Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-09-03
Fulton Lewis Jr. Says: i
.FDR Still Has
Labor S Vote
President Will Need
TO Repair His Fences
By FULTON LEWIS JR.

BY FULTON LEWIS JR.
Copyright. 1914. by King Features
WASHINGTON. Sept. with
the starting gun for the 1914
presidential campaign alre dy
loaded and poised and the trigger
about 10 be pulled. the one great
question mark IN all calculations
NN both sides is organized labor.
The farm vote has been pretty
well written off 10 the Repub-
licans The Democrats themselves
concede that. privately and some
times publicly The solid Demo-
cratic South is very likely TO
remain solid. with the barely
possible exception of Texas.
During the last three elections,
the labor vote has been spotted
10 President Roosevelt, almost as
matter of course. He didn't
have TO campaign for il. He didn't
even have 10 court IL. All that
was necessary was TO count the
votes as they rolled in, and the
count WAS such that il probably
decided the elections.
SOLID BALLOT VITAL
But the President has TO have
that labor vote as solidly this
time. as no had il before, if he
hopes TO repeat More solidly,
Z really. because there are certain
other factions of the voting popu-
lation where his support has
waned
And the blunt facts are that
some hurried fence-building will
be necessary by Roosevelt, Tru-
man & Co. between now and
November if he is TO get that
repeat
ANY political observer would
he kidding himself if he doubts
that Roosevelt still is the choice
of a very large section of labor.
He is. He has managed 10 build
himself into a-symbol of what
labor wants in the way of gov
eminent.
Buy that's not enough The de-
Gliding question is whether he can
still command the same percent
age of the labor vote as he did
in the past If he fails, he's in
trouble If he fails 10 any large
degree, it is likely to be disastrous.
OPINION uNMoLnEn
The truth probably is that the
answer to the question is still 10
be decided; that the vote is still
unmolded. and the verdict will
be developed in the coming cam
paign.
Some of the leaders of labor
have committed themselves, TO he
Sure-on both sides. Some of the
executive councils of labor unions
have done the same. But that is
not controlling, as the case of
John L. Lewis. in 1910, proved
conclusively He led the United
Mine Workers 10 the camp of
Wendell Willkie. but they voted
for Roosevelt just the same.
incidentally, that object lesson
has had noticeable impacts on the
open commitments of this cam
paign. 1t was an example, that
even the most powerful leaders
(and IT'S trNe of other .gScups as
we'll as labor can be deeply en-
LbarraSSed if they try to lead their
followers in a direction that the
followers do not want to go.
APPROACH is CAUTIOUS
On this occasion, the vast ma
iority of responsible organized
labor heads have played a eau
tious approach The American
Federation of Labor has played
more heavily than ever before on
the absolutely nonpartiSan theme
song
The New York Federation of
Labor ignored that national
policy, and committed itself TO
4 Mr.. Roosevelt. There are pre-
liminary reports from that state
! that it probably lost more A. +.
Iof l.. votes for the Democratic
ticket than it won Individual
members felt that a handful Of
union topSiderS had made the
commitment for their own politi-
cal reasons, and the individuals
resented it.
(FultOn Lewis Jr. will con-
tinue his discussion of the labor
vote in Monda Us Detroit
Times.)