Milford chronicle., 1947-12-26

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Bg W'estbrOOk Pegier

lion citizens, which enforce laws
and inflict punishments so harsh
that no public government would un-
dertake to impose them. The Brook
lyn Law Review, in an essay on
The Judicial Process in Labor Un-
ions'' some years ago, referred to
these bodies as "infra-state govern
ments."
This was a study for lawyers of
the paradox Of brutal totalitarian
government carried on under the
protection and political patronage
of national government which, at
that very time, was interfering in
the domestic affairs of Germany on
the ground that Hitler's treatment
of his chosen victims was undemo-
cratic.
''Such infra-state governments
now are exercising jurisdiction
cOncurrently with the state il
self, over millions of Ameri-
cans and their families" the
article said. This was an under
statement. The jurisdiction of
the unions does not flow quite
together with the governments
jurisdiction. 1t comes first in
most matters. The unions come
first in taxes and loyalty. The
nation, state, city, family and
church follow, not necessarily In
that order. And, until now, the
national government and most
of the state governments have
bowed to this priority.
In one of the congressional in
quiries during the war, Congress
man Edward Ebert of New Orleans
drew from Harry Posner, a boss of
the United Auto Workers of the CIO,
the admission that in any crisis he
would put the unions welfare be-
fore the safety of young American
fiiers who were fighting the enemy.
The United Auto Workers is the
union headed by Walter Reuther.
who, strangely, has been receiving
a warm press lately because he has
struck the now-popular attitude of
defying the Communists.
PAY DUES OR GET OUT
Posner had used the name of
James Harris in some phases of his
fugitive career. and also was known
as Thomas v. De Lorenzo. He was
of draft age, and a healthy. pugna-
cious, picket-line goon. But he was
hiding out the war under the defer
ment which the Roosevelt govern
ment granted to its own brown
shirts who had the political duty o1
getting up the money for the party s
campaigns and keeping the faceless
non-entities properly docile.
Until adoption Of the withhold
| ing tax, which is simply the old
union check0ff under another
title, the unions had first lien
on the earnings of all those mill
lions OfvwOrkers. If the worker
didn't keep his dues paid up,
and his assessments and shake
downs for clam-bake tickets and
the like, he found his card
pulled" when he came to work.
No matter how urgent the gov
ernment's need Of his skill in tha
which Roosevelt called the ''wal
effawt," the unions financial inter
est took precedence over the ma
tion's peril. That is still true, but the
government has pulled up neck-and
neck with the unions in the sprin
for the pay window to nick the work
er's wages. The government nov
collects the income tax by check
off, but so does the union. However
the government must do it by law
according to rates adopted by th'
elected representatives of the peo
pie of the United States. But th'
unions greed is limited only by tn,
conscience of the unioneers, VIII
may be gangsters Of the foules
kind. They may never have beel
elected at all.
BOSSES COULDN'T SEE TRENI
John L. Lewis used to point ou
triumphantly that in some miners
villages the churches also took thei
tithe by checkoff. This was as falls
as it was true. They did, but only b
the workers written consent, and
man excluded for non-payment b
one congregation could always fin
another church where he coul
hitchhike his religion. He couldn
, mooch his way with another unior
{ though.
An intelligent person would
have expected the union bosses
to moderate their government
in recent years. The people
: were sullen and the returns Of
the last congressional election
showed that they were furious.
Green, Murray, TObin and
Lewis were not even good pOliti-
: clans, much less labor states
men. They were too dumb and
thick to realize that, whatever
their urgent needs had been dur
ing the rOugh-and-tumble years,
they now had firmly established
their power. They could afford
to treat their subjects as citi-
zens and, more important, treat
them as people, not sub-human
= subjects.
# This sub-human status of the su
2. jects is plainly implied by sever
II unions. Until recently, in the AZ
h electricians, skilled workman wi
n a full membership was equal in w
ing power to a hundred or more u