matters
In dispute, but who doesn't seem to
be able to justify the use Of sane
tons to prevent indiscriminate
strikes during war.
For the Executive to apply pen
elties or sanctions is wrong in prin-
ciple. Likewise, for the War Labor
Board to attempt to penalize those
coal strikers who stopped work is
wrong, because there is no basis in
law for such punishment. The only
Justified basis for penalizing any cit
lien who violates a wartime -estric-
ton Is in a statute duly passed by
Congress.
Bureaucratic Pretexts.
The bureaucrats can find plenty
OF pretexts for taking away ration
books and can impose penalties on
alleged pleasure" driving by per-
sons who use their own property to
pursue normal errands but no bu-
raucrat has the temerity to recon-
mend that Congress legislate pen
alties for strikes started during war
time. The reason, Of course, is that
the public interest is secondary to
the political interest, and until the
American people insist that their
representatives in Congress cour-
ageously ignore class appeals and
act for the whole country, especially
In wartime, nothing will be done
about 1t.
When the President proclaimed
his no-strike agreement in Decem-
Der, 1941, this correspondent and
other observers pointed out that
there was no way to enforce such |
a pledge and that the top executive
boards of neither the CIO nor AFL |
nor any other national union seemed |
TO be able TO discipline local unions
or their members.
The Government Of the United |
States has been unwilling to let |
trade associations or business groups
discipline themselves. Instead, the
administration has insisted that any
employer who declines to perform !
on war contractor even If he
isn't doing war work, who doesn't
grant maintenance-of-m
in a union-can have his property
seized. Indeed, there have been
number Of instances in which the
President has ordered either the
Army or the Navy to move in and
deprive a management of control
Of its own property.
This procedure has had the effect
Of soaring employers, so that today
they appear to be ready to yield
whenever an administration agency
tells them to Jump through a hoop
for labor union. But no such
scare has been directed toward labor
union politicians who conspire to
bring about strikes in wartime.
Concerted Leadership.
How did 1t happen, for instance,
that many thousands of men went
out on strike in the coal regions?
1t was as a result of some concerted
leadership. The grievance Of the
miners may have been real-the
causes of labor disputes are hardly
trivial in wartime when they pro-
duce a strike Of the duration of the
coal stoppage-but without organ
lzation the strike in PENNSYLVANIA
couldn't have been brought about.
Will Congress now investigate
what happened and find out why
the leaders of the coal strike felt
that they could defy public appeals
until only the petition Of the Presi-
dent of the United States brought a
response? And if the leaders of the
coal strike can go scot free after
they have inflicted suffering on
families that otherwise might have
had coal, is Congress sufficiently
interested to pass legislation now
making 1t as much Of a crime
against the public interest to con-
spire to bring about strike as it
would be for anybody to conspire
to interfere with the Selective Serv-
ice Act?
Penalties seem to be invoked
when publications express view
points that are deemed detrimental
TO the war effort, but the right to
strike-which in wartime Is nothing