Evening star., 1945-12-30
Reuther Warns Of
Nationwide War
Of lubor-Industry
By the Associated Press.

VI .uOot-IHuuStIy
By the Associated Press.
Tert OF statement issued last
night by Walter P. Reuther, pice
president OF United Auto Work.
ers, in connection tUith the ,Dage
dispute Dith General Motors:
The Presidents fact finding board
will shortly report its findings and
recommendations in the UAW- -CIO-
General Motors wage dispute to
President Truman.
II those findings and recommen-
dations are based upon the arith-
metic Of the case, and If the Presi-
dent and the American people will
insist that the Wall Street man
ayers of General Motors Corp. hon.
estly negotiate an agreement based
on the economic facts in the case,
General Motors workers and the
American people will be spared a
winter Of industrial war that may
spread to all Of American industry.
I'VE are encouraged by the fact
that the corporations attempt to
dictate the terms of the investiga-
tion and its arrogant departure from
the hearings have not swerved nor
slowed down the work of the Presi-
dents fact finding board.
Hope for Report Next Week.
"We hope that the board will
complete its task next week and
that the President may move
swiftly to acquaint the American
people with the boards findings
and recommendations. This strike
is costing the corporation little in
money but much in public conf
dence and respect.
The corporation is falling further
and further behind in the make
ready race for mass production in
1916. Naturally, General Motors
workers want the strike ended at
the earliest possible date, both be-
cause they want to get back to work
and because they want the great
General Motors productive machine
to be turning out goods next year
along with the other units in the
automobile industry.
But the General Motors workers,
who have already sacrificed so
much in this strike, will not accept
less than the 80 per cent increase
In wage rates needed to maintain
take-home pay, except and to the
extent that the economic facts may
show that General Motors cannot
pay that increase without increas-
ing prices to the consumers.
Will Determine Future Economy.
We agree with the spokesmen for
the Wall Street officials of General
Motors who are sacrificing the cor
poration's production-operatin pol
icies to their own financial policies
that the determination of this dis
pute will largely determine the fu-
ture Of the Nations economy.
In this wage dispute we are fight
ing with all the determination and
sincerity We possess for the winning
OF the peace here on the home front.
The Wall Street lawyers who have
been substituted for the operat-
ing management raise the moth
eaten battle flags that the forces of
Especial privilege have carried for
the past hundred and fifty years.
Theirs are the voices and the
slogans of the past. America is GO
ing forward to a better future, of
full employment, full production
and full consumption. We believe
that the American people will not
be frightened by hysterical screams
of revolution" We are through
with blind acceptance of the bad
old days of boom and bust, of
chronic mass unemployment.
Welfare to Be Promoted.
General Motors workers are de-
termlned not only that they shall
not be pushed further down the
treadmill by reduced take-home pay,
but that the national welfare and
their own security and opportunity
shall be promoted by maintenance of
take-home pay as the first step for
ward toward the achievement of a
standard of living so per cent better
than we have ever had before.
The workers demands to maintain
take-home pay, keep prices down
and thereby maintain and increase
purchasing power are geared to the
welfare of the whole community, the
needs of the whole Nation.
We refuse to operate as an eco
nomic pressure group attempting to
make progress at the expense of
the community. We want to make
progress with the community.
View Called Revolution.
1t is this realistic and construc-
tive view of the wage-price-profit
relationship which GIN spokesman
Historically call revolution"
II General Motors rehash today of
Walter Gordon Merritt's speech yes
terday before the Presidents fact
finding board represented the think
ing of all American business, then
we would have to say, God help the
American people.
War veterans and the common
people could write off their war
time sacrifices as bad investments
and kiss goodby to the promises
of the four freedoms-full employ
ment, full production and full con-
sumption.
Here is expressed again-and un-
doubtedly will be reproduced in ex-
pensive advertising throughout the
Nation, the socially backward
thinking of the Wall Street wing
as opposed to the production wing
of General Motors management
1t amounts to another instance of
the failure of big business to meet
its social responsibilities.
Enterprise Cannot Remain Free.
Free enterprise cannot for long
remain either free or enterprising
under such leadership and such