Milford chronicle., 1948-01-09

THE VAST AMOUNT of attention now
being given to the complex problems of COM
modify prices and the European rehabilita-
ton program has for the time being
shadOwed another issue which will play a
lively role in the elections of next year. That
issue is labor and labor legislation. When
the Taft-Hartley law was being considered
in Congress the labor leaders, for the most
part, took the position that no legislation of
any kind was necessary or desirable. In the
opinion of a number of labOr's friends, so
recalcitrsnt an attitude was bad tactics, and
in the long run might be injurious to lab0F's
interests However, the leaders have not
changed their point of view. They regard
the Taft-Hartley act as being 100 per cent
wrong, and their announced purpose is to
obtain its complete repeal, if possible-and
if that is not possible to ennasculate it
through amendment.
The most aggressive enemy of this law is
the CIO and its Committee for Political Ac-
tiOn. CIO-PAC, according to statements by
its officials, is not training it's big guns on
the Taft-Hartley law alone. When the mea-
sure was passed over the Presidents veto,
it pledged itself to attempt to defeat, at the
polls, every member of Congress who voted
for it. That is a remarkably large order, in
asmuch as the act obtained substantially
more than the tWO-thirds majOrities needed
in both branches of Congress. If CIO-PAC
were to fulfill its pledge, about $50 Senators
and Congressman now incumbent would go
crashing down to defeat. And not all Of those
would be Republicans by long shot A large
minority of the Democrats in Congress would
also bite the political dust.
That has raised a very interesting ques-
tiOn-iust how strong is the influence of
union officials over the rank-and-fle of mem
bership when it comes to telling them who
and what to vote for? This issue has been
dramatized in a challenger" to the leaders
OF CIO-PAC recently issued by the Dunn
Survey of Greenwich, Connecticut The gist
of it is found in this statement: Owe chal-
lenge CIO-PAC to oppose publicly every
member of Congress, Democrat and Repub-
lcan, who has primary election contest in
1913, and who voted for the Taft-Hartley
labor law over the Presidents veto. Unless
you run out on your ward to try to defeat all
of the members of Congress who voted for
the Taft-Hartley law, you must accept this
challenge"
The underlying thesis of the Dunn Sur
veys challenge is that the Union leaders can
not dictate their members voting, and that
the rank and file of American WOrknen are
good, and independent thinking, citizens, .
who make up their own minds and cast their
ballots accordingly. To substantiate this, the
Survey has prepared some statistical tables
which it believes proves its point
In the 1916 general election, the Survey
states, 143 members of Congress were. Op-
posed by CIO-PAC. OF these, 14O were elect
ed, and only three were defeated. In the same
election, 221 Representatives who voted for
the Case Labor Bill, a measure which was
anathema to most union heads, came before
the electorate Only four were beaten and
217 retained their seats.
The Smith Labor Bill, which was also
vehemently opposed by labor leaders, was
voted on in December, 1871. In the 1912 and
1914 general elections, 235 members of Con-
gress who approved it were returned to Of
fee, and only IL were retired by the elector-
ate.
Another table prepared by the Dunn
Survey. concerns the late President Roose-
velts vOte-getting power in the major in
dustrlal districts where the unions are most
powerful. Mr.. Roosevelt was supported by
practically all labor leaders, and during his
Administration, union membership increas-
ed tremendously less than 100000
in 1886 to l3,50e000 in 1914. But, says the
Survey, his majorities declined from 65 per
cent in 1885 to So per cent in 1914 in the SO
largest industrial areas. The Survey re-
CARDS this as additional proof that the idea
that union heads can deliver the labor vote
as a block is absurd
Time answers all questions, and eventu-
ally 1T will answer this one, in one fashion or
another. IT isn't yet known Just how far
PAC-ClO, OF any other labor group, will 90
IN trying to individually defeat those who
voted for the Taft-Hartley law. The record
shows that union chiefs have backed down
before from statements that were made with
out sufficient thought and analysis. During
the last big railroad strike, the head of one
Of the principal br0therhOOds said that he
would hllingly spend all of his unions trea.
sury to defeat Mr. Truman. Nothing is heard
Of that now, and Mr.. Truman obviously Is
supported by the labor chieftains. The Pres
idents veto Of the IaftHartley bill, though
unVailing, decided that
Whether Mr.. Truman can make political
capital out 0f opposing the Taft-Harflav law