The Wilmington morning star., 1946-11-18
As PeglerS Sees 1t
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER

(COprlght by klng FeatureS SyHulcAtc, AnC'J
NEW YORK, Nov. Ill was one of the
first to object to the new deal union policy
Which for years l have carefully refused to
call a labor policy because I regarded that as
a sy and deceptive misnomer. For the sake
of argument, l will admit that l was one OF
the leaders in the long and, at last, success
full, campaign to discredit the Wagner Act
and expose the hidden iniquities OF the political
union movement. Senator Ball, Of Minnesota,
a republican, formerly a political reporter and
known as d Stassen liberal, is reported to
have announced that he intends to move fo-
a national open-shop law. Other members OF
the new congressional majority have in mind
a number of remedial proposals, but as yet
l have discerned no whole program OF re-
form. I don't want to dispa<age the plans OF
these men in advance, but I do agree with
some of the professional unionee-s and my
colleagues on the left that to disrupt the union
movement suddenly would be to throw every
thing up for grabs.
What, then, does George Spelvin, Ameri-
can, suggest?
First Of all, l would repeal the Wagner
Act on the honest ground that it has failed
in its protested purpose to facilitate and
stimulate interstate and foreign commerce
by developing strong unions which, in turn,
would reduce strikes and other labor dis
turbances" through reasonable bargaining be-
tween industry and the representatives OF the
union. I doubt that Senator Wagner ever
sincerely believed his law would have that eff
feet and I am convinced that he intended it
as a pretext to develop a money-raising poll.
teal subsidiary of the Roosevelt party. Pos
sibly, he didn't fully foresee the evil effects
of this development, but he is neither stupid
nor blind and not even he can have the ef-
~frontery to say today that his law has achieved
it professed purpose, or to deny the effects it
did produce.
AS a substitute we might adopt a federal
law forbidding employers to discriminate
organization of unions to represent those who
desire to join. When I say 'other things be-
ing equal,'' l mean to provide that an incom-
petent or mischievous fellow should not be
protected in his job by his union card, as the
case has been under the Wagner Act. Then,
as a balance, we should decide, as the voters
of three states did recently, that an employer
in interstate must not discriminate
against an applicant or an actual emp.oye
because he refuses to join a union o. drops
his membership. This is called the s"open-l
shop law, usually in a very nasty tone OF
voice. It has its faults, as some respectable
intellectuals have pointed out in very studious
books and papers. But Mrs Frances Perkins
herself once approved the open-shop in pin.
ciple in a quick and mumbled paragraph Of
a speech to a national convention Of the Amer
lean Federation Of Labor. She thought per.
sons who would refuse to join and pay their
share OF the money and sacrifice for benefits
won by organization must be queer ones, but
admitted that even queer ones have rights
and that one of these tights was involved right
here. She seemed sheepish about this heresy
and, as far as I know, never mentioned it
again.
The present situation makes union Off
Gals lazy, pompous, luxurious and bossy.
When they had to u hustle for members and win
over the individuals by appealing to their
self-interest and nobility, they earned their
money and unionism was a cause. But under
the Wagner Act, the government drove mil
lions of workers into their. unions as cow
pokes herd cattle and all they had to do was
collect the dues, help themselves to big sa.a.
-ies and enjoy their Importance. They came
to regard the rank and file as subjects, not
felloW-workers, and some unions have special
laws recognizing the untouchability and per-
sonal preciousness of these high officials. They
became kings, really. The worker knew he
had to be a member or be a bum and anyone
can see how this equation would affect the
vain and selfish personalities of fools. The
union kings thought they were working when
they went royalty around the country, not for
getting the gambling season in Florida, max
ing speeches, receiving their local and re-
gional %viceroys and accepting homage from
politicians who were dependent on the o.
gained union vote and union campaign con-
tributions. Because many of them are ignorant
old ~loafers, their minds c~luttered with a
rubbish of old slogans and excerpts from court
decisions, they turned out in their official union
publications some of the most alarming non
sense ever put on paper and circulated it at
the expense Of Their subjects as persona.
propaganda.
I would enact a law to compel all unions
claiming legal rights under federal law to
revise their constitutions into conformity with
the Constitution of the United States. Most Of
them flout parts of the national Constitution.
One puts loyalty to the union above all other
loyalties, including devotion to God, and many
provide expulsion for 'un-unionlike conduct"
which includes remarks offensive to the union
bosses and thus cuts across the citizens lights
to freedom of speech. I would restrict the
purposes for which unions might spend their
money, and specifically forbid contributions
to political campaigns, even though they be
disguised as educational campaigns, and make
it necessary fo- them to get a unanimous vote
Of all the members, and no trick, parliament
tary unanimity either, to grant sunme~ or
winter estates or yachts or cash gifts to their
high officers. We saw what a big shot Dan
Tobin, Of the Transfers, became under Roose-
welt. Why not? Roosevelt was driving hundreds
OF thousands OF employees, including even young
girl clerks, into his union, under compulsion
to pay dues and like it, while old Dan could
shoot off his big. loud mouth with a promise
to spend out of the union treasury as much
money as might be required to win an election
for Roosevelt. This is bad and was one of
H. IsL. LL-4 H. ,L--- -,