Evening star., 1946-01-24
Letters to The Star
Blames "the Government" for
Wave of Labor Troubles

In The Evening Star OF January 81,
the strike leader Of the Homestead steel
workers was quoted as having said: "A
man has got to have a good excuse not
to report for picket duty. If he refuses
to show up he gets fined $40 and he
won't be able to hold any union Office
for two years."
I wonder how long the average Amer
ican workman is going to put up with
that type of ultimatum? Assuredly, he
is more subjected to authority at the
hands of boss unionism than he is at
the hands of his employer. In a land
where he theoretically has freedom of
choice as to where he will work, he must
pay tribute to union bosses for the privi-
lege of securing and holding his job.
He must pay a fine for the right to
work.
Management condones the growth of
this evil by the granting Of the closed
shop and the checkoff system. En-
ployers collect the workers dues at the
source and turn them over to the union
as tribute for being unmolested and per-
mitted to 60 about the business of
profit making; and then the tax-exempt
unions bludgeon the employers into
further submissions and further con-
cessions.
The closed shop and the checkoff
system also are supported by the Gov
ernment and the courts and they, too.
are as surely to be subjected to stran-
gulatlon as is American business. The
CIo restricts the free entrance and
egress of those who wish to work. Wit
ness the exhibition at Pontiac, Mich.
where an injunction against picketing
at General Motors plant was openly
defied by the union picket lines. Witness
the pitched battles with law enforce
ment officers in Los Angeles when they
attempted to escort workers past picket
lines. Witness the revolt against Gov
eminent authority in the mass demon
strations of our soldiers in foreign lands.
It's mighty unhealthy situation all
the way around and the solution could
be so easily found with little CUTS in
Government. There lies the trouble.
When the war started, price ceilings
should have been placed on every pur-
chasable thing and the ceilings should
have been kept in effect.
But is that the way 1t workedp
Hardly. A price of so much per bushel
OF corn was pegged and a price of so
much per pound of hog on the hoof was
flxed. but then the farmer couldn't sell
his hogs without loss on each animal.
So pressure was brought, terrific pres
sure, to raise the ceiling price on pigs,
And SO it progressed, with each pres
sure group lobbying for its own special
interest and Government yielding, al
ways yielding, and with prices rising.
The costs OF living admittedly have gone
gone up 33ls per cent and that despite an
avowed policy to hold the line on prices.
II the board of directors or the manage
ment OF any corporate enterprise were
so lacking in their ability to operate
along the lines of an avowed policy,
their stockholders would throw them
out l see no reason why the party in
power with their pitiful lack of success
with their avowed policy have any right
to criticize labor for the strikes now in
progress or to condemn MANAGEMENT
for refusing to grant unreasonable SAL
ary increases
Inc Government Is directly and solelv
responsible for the deplorable state of
affairs existing today and as for ability
to arbitrate and equitably settle labor
capital disputes. it strains ones reason
to assume that the agent directly re-
sponsible for the trouble can solve It
successfully. BILL WERBER.
Sees Strikes Prelude to Dawn
To the Editor of The Star:
industrial strife, believe, is only a
series OF shadows preceding the dawn
OF an unexampled era of peace, wisdom.
understanding, mutually and prosper
ity.
1t is regrettable, however that only
a small minority of our leaders in labor
industry and the Government seem to
be guided by this conviction.
We Americans, as I think, have at
hand the greatest aggregation of men
and women representing human power.
money and natural resources that the
world ever has seen.
what are We waiting for? Who Is
delaying the inevitable?
tPerhspS these questions, this point of
view, appear idealistic. But I regard
them as realistic to the extent and de-
gree that ideas must be timely. work.
able, efficient and economical
w. H. VAN STAVERN.
Calls for Resistance to Unions
To the Editor of the Star:
On the first page of The Star for jan
uary 81 is displayed statement attrib-
uted to Philip Murray that the steel
strike will continue until this industry
accepts the decision of the President
of the United States.
I vigorously protest the bald assump-
tion that the United States has made
a decision. No person, not even the
President, has been authorized by Con-
sress to represent or speak or decide
for the United States in this matter.
God save the day when labor union
wrongly privileged above all other
groups in this country, can call on the
people to support it in breach of con-
tract with impunity that throws the
whole country into turmoil.
I am not opposed to labor unions as
such, but I am opposed to their special
privileges and exemptions and to their
arrogant methods in attaining their
ends. Let them be made responsible
for their acts like any other group of
citizens.