Evening star., 1947-06-20

David Lawrenee. unconstitutional
and . violation Of the free-press
clause for a union to be restricted
in what literature it distributes dur
ing . political campaign, SO also
has 1t been unconstitutional for
any law to have similarly restricted
corporations In the past. Yet no
labor -union leader has ever arisen
to point out that corporations were
being forbidden to use their funds
in political campaigns to express
their editorial views.
Easy to Distinguish.
The courts would have no diff
Guilty in distinguishing between a
bona fide publication with a regular
list OF paid subscribers and house
organ" issued either by labor union
or a corporation.
In the case Of q regular pubh-
cation, whatever is said editor1-
ally is in the course of the pub
fishing operation from day to day.
In the case of a publication issued
for a special purpose during a cam
paign and distributed free to the
public. 1t is obvious that the use OF
the newspaper or periodical formal
Is merely a ruse to permit the dis
tribution Of campaign literature
either by q union or a corporation
in defiance Of the law.
The section OF the proposed labor
law dealing with this problem Is
identical with respect to unions and
corporations. This Is the reason
why some labor union leaders are
attempting to raise smokescreen
OF protest and confusion by arguing
that even newspapers and maga-
zines published by corporations
would be forbidden to express their
editorial views during campaign.
There lis a difference between a
corporation which regularly ex-
presses through It's publication
subscribed to by the public-edi-
torial views and special purpose
bulletin or periodical or daily publ
cation of any kind issued during
campaign and distributed free to
the public.
The difference is between the
identifiable business of publishing
and the equally identifiable carrying
on of political activity. The pro-
posed law is sufficiently clear to en-
able the courts to construe this
provision as they always have IN
the past, that is, with due regard
to the purpose of the law and the
policy sought to be made effective
by Congress.
Subject to Scrutiny.
There are newspapers owned by
labor unions which present the
news TO their members on a sub
scription basis and they issue these
publications not only during CAM
paigns but between political CAM
paigns. Such periodicals will not
have the slightest difficulty with
the law. But house organs" or
handbills or pamphlets issued by
corporations or employers to their
employees containing political mat
ter will be subjected to scrutiny just
as much as the publications issued
free by labor unions.
Almost all bona fide publications
with regular paid subscribers are
entered as second class matter in
the Post Ofice Department. To
comply with the rules, a publication
must have high percentage of paid
subscribers. If the labor unions sell
their subscriptions to the public and
otherwise comply with the require
ments of the law respecting mailing,
1t is quite likely that whatever they
say editorially will be classed the
same as that which appears in any
other bona fide publication.
The theory that Congress will
have prevented by the new law
editorial expression because both
labor unions and corporations will
be prohibited from making expen-
ditures in behalf of political candi-
dates Is rather far-fetched. The
argument has been introduced only
TO becloud other issues in the bill
and as a means of frustrating the
enactment of the entire piece of
legislation. The section dealing
with political expenditures Is aimed
primarily at abuses on the part of
corporations and unions in using
their stockholders or members
funds to engage in politics Free
elections can be regulated by law
and excessive use of money to infiu-
ence the electorate is a proper field
for restriction
. Decentralization Riphtx Reseryed)