Evening star., 1944-10-21

W0fficiaI Believe,
50% Of Mine Worker,
Will Support Dewey
RooseveIt's Handling
Of Labor Problems Hit
In Pittsburgh Speech
(Tert OF Coz DetUey's Address
on Page A-6.J
BY J. A. O'LEARY,

EN- ROUTE TO ALBANY, Oct.
21.-A prediction by a high off,
cial of the United Mine Workers
that Gov. Thomas E. Dewey may
get half of the miners vote this
year was one of the most inter-
esting developments during the
Republican nominees visit to
Pittsburgh yesterday.
Speaking to the Nation from that
Pennsylvania industrial center, the
home of thousands of union work
ers, Gov. Dewey denounced Presi-
dent Roosevelt's handling of labor
problems and charged that last year
the railroad workers had to hire
Edward j. Flynn, former chairman
of the Democratic National Com
mittee, and pay him $25, 900 to rep
resent them in wage negotiations
with the administration
Continuing to hit hard and di-
rectly at his opponent, Gov. Dewey
asserted Mr.. Roosevelt demanded
that he, instead of the legally estab-
lished Mediation Board, be selected
as the final arbitrator of the wage
dispute. The Republican nominee
quoted three presidents of railway
brotherhoods as declaring:
The whole thing had all the ear
marks of political setup."
Tension Rose Higher.
'The tension rose higher Gov.
Dewey continued. Finally Mr..
Roosevelt seized the railroads to
forestall a national disaster which
he himself had prepared. After he
did that he graciously gave the very
wage increase to which the railway
workers had been entitled for over
year"
After again quoting three rail
brotherhood leaders as saying the
wage question would have been set
tied without bitterness If the admin
istration had kept its hands off and
permitted the Railway Labor Act
to function, Gov. Dewey dropped
this bonlbshel into his speech:
Now, political power wasn't the
only profit in this case. There was
political cash, too-for one of the
New Deal city bosses. The railway
brotherhoods had to be represented
by special legal counsel because the
proceedings were obviously OF a
very special sort.
And who do you suppose was the
lawyer? An attorney eminent in
labor lawe An authority on rail-
road economics? Not under the
New Deal. With legal process out
the window by act of Mr.. Roosevelt.
the railway workers were forced to
hire some one who knew his way
around the White House.
Had to Hire Boss Flynn"
$50 the Railway BNf1herhoods had
to hire Mr.. Roosevelts third-term
national chairman-that eminent
authority in Belgian paving blocks
Boss Flynn of the Bronx. This was
the man who once appointed the
notorious gangster and gunman
Dutch Schultz, as deputy sheriff
of the Bronx. And did Mr.. Roose-
velt's political manager lend his aid
for nothing? The price of his serv-
ices for the railroad workers was
$25, 900.
That sort of business must come
to an end in this country. Our fight
ing men are entitled to come back to
something better than that in Gov
eminent. Political bosses and one
man Government must not be al
lowed to keep stranglehold on the
rights of our working people. I be-
lieve with all my heart in collective
bargaining and it must again be
free collective bargaining. It must
be bargaining for the rights of work.
/