Evening star., 1945-12-05

about the right to strike" which
Mr.. Truman and every one else
freely concede
They insist that the presidential
suggestions are Oppressive" in their
nature and start whining about how
in the present General Motors strike
their efforts to effect settlement
by negotiation and arbitration had
been rejected.
1t is revealing that the bitterest
denunciation in Congress came from
Representative Marcantonio of the
Communist dominated American
Labor party, who denounced the
Truman plan as ''repressive legis-
lation."
OF course, it is nothing Of the
kind. All it Is is the first effort
in 10 years by President to hold
the balance evenly between the
unions and employers, exhaust the
methods of peaceful settlement, as
certain the facts and present them
to the public before a strike is
called.
Only Hope OF Relief.
1t therefore is clear that the
proposals made by President Tru-
man could-and should-have been
made long ago. 1t also can be
said that the recent Labor-Man-
agement Conference could-and
should-have reached an accord on
these lines. But it did not reach
an accord along these lines nor on
any other lines.
1t therefore is clear that the
Truman suggestions offer the only
hope of public relief from the ex-
tremely serious current strikes and
the even more menacing ones which
loom. 1t is true the Presidents pro-
posals are not ideal and that they
offer no real guarantee of perma-
nent peaceful settlement of union
industry controversies. But undoubt-
edly they move in the right direc-
ton. Their adoption would be a
gain for the public, and Mr.. Truman
deserves commendation for putting
them forward.
Not that the Fact-Fnding Board
is a new idea nor, even in the case
OF the railroad brotherhoods. has
1t always worked well. Much de-
pends upon the character of the
board and upon the willingness of
the disputants to accept its recon-
mendattons. There was a notable
instance some years ago when the
railroad unions refused to accept
the findings of the fact-finding
agency, whereupon President Roose-
VeIt recalled the board which then
gave the union what 1t wanted.
Possibly it might work out that way
again. On the other hand. 1t is
wholly in the public interests thus
TO strengthen mediation methods
and acquatnt the people with the
facts.
Two Things to Credit.
And for two things Mr.. Truman
must be given credit. First, for tell
Ing the strikers to call off their
strike and 60 back to work while
the board is functioning. His pred
ecessor never did anything like that
quite the contrary. In this con-
nection it is recalled that Mrs.
Roosevelt, herself a union member
on one occasion gave sympathetic
support to strike without knowing
what the strike was about.
The second thing to Mr. Truman's
credit is that his proposals appar-
entity abandon the dishonest and
pheny plant-seizure policy invented
by Mr.. Roosevelt and utilized bv
the striking unions to obtain pretty
much what they wanted. And as
Q result of which the EMPLOYERS
were pretty heavily penalized in
the process.
The most important thing about
the Truman message is that it Is
bound to be followed by congress
sional action. In the last few years
OF the Roosevelt administration
Congress was anxious to enact leg
islation regulating unions and in
accord with public sentiment. But
1t always found the President lined
up with the unions in opposition
Twice Mr.. Roosevelt, by exerting
his personal influence, killed in the
Senate labor regulatory legislation
passed by the House And finally
the Congress had to pass the inef-
fectual Smith-Connally law over his
veto.
For the first time in years the
Congress and the President now
see eye to eye on the need for a
change in the labor laws. There is
little doubt that both House and
Senate will 60 as far as the Presi-
dent has asked. The probabilities
are they will go little further. At
any rate, Mr.. Truman has cleared
the way for action. Certainly the
repeal of the Smith-Connally Act