The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-05-09
Catholic Thought And Opinion
B. REV. JOSEPH E. DONNELlY

Catholics, who know the sincere ir- tentions of their leaders, judge most severely the burlesque of this man who is remarkable only becAuse he is c priest. gs
 ABOVE THE LAW
 The picture of MT. gewell Avery being carried out of his of1ce build ing ct. Montgomery Wards by two MpsS Is perhaps the principal in- strument of . wide public sympathy toward this one-Inan strike against the Government. Keeping reason able industrial harmony in peace- time has ever been . problem in our country. But keeping the har- mony 90 essential for the success of the war, which success must not be endangered by . one-man revolt against the difacult regulations which have been periodically ac- cepted, by thousands of employers in America, Is an infinitely more difficult problem.
 On the whole, however, industry and labor have kept the industrial peace. Both have been forced to swallow their pride and at times with its obvious injustice. But in wartime all Americans, or almost all, are willing to make sacrifices. In wal. time we have to keep industrial peace. We must have an agency for that purpose. The War Labor Board has served that purpose and with out 1t we would have had industrial chaos. And what has been good enough for the rest of America should be good enough for Mont- gomery Ward.
 We feel that when the sympathy and misunderstanding, for the most part aroused by . newspaper picture have long passed history will class MT. Avery with . few extremely re actionary individuals in America who have long supplied the fuel for the fires of class hatred. We may be thankful that In war.time we have had few MT. Averys.
 CORRECTING ERRORS
 A few points In the dispute have been generally misunderstood Sec- ton . of the War Labor Disputes Act gives the Board jurisdiction over all disputes certified to 1t by the Cancellation Service and which may lead to substantial interference with the war effort"
 When the Board, after the Com. pany had defied 1t for three months finally send the dispute to the Pres ident not only the union at Mont- gomery Wards in Chicago was on strike, but the mall order house in Kansas City had struck, the Team. sters Union had refused to service the Company and many unions in important war plants of industrial Chicago had voted to strike in sym pathy. The fire had threatened to become confiagration and could certainly lead to substantial inter. ference with the war effort"
 Furthermore there would be much less misplaced sympathy among Americans if they realized the exc tent of this company fioutin9 of Government authority. The follow. ing paragraph is taken from . let. ter of Chairman Davis to Senator Byrd.
 Tn addition to it's refusal to com. ply with the Boards order in the Chicago dispute, the company. since last August, has refused to comply with orders Of this Board relating to disputes at the coznpany's estab- Mshments in Denver. Detroit, New York City, and Portland. Oregon, and since last November in Oak. lanc, California. Suits against the Board and the Economic Stabiliza- . ton Director are pending in each of these cases. The Hummer Manu- facturing Company. . division of Montgomery Ward, which is now a war plant. has refused to comply with an order of the Board entered last August. The U. 6. Gypsum Company whose chairman Is the chairman of the Montgomery Ward Company, has refused to comply with . Board order since June le43 and in its advertising cam paign against the Board and in the form of its lawsuit against the Board 1t has followed identicaiiy the pattern set for Montgomery ward Company"
 Many industrialists have dis. agreed with the decisions of the Board. but they respected the need of the Board in wartime. Of 1000 disputes settled the Board had to ask executive enforcement of but seven. Two of the seven were Mont. gomery Ward directives.