Evening star., 1947-07-01


members and the public generally
is that majority Of the Demo-
cratic Party in the House Of Repre-
sentatives voted for the Taft-Hart-
ley bill.
AS long as there are approx
mately 110 Southern Democrats in
the House, it requires only about
10s Republican votes to make a ma
jority.
Bill Passed Times.
. What the labor union folks are
overlooking in their futile fight
against restriction of their activi-
ties is that the House of Repre-
sentatives three times passed a bill
to curb labor abuses before the
present law was enacted.
On each of these three occasions
the vote was overwhelming. 1t was
25s to 129 for restriction in a meas
aure passed In June, 1910, that was
even more severe in some respects
than the new law.
It was 252 for and 1856 against
in the vote taken in December, 1941,
on a measure which also was highly
restrictive as to labor-union prac-
tices.
The vote was 233 to 141 in 1943
when the House version of the
Smith Connally bill, later modified
in conference, was adopted by the
House.
In each of these cases Represent
ative Howard Smith, Democrat, Of
Virginia, led the fight for restric-
tion. In each instance, the Repub-
licans were minority party.
The truth is that with 110 South
vern Democrats, the present Repub-
lican enrolment of 245 would have
to be cut down to 108, or by more
than SO per cent, in order to get
a majority to permit amendment
or repeal Of the new law.
There are enough rural districts
in the North to carry at least 108
Republicans into office no matter
what the unions say or do. This
means that there is not a remote
possibility of labor unions winning
majority in the House until they
win their battle for amendments on
fair basis in the court of public
opinion.
Strategists Unwise.
Labor-union strategists have been
unwise in assuming that only Re-
publicans want labor-union activi-
ties restricted or abuses eliminated.
1t will do no good to indulge in such
exhibitions of bad taste as the pick
citing of the wedding of Senator
Taft's son in st. Joseph, Mich, last
week.
1t will do no good to cry out that
the new law is unavoidable" and
that it Is going to be defied and
challenged. A majority in the House
of Representatives consisting of
Democrats from the Southern States
and Republicans from the North,
can keep any important amend
ments from passing and repeal frcm
being voted.
This, in a sense, turns the tables
on the labor lobby which for nearly
IA years succeeded in running things
in Congress by squelching legislation
in the Senate Labor Committee or
by trying to block action in the
House Labor Committee. The last
hurdle which the public had to over
come to get a fair bill passed was
the presidential veto. Now that
two-thirds of both Houses have
overcome this obstacle, it takes a
majority of both Houses to get new
legislation. This means that one
House by its majority can block
action.
Exaggerate Ill Effects.
The labor union leaders are ex-
aggerating the ill-effects allegedly
to be derived from the new labor
bill These leaders are afraid to
admit that the Democratic Party in
the Southern States really defeated
them. They are afraid to concede
that the abuses of labor union Or
ganizers in the South and misuse of
the provisions of the Wagner law
by a labor r-controlled board produced
the backire that aroused public
sentiment.
The people do not read technical
provisions of these bills. They didn't
read the Wagner law either. But
when abuses occur, they side with
their Representatives in Congress
who for many years now have tried
to adjust the unbalanced situation
and make labor and management
alike toe the mark.
The labor-union leaders will be
wasting their members dues, will
be losing lot of valuable time, and
will be stirring up unnecessary fric-
ton If they continue to mislead the
country into believing that Just the
Republicans passed the labor law or
that defeat of Republicans can
change the situation. A majority in
Congress stands ready to amend
where amendments are really
needed, but the labor-union leaders
are off to bad start If they think
they will bring Congress to their
side by displays Of bad sportsman
ship and bad taste.