Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-05-08
Employers Are Seen
Punished for Strikes
Administration Fears Loss of
Labor Vote, Is Charge

Administration Fears Loss of
Labor Vote, Is Charge
By David laurence
Defiance Of the War Labor Board over
the week end by labor unions out on
strike is leading to the usual talk about
seizing the plants. The only punish
ment the present administration can
think up for labor union which inter-
rupts war production-in this case stop
page Of work on Navy ships-is to pun
ish the employer by selling his plant
and depriving him Of possession Of his
business.
As matter Of fact, II the admin
istration really had the legal power to
seize the Montgomery Ward plant and
to call in troops to carry Sewell Avery
out of his ONCE, 1t has the same power
now to seize labor union and carry
its executives out Of their ofices while
installing Government representatives
to run the unions affairs and even to
force the union to sign the kind of
contract which the War Labor Board
may prescribe.
But the administration hasn't the
courage to do such thing. It can bully
the businessmen because It Is not
afraid Of their relatively insignificant
number Of votes. But when 1t comes
to Selling something big like a labor
union, the administration is fearful Of
the numerous votes of labor by which,
in fact, the Attorney General himself
has said the administration hopes to
retain political power.
Same Old Special Favors.
It's the same old story with which
the American people have long been
familiar from the days Of the Repub-
hcans who gave special favors and priv
ileges to the contributors TO campaign
funds, either by way of tariff rates or
by means Of other advantages which
the Government could bestow. These
days the labor unions are not only
heavy campaign contributors but the
Department Of Justice which has be.
ing the law on campaign funds to DO
enforced against labor unions exactly
as it Is against corporations has openly
repudiated the statute and refuses to
apply it to labor unions as Congress
specifically stipulated in the Smith
Connally law.
The administration was wrong In
using military force to seize the Ward
plant and it would be equally wrong
now to seize labor unions office, but
the administration would not be wrong
In asking Congress for specific authority
to deal with cases like that Of a mail
order house or labor union, which
defy War Labor Board decisions.
1t is strange that the so-called liberals
who customarily are SO quick to perceive
the slightest sign Of totalitarianism on
the horizon have failed altogether to
note that il they are right in support
ing the administrations position on the
Ward case they must insist now that
the labor unions which are defying the
War Labor Board must be seized and
their operating executives carried out of
their ofiices at the point Of the bayonet
while Government agents take charge Of
the unions business and financial af-
fairs. %g 4
Politics Played with war.
It is most unfortunate that all the
hullabaloo about the Ward case tends
to repeat what happened in the Lewis
and coal miners case, namely, to obscure
the egregious failure of the administra-
ton to proclaim and carry out Q con-
structive labor policy during wartime.
The principal reason for this mistake
Is that the administration has refused
to abide by the principle that this is a
government of laws-and that laws
should be made by Congress instead of
by boards and department officials. If
the President in his capacity Of national
leadership had ever submitted or recon-.
mended an antistrike law or a law for
compulsory arbitration of labor disputes
in wartime and had urged Congress to
pass 1t, such law would now be on the
statute DOCKS and 1t would have required
not the Army but the corner cop or a
deputy marshal to enforce it.
But, fearful of the loss of labor votes
the administration has played politics
with the war. It has aroused deep
seated antagonisms among our troops
and sailors overseas. The demonstrated
fact that the present administration
really doesn't know the meaning of
even-handed justice or fair play and
has one rule for labor and another for
employers is something that doesn't
help unity at home or morale overseas.
Some day the present administration
will find in the action of an aroused
electorate that special privilege and
favoritism when human life is at stake
simply don't pay out
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