The union times., 1947-06-14
Labor Believes He Must Veto
 The Slave Bill
Demonstrations And State Wide Rallies Urge Truman
 Reject Taft Hartley Act

The American labor move- ment this week was within a hairs breadth of losing most of the gains it has won through l5O years of bloody struggle, idealism, sacrifice and suffering.
 More than 5O,0OO,OOO union members and their families waited to see whether President Truman, with a stroke of the pen. would wreck their organizations, destroy their ability to deal on some degree of equal footing with their employers and send them back to the days when labor. de- void of collective strength, was at the mercy of the divine right of capital"
 MUCH MORE AT STAKE
 There was much more at stake. however, than the future of organ. ized labor in the question of whether Truman would sign the Taft-Hartley slave-labOr bill. The future of the nations economy. ac- cOrding to labor leaders, econo- mists and more than a score of COngressmen, will be affected and even a worldwide depression and the continuation of peace may hinge on the issue.
 Enormous pressure was put on Truman to approve the legislation af- ter 1t was rammed thru the House by 32O to 79 majority, far more than enough to override a veto.
 Two days afterward it passed the Senate by 54 to 17 vote But here the question was somewhat different. Despite the large absenteeism on the final vote, pro-labor Democrats ex- pected that veto would be sustained. Voting against the bill were two Re- publcanS, Morse and Langer, and the following Democrats; Barkley, Green, Hayden, Johnson (Col), Johnston (S.C), Kilgore, Magnuson, McFar- land, McGrath, McMahon, Murray, Myers, Pepper, Taylor, Thomas.
 MUCH PRESSURE
 The pressure was put on Truman by the Natl Association of Manufactur- CTS and the U. s. Chamber of Com merce, whose representatives virtually wrote the two bills, by the Republican Party and the Taft machine in Con- gress and by large group of reaction ary Democrats who supported the bill.
 The final House vote showed that los Democrats joined PIT Republicans in passing the bill. Opposing the measure were only O6 Democrats, l2 Republicans and one American-La
 A rising storm of protest from all sec tionS of organized labor followed Con- greSsional approval of the bill. Huge demonstrations in New York and other cities and statewide rallies peti- toned Truman to veto the legislation. Predictions were made freely and widely not only by labor leaders but by Congressman that enactment of the bill would result in greater industrial strife and industrial chaos.
 SOME CONTEST
 Rep. Ray Madden O., Ind, sum- med up labor's case for a vote when he told Truman in visit to the White House that "If we're going to have a contest with the Republican Party over which will get the support of the Natl Association of Manufacturers, we might as we'll go out of business.
 Popular protest to the White House was admittedly tremendous. Nearly 264,OOO letters and post cards asking for veto were received by the White House in three weeks. This did not count many hundreds of thousands of signatures on peti- tiOns sent to the White House or to for transmittal to Truman.
 There was an obvious attempt in Congress to browbeat Truman into signing the bill, with the argument being spread that Truman would have nothing to lose in approving the legis- lation because labor would have mo- where else to go in next years cleo tions. Both Taft and Hartley sum- moned press conferences to announce their confidence that their machine could override any veto. Sen. Carl Hatch, close friend of Truman and known as an administration-man, called on the President to warn him that veto would be overridden. Truman's cabinet was known to be weighted heavily in favor of the bill.
 FINAL PROOF
 In spite of all this pressure, Tru- man, according to many reports, was said to be inclined toward veto. It was an accepted fact that he would take no quick action
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