The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-11-29
Fair Enough
nv wEsrBRoOK PEGLER
(Copyriht, 1916, by King Features Syndicate)

lust a hopeful CLEAN in President Truman's
heart, that there is, in fact, as John l.. Lewis
observed last summer, no labor movement in
the United States There is union move
ment and political movement but it is to-
talitarian by nature and not voluntary as
ISOLATION of workers for the legltlmate pur-
poses Of free Americans.
The conference was foredoomed because
American labor has no national leaders with
authority to make commitments for the body
of labor and is mostly falsely represented by
Jealous imposters who are hopelessly COM
promised by obligations to criminals and or
communists and politicians. They do not trust
one another even within the respective house.
holds of the A. F. of l.. and the CLIO,
thew are afraid to denounce thieves and
traitors lest the thieves and traitors denounce
them in turn and they are preoccupled with
their own segments of power, their ampltlons
and their pay and expense accounts which,
in the conspicuous case of old Dan Tobin.
of the teamsters, sum up to truly royal state.
Lewis. himself, is independent in the sense
that he is lone wolf and he is by all
odds the smartest negotiator and scuttle-butt
LAWYER in the trade but he is dictator and
the invalldiy of his leadership is shown by
his insistence on the closed shop and the
check-off. A genuine labor leader doesn't need
conapulsions written into contract With the
employer to make labor join his union or
compulsion to make them pay their Dues But
not even those compulsons have been suf-
ficient to make up for the lack OF genuine
leadership in those who purport to be Ameri-
can labor leaders and Who by ignorance,
carelessness or sly design are constantly re-
ferred to in our papers as such.
They need and have laws to make American
labor accept them as leaders and to make
the employers take up the dues collections
and keep the books for them, and, during the
war the national government actually did per-
form such services, VIGOROUSLY In the ship
yards of that moist and, for time, convlnc-
ing friend of the working man, Henry Kaiser,
Old Henry was doing quite well for Henry
in the shipbuilding trade and made deal
with the bolermakers at time when he had
only handful of employees which was bind
ing on others who later applied for jobs to
the number of the population of good-sized
city. Because Henry had made deal with
racket both convenient and profitable Tor him,
these people had to join and pay and not
only that but had to buy insurance from the
son of the union president, lose their jobs.
This case was typical, in principle, although
unusual in size, of the patronage which these
professional head hunters calling themselves
labor leaders enjoyed from the Roosevelt po-
litical organization in return for political con-
tributions and paid propaganda.
OF late, notwithstanding my spiritual and
social uneasiness in such company, / have
been pleased to observe the conversion by my
preaching of number Of individuals of some
pretenson as patrons of the union racket. On
Labor day, Ickes, LaGuardia and SchWellen.
bach all SWITCHED a few bars Of music oft
my rack, Ickes and the belly becoming sud-
denly aware that scoundrels hold credentials
from unions and SchWellenbach awakening to
the fact that there is in our country an ele-
ment known as 1.-The public" whose rights are
greater than those of the Tobins and Petrillos
and whose powers, once the public is sui
ficiently annoyed, will be greater, too.
Now discover that Mrs. Eleanor Herrick,
regional director Of the National Labor Re-
lations Board in the dirty days of the domi-
nation of that terroristic bureau by communist
appointees of the late Mr.. Roosevelt has come
around to my way of thinking that the workers
should have some means of throwing out "err-
ing executives'' by whom I take it that she
means the likes of Tobin's old friend, George
Browne, who sat with Tobin on the executive
council or cabinet of the A. F. of L.
BY this time, Mrs. Herrick has hedged so
far in the direction of my position as to pro-
pose the regulation of unions in terms similar
to those of the Railway Labor Act, which is
not a solution, to be sure, for labor still would
be subject to dictatorial rule, misrepresenta-
ton and political assessments, but another in
dicat.on that the jam is loosening. Recalling
that during her time in this region the Labor
Relations Board was fixing to cite an en-
ployer on charge of unfair labor practise
because he had sent through the mails re-
production of one of my essays, I count this
quite a gain.
But most heartening, not because it repre-
sents change in his position but because he
seldom speaks unless he has something to
say, l find Judge John c. Knox, a Wilson
democrat and one of the most effective op-
ponents of Roosavelt's scheme to pack the
courts, advocating system of special courts
to handle union disputes and impose law on
the unions.
I have not read the entire article but an
excerpt from piece which he has done for
something called the Washington News Digest
says that as between organized capital and
organized labor, peace order, fair dealing and
justice do not exist and that we must see
to it that the principles by which individuals
live quietly and securely are made applicable
to labor disputes.
"Can it be- he asks, "tha. in the next
national campaign some aspirant for the pres
idency will dare proclaim that as against the
| unjust demands of both capital and labor, the
day of deliverance is near at hand? Labor
| talks loudly of the necessity of preserving
democracy. Democracy it is true, must be
preserved But so long as any labor leaders
are autocrats and act without restraints the
characterization of labor is an impossibility.' -