Evening star., 1946-05-25
Plain Speaking

1ue keyIlOIe OF tne PreSldent S
speech last night was that this is
"a time for plain speaking" And
he spoke in the plainest possible
language of the railroad strike and
of the two men-Alvanley Johnston
of the engineers and A. F. Whitney
of the trainmen-whom he held
responsible for the strike.
There is no doubt that the Presi-
dent is fully conscious of the impli-
cations of this industrial crisis. He
said that the railroad strike CON
stitutes fundamental attack upon
the rights of society and upon the
welfare of our country" And in
any conflict that "arises between
one particular group. no matter who
they may be, and the country as
whole, the welfare of the country
must come first"
Mr.. Truman contends, hopefully
perhaps, that the blame for this
strike rests upon Mr.. Johnston and
Mr.. Whitney-that the rank and
file of the striking brotherhoods do
not appreciate the consequences of
their act and have been misled by
their union heads. This is dubious
assumption. But there is nothing
dubious about the Presidents con-
tention that in a democracy no two
men should be in a position where
they can "stifle our economy and
ultimately destroy our country"
Yet Mr.. Johnston and Mr.. Whitney,
along with other powerful labor
leaders, are in this position, and
they have confronted the Govern
ment with challenge which the
Government must meet cor confess
its impotence"
Mr.. Truman has declared his
willingness to accept the challenge.
AS President of>the United States"
he said, Il am the representative of
140,000,000 people and I cannot
stand idly by while they are being
caused to suffer by the actions of
these two men"
So much for the statement of the
case. The President is aware of the
threat to the country and he is
cognizant of the challenge to Gov
ernment. 1t remains to be seen
how he proposes to deal with both.
There are sections of the speech
which can be read with misgivings.
In the first place, the problem is not
merely one of dealing with indi-
vldualS like Mr. Johnston or Mr..
Whitney or John L. Lewis. They are
doing just what other labor leaders
have done, and all are equally guilty
of abusing, at public expense, the
extreme power which has been con-
ferred upon them by a deliberate
policy of preferential legislative
treatment. Yet Mr.. Truman would
deeply regret" the enactment of
any "ill-advised restrictive legisla-
ton" that would cause labor to lose
those gains which it has right
fully made during the years. What
are these gains? Mr.. Truman does
not say, but one of them is the right,
or rather the power, of union lead
ers to call strikes in enforcement
OF laoor's demands, knowing and
counting upon the fact that these
strikes will bring the country to it's
knees.
Unless the President has resolved
to deal with this central fact, unless
he is prepared to say that there can
be no right to strike when the exer-
else of that right would involve the
coercion of the Nation, little good
can come from denunciation of a
few individuals. 1t would seem,
from the groundwork which Mr..
Truman has laid, that he is pre-
pared to support this proposition.
But the answer to this will be found
in the contents of the message he
will send to Congress this afternoon.