Evening star., 1948-05-11

Fight on Toft-Hortley Act
Makes Little Progress
Only 7 Out of 1872 House Members
Defeated for denomination
By Gould Lincoln
The drive Of organized labor leaders-C1O
the Taft-Hartley Act hasn't made enough prog
ress to arouse even faint trickle Of enthusiasm
among the most ardent opponents OF the act.
Already l32 members of the House have come
up for denomination only seven have
been defeated for denomination, including Re-
publicans and Democrats And none of those
defeats can be wholly charged to the opposition
Of labor. There remain 303 House members to
be nominated-and the CIOs PAC and AFIs
new educational agency may be expected to do
their utmost to knock of as many Of the In
cumbents, who voted for the Taft-Hartley law,
as possible.
Furthermore in several instances the labor
leaders singled out individual members Of the
House for attack in the primaries 50 far held
for congressional nominations. There was the
third district in Pennsylvania, for example.
where the Taft-Hartley Act was made the issue
in the effort to defeat Representative Hardis
Scott, Republican, for denomination. The nth
Alabama district was made . battle-ground
against Representative Albert Rains, Democrat,
too. In both cases, however, the incumbents
won. The AFL unions were particularly active,
too, in several Of the Indiana districts-where
six incumbent Republican representatives faced
opposition, including Majority Leader Charlie
Halleck. They got nowhere In this protest vote.
Mr.. Halleck, who was opposed by a union man,
won by something like 10000 votes to 5000 for
his opponent.
Two COP Members Lose Out.
Two Pennsylvania Republicans Representa-
tives Gallagher and Chadwick, lost out 'but
their defeats were due in the main to differ
ences in the Republican organizations in these
districts. Representative Carter Manasco.
whom the labor leaders sought to defeat two
years ago. was beaten in . recent primary by
a disabled veteran Of the last war, Carl Elliott.
Mr.. Elliott had a strong organization among
the veterans. It is undoubtedly true that
labor's old opposition to Mr.. Manasco was in
part responsible for his defeat. But 1t was not
the whole story by jugful. There is no rea-
son to believe. either, that Mr.. Elliott would
follow the behest Of the unions and vote to
repeal the Taft Hartley law. .
claim has been widely made by organized
labor that It scared Representative Hartley Of
New Jersey into retiring from the political
field The New Jersey Republican, whose name
is tied to the labor law, is not a candidate this
year to succeed himself. The fact Of the mat.
ter as related by Majority Leader Of the House
Halleck,. Is that Mr.. Hartley had decided not
to seek denomination before the Taft-Hartley
labor bill was written-and Mr.. Hartley stuck
to that decision. Some Of his colleagues tried
to get him to change his mind and rtm-but
he would not. - -
Dilemma In Ohio. -''*
Organized labor leaders-particularly CIO-
were on the horns Of dilemma In the recent
Ohio primary. They wished to throw as many
labor votes as they could, in the primary for
election of delegates to the Republican Nation.
al Convention, for Stassen and against Taft
On the other hand, organizationaly they had
gone on record to support former Mayor Of
Cleveland Miller against former Governor
Lausche in the race for the Democratic guber.
material nomination. Under the circumstances,
they were forced to hold lot Of Democratic
labor votes in the Democratic primary. which
otherwise might have been cast for Mr.. Stas-
sen. In some Of the industrial centers IKE
Youngstown, Akron and Dayton, labor did go
out and vote for Mr. Stassen in big way But
the move-over from the Democratic to the Re-
publican primary was not as great as had been
expected. Senator Taft the hated CO. author Of
the labor law, came out of the primary with
more delegates than the ants had been will
ing to concede him.
The labor leaders have not given up their
political endeavors They are still doing all in
their power to get as many voters to register
as possible When this drive comes to an end
as it must when the last filing date has
passed-they will go ahead developing their
block system"-picking representatives in each
city block and making them responsible for
canvassing every voter in each block.
This is the year when organized labor moved
into the political field on an unprecedented
scale The leaders will work from now on
desperately to get results. Large funds are be.
ing raised. 1t should be remembered, however.
that 33l members of the House voted to- over.
ride President Truman's veto OF the labor law.
and 6S senator's To defeat majority Of them
seems an impossible task ~ 80