Evening star., 1946-02-22
Mass Pieketing Issue
Likened to Sit Down
Congress May Step In If States
Fail To Act, Says Writer
BY David Laurence

By David Laurence
Mass picketing may turn out to be a
bigger issue than the Shutdown" strike.
Public opinion has always frowned on
the use of violence in labor disputes and
the forcible seizure of property by strik-
ers. The "sit down" was denounced by
the United States Senate and later by
the courts.
To picket property by massing strik-
ers so that entrance is barred is no diff
ferent from any other form of trespass
on private property. Entrance to or
exit from the premises of any company
is safeguarded by State laws. But in
recent months the cities have failed
to furnish police protection and even
the great State of New Jersey sees its
orders and injunctions flagrantly dis
regarded so that the Governor is obliged
to take cognizance of the lawlessness.
The so-called liberals" are the first
to protest when men take the law into
their hands and lynch alleged criminals
without trial. But there Is no difference
between one form of lawlessness and
another. All are equally bad and equally
a violation of the code of morality as
well as the statutes. Yet no liberals"
of prominence have risen to denounce
mass picketing."
Reason Unexplained.
just why certain labor unions have
begun to use the mass picketing tech
nique is unexplainable. A cause that
needs to use strong-arm methods can
not be very persuasive. Public opinion,
which hitherto has been inclined to
weigh impartially the merits of the
issues in a labor dispute, will become
prejudiced by the fact that physical CO.
ercion and brutishness are being used
in an attempt to win strike.
Some years ago it was the habit Of
certain big employers to employ spies
to sit in on union meetings and strong
arm men to intimidate union organ
La Toilette committee in the Senate,
and industry had to hang its head in
shame when the exposures were made,
though, to be sure, the defense was that
the actions were provoked by similar
acts on the part of labor unions.
Today some of the labor unions en-
ploy "goon squads" to terroriZe workers
and to incite groups of pickets to vio-
lence. The labor leaders at the top may
claim to be ignorant of these matters or
to look upon them as part of the war
fare that is unavoidable, but they have
the means of stopping mass picketing
and the responsibility for lawlessness is
largely theirs, because not one of them
has made public denunciation of it
or called upon the rank and file to
desist from it.
Instead, it will be discovered that
defense of mass picketing is offered in
courts as against injunctions no matter
what the nature of the violence may be-
There is no discrimination being used
by the unions and no movement to head
off the use of violence.
Under the circumstances the public
will inevitably demand that the Federal
Government assume the police powers
which the States are failing to exercise.
If the sovereign States intend to retain
their independence of the Federal Gov
ernment, they will not permit lawless-
ness to ensue and thus encourage Con-
gress to enter the domain of protection
for the individual citizen.
Congress Power to Act.
Plainly the Congress has the consti-
tional right to protect the citizen in
labor disputes, because the Supreme
Court Of the United States, in uphold
ing the Wagner Act, said it was within
the Federal jurisdiction to prevent
strikes. 1t declared that all businesses
which even remotely affect interstate
commerce now come under the Federal
Governments right to police those
businesses in labor disputes Subsequent
interpretations have indicated that
hardly any type of business from apart
ment-house management to retail stores
operating wholly within State lines, is
immune from Federal regulation.
Mass picketing is sad reflection on
the depths to which human relations
have gone in our times. Instead of US
ing the processes of reason, there is a
tendency to use brute force to accom-
plish an economic end. There was
plenty of denunciation against the
Fascists of Europe for the use of those
very methods which are now being
ignored by the left wingers and various
labor union leaders. AS lawlessness is
used by strikers and union pickets,
there is conspiracy Of silence. Not
word of condemnation is heard from
the top ranks of labor or from the
persons who are customarily so quick
to argue for human rights and the
privileges and immunities guaranteed
to the citizen by the Constitution.
lReproduction Rishts ReserysdA