The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1948-12-16
Facts And The Mandate


supporting Mr. Truman, it is not sur
prising that they are throwing their
weight around and adopting dicta-
torial tone toward the Congress and
the President
For undoubtedly they are getting
every possible encouragement from
the Administration politicians to do
exactly that The astute Mr.. Victor
Riesel reports that the big Boys"
of the labor world think they are on
the GLORY road" and that all they
have to do now is go to Washington
and tell 'em." This frame of mind is
the natural result of two things. One
was the speed and enthusiasm with
which Democratic leaders, without
regard to realities, have accepted the
labor-leader boast that "labor did it."
An example of this was given i'm
mediately after the election by Chair
man McGrath of the National Com
mttee.
Labor did it," joyfully echoed Mr..
McGrath and his faithful followers.
With equal truth they could have
said, "The farmer did it, or "the
Negroes did it" or "the veterans did
it," They could have said those
things, but they didn't. All the credit
was given to labor, apparently for the
reason that the labor bosses claimed
it all. The second cause for the strut
ting attitude of the Big Boys" is
the unanmty with which Admins
tration spokesman are Interpreting
the Truman victory as a mandate"
to give labor bosses anything and
everything they ask.
OF course, the popular Truman ma
jorty was so thin and the total vote
so astonishingly small that it is ri
diculous to talk of a mandate. You
do not get mandate" from the
American people when barely half of
the potential voters go to the polls
and of them the winner gets a bare
majority. In this case it is particular
~ absurd to talk about the mandate"
for labor, because it is too well known
to deny that during the campaign
the labor bosses were wholly unen-
thusiastic about Mr.. Truman, whom
they had violently opposed for the
others, they had no idea he was 60
ing to win and concentrated their
time and money upon defeating candi-
dates for Congress who had voted for
the Taft-Hartley Act.
In this certainly they were not
markedly successful, as shown by the
fact that in the next Senate there
will be 81 (Out of 96) senators who
voted to override the Truman veto on
the Taft-Hartly bill. Of this number
80 are followers, II were reelected
and moved over from the House. In
the House there will be Sc reelected
Democrats and I'll reelected Repub-
licans all of whom voted to override
the veto. That hardly means a imam
date" for labor. Rather, it means that
in both branches there will be a ma
joIity with a pro-Taft- Hartley record.
1t means that no repeal is possible
except through White House and la
Dor lobby coercion so strong as to
force the more timid to repudiate
themselves. 1t is difficult to see how
II 10
porters can construe their reelection
as d mandate" to reverse themselves.
For example, there are the two
Maryland Democratic senators-Tyd-
ings and O. Conor. Both voted for the
Taft-Hartley bill and both voted to
override the Truman veto. Is it likely
that either will stultify himself by
voting for repeal at the command of
Mir. human and the CLIO lobby? Was
there anything in the returns either
nationally or IN their own State which
they would regard as mandate" on
this subject sufficiently strong and
clear to compel them to swallow their
convictions and repudiate their own
record? Hardly. And yet, unless a
number OF Democratic senators do eX-
actly that, the effort to force out
rigght repeal and the re-enactment of
the Wagner Act, which gives the
labor bosses exemption from all re-
straint, will not succeed.
However, Truman spokesman seem
to think this is what has to be done.
This, they insist, is what the people
voted for. Chief example Of this at
titude is Secretary Of Labor Maurice
Tobin, who dashos tlom one labor
group to the other telling the Big
Boys" what wonderful fellows they
are and how much the Administration
wants to serve them. Recently, at the
AFL convention, Mr. Tobin went all
out on the mandate" conception. To
read his speech, the labor bosses are
justified in believing they can write
their own ticket Mr.. Tobin interprets
the returns as a mandate" not only