Evening star., 1945-09-21

President on Monday to place his
Labor Secretary in stronger position
to conciliate and adjust. A great
deal depends upon how Mr.. Schwel-
lenbach uses his increased power.
During the war, while the phony
mo strike" pledge was vociferously
advertised, the Nation was afflicted
with an unprecedented number Of
strikes which seriously impeded the
flow of vitally important war ma
terials.
Now that peace has come the same
situation exists in regard to recon-
version. Beating their breasts and
proclaiming their public spirit, these
professional labor leaders have in
sisted upon their anxiety to promote
the orderly and swift change from a!
war economy back to a peace econ
only and upon their eagerness to
avert unnecessary unemployment.
Reverse of Promises.
Just as during the war period
what they are doing in the peace
period is the exact reverse of their
promises and professions Instead of
cooperating with industry in the re-
conversion movement, which, once
reasonably under way. will, in the
opinion of the most competent and
informed authorities, be fol-
lowed by period Of great prosperity
and full employment-instead of
cooperating in this, they have gone
in the opposite direction.
AS a result. many thousands Of
workers are out on strike; great
factories have been obliged to close
down: the United Automobile Work
ers' Union, without attempting to
make out a case. has demanded
30 per cent fiat increase. Other
unions have made equally large
demands, and an almost record
breaking voluntary idleneSs seems
about to fall upon the workers Of
the country.
All this has come at a time when
Industrial and labor harmony is
most essential. without it, diff
culties of the great domestic prob
lens created by the war will be
vastly enhanced and the chance of
an unnecessary national economic
collapse very greatly increased.
No one who fairly faces the facts
will deny the truth of this. They
fully prove that for their own
selfish and short-sighted purposes,
these professionals again will use
an acute national crisis to promote
their own special interests at the
expense of the general interests.
The indefensible nature of these
strikes can best be presented by
briefing the facts about the one in
the Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Co., as
result Of which the Ford plant had
to lay off 10000 workers and various
other stoppages have occurred.
Last April the Kelsey-Hayes Co
OF Detroit discharged 13 men for
participation in the bodily election
Of two foremen from its plants on
three separate occasions. The War
Labor Board assumed jurisdiction
over the strike that followed and
late in August ordered the COM
pany to reinstate nine of the l3
but approved the discharge of four
Before the company could signify
its acceptance of the order, the
union bosses notified it that unless
all l3 were reinstated, the plant
would be shut down.
Issue Clear in the Case.
The issue in the case clearly was
whether management shall have the
right to control or discipline its en-
ployeS for a series of acts of violence
IN its plants. The company, real
izing that if 1t yielded it would lose
all control OF its business, said no"
most emphatically. They would
much rather 90 out of business.
And this is not the only strike of
its kindly any means. For one
reason or another-some of them
exceedingly trivial - strikes have
multiplied in the land-and many
serious ones. calculated to slow the
business wheels almost to a stop
are threatened.
A planned general demand for
large increases in wages is going up
from unions all over the country,
ana very recently great encourage
ment was given to unions every
where to make demands by high
Government official whose press
conference statements were inter-
preted to mean a Government plan
to raise wages so per cent without
raising prices.
There, of course, is no way to rec
oncile that attitude with reason, and
President Truman allayed the nat
ural alarm thereby created; first, by
eliminating the official; second, by
declaring that he "oid not speak for
this administration"
But this will not stop the drive
now on. In the end, of course. there
will be an advance in wages, but
there also will be an advance in
prices which will make living more
costly, lessen the purchasing power
of the dollar, enhance the danger