Evening star., 1944-05-08

Ter, for example, to call q man q
Roosevelt hater" than to explain
why the President should appoint
Federal judges ON the recommenda-
ticn Of Frank Hague, ruthless boss
Of New Jersey. And it is less Of q
strain to declare that a critic is
against human rights" than to
justify the months Of futility in our
earlier war effort due to Mr.. Roose-
velts insistence upon dual-headed
war production board, on which q
businessman and a left-wing labor
leader had co-equal power.
Those who have noted this not
entirely original habit of answer
ing every indictment with personal
attacks and meeting criticism with
abuse should not be surprised by
the virulence of administration
spokeSmen against Sewell Avery,
head of Montgomery Ward q Co..
recently seized by the order Of the
President because 1t refused to renew
q contract with CIO union at the
demand of the War Labor Board.
Issued Passed Over.
Though the case raises several
important issues, chief of which Is
whether the President has the pow
er to seize such q plant as Wards
and, incidentally, through the Army,
seize the person Of the head of the
company and eject him physically
from his Office, neither the legal nor
the moral aspect of these issues Is
discussed by the New Dealers. In
stead, they concentrate upon per-
sonal attack on Mr.. Avery, which is
absolutely in conformance with
established New Deal practice.
In the fourth-term newspapers
MIR. Avery is depicted as very de-
graded individual. indeed. "Roose-
welt hater" is one of the least of the
hard names pinned on him. He Is,
in addition, declared to be an "ob-
stinate, hard-headed old man" who
thinks himself bigger than the Gov
ernment of the United States. He
Is further said to be q man of vast
wealth" without any regard for "hu-
man rights" Lists of the corpora
tions in which he Is interested are
featured: his "intolerant and die
tatorial" nature is stressed and a
horrible picture of him as a human
ogre is drawn.
1t is impossible to believe Mr.
Avery either as silly or as bad as
he Is being painted. That Is merely
the New Deal way of vaccinatine
against the political damage with
which this extraordinary per-
formance threatens the fourth-term
effort. Conceding that he Is .
Roosevelt hater," an anti-New
Dealer and wealthy - conceding,
for the sake of argument, that he is
an obstinate old man." what has
all that to do with the issue?
The answer is nothing. The Ward
plant hardly was seized because Mr..
Avery is Roosevelt hater," an
anti-New Dealer and a wealthy
man. 1t was seized because Mr.
Avery, like John L. Lewis, had de-
fed an order of the War Labor
Board. And the seizure raised the
great fundamental question as tc
the Presidents power. If he has
this power over this business he
would have it over every other
business, big and little. This is in
contradiction to principles clearly
enunciated by the Supreme Court
more than once.
On the ultimate decision in the
Ward case hinges rights which civil
ians have firmly believed belong to
them under the Constitution. Upon
it depends whether we can hold on
to cur conception of freedom, cher
ished over many generations, OF
whether we will have to revise that
conception.
Admit Mistake Privately.
Privately, administrationists ad.
NIT the seizure was a mistake; thai
the political injury to their cause
may be great; that 1t would have