Evening star., 1945-10-12

businesses this is an economic i'm
possibility, if they want to keep SOL
vent, this labor policy" falls SO far
short of meeting existing conditions
that it Is ridiculous. True, it is just
as much a labor policy as the Roose-
velt administration had-and is just
as inadequate in meeting serious
strike situations. Under Mr.. Roose-
welt, even during the war, there was
no Government board nor official
which could not be flouted by the
MISUNDERSTANDING the War Labor
Board and the Labor Secretary.
Also the so-called Smith Connally
antistrike law proved utterly futile
The only thing it accomplished
was to compel the Government to
conduct the strike votes in the
plants and pay the not inconsider-
able costs.
PEt of Labor Strategy.
When strikes occurred which i'm
periled the war effort, the boards
and officials tried to reason, concili-
ate, compromise and arbitrate. But
when these failed-as they always
dio-to placate the unions and both
Government and industries pro-
posals and pleas were rejected, the
administration had but one thing to
fall back upon-seizure of the plants.
Thus the employers lost control
of their business, suffered heavy
losses and the principle for which
they were contending was wholly
submerged. In brief, seizure of the
plants was equivalent to victory for
the unions. 1t was-and is-part
of their strategy. Before the en-
ployers got their property back the
strikers always got large part of
what they demanded. This was la
Dor policy which encouraged strikes.
Practically. it made the Govern
ment a party to them. 1t utterly
failed to protect the public interests
or to be fair between industry and
labor.
The Truman labor policy is in no
essential different from the Roose-
velt labor policy. Mr.. Truman has
put the War Labor Board, the Eco
nomic Sterilization Administration
and various other labor agencies
under the Secretary of Labor. But
these give that official not one bit
more real power to settle a strike,
except through seizure, than he
had before.
The really discouraging thing is
that this administration, like the
last one, not only has no clear idea
OF what to do in these industrial
labor conflicts but is influenced by
political fears which prevent any,
thing like dealing with these situa-
tlons on their merits Mr.. Truman
is not as tightly linked to the CIO
as was Mr.. Roosevelt, but he, never
theleSS, is tied in with it to some
extent, and around him are quite a
number of men thoroughly con-
vinced that the CIO Is politically
indispensable to Democratic sue
cess.
One or two of these are in the
cabinet. In addition, there are
several other "holdovers" from the
Roosevelt Inner circle" who can be
correctly described as CIO crea-
lures. With complete unanimity
these believe the basic political es-
sential for this administration is
to continue pro-labor, on the theory
that to lose the favor of the labor
leaders Is to invite defeat.
Mr.. Truman so far has given no
indication of disagreeing with this
attitude. He is said to feel that or
ganized labor has rather let him
down by prematurely affecting the
Nation with these damaging strikes
before reconversion can get under
way. But apparently he has no
plans to curtail or control them, ex-
cept to follow the Roosevelt formu-
la of seizing plants.
Nor has he given any sign of
approving the Burton Ball Hatch
Dill, which would correct the glar-
f1g injustices Of the Wage Act and
put labor-industrial relations on a
far sounder basis. Among the
things the bill would do is to make
illegal strikes in public utilities.
That such a provision would be
overwhelmingly approved through
out the country there is no room
for doubt.
Yet, until and unless the unor-
ganized majority of citizens can
r. f1nd some way to convince the
White House politicians that it
does not pay politically for the
Government in every Industrial
labor controversy to throw its
-. weight on the labor side and that
there are more votes to be lost
than won by courting and coddling
:, labor leaders, sound legislation on
this subject cannot go through and
the administration will continue
Its servile and one-sided attitude
to the detriment of business gen.
orally and the Nation as a whole.
The President is said to think
that the forthcoming management
labor conference will solve this
problem for him. But few share
this expectation. It is a vain hope.