The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-07-19

accept no responsibility for the personal
views OF mr.. Pegler, and often disagree
with them as much as many of his read
ers. His articles serve the good purpose
of making people Think
BY wEsTBRooK PEGLER
Copyright 1945, BY King Features Syndicate.)
NEW YORK, - For two weeks the stand
ard American daily press of New York was
silenced and news blackout was imposed by
small union whose members normally han
died deliveries to the places where the papers
were Sold The submissive attitude of the pub
fishers and the meek acceptance of this condi
ton by the public startling illustration of
the change in our understanding of our rights.
The union is independent, that is to say
not affiliated with either the American FEEDER
alton of Labor or the CLIO, but that fact is
offered only as information, not as criticism
An Independent union has all the rlghts ana
powers of affiliated unions except that the
labor relations board has a prejudice against
them and regularly tries to force them into
one of the big organizations. 1t is however, a
restricted union of limited membership, it
charges high fees and It has other features of
the organized job trust. These are criticisms.
The union defled the War Labor Board where
in believe it within its rights because
have never believed the War Labor Board to
strike, the board threatened the members with
the loss of benefits, amounting to special privi-
leges conferred at public expense which it
never had right to grant. Still the strike
went on until, finally, the publishers bethought
themselves of the forgotten fact that, actually,
when union has violated an agreement and
refused to bargain in good faith and is simply
pressing exorbitant demands regardless of
the interests of all other parties concerned
the employer has right to declare the jobs
vacant and hire other men.
One reason why the employers hesitated so
long is that employers have learned to prefer
to deal with unions rather than men because,
day in and day out, this way saves them trou-
ble The union makes an overall bargain, and
the boss busy with many details OF his bust
ness is glad to pay more money for his help,
if it comes to that and pass along the cost
to his consumers who are other workers. These
other workers also are receiving benefits from
| their employers, through their unions the costs
| of which in turn are passed on to their neigh
| bors and so on around in a circle.
Under agreeable union conditions, the en-
ployer doesn't have to bother with problems
of seniority or individual raises for good work
ers or with loafng or inefficlency. He doesnt
! have to deal with the worker at all but leaves
all that to the union officials who thus become
the real bosses and disciplinarians. The rela-
tionship between the employer and the worker
thus becomes bloodless thing. The workers
are so to speak, the faceless people, called
by their union bosses and the politicians VINO
presume to speak for them 1.-The masses. In
| their name the unioneer makes deal with
| the company for vacation money which the
company pays to the union, no longer know
ing or caring nor having any right to ask
whether the individual worker at vacation time
gets all that has been paid in opposite his
name or only half that much, if any. Usually.
the worker gets considerably less but he has
no complaint against the employer who can
| show that he met his bargain with the work
er's legally authorized agent, the union. AS
an individual, without political gifts or the
! sharp mind of the professional unloneer, the
worker is helpless in the union councils.
Throughout the New Deal this aloofness has
! been represented an ideal condition from
the standpoint of the worker. He is told that
he has been made independent of the employ
err as, for fact he has Meanwhile, how
ever, he has permanently abandoned his right
| to progress as an Individual worker on his
own peculiar merits. He may progress only by
the rigid up-grading system and has become,
| indeed, a nonentty among 1.-The masses" En-
| ployers come to count workers by thousands
and even to lend them one to another in batch
es herds in emergencies, not as men
and women with personalities and names but,
| in sense, as mere brutes, by arrangement
with the Union representatives.
| Naturally, union representatives and politi
clans who appeal to "the masses will pounce
on these observations as evidence of reac-
tonary spirit and a hatred of labor. They
would. These facts are flaws in their design
They sheer at individuality and personality
as illusions devised by enemies of labor to
cause misgivings about labor unity.
During this news blackout in New York there
came into existence a newspaper black mar
ket Smugglers ran the union blockade and
came out with papers which, naturally, sold
for high prices. The people adjusted them
selves to the lack of papers where they had
right to find them and paid bootleg prices
without questioning the right and power of a
private group of 17OO men to shut off the
general circulation by intimidation. The pub
fishers had right to appeal for volunteers TO
take the jobs but from force of habit, contlnu-
ed to plead with the union to send its mem
bers back.
One consideration was fear Of violence
| The publishers had intention to commit
| violence. But so far have we come from 1882
when the government owed the citizen pro-
lection from thugs at all times, that 1t didn't
even occur to them that the police should
i protect those who might have peen hlred to
fill the abandoned jobs.
Finally, in the biggest American city, for
two weeks in time OF great events, hand1ul
of men kept the standard American papers
out of circulation while papers IN Magyar
Russian Italian and other foreign tongues and
communist papers were freely to be had.
-V-