Evening star., 1947-03-16
House 10 Start
Drafting Tough
.Curbs on Labor
Hearings Completed;
News Guild Head Soys
Reds Run Two Locals
By jones Y. Newton

SOllSIeSSlOildl IledIlIiSS OH ueW
labor legislation ended late yes
terday when the House Labor
Committee completed six weeks
of testimony and prepared to
write bill aimed at restricting
at least a score of union activi-
ties.
Representative Lands, Repub-
lican, of Indiana, announced the
committee would meet in closed ses-
sion Thursday morning to begin
drafting the bill He said that he
alone had Is or 10 proposals to make
for control of unions. Ranking ma
jority member Of the group, Mr..
Lands indicated the committee
draft would be completed in about
two weeks.
The Senate Labor Committee
ended public hearing a week ago
and already is at work drafting its
omnibus bill.
Theres is every indication that
the House will come up with much
tougher bill than the Senate, al
though Mr.. Lands, in answer to a
witness demand for a ban on the
closed shop, said I'VE can't go whole
hog on this thing or we might not
get anything" He added the be-
lief that Congress will pass a stricter
measure than last sessions Case bill,
vetoed by President Truman.
Sees Some Plans Rejected.
"The question is how far can we
go and get bill into law-not
question of getting it through the
House." Mr.. Lands said. "We
don't want to do anything to create
more turmoil than we have now"
He said bills to outlaw industry
wide bargaining and the closed shop,
of the major proposals. would have
the least chance of getting by Con-
gress.
The final session of the House
hearing heard Milton Murray, presi-
dent of the CIO American News
paper Guild, testify that the New
York Guild local was dominated by
Communists and that Communists
guide" the affairs of the unions
Los Angeles local.
Mr.. Murray added that Comnau-
nists have mo control" over the
national guild organization and
make up only "a minute fraction"
of the membership over the coun-
try. He said that even in New
York and Los Angeles locals he did
not think the Communists had any
large membership.
Denies Charge by Stern.
The union head also fatty denied
that a guild strike forced the clos
ing and sale last month of the Phil
adelphia Record and the Camden
IN. j. Courier and Post, as charged
by j. David Stern, publisher Of the
three papers. Likewise, he denied
there was Communist influence be-
hind the strike, adding that the
Philadelphia Camden guild local
was a ''bulwark" against Commu-
nism in the organization.
Under questioning to name any
Communists he knew of in the guild,
Mr.. Murray said Jack Ryan, execu-
tive vice president of the New York
Guild, and William Brodie, execu-
tive secretary of the Los Angeles
local, are Communists. He described
Phillip M. Connolly, secretary of
the Los Angeles CIO Council and a
guild member, as "a fellow traveller
at the very least"
In Los Angeles, Mr.. Connolly COM
mented:
II follow the line of national CIO
policy. Milton Murray recently tried
to engineer my defeat in the Los
Angeles Guild because he didn't like
that line. The membership Of the
guild reelected me. That made Milt
Murray sore"
Twice during the long session,
Representative Mcconnell. Repub-
lican, of Pennsylvania, asked Mr..
Murray if he saw any Communists
in the hearing room. The witness
turned, surveyed the press table and
spectators and said no"
Reds 'Obnoxiously Useful.
The guild head said Communists
are busy little beavers" who are
so willing to perform almost any
job in a union that they become
"obnoxiously useful" The best way
to deal with them, he said, is to
expose" them so the union men,
bership can defeat them when they
run for office
He described Communism as
definitely a menace" and Com
munists as "destroyers of democ-
racy" who, If allowed to go far
enough, GOULD destroy the Con-
gress of the United States"
Representative Barden, Democrat,
of North Carolina, asked if he knew
of any Communists in Congress.
ut is my own personal view," Mr..
Murray answered, that Vito Mar
cantonio (American Laborite, of