The union times., 1948-07-10
Denham Ruling Seen Threat To Small Business
Law Being Extended To Apply Even To Corner
 Grocery Store

Champions of the Taft Hartley Act have become ex- traOrdinarily skittish about their handiwOrk. For the mo- ment, at least, they are not clamOring from the hOusetOps about their purpOrted panacea for all industrial ills.
 In fact, despite all the Balled- Up Polls which are supposed to show that workers love that law, the sponsors of the act are now strangely silent about their brain child, as if 1t were something un- mentionable, like hideous di- SeaSe.
 AVOID MENTION
 That was particularly evident at the recent Philadelphia broiIer, known as the Republican National Convention. If the Taft-Hartley Act were such a great boon to the country, you would assume the COP convention would have pro- claimed that fact in stentorian tones.
 Actually, speakers avoided men, ton of it, as though it did not exist. One of the chief architects of the law-Taft of Ohio-was very de- cisively spurned when it came to se- lecting standard bearer.
 And the platform adopted unani- mously by the convention referred to 1t very gingerly. The platform spoke in very general terms about the ''rights and obligations" of each side. It also pledged" continuing study to inn prove labor management legislation in the light of experience and changing conditions which can mean much or nothing.
 In any event, now that it's getting closer to election day, Tory politicians are trying to shuSh the Hartley Act aside, or put it up in mothballs until after November. Very clearly. they don't yet regard 1t as sure-fre vote-getter.
 BACKING UP Another example of how the act is rearing Up and kicking back on its supporters occurred during the last lap ot CongreSs-and received relatively little publicity.
 lhlS was report put out by the far-from-iberal House Committee on Expenditures in Executive Depart mentS, headed by Rep. Clare E. Hoff- man, the ranting and rabid labor-hater from the Wolverine state.
 The committee was furious because Robert N. Denham, general counsel ot the Natl Labor Relations Board. insisted that the Taft-Hartley Acts Jurisdiction extended even to corner saloons, grocery stores and almost any other small business"
 Denham'S view was blasted by the Hoffman committee as contrary to the will and intent of Congress" and as calculated to subject small business men to lot of legal red tape" Under the new interpretation. the NLRB will have every business or establishment in the United States within its pOwer,'' the com mittee explained with great alarm. 'Certainly it was never the inten- tlOn of Congress to impose such a burden on the small business of the United States. Our national history does not afford a more striking example of bureaucratic aggrandizement.'
 While no member of the committee wrote dissent, this viewing with alarm amused Congressman John w. 1McCormack (D, Miss), minority leader in the House. He submitted a statement of accompanying views" which cast different light on the whole row.
 The real rogue" in the squabble is not Denham, but the act itself, McCor- mack said. The anguish" of the Taft Hartley proponents, he said, arises out of the fact that they are now waking up to what they have done."
 He declared the legislation was written in such manner as to bring practically the whole economic life of the country, even down to a corner store, within the purview of the Taft Hartley Act"
 FRANKENSTEIN
 1t IS plainly apparent that pro- ponents of the act did not realize what a creature they had brought into legal being" he said. ''They are now fearful of their own creation"
 What 1t all shows Mccormack add ed, is that "a mistake was made in passing the Taft-Hartley Act to begin With, an error that can only be cor rected by outright repeal.
 Workers of the nation have the means of convincing the Congress siOnal reactionaries beyond doubt. that they did make a great mistake in passing the act. That's by march, ing sOlidly to the polls in November and throwing out of office those who voted for the monstrosity.