Evening star., 1944-05-04

board and president Montgomery
Ward g. Co.: director Armour 81 Co.
Northern Trust Co., United State.
Steel Corp, Pullman Co., Peoples
Gas Light & Coke Co."
That is the happy old gentleman
you saw being carried out of his
office by two soldier boys. And was
he happyl He looked like he hadn1
had such a good time since Aunt
Ida fell downstairs and broke her
leg. For Sewell Avery has been
feudin' with the Federals for years
and he nearly always has gotten the
worst of 1t. Now, you can tell from
his expression, he thinks he's sitting
in the drivers seat. But is he?
The Governments Job.
The Government is trying to keep
civilian life operating efficiently
under the stress Of war. 1t has a
no-strike pledge from labor, which
labor has kept pretty well-about
99.4. per cent Official figures). To
meet difficulties that might arise,
Congress set up the War Labor
Board. This board was directed to
handle any labor troules, not mere
ly those in war plants; Senator Taft
insisted on that.
One of the earliest problems was
presented by Sewell Avery and his
employees. The board, after much
grief, got a workable relationship
set up. A union of the workers
proved that it represented a ma
jority and contract was signed. At
the end of a year Avery declared this
union no longer had majority and
refused to renew the contract. But,
said the War Labor Board, wouldn't
1t be nicer to carry on under the
contract until the question is set
tied; maybe you're right--the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board will
find out-but let's avoid trouble in
the meantime.
No, sir, said Mr.. Avery; no, sir,
the United States Constitution is
involved; I love my faithful en-
ployes, but + can't let the Constitu-
tion down. He refused to renew the
contract. His faithful employees
stopped work.
The War Labor Board regards
: Montgomery Ward operations as
essential; this not merely because
such things as plows and cultiva-
tors are necessary to wartime food
production, but because civilian life
must be kept functioning. The
board, therefore, took the step de-
creed by Congress In such cases; it
asked the President Of the United
States to take time from his own
war work 70 beg Mr.. Avery to stop
lighting With labor till we get the
war wen. This the President did.
with no results.
Cries of Anguish.
So the President told Jesse Jones
to send somebody out to Chicago to
take over Montgomery Ward and
keep It running until the courts
could decide certain fine legal ques-
tions Mr.. Avery had raised. The
gypsum king wouldn't give up his
throne and the soldier boys toted
him tenderly of the premises.
Now there are cries of anguish.
Montgomery Ward is not war
industry, 1t is said: Mr.. Avery him.
self says so. But WPB and the
Office of Defense Transportation
have had eloquent appeals from
Montgomery Ward for priorities,
based on evidence that its opera
tions are essential to winning the
war, and Montgomery Ward has
got the priorities-36, 900 of them
since April 1912. incidentally, al
though sissies In the cities won't
understand 1t. out in the great open
spaces there is nothing more essen
tial than Montgomery Ward or
Sears, Roebuck catalogue; this years
catalogue as a market guide, last
years catalogue for other purposes.
Business is now proceeding as
usual in the vast Montgomery Ward
domain without the presence of Mr..