The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-01-02
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1914, by King Features Syndica,

By WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1914, by King Features Syndicate.)
WASHINGTON,-About the time that the po-
litical warfare service of the U. S. army
seized Montgomery Wards properties again
as a favor to President Roosevelts party
auxiliary. the CLIO, l was examining on the
history OF the case in preparation for an in
terview with DR.. Frank P. Graham, presi-
dent of the University of North Carolina and
member of the War Labor board. This
board has ordered the company to protect
the integrity of its enemy, the union. by act
ing as its dues collector and by promising
to fire, in a time of critical labor shortage,
any union member who should decide to drop
out Ward refused and the political warfare
service moved in.
DR.. Graham belongs to that section of the
War Labor board known as the public or
impartial and objective group. There are
twelve regular MEMBERS four each for Ia
bor' which Mr.. Biddle the encouragement,
has openly acknowledged a subsidiary of
the New Deal party and government. t h
"employers' and the public On the basis
of his gratuitous public statement of Dec. II
in this case, Doctor Graham appears to be
not a public member but a union man.
The public representation thus would be re-
duced to three and the union strength raised
to five. He is a small man with q slight
Carolina brogue, a strong prejudice in favor
of the unions and great patience for their
perfidies which he would endure until union
ism corrects them voluntarily from within.
He personally disapproves but would legally
tolerate such iniquities by withholding legal
compulson and restraint such as the New
Deal with public approval imposed on Wall
Street. or corporate capital
Doctor Graham hedged on crookedness and
communism in unions and attempted to re-
arrange questions by answering what he would
do if he were a union man under such con-
dltionS. He is not union man, however, and
as public official he takes no account of the
character of a union boss who may be
rascal or declared communist. He considers
only the merits of the controversy between
the union and the employer. Again, tried
to persuade him to say what proportion of
his decisions had gone in favor of unions
and against the employers but here got no
results at all.
AS a new experience in interviewing. I dis
| covered on entering Doctor Graham's office
that young woman was to sit by with a
stereotype and make a record of the entire
convers alton. He explained that this was done
in interviews in which any member discussed
policy. The board, itself, makes policy as it
goes along deciding each case its 'mer-
it's which means that the Roosevelt political
commlssars go as far as they like or dare
| in each controversy, reWardlng or Furnishing
according to their discretion. Doctor Graham
thus explained that action in given case
is regulated by the degree" of interference
with the war effort. Montgomery Wards re-
fusal to serve its enemy the union, was a
case of first degree interference. largely be-
cause, as Roosevelt said, other CLIO workers
in Detroit might strike if the companys prop
erty were not seized. Such strikes would be
a violation of the unions celebrated pledge
and the responsibility of their own officers and
members. Nevertheless, Roosevelt and Ora
ham decided that the company was wrong
| in tempting unions not employed by them to
violate their obligation and therefore was pun
ishable for offenses contemplated but not yet
committed by others.
| In his statement of Dec. II, Doctor Graham
had made an astonishing comparison. He COM
pared the Ward company to the south in
the civil war and observed that the southern
states were compelled to accept the policies
! OF the nation and maintain their member
| ship in the union
Montgomery Ward" he said, cannot es-
tablish the sovereignty of the corporation over
| the nation in the midst of war for the
security OF corporations, unions and all our
| free Institutions Applying this he made
| the security of a CLIO clerks union. a political
cohort of the Roosevelt party. paramount with
the security of the United States. Wards de-
| fance similar to the southern rebellion.
Here, he said, issue of sovereignty.
| Ward was trying to override the war policy
of the nation and the army acted in the
interest Of a partisan political group whose
bosses were unable to keep them loyal. 1t
was vital to preserve unions even though dis
satisfied members might prefer to drop out
and while this coercion would indeed, de-
prive such people of measure of their hu-
man rights and dignity, this loss would be
| compensated the long run by their gain
| in economic security.
THE American people, his statement said.
| "a p maintenance of membership"
When he was asked when they had voted on
this he answered that they did it when the
House of Representatives voted 204 to 70,
which would be about half the membership,
against proposal to prohibit such clauses.
At the end we mentioned the defiance of
his board and of Roosevelt, himself. by jim
my Petrillo, the president of the Musicians
union.
| That was different. The minor degree of
danger to the war effort mitigated the offense
and made punishment unnecessary.
| Petrillo is a Roosevelt political worker and
| a campaign contributor