Evening star., 1945-01-01

Board and prepares to go to court
Mr.. Roosevelt promptly and boldly
seizes his property and puts the Wal
Department in charge of his busi-
ness. But when a labor leader, de-
manding further wage increases
points a pistol at the head of the
Government and refuses to accept q
War Labor Board decision, the
President timidly says there is moth
ing he can do.
He does this even when the labor
leader is a political opponent instead
of, as most of them are, political
supporter. And in the case OF Mr.
James Caesar Petrillo, the music
car, he was not only timid and inert
but abject.
The contrast, however, is chiefly
between the treatment of Mr.. Sewen
Avery and Mr.. John l.. Lewis. One
need hold no brief for the former to
maintain that, though his defiance
is far less fragrant and his offense
much less serious, he gets infinitely
harsher treatment. When he makes
an issue, Mr.. Roosevelt gives him
the works" hits him with the full
weight of the Governn ent.
Wringing His Hands,
But when Mr.. Lewis contemptu-
ously f1outs the labor boards order
and makes an issue that threatens
the war effort and the national Sc
curity (of which there was no sug-
gestion in the Ward case) Mr..
Roosevelt, as Mr.. Mark Sullivan de-
clares, with a manner of wringing
his hands" said there was no way
out by which he could compel a
labor leader or a labor union. to
comply with directives of the War
Labor Board.
So, Mr.. Lewis and Mr. Petrillo, the
labor leaders, get away with their
ugly defiance of the Government OF
the United States, get more money
for their unions and go completely
unparalleled and unrebuked. That
Lewis incident last year left an ex-
ceedingly bad taste in the mouths of
most Americans. Infiicting heavy
punishment upon employer and
knuckling under to the labor leader
seemed a shameful performance. Its
utter unfairness was not-and could
not be-defended.
The only reply administration
spokesmen ever made was that the
unions had nothing to seize and con-
sequently the President was unable
to act. In brief, when a bold labor
leader chooses to defy the Govern
ment during the greatest of all wars
all the President can do IS wiring his
hands and let him get away with IT.
This Is nonsense 1t is nonsense
to say that a competent Department
of Justice lacks the ingenuity to find
some effective means of proceeding
against defiant labor boss just as
it proceeds against the defiant en-
ployer.
But, granting the incompetence
and lack of resource Of the depart
ment, does that mean the President
could do nothing but knuckle under?
It should not. What was to prevent
him laying the facts before Congress
and asking for a law that would
make it possible to do something?
Perhaps, the unions have nc
plants to seize but a law making Il
possible to impound their funds anc
heavily fine the labor leader per-
Sonally, as well as his union, GER
tainly would be effective. He could
have gotten such a law with record
breaking speed.
And if, because of the opposition
of his supporting labor leaders tt
any restrictive legislation, he couie
not bring himself to ask Congress tt
act, what prevented him from de,
nouncing the labor leaders defiance
of the Government and branding
him publicly?
Repetition of Defiance.
There were plenty of things HI
could have done, but he did none O.
them. And now it is stated tina
early in the new year Mr.. Lewis
plans a repetition of that defiance
With apparently justified confidence
he proposes again to demand higher
wages for his United Mine Worker.
Union.
II he gets even part of what he
intends to ask, he will bust the
WLB's ceiling over wages. He viii
do more than that-he will insure
following demands from other union
heads which cannot be denied. He
will precipate another battle on the
imitation front, in which the Gov
ernment's line is certain to be bent
if not broken.
That means a general rise in the
cost of living at home and of the wa,
abroad. That is the prospect, ana
Il isn't pleasant one.
Since Mr.. Lewis's successful de-
fiance not single step to equip the
President with power to do some
thing has been taken. None has
even been proposed. So, if again
Mr.. Lewis defies the WLB. appar-
entity all Mr.. Roosevelt will do is
again to wiring his hands and again
cav there Is nothing tn do