Evening star., 1948-04-10
Lewis and Wallace
Stirring Up trouble
When Unity Is Need
Cool Strike, Third Porty
Dissension Fit Into Reds
Program Of Agitation
By Frank r. Kent

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By Frank r. Kent
It is an oft-proclaimed and widel,
held conviction In this country that
when menaced by foreign foe the
American people. putting aside poll
tics and partisanship, present a
united front" The further claim
Is that when thus united, industry
and labor buckle down and do a
superb job"
Neither of these beliefs is sus-
tanned by the facts. Discarding the
evidence Of the past, so far as unity
Is concerned, certainly the present
record proves the reverse. Few
persons dispute that I'VE are to-,
day living under the threat Of q
war so terrible as to make 1t i'm
possible to exaggerate the catas-
trophic consequences. Every one
hopes the conflict can be averted
but no informed man doubts that
the danger is real and great. Under
such circumstances disunity is IN
defensible, wicked as well as stupid.
But Is there unity among us? The
most superficial view of the situa-
ton makes the question absurd
Disunity is so obvious that it can
not help but gladden. the potential
enemy and encourage every traitor
within our borders. For example
take the current courses of two OF
our most conspicuous citizens
John L. Lewis and Henry A. Wai-
lace. Mr.. Lewis certainly IS no trail
tor and 1t is not necessary to regard
him as unpatriotic or communistic
to hold that in inspiring hundreds
of thousands of coal miners to strike
he has dealt his country a hard
blow at particularly critical period
Ties Up Basic Industry.
What he has done Is to tie up the
Nations basic industry. thus adj
versely affecting the railroads. steel
mills and many other vital units of
the economic system just when, in
the interests of q foreign policy
upon the success of which the fate
of the world depends. it should be
functioning perfectly. In addition,
and for what seems az inadequate
reason and on a minor issue. Mr.
Lewis, in effect, fiouts the President.
def1es the Government and not too
well conceals his contempt for the
courts.
If these things happened when
there we're no wsr clouds in the sky,
they would be deplorable. But now
when 1t Is so overwhelmingly i'm
portant to convey to the world, and
especially to the potential enemy,
the picture of strong, Arm, rited
Nation, 1t is hard to find words to
describe them. 1t is even harder to
do justice to the things Mr.. Wallace
is doing. There is no purpose here
to compare Mr.. Lewis and Mr.. Wal
lace. They are as different as well
can be. Mr. Lewis is infinitely the
stronger and better man from what
ever angle he may be viewed. But
Mr.. Wallace is doing his country
more damage. For, in effect, he has
espoused the cause of the potential
enemy to such a degree that he has
become its most valued friend in
this country. Taking the Soviet side,
he assails the President of the
United States, the Marshall Plan
and our whole foreign policy with
unrestrained violence. He is en-
Enthusiastically supported by the Com
munist organ, the Daily Worker, and
in every State the Communists are
the core of his organization and his
most Jealous workers. In effect, he
has become the leading Russian
propaganda, and, resides the Com
munists, every crackpot radical and
opponent of the American way Of
life is marching under his banner.
Idiotic "Guru" Letters.
It is an almo& incredible per-
formance AS his act develops. the
impression grows that Mr.. Wallace
Is q biased, embittered and unbal-
anced man, in a state Of great men
tai confusion and without any grasp
on realities. Certainly, publication
of the .diotic "Guru" letters has
made 1t difficult to- believe in the
soundness Of his intellectual proc
esses. In addition, an increasing
number of people are convinced OF
his insincerity. That such man by
such methods and with such sup
port can poll enough votes to af-
feet the result of the presidential
election Is most unlikely. Nevertle-
less, like Mr.. Lewis, he is contrib
uting heavily to the Soviet idea Of
q weak, disorderly and divided
United States, thus adding greatly
to the difficulties Of effective opera
ton of our foreign policy.
Though these two men-Lewis
and Wallace-are making the chief
contributions to the disunity pic
ture, there are other elements help
ing to give 1t credibility. Among
these are the Democratic machine
bosses and the pro-Roosevelt Glib
erals" who for their own not ad-
mirable purposes are viciously try
ing to discredit and tear down Mr..
Truman, despite their knowledge
that he probably will be nomi-
mated to succeed himself, and, at
any rate, will be President until
January, 1949. Under existing con-
ditions 1t is distinctly not in the in
terest Of the Nation to make this
kind OF assault upon its head
Perhaps all these things-and
others-are inevitable under our
system. In population so vast
probably one ought to realize that
bad as these things seem, they can
be-and in the past always have
been-overcome by the inherent
really great qualities Of the Nation.
Nevertheless, no one now living
can remember any national crisis
quite as acute, nor for many fea-
sons quite as dreadful as the one
we now face. 1t does seem that this
unprecedentedly grave situation
should compel . little more pre-
crisis unity than we have. As for
the assertion that once disaster