The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-05-22
Fair Enough

/ L ar enough
Ediotr's Note.-Ths Star and the News accent no
snd tor the personal views Of Mt fesler
readers liz article, serve the sood pu many o
making people think. S0'@ VI
NEW YORK-For the sake of the record
shoulo like to say that as far as 1 know
nave never met member of the National
ASSOCIATION of Manufacturers although I have
suspicion that might have met few one
Time at a celebration in Boston at which an
aomlraL and believe a general, and Ger.
talnly number of union officials were pres
ent too. The naval and military people were
tne only ones who wore any distinctive in.
sigma, so it there were any members of the
N. "A. NJ present had no way of knowing.
On the other hand, do know great many
leaders, or bosses, of the labor movement
| know Dubinsky and Petrillo and Joe Ryan
Dan Tobin and Dave Beck, Will Green and
John Lewis, Eddie McGrady and George
Lynch the president of the Pattern Makers,
league (Which is, according to my standards.
very good union but too small to make its
Virtues felt in the larger organizations, and
some Others
make this point because from time to
tlme individuals and organizations with whom
nave Waged controversy these last few wears
nave lnslnuated or fatty charged that I was
oolng the bidding of the N. A. M, presumably
ior secret pay, against the workers. It is true
tnat 1 nave received a good deal of propa-
gahoa, IN the form of press releases, from
the N. A NJ, but l read very little Of If
and, moreover, get much more from Other
organizations over on the left wing, and read
IL much more attentively, because I want 10
know what they are up to.
II the N. A. M. is anti-labor I do not know
1t although it is reasonable to assume that an
association of employers amounting to the
grand lodge of big business and heavy indus
try would put itself in a state of resistance
against group at least equally powerful
financially, and much stronger POLITICALLY and
highly privileged under the laws and the
governments policy whose frank and legit-
mate mission is to press forward with more
ana greater demands and in some cases. to
make trouble and create unrest TENDING to-
ward violent revolution-which is not leeiti
mate mission, as President Roosevelt and
f1orello LaGuardia both have said Moreover
on the basis OF most of my acquaintance with
o1nclals OF the union movement, l should saw
mat the officials of the NJ A. M. had better
be pretty crafty men, themselves. and ALWAYS
on their toes if they are to win ANYTHING
approaching an even break That John Lewis
lor example, is one of the smartest men in
America; and very realistic big business
man, large-scale employer, who had sat
opposite him several times in government
hearings once told me that he regarded Lewis
as the champion negotiator of the age and
clted' as an example of his great ability, the
way he boxed up President Roosevelt and
Harold Ickes in his coal strike last year.
And look what Petrllo has done in the radio
and canned-music business. Such union men
Will negotiate the pants off you and send YOU
home in barrel if you aren't careful
My thought all along has been that the peo-
pie, most OF whom are workers, just didn't
realize how great a power over their own
lives had been created by this political de-
velopment of the last 10 years which is called
the labor movement Barring the possibility
perhaps the inevitabilty of honest error. II
have stuck to the truth right along knowing
that you discredit yourself and lose your case
If you make statements which the people.
Themselves know to be untrue If YOU have
followed this running debate you NAV have
noticed that the union people have never
cited me Tor actual falsehood but have settled
for something they call half-truths and state
ments that am anti-labor, which is the SUBJ
stance OF my own charge against them. Thew
have also referred to my enormous income
which is way short of Petrillo's, and ignored
the TACT that Tobin, Ryan, George Berry oil
the FRESHMEN and old man Franklin q the|
Bollermakers have set themselves up for life
on lloeral salaries and allowances with abso-
lute social security, even though their abilities
aecnne to the point of worthlessness, or worse.
SO 1t appears that the mere size of an income
is not the point of objection. It is a question
OF who gets it and how he stands on the
proposition of human rights and freedom to
work, which I am for and they are against.
l knew when I started this work that these
powerful people would throw the building at
me, brick at time, because, after all
onirp
and self-interest is as strong in them as in
the rest of us. They live on labor. live by
labor
With nationwide use of television, the smart
politician of the future will make his first
clever move nv heinp horn h,pdeor,.