Evening star., 1946-05-26
Mr.. Trumun's Proposals


ldent Truman has asked Congress
to give him, if firmly and resolutely
employed, should serve until six
months after the formal end of
hostllltles to prevent strikes which
threaten to destroy the economic life
of the Nation.
AS matter of fact, the mere ex-
lstence of these powers should dis
courage strikes in the industries af-
fected. This assumption is sup
ported by the decision of the recall
citrant heads of the two striking
railroad brotherhoods to order their
men back to work when it finally
became apparent to them that the
President was determined to break
the strike. And if Mr.. Truman
could break the railroad strike prior
to securing additional power from
Congress, the chances are that he
will be able to break any strike once
the legislative weapons that he
wants are in his hands.
Some of the powers which the
President requests are similar to
those already extended to him by
the Smith-Connally Act. Others
are new. One could be used to
deprive workers of their seniority
rights if, without good cause" they
persist in striking against the Gov
ernment. This is curious reserva-
ton, since the Presidents whole
case is predicated on the contention
that there is no right or cause, good
or bad, to strike against the Gov
ernment. Presumably, however, the
President has in mind possible stu
ations in which the revocation of
seniority rights would be unjust
Another new feature would re-
suit in the payment into the Treas
ury of any net profits resulting from
Government operation of a seized
plant. Apparently no exceptions
are contemplated. and this could
result in the imposition of finan-
cial penalty on an employer who
was wholly innocent of any wrong
doing but whose plant had been
seized because his employees, with
out justification, went on strike In
such situation, this clause obvi-
ously would work an injustice.
A third new power which Mr..
Truman requests would authorize
the President to draft into the
armed forces "all workers who are
on strike against their Govern
ment." Mr.. Truman did not elabo-
rate on this proposal and it's sig
niflcance is not clear. Would it
apply literally to strikers, or would
strikers, once drafted, be required
to work at their regular jobs as
members of the armed services?
And if so, would they receive only
the Regular Army pay and would
they be subject to military dis
cipline?
Because of antiquities of this ma
ture in the message, Congress may
feel impelled to clarity and refine
the statute enacting the proposals
into law. On the other hand, the
legislators may feel that the need
of haste is too imperative to permit
them to work out time consuming
Qualifications and may proceed to
give the President what he wants
without delay.
In that event there is one point
deserving special emphasis. This is
that the scope of the powers sought
by the President would be tightly
limited, applying only to those few
industries in which the President
by proclamation declares that an
emergency has arisen which affects
the entire economy of the United
States" In those few situations the
President would have very broad dis
cretionary power to cope with strikes
or threatened strikes. But that
leaves vast area of industrial dis
putes, some of them of great though
not literally of national Importance,
in which neither the President nor
any one else would have authority
to intervene in behalf of whatever
public interest might be affected.
Certainly Congress, in enacting the
emergency powers which Mr. Tru-
man wants, should not neglect this
troubled area, but should deal effec-
ticely with it, either through the
legislation now before the Senate or
through the "long-range legislation"
for which Mr.. Truman indicated
preference.