Evening star., 1946-12-16

limelight played
inc cessa ntly-
and still does. ''''
All of which Frank r. Kent.
was gall and wormwood to Mr.. Muir
ray. who is a puny type compared
to Mr.. Lewis, wholly dependent for
prestige and position upon the un-
precedently expensive and elaborate
publicity and promotion agencies
which the CIO has built up around
him.
1t is the considered opinion of this
reporter that the rivalries of the
present-day labor leaders are a
basic cause for the great strikes
with which the Nation has been
afflicted and for those that are now
threatened. II, it is argued, one
leader successfully strikes, gaining
concessions and publicity, his rivals
are compelled to strike or lose pres
tige, confess inferiority, shrivel in
Importance. So it is inevitable that
the interludes between strikes be-
come shortened and one follows an
other with or without excuse, re-
gardless of contractual obligations
or economic Justification.
Ground for View.
1t must be admitted there Is con-
siderable ground for this view,
especially when the obvious itch
for personal publicity among these
'.labor statesmen" is considered.
This is most notable among the
CIO heads engineering the new
wage demands. They fairly revel
in press conferences. They spe-
cialize in vituperative statements,
directed against industry and the
very newspapers which consistently
give these statements far more
space than their news value justi-
fies.
The present CIO campaign ap-
pears to follow exactly the pattern
of the one last year launched
against General Motors. 1t starts
off with Mr.. Murray exuding state
ments about the "monstrous con-
spiracy" to cripple labor and Mr..
Reuther, who last year, after the
strike. publicly admitted that his
arguments were phony, making his
usual truculent and reckless accu-
sations against the employers. Then
there followed a carefully staged
luncheon in washington, where Mr..
Robert Nathan, the employed econ
ornist of the CIO, made public
report" designed to bolster the CIO
contention about the huge profits"
of industry and its ability to in
crease wages rs per cent without
Increasing prices.
1t will be recalled that this is
precisely what happened last year.
Some time before the strike, figures
appeared which seemed to prove
that the corporations easily could
raise wages Is per cent without
advancing prices. Then it was Mr..
Henry Wallace who put the figures
out, and, as he was then Secretary
of Commerce, they appeared to give
official Government backing to the
strike.
Certainly the CIo leaders made
full use OF these figures during
the strike and it was not until
the struggle was over that Mr. Wal
lace himself admitted they were
inaccurate and unofficial and that
the CIO Interpretation of them was
not justified. Mr.. Nathan, employed
by the CIO, has now produced a
new set of figures A former mem
ber of the administration and a
left-wing New Dealer, Mr.. Nathan
is now in private practice. He was
host at the luncheon and managed
to get several Government officials
to attend.
CIO Is Nathan's Client.
But it is well understood that the
CIO is his client and that his ''re-
port" was q matter of business. Mr..
Nathan makes no pretense other
wise. His figures already have been
denounced by the head of the Ma
tional Association of Manufacturers
as an Invitation for a new round
of wage demands to be followed by
new series of serious strikes"
Obviously the Nathan report is not
going to be as useful as the Wallace
report. 1t will not convey the same
idea of administration support, but
1t is the best the CLIO bosses can
do this time. It will give them a
basis for the publicity upon which
they so much depend and upon
which they have so greatly pros
pered.
They do not, of course, expect
like Is per cent in
crease, and with a resentful Con-
gress about to meet, they are not
for another battle such as
they had last year with General
Motors. What they do want is some
thing in the way of a concession
that will restore their prestige and
enable them to dispute the Lewis
leadership in the labor world. These
new wage demands come from thel