Detroit evening times., 1945-10-18
PAUL
NaALLON
Behind
The News

about getting a new labor board.
Frankly no one here thinks
this VIII do the jon. You cannot
patch up a flood
Unless the government takes
hold of the fundamentals and
solves them. there will be
strikes from now on.
The union C. "A m p / en- has
passed from the economic into
the political stage
Their Wartlm campaigns
were plotted on economic
grounds They maSsed figures
20 claim prices had advanced
more than wages and therefore
demanded wage increases TO the
same extent prices had ad-
NanCed
They have switched their
strategy away from that ground
entirely Now they want a 30
per cent wage increase, not
claiming prices have advanced,
but on the new ground that they
want 10 maintain national pur-
chasing power.
THE same symptoms are evil
L dent IN the position of John
Lewis "a eeal.-First he got his
wage increase on price
grounds, then developed some
thing new called portal-to-
portal 10 claim additional in
CreaseS which could not be JUS
titled on price grounds. and now
is fomenting for foremen in
whom he was never before in
tercStcd
Thus labor has dropped the
appeal 10 the public for justice,
the popular appeal which made
the unions what they are today.
A patchwork handling of this
-caaGlNaR-eaH-eRly Rly-lead to
greater success for the unions
along their present line. There
must lw Us necessarily be
more strikes. more and more
wage increases for any reasons,
higher and higher prices. The
situation thus will never get
settled. on this current line it
can never be stabilized.
MR.. TRUMAN no doubt thinks
vi he IS playing good politics,
as Mr.. Roosevelt did with the
same methods, but I do not
think so. Mr.. Roosevelt could
get away with it economically
because the situation was only
starting then.
Now il has reached a zenith
which means the unions have
more control over economic
policy Of the nation than the
government. They can force the
country into initiation against
Mr. Truman own policy. To
deliver his controls 10 the pres
SurCS of union political action
can have but one result--defeat
of his economic policies and
therefore of himself.
If the unions continue with
out responsibility to the nation
but only 10 their own causes,
they must inevitably force in
natIon to its upper limits and
beyond into economic collapse
and finally into socialism, of
either the Russian. German or
possibly Cbut not probably) of
the proposed American type.
IN FLATION n means bank
Il ruptcy and the world knows
no answer 10 that except arbi-
trary Socialism-a dictatorship
which requires men 10 do the
VIII of a slngle-headed state.
Such events would hardly
bring Mr.. Truman any political
success. or the unions in the
long run, as tho army would no
doubt operate our dictatorship.
An economic policy for the
good of the people as a whole
must be established beyond
reach of the unions. A basis of
Justice for all must be estab-
Ishcd I'M place of the Roosevelt
policy Of lusticc-for-the-unions-
morc-th1n-any onc-elSc,
TIIE unions cannot assume A
L national responsibility. Their
very position as "A minority class
group prevents them from genu-
lncIy assuming character
based ON national interest
But they must be made re-
sponSlhlc 10 the public, the gov-
eminent and their own member.
ship by laws placing them on A
Just footing with other class
groups such as farmers and nom
union workers, ny requiring
them 10 incorporate or other
wise making them responsible
for their actions before the law
and the public
To force them 10 incorporate
would make them pay taxes 10
support the country as others
do. cause them 10 assume a
genuine financial responsibility
so their members can see where
their h8rd-caned money goes.
They could sue and be sued.
Then the public through the
government would have some
hold ON them Their strikes
would have 10 be justified, and
their appeals made 10 Justice,
rather than to runaway pres
sure They could deal with
business on an equal plane
This y the only way ] can
find IN logic or common sense
10 prevent inevitable imitation.
collapse and socialism.