The Wilmington morning star., 1945-11-30
Fair Enough
Nv wEsTBROOK PEGLER

operation Of sympathetic unions in other in.
dustries and, for the remainder, by the neces.
sity of still other industries to shut up shop
for lack of materials and markets for their
products Imitation, want vast unrest, rising
to violent disorder and even revolution are
the obvious probabilities and certainly are the
design Of the communists engaged in this at
tempt. But another probability is the passage
of sound laws for the control Of organizations
which, at present, have the power to overthrow
the government on the pretext of legitimate
disputes over wages.
It has been noted tnat for the first time
since 1893, a President Of the United States,
Mr.. Truman, recently admonished unions in a
way to put the public interest and the national
welfare above he will Of union executives
who invariably engineer and manage such
strikes, with pretense that they are merely
obeying the expressed will Of their subject
members In the General Motors strike it may
be admitted, only for the sake Of argument,
that the vote was legitimate, with reminder,
however, that in the Allis-C Chalmers strike of
the same union, during Stalin's collaboration
with Hitler, communists in the U.A.W. caused
1000 fraudulent votes to be cast and counted.
The purpose there was to keep this country
weak in arms and the tools of production and
u
against Stalin's ally, Adolf Hitler.
But, even granted that the vote was honest
ly conducted and counted this time, the fact
remains that the issue which caused the strike
was not created by the rank and file but
cooked up by the union executives. The issue
is a 80 per cent increase in pay with a pro-
viso that no part Of this increase should be
passed along to the consuming public.
Naturally, a 80 per cent raise appeals to
the workers but the insistence against any in
crease in the sale price Of cars is a device
Of the little group Of union executives to Jim.
my their way into the management of the
company by searching its books, which are
private property, just a. the unions books are,
and debating the degree of its profits, if any.
To the communists, the alternative of a ma
tional general strike and its consequences is
even more desirable than the smaller step to-
ward union rule of industry.
This intention was revealed inadvertently
about the time that Franklin D. Roosevelt was
being nominated for his fourth term when a
union agent told an executive Of company
manufacturing ball and roller bearings that,
when Russia was saved from Hitler, the
American communists would slash at the jugu-
ar. General Carl Spaatz striking from Eng
land, had crippled Germany's production OF
bearings for marine equipment, land vehicles
and countless machines of war production, by
bombing the German bearing factories at
SchWeinfurt. The communists made note of
this for future action. At present this threat
is being fulfilled in Canton, O., and Philadel-
phia by subjects Of Phillip Murray, the presi-
dent Of the C.I.O. who have been prevented
company executives from entering their Of
fees and, by force of numbers, have produced
anarchy through intimidation of the police, the
courts and the elected public officials.
Everything that rolls on wheels requires
bearings Engines require them. Railroad
equipment, now badly dilapidated and scant
cannot move or even be produced without
them.
In collaboration with the bearing workers
the Auto Workers Union now strikes General
Motors and the results ramify way back to
the mines and forests, the glass factories
through the railroad and motor freight lines,
into every conceivable area and recess of eco
nomic life, even to the church collections.
Given sufficient time, these few exec
utives. pretending to stand against imitation
by opposing increases in the cost of automo.
biles, can throw out Of work not mere halt
million or million workers but almost all of
the workers in the United States. Whether
their own subjects will be able to draw un-
employment pay from their respective states
we do not know, although in areas where they
dominate elections they probably can do so
regardless Of the law as to that. But those
millions OF others who must be laid off by
indirect result OF this strike are not voluntarily
idle and therefore probably will be eligible
The drain on public funds thus imposed also
was foreseen and another calculated result
was the necessity Of these millions to cash
in their war bonds at deprecated prices to
pay lntlatlonary prices for necessities which,
becoming scarce, naturally will be held at
black market figures with the O.P.A. power
less in the presence of such an enormous
problem.
If Mr.. Truman gives leadership in course
which would be praised by the millions of
Americans whose future is here menaced by
the design of few union executives, the old
Roosevelt blockade in the Senate can be blast
ed. The lower house repeatedly has passed
fair, moderate bills which were smothered in
the Senate by menials who touched their fore
locks to the White House. But the temper of
the people has changed. War veterans are be-
ing locked out of jobs in more and more in
takers Of the old Roosevelt regime have shown
to 60 too far.
AS for the Auto Workers Union ITSELF which
made a disgraceful war record, the situation
is not as sound as the bluff of the executive
bosses would make it seem. They lost enor-
nous groups of subjects and their monthly
dues and occa sional assessments when air {.
plane production for the war dropped off
abruptly. The created the issue at an awk-