Evening star., 1946-03-06

reasonably ef- Frank X. Kent.
fective working of our own gov
ernmental machinery at home Few
will claim that it is working we'll
On the contrary. there is abundant
evidence that it has dangerously
begged down.
Clearly. it cannot work until some
method is found by which these
great induStrial-labor conflicts can
be settled without strikes which
economically strangle the country
and involve inconvenience, hardship
and actual peril to the people as
q whole
And, just as clearly, that way has
not been found. For nearly four
months, at time when full produc-
ton is more vital than any other
peacetime period in our history. a
series of strikes in basic industries
essential to the national life has
made idle more than million men,
cost many hundreds of millions in
lost wages and lost orders, para
lyzed production and alarmingly
enhanced the threat of a disastrous
imitation.
Strangled by Politics.
Though it has had before it for
longer than four months legislation
designed to provide peaceful ways
for dealing with this situation;
though the need has grown with
every week, and though the senti-
ment of the great majority favors
action, Congress has failed to act.
The reason, of course, is politics
politics on the part of an admin
istration which for II years has had
degrading political alliance with
labor union leaders, and politics
upon the part of Senators and Rep
resentatives coWed into support of
inertia by threats from the political
agencies of the unions or them
selves inherently pro-union and
anti-industry.
And now, an even graver threat
looms. John L. Lewis has given
notice of the intention of his United
Mine Workers to strike in 80 DAYS
unless their demands are met. Re-
gardless of the merits Of these de-
mands, a strike in this industry
on which so much of the economic
life of the country depends, will be
Gripping affair, complete calamity
being averted in the end, as before,
only by the Government taking
over the mines. Thus. on top of
these months Of costly strikes,
Congress is now given a months
notice of a coal strike which easily
may be the most costly of all.
Bills Tied Up.
It would seem that now it must
act; that now it can stall no longer:
that now it must respond to the
known wish of the great majority
which wants-and is entitled to.
protection. But there is no sign
that it will do these things. Ac-
tually. there is sound reason to
tnlnK 1t Will not 90 tleH.
For instance, three corrective
proposals appear Indefinitely hung
up in Senate committees. The Case
bill, which is not drastic and not
really comprehensive, but nonethe-
less in the right direction, was over
whelmingly passed by the House.
1t is now held in the Senate Educa-
ton and Labor Committee, which
is pretty well stocked with CIO
Senators. And the Hobbs anti
racketeering bill, twice passed by
the House and designed only to
make unions amenable to the same
criminal laws which every one else
must obey, is held again in the pro-
union Judiciary Committee. And
the really comprehensive and fair
Ball-Burton-Hatch bill, which would
help more than any SO far pro-
posed, has been in its Senate COM
mittee for nearly five months.
New Draft in Prospect.
And now, after a long period of
inaction, it is announced that the
6uNlCdIlUIl anu LdDOI SOlilIlllLSC
has appointed a subcommittee, not
to, consider pending bills but to
draft an altogether new bill. Even
If the new bill should be an effec-
tive piece of legislation, it could
not be drafted, debated and enacted
inside of so days, much less the 80
given us by Mr.. Lewis. But no one
thinks the subcommittee will pro-
duce an effective bill, for the simple
reason that it is packed with CIO
Senators opposed to any legislation
not favored by the CIO lobby. j
This is an indefenSible State of
affairs. Yet, because of the inability
to get the masses of the people
sufficiently informed to become eff
fectively indignant, nothing can be
done about it and the country
moves steadily closer to What seems
to be economic chaos How long the
tolerance and inertia Of the masses
will permit the political adherents
in public office of. a single labor
faction to imperll their happiness
and prosperity is a question-maybe,
indefinitely.
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