Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-08-14
BEHIND
THE NEWS
BY Paul
Mallon

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1.-THE
w new political figure, Sidney
Hillman of Clio, has been
statementing almost daily that
honest.to-goodnesS he is not
trying TO capture Mr.. Roosevelt,
the Democratic party and the
Congress in this election he
is only trying To cooperate
with them Any suggestion
otherwise is distorted" and
"unprinciplcd19 --Sn-he- says
The facts of the matter are
these, as near as l can aScer-
tam them;
The secretary of the Demo-
cratic congressional campaign
committee says the CIO-Hillman
front has backed about Is con-
grcSSlonal candidates firmly and
directly. All of these are Demo-
cratic, except one. the Republic
can Rep. Lafollette of Indiana.
60 THE corporation which
~ Mr.. Hillman- proposes 10
furnish Congress is IS 10 l
Democratic. differing radically
from labor'S generally eStab-
llShed policy followed both by
the AFL and railroad brother
hoods Of endorsing, in a truly
=noU.partlSan= way@the-C andl-
dates in both parties most
likely 10 be friendly 10 labor
These endorsements. says the
magazine Labor " representing
no less unprIncipled an outfit
than the brotherhoOdS them
selves, are not being made by
Hillman feFthe iHteFests-eff4--
Dor. but for the interests of the
Hillman front
In an editorial, Labor"
charged $6,000,000 would be,
spent by the Hillman groups to'
eject men frequently represent
ing causes Of no concern TO the
working man tmeaning C0snmu-
MIST SylnpathizerS, SoclalIZerS of
the extreme left. etCD
Thus you may see the true
picture. As far AS Congress IS
concerned, Illllman is trying 10
establish a left-wing bloc of at
least Is Il suspect his endorse
meHt hstwill- be much iareef9
within the Democratic party.
This may or may not control
the party in the House, depend
ing on how many Democrats
and CIO'erS are elected.
S FAR as controlling the
"A White House, there seems
TO be a valid question of who is
running who II seems 10 me
the White House figured Mr..
Hillman could be used as
banker TO back the fourth term
campaign. Rep. Dies agrees
with Labor that Hillman Will
shove in $4,000, 900 before the
election is over. Mr.. Hlllman
says 81, 100000 is his Campaign
goal. Whatever the millions.
It IS more money than any one
else has shown.
a dozen or more prominent
government officials have left
their good Jobs TO Cooperate
with his old political action
committee. A vague haze is
being maintained over his new
group "the national citizens po-
litical action committee, hut no
radar IS needed 10 detect the
fundamentals.
THE NCPAC is a legal subtcr-
fuge created because the
CIO-PAC ran afoul tho law pre-
venting direct financial Contrl-
buttons by labor unions TO cam
paignS. 1t is a now money bag.
10 collect contributions from in
divldualS rather than using
union treasures directly.
The whole front obviously is
one erected TO cover some clever
bookkeeping and get around the
law. The forced change may i'm
pede Hlllman'S activities. but
Will not change them. or his pur-
DOSpS eifhpr
Now what does all this mean
Mr.. Dies says il represents not
50 much a labor front as the
New Deal taking over labor. |
do not think so. | do not believe
this Is labor, or even the New
Deal.
II seems to mo, on its face.
purely and simply a lcft-wing
effort TO buy its way into politi-
cal pow er, 10 purchase tho
Democratic party If possible,
for cash on the barrelhead.
Distributed nv King Features Syndicate
Reproduction In Whole ar In Part
strictly Forbidden.