Evening star., 1944-05-26
Ward Plant Seizure
By Army Denounced
In McCarran Report
Continued From First Page.)


ciliation Service of the Labor De
partment apparently had no fact
in it's files" to justify a certiflca'
ton back in June, 1912, that th'
union-company controversy was one
which might interrupt work con-
tributing to the effective prosecution
of the war.
Senator Revercomb, Republican
of West Virginia joined Senator
McCarran in the report, but the
third subcommittee member, Sen.
ator Mcfarland, Democrat, of Ari.
zona declined to sign it, declaring
the subcommittee ''has not made
the kind of investigation calculated
to get the facts required for full
report"
ITO be more specific" Senator
Mcfarland continued, Il think the
subcommittee should not. have de.
MED the interested parties an op-
portunity to be heard, and that II
should not make report based
solely upon documentary evidence
which may not be lrcomplete, and
upon the conclusions of the investi-
gators whose testimony is neces-
sarily hearsay and second or third
hand. I am not satisfied. moreover
that the subcommittee has had an
opportunity to give the important
questions of law involved the care
full consideration they deserve"
Comments on Majority Criticism.
He argued that hearings would
have given members an opportunity
to examine officials of the various
agencies connected with the case.
Commenting on the majority crit
icism of Attorney General Biddle
Senator Mcfarland. said that, in
fairness, "a cabinet member should
be extended the courtesy of coming
before a committee of the Senate to
explain his position as to the facts
and as to the law before criticisms
of this kind are made by a commit
tee"
Senator Mcfarland said the ma
jority report construes the War La
bor Disputes Act in a way which
throws doubt upon the legality" of
number of cases in which the
President has taken possession of
plants. He said he also thought Mr..
Avery should have been permitted
to explain why he insisted upon be-
ing carried from the plant by force.
and why he did not submit to the
executive order as the officials of
all other plants have, and protect
his rights in court"
The subcommittee was created by
the Senate before the Ward mail
order house was seized, with in
structions to study the legality of
any or all executive orders issued
by the President since 1888. For
this reason, the report explained, it
was not within the province of the
committee to go into tho merits of
the labor dispute between the COM
pany and its employees, but whether
the various executive agencies in
volved in the dispute complied with
the law. -
While special House subcommit-
tee has been holding public hearings,
Senator McCarrans subcommittee
has been delving into the records of
the Government on the case and the
Senator said these records formed
the basis for today's report.
McCarran Statement.
In filing the report, Senator Nc
Carran said:
THE subcommittee has confined
itself to the documented facts as
they appear of record in the files
of the various Government agencies
concerned. The subcommittee took
the view that with all of these orig
1nal records before it, hearings we're
not necessary. Whether the full
committee takes the same view is a
matter for its determination In
view of the fact that hearings on
this case presently are under way
before a committee of the House of
Representatives, the Senate Com
mittee may we'll take the view that
duplication of hearings is not
necessary.
This is not to suggest, however
that views in opposition to the SUBJ
committee report should not be
given every possible consideration by
the full committee in arriving at its
decision in the matter"
Senator McCarran, who is also
chairman of the full Judiciary Com
nittee, said he would call a special
meeting of the committee on June
10 to consider the committee report
presented today.
In taking issue with Mr.. Biddle's
reference to the Presidents posses
sion of an aggregate of powers
derived from the Constitution and
from various statutes, the report
comments:
The subcommittee has no way of
ascertaining from the record what
particular sections or clauses of the
Constitution or Federal statutes the
Attorney General had in mind.
However, the subcommittee believes
that the powers given the Chief
Executive in time of war by the
SOllotlIuIlOil lCldS W lllS pOSlllOll
as the Commander in Chief of the
Army and Navy and are military
powers only. All other powers which
the President may exercise in time
of war have been derived from acts
of Congress. The subcommittee does
not believe that the Congress in
tended in any Of these acts to give
the President such powers as he
exercised in Executive Order 9438
by which he ordered the Secretary
of Commerce to take possession OF
Montgomery Ward & Co."
The report also asserted the
WLB was inconsistent" in as
suming jurisdiction of a dispute
in the Montgomery Ward mail-or-
DER house on January l3, 1914, and
declining, through its Chicago re-
gional office. to take jurisdiction or
April IS, 1914, of a labor dispute in
the Sears, Roebuck & Co mail-or-
der establishment in Minneapolis
The subcommittee said the reasons
given for declining the latter case
were that Sears was not engaged ir
war production and (2) the dispute
rightly belonged under the jurisdic-
ton of the National Labor Relations