The Wilmington morning star., 1945-02-23
Fair Enough
BY wEsTBRooK PEGLER

last summer and fall in accepting the Wagner
act as permanent thing and praising it as a
good and necessary law. This seemed to me
to be Just bid for votes and doubt that it
won him a single vote because those who
believe this is good and necessary law
would 70 along with the man who put it over.
This. of course wasn't Senator Bob Wagner
Of New York, an ldtime Tammanyite no bet
ter than the political environment that pro-
duced him, although he has been sold in a
gaudy package as one OF those progressive
and humane numbers. 1t was Franklin D.
Roosevelt who put the thing over and it is of
piece with his Nazi-Communist quest for
power over the people in which, so o1ten, ne
has made them think he was doing them some
wonderful favor when, in fact, ne was just
measuring them for another pair OF leg-lrons.
Dewey should have torn the Wagner act to
shreds and let the votes 60 where they might
because it is bad law and totalltarlan man.
trap. Some of the most intelligent union men
in the country agree that this is so and would
be pleased to see it stripped down to SIM
pie affirmation of labor's right to organize
forbidding employers to fire workers for join
ing unions, with penalties for violation.
sincere labor relations law could be admins
tered by the regular federal grand juries, dis
trict attorneys and judges like other laws
This thing created furtive, undermined bu-
reau with the powess of judge, jury, prose-
cutor and complaining witness.
The evil of this law to labor itself is that it
undertakes to take over the functions OF the
unions, which are their only reason for exis-
tence. 1t drives bargains for them 1t compels
employers to sign contracts and the agents of
the labor relations board actually serve as
union organizers. It even collects dues and
fees for the unions. Thus the unions are
| changing into mere political party auxiliaries
The trouble with Dewey and most other
Republicans is that they despair OF convn-
cling De0Dle that all this ia had for labor The
Wagner act has had the benefit OF an enor-
nous propaganda and any Republican cand-
date or party worker who says it is bad and
explains why, has two strikes on him. The
unioneers of the Roosevelt Nazi-Communist
movement would call him a Fascist, a re-
| dictionary, 4 labor-hater and probably Tory.
incidentally, Roosevelts own use of the word
Tory epithet has been fascinating i'm
pudence, like Hitler's denunciation of Pluto
democratic war-makers, because his own fam
lily were Tories in the days when Toryism
meant selfish devotion to the oppressive gov
eminent Of the English king.
Nevertheless anyone who really believes the
act is vicious should have the integrity to
damn it menace to the freedom of Amer
lean labor and never mind the votes. Let
Roosevelt have his act and welcome because,
If the country hasn't clean out of luck one
of these days the people will come out of the
ether and kick out his political heirs and undo
dldate for president l would much rather be
licked as badly ALT Landon was, or worse,
than owe my election to my hypocritical en-
dorsement of law which 1 would place at
the top of my list for repeal or revision.
Francis Biddle, the attorney general, an
nounced last year that the new deal party
was allied to unionism. He would have been
more honest had he said that the Roosevelt
party had absorbed the unions and beWitched
and degraded their members, taken over the
unions, duties and reduced them to complete
| subsection Mussolini and Hitler did, usually
in collision with the big employers.
| Henry Kaiser, after long masquerade in
non-poltical colors, recently has made him
self conspicuous among the Roosevelt adher-
ence. He is juicy and dsarming fellow whose
miracles of production have been ballyhooed
| extrava ganty while other miracle men of in
dustry have been low-rated because they hate
the Wagner act and could not be successfully
| charged with any kind words for Roosevelt,
himself. Kaisers policy has been to give the
unions anything. When he had only skeleton
OF MS present enormous shipbuilding organ
lzation, he gave the Boilermakers' union a
closed shop which was to cover hordes of
workers not yet engaged and not yet even
arrived on the Pacific coast.
That was the Wagner act for you but you will
observe that the union was not chosen by
the workers. Kaiser chose their bargaining
agent 1or them. He also relieved the union of
the task of persuading these people, organic
ing them and fighting their battles. The
money for their wages was coming out of the
taxpayers and the union getting its cut
light off the top even before taxes. The same
thing happened often in Italy and Germany
If this union then, like many others, levied
political assessment those workers for
Roosevelts fourth term campaign, there, again
the scheme was cribbed right out of the book
| Of Fascism.
| Compromise bedamned but say that if the
Wagner act must stay then the time will come
when the people will make congress pass laws
controlling the unions. If the government is
going to drive people into unions, it has got to
make those unions respect their constitutional
rights, and stay out of politics, limit the dues
and regulate the use of this money.
Some day, i believe, the majority Of tho
voters will appreciate the evil of all The
and perceive the similarity to Hitlerism Mean
while have had the satisfaction of beino riaL.
while the majority of the people were ont u.
step and out of tune. -
so THEY saw