The Wilmington morning star., 1946-07-05
Fair Enough
BY wEsTBRooK PEGLER

NEW YORK, - Jimmy Karam, an intelli-
gent, athletic young man who enjoyed some
renoWn as a football PLAYER before he went
to the war, has organized a labor union of
veterans with headquarters in Little Rock and
a second office in Shreveport. 1t is called the
Veterans Industrial Association and Mr.. Ka-
ram is president. 1t is opposed to both the CLIO
and the AT. of L. and Mr.. Kararn recently
announced that the VIA. would maintain
a vigilance committee to handle COON squads
and agitators who seem determined to cause
race trouble and class trouble here in the
SOUTH.
I'VE are not going to start any trouble
Mr.. Karam said. 1--WE don't want trouble,
but if and when it does come, we are ready
I met Jimmy Kararn about a year ago in
Washington where he was educating himself
in the methods of union or ~ganizing and study
ing the labor laws enacted by the new deal and
the opinions of the Supreme Court in union
cases so that he might know how Ear he could
go. He was shocked but, on second thought,
encouraged: to discover that if he called his
new organization a laobr union and complied
with a few familiar formalities he could en-
joy all the privileges and immunities confer
red on the CLIO. and AT. of L.
I recently read a progress report in an
article by Gene Harrington of the Arkansas
Democrat, of Little Rock. Jimmy expects to
open offices in three more states by the end
of July and plans to organize veterans in all
the Southern states to resist the invasion OF
the Southern tier by the two big rivals Of
the union movement. He claimed $500 mem
bers in Arkansas alone.
Now, Of course this new union will be de-
at once as a fascist group but, WalV-
ing that question, what are its rights and
under the new deal laws, so strongly
defended and rapturously praised as "Labor's
gains including Senator Wagner's magma
Charta?"
It's vigilance committees" by law and
may patrol with pats at plants
the old organizations are striving for a
foothold and let no professional unioneer call
that fascism. unless he is ready to plead
guilty himself, for they have all done that
defended the practice. I have argued
with some of them that they were setting an
ominous precedent and they always excused
their conduct on the ground that they were
serving the workers. Well, Jimmy Karam's
are workers. too, and veterans
as well, and the first article Of their pro
gram is that no veteran should be forced
to Join them or any other union or to pay
tribute 10 anyone In order to get a 1op IN the
country Re fought for.
These yigilantes will not necessarily be en-
ployes of the plants under their protection.
may even be local merchants and mag
mates. But the CLIO. and A. F. OF l.. set the
here, too. they never pretended
their rioters or goons necessarily were
employees or ever had been employed at
works which they picketed. The Clio. main
tanned garrisons at strategic points, ready to
rush to the gates of steel mills and auto
mobile plants during the organizational ter
ror. Many of them were communists, prac-
in the tricks of street fighting and divers
ion. They 1oafed, played cards and drank
coffee. like firemen betWeen alarms, and
when the scouts, stationed where they could
overlook the scene, telephoned that American
laborers or executives were approaching
some entrance, the goons responded.
Mr.. Karam's vigilantes may wear military
or semi-nailitary uniforms, too, and they may
drill openly in the ball parks and practice
the recognized refinements OF mob combat.
divided into teams, for the adoption of uni
forms they will find precedent in the old
and thousands of feet Of 16-milli-
meter film taken from windows, overlooking
the gates of belea guered factories when the
Reuther boys and the rest were "organlzlng'
the workers for the CLIO. Those pictures
show the goons wearing neat and jaunty over
seas caps with piping on them and the union
label as a corps insignia. They were distinct
ly military. They also reveal great skill In
action arc Mr.. Karam probably could get
comes Oh LlGIn " ~ SLAoy LII IAN iASAAA-
bership meetings of his new labor union of
veterans. True. veterans will still remember
their lessons learned IN camp and practic-
ed in action in the war hut mob fighting is a
specially and Mr.. Karam surely is wise enough
to know tnat in meeting an enemy it is import
ant to study his methods.
It will be necessary, of course, to estab-
lish legal status with the Labor Relations
Board and this will call for sharp lawyers,
up to now the old organizations have had the
best of this, but there are many lawyers
ready 20 serve the other side no less cunning
then Lee Pressman, Of the C.I.O., and Joe
Padway. of the AT. Of L. with a little study,
counsel, and I assume he can find
plenty of volunteer lawyers among his own
membership of veterans, should be able to
turn the labor laws against the existing
union movement.
Jimmy Karam may fail and his VIA. may
fall apart for lack of experience and special
lied knowledge. He seemed naive when we had
our little conference. He didn't even know
ness to discuss union matters with an en-
ploye even though they might live next
door and gossip on many things while water
ing the lawn Of an evening.
He thought that was downright un-American,
telling neighbors they couldn't talk about
At present his program is to settle all dis
putes through boards, each composed of three
business men, three legionnaires, three men,
bers of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and
three member from labor, "all fair and i'm
partial" whose DECISIONS are binding.