The Wilmington morning star., 1944-07-31
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
NEW YORK, July 29.-Up to date in this
campaign for the presidency, neither candi-
date has expressed any intention to work for
legal reforms which would free the American
worker from the oppression of the union move
ment. 1t has been long time since Tom
Dewey signified that he was even aware of
the unions menace to individual, human
freedom and thus, to the collective freedom
OF us all, within our own country. 1t may be
taken for granted that Mr.. Roosevelt will not
even mention the subject, for he has success
fully ignored it for years and has actively
thwarted several attempts by congress to
establish legal standards and restraints with
which the unions would have had to comply
for the production of the whole people.
Mr.. Dewey operates under a handicap, be-
cause the Roosevelt propaganda has created
thoughtless belief, of superstition, among
millions of voters, that he is pro-labor, where
as, in fact, he is free labors worst enemy.
Therefore, Dewey, or anyone else who would
impose unions fair obligations to the whole
community, would be falsely depicted as a
man hostile to labor.
That, however, is Dewey's hard luck. 1t
sets for him test OF debate and statesman
ship in the campaign which, however, for ex-
pediency and votes, he may decide to ignore
with mental reservation that, if elected, he
would take it up later in recommendations to
congress
Out OF Control
Whatever candidates may say, the fact re-
mains that the unions are out of control of
their members and immune to legal restraints.
They are powerful anti-labor movement with
absolutely no obligation to hold free elections
of their officials, to admit qualified workers
to membership, to limit their activities to col
lectivs bargaining or to exclude criminals and
alien communists from official position in their
councils With the active help of President
Roosevelt they have, in thousands of cases.
violated the stated purpose of the Wagner act,
which is to permit workers to bargain through
agents of their own free choice. They have
on the contrary, forced unwilling workers to
accept representation by henchmen of the
Presidents own political machine in contempt
of the very law which they hailed as labor S
Magma Charta.' By thisi process, workers by
million have been forced to contribute to the
Roosevelt campaign funds through collections
taken up by his own political. agents.. under
compulsion and threat. This method is almost
identical with that of Benito Muss0lini in Italy,
and it may be that the workers are too stupid
and too emotiopal in: their politics to care
even though this SIS demonstrated to be So.
Mussolini won the Italian workers with the
same bait that Roosevelt has used in chum-
ming up the suckers of American labor, and
up to this time the American worker has not
shown himself to be any more intelligent or
careful of his liberties than his Italian brother
who sold out for little more cheap, paper
money with correspondingly less buying power
and the promise of an old-age pension which
is now still pie in the sky:
Rights Established
Roosevelt's Supreme court has recognized
or, to use more fitting word, has established.
for union bosses the right to commit highway
robbery in the guise of soliciting employment
for their subjects. Highway robbery is
crime which calls for a low, criminal char
acter and it was shown in the Supreme court
case that most of the defendant union men
were not workers or chosen labor agents but
common. underworld jailblrds This right to
commit highway robbery lega1y Is not myth
or distortion but legal fact, and was so
described bv one of the justices in whom a
spark of civic decency survived, in dissent
ing opinion.
If a union boss will rob an employer on the
shwav he will have no conjunction to rob
his own subjects in the union through shake
downs or theft of their money from the treas
ury. Yet, Roosevelt prevented the adoption of
law to forbid highway robbery in the name
of lnionisn, and resisted all efforts to elevate
the character of union administration SO that
the worker. who constitutes American labor
NAV expect humane treatment in his union
Just how far gone is the American worker
in his cynicism, political emotion, prejudice
docility and ignorance of his actual condition
one can only estimate. At times he seems to
be hopelessly persuaded to Fascism because
it doesn't hurt much, yet. Roosevelt won't
try to arouse him, for it was he who put the
spell on him. Dewey might try, but if so he
would run the risk of losing the faceless
American vote and all chance to save him
from his own greedy, selfish immediate de-
light in war wages and the right. to tell the
boss, but never the union agent, to go to hell.