Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1946-05-31
STEPPING BACKWARD
I'll take 1941.

III take 1941.
Five years ago everything
seemed to be going just fine.
The people were on the
march. They cared about vot-
ing. They had awakened to the
fact that all was not rosy.
They had been raising the
devil and they continued to
raise it.
Then came the war.
Times changed quickly. So
did news, thinking and con-
versation. War was all we
knew. So what happened?
Hysteria reigned, as always
in wartime. Why not? Weren't
our sons, brothers and friends
involved? And so were we,
directly or indirectly, sooner
or later?
But the smart people, those
suave gentlemen who carve
the destines of their intellec-
tual and social interiors, who
were to reap undreamed of
profits from the bloody con-
flict which involved every
body but themselves and their
families, never became the
least bit hysterical about the
war, except for purposes of
demonstration.
Don't do this! Don't do
that!", they admonished the
workers. Make sacrifices,
we were told. There would be
no wartime millionaires, and
Labor would not have its pre-
war gains stolen. Sweet words,
but meaningless.
WE SACRIFICED
So the workers sacrificed.
Their wages were frozen. They
worked where they were sent.
They couldn't quit their jobs.
But they could be fired. Man
agement representatives filled
the draft boards. The COM
panies controlled deferments.
Almost everyone went to
war. Company pets, and cor
poration attorneys and their
assistants didn't. Influential
families sons didn't. They
suddenly developed a yen for
factory work and became "es-
Sential" overnight.
Finally the war ended. What
it settled remains to be seen.
Maybe it isn't really over. A
lot of us are wondering.
The war cost plenty. It
cost lives, money, and a lot
of energy. 1t left us with
dozens and dozens of men in
Washington and in the state
capitols who are either unfit
to represent the people or un-
willing to represent them.
They sneaked into office while
we were busy with the war.
The common man has been
loaded down with a dispropor-
tionate share of the tax bur-
den. Who has made an effort
to correct this?
But the greatest worry fac
ing us today is the problem of
correcting the warped think
ing caused by five years of
steady, vicious propaganda.
Labor and its leadership in
general have slipped into a
dangerous rut. So have many
Of Labor's friends, foremost
among whom is none other
than Harmless Harry Truman,
who "means we'll" but is
weaker than circus lemonade.
ACTION NEEDED
The common man is going
% have to grab the bull by
he horns, and quickly, or his
'o-called EZRA" is going to be
but a noble thought.
Maybe Franklin d. Roose-
1elt wasn't indispensable"
,ut his successor certainly
doesn't fill his shoes.
II Roosevelt had been alive
he General Motors strike
would not have lasted as long
- III ala.
Roosevelt would have "hit
he stump" on VI Day and
tayed there with a series of
messages to those who voted
or him and his program. He
would not have begged for
mercy from his (and our)
.nemies. He would have
ought them and possibly de-.
eated them.
Appeasement and seeking
fter an appearance of "re-
pectability" has cost Labor
lot. We had better take up
yhere we left off in 1941,
nd quickly, because il we
ont, we are likely to dis
over later that this was our
lst opportunity.