The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-05-12

TO the House Labor Committee car
The overnight reversal was a
Gratis, who on Tuesday voted for Il
and voted recommital. Another
three Democrats who were absent
on Tuesday appeared on Wednes-
day to support recommital. While
one of these had been paired for
the bill, two had hitherto given nc
indication of their position.
While II Democrats and 146 Re-
publicans voted for the Wood bill,
180 Democrats, % Republicans and
one American Labor party member
:. opposed it. The recommital vote
found all those who had opposed
the Wood bill except Rep. James
G. Fulton OR, Pa.) standing fast
and voting to send the phoney TIL
repeater back to committee.
The crucial switch of ten south
ern Democratic votes was achieved
by the lobbying" efforts of south
ern moderates like Speaker of the
House Sam Rayburn and Rep. Al
bert Gore Cd, Tenn.) and the last
minute efforts of labor's Washing
ton spokesmen. One of them sat up
most of the night telegraphing the
home state central labor councils
of the men who switched and
prompted local union leaders to
notify them that if they didn't they
could count on labor's opposition in
1850.
On Tuesday the Wood bill vote
came an hour after the defeat of
the last minute "Sims compro-
mise"
Altho it bore the name of new
conner to the House-Rep. Hugo
Sims Cd, S. C.)-principal author
of the proposed compromise was
Speaker Rayburn. Whether or not
he had White House support for
his measure is not clear. Rayburn
himself denies that President Tru-
man was consulted about the bill.
1t was clear that the most stall
wart of the pro-union Congressman
, were not. Rep. Augustine Kelley
Cd, Pa.) shaking with emotion, de-
nounced the measure and said that
he didn't know it had been prepar-
ed. Along with other friends of or
ganized labor he pushed for adop-
tion of an amendment eliminating
its injunctions section.
This amendment was defeated
by 238 to 1872 vote. Had it been
adopted the pro-union legislators
would have been willing to accept
the Sims bill. AS it was most of
them voted for it anyway, without
enthusiasm, as better than the
Wood -Halleck bill.
While most union representatives
here had agreed to some of the
minor changes in the Lesinski bill
embodied in the Sims proposal they
had emphatically rejected the in
junction proviso. They had, how
ever, indicated their willingness to
go along with the no-injunction
plant seizure proposal for handling
national emergency strikes first
proposed by Rep. Jack Javits (NY)
-one Of the handful of Republi-
cans to consistently support labor's
campaign to rid itself of the Taft
Hartley yoke.
In many votes taken during the
windup of this round of the Taft
Hartley debate labor won only
twice-frst when an amendment
to permit states to ban the closed
shop was defeated, and then when
&he House accepted an amendment
by Rep. George Rhodes Cd, Pa.)
requiring anti-fascist as well as
anti Communist oaths from both
union and company officials.
The anti-union bloc of southern
Democrats listened with interest
to Rayburn's speech from the floor
in support of his compromise bill.
But the hard core of about 40
union-hating Dixiecrats voted
against his proposal every time a
motion was called.
About dozen Republicans voted
with the pro-union Democrats on
all key ballots.
When House Labor Committee
Chairman John Lesinski rose just
before the vote on the Sims bill
was taken to praise the virtues of
compromise" he was booed by the
pro-union men and the anti-labor
gang alike. But, most Of the liber-
ais had to follow along with him
and Rayburn in hope of somehow
de-tracking the anti-labor Wood
bill.
Had they succeeded in substitut-
ing it for the Wood bill then they
would have opposed it in favor of
he original clear-cut pro-labor
Lesinski bill.
Despite his support of the Sims
bill, Lesinski voted pro-labor on
the anti-injunction amendment to
he compromise proposal. Rayburn,
however, opposed the amendment l
(Tarn to Page Tsvo Il