Evening star., 1949-10-09
Public Sentiment Held
Decisive in Steel Crisis

Believes CIO Propagandists Will Win
Publicity Battle With Name Calling
By Frank X. Kent
Even when they are clearly in the right,
even when justice is strongly on their side.
even when they are obviously being framed
and the muggy political clouds completely
obscure the issueS-even under these condi-
tions-it is difficult for any one In politics
or public life to espouse the cause of great
corporations against labor union. And it 10
almost as hard for a newspaper or a news
paper writer as it is for a politician.
The reason is that no one in politics can
afford to expose himself to attack as the
champion of the greedy rich" and against
the common man." Nor does the most in
dependent journal or journalist particularly
care about being demagogically assailed as
the "tool' of the selfish interests" which
inevitably happens when they try to hold
the scales evenly balanced All OF which
may serve partially to explain why in this
great clash between the steel companies
and the steel workers the latter have their
arguments so much more graphically pre-
sented and their leaders are the recipients
OF so much more favorable publicity.
But this dread of being put in dis
advantageous position toward the voters in
the case of the politicians or toward their
readers in the case of the newspapers Is
not the only reason. There are several
other contributing causes why in every strike
industry is always on the defensive, its side
made to- seem sinister and the union side
pictured as pious, not to say holy. The first
of these causes is the stupidity of the in
dustrial leaders. They may be-and are
good businessmen but they know little about
Apparently, they have no conception of the
major part these things play in the labor
management situation of the present day.
For example, take the CIO and the steel
executives. So far as the strike has gone
nothing could be clearer than that in politics.
propaganda and public sentiment, the CIO
is running circles around the steel company
leaders. There exists, of course, political
alliance between the CIO and the Demo-
cratic administration CD obvious and recog-
nized as to make any pretense of being
unbiased transparently insincere. If evi-
dence were required of this, plenty has been
presented by the close collaboration of the
CIO and the White House since the start
of the current controversy. The evasion of
the Taft-Hartley law by Mr.. Truman in
naming his "Fact-Finding Board" the per-
sonnel of the board and the administrations
attitude have been exactly what the CIO
wanted They could have asked for no
more. Philip Murray, head of the CIO.
denounces "the selfish interests" in speech
and Mr.. Truman uses exactly the same
phrase few days later. Mr.. Murray, with
no evidence at all, accuses the steel company
of wanting the strike and the liberal
columnists promptly assert that the white
House holds the same views" Members of
the Truman cabinet indicate sympathetic
support and there is launched general left
wing journalistic campaign to make Mr..
Murray appear sanity and noble man,
bravely battling for the right in contrast to
the wicked steel barons" who want to shoot
the poor" and pursue. without restraint,
their evil purposes.
These steel barons" themselves are
neither sanity nor unselfsh. But neither
are they anything like as wicked as they are
being portrayed. The question naturally is
asked: Why do the steel companies permit
themselves to be thus maligned and the facts
misrepresented? The answer seems to be
that, able as they may be in their field, they
are not very bright as propagandlsts. They
know, Of course, that when administration
and union spokesmen say public sentiment
will settle the strike, they speak the truth.
but they are not nearly as well equipped as
the CIO for molding public sentiment. In
recent years the latter has built up costly
and elaborate publicity machine manned by
smart young liberals" who never overlook
a trick. The "steel barons' have public
relations departments, but they are vastly
inferior in size as well as skill And too
often they refuse to make reply to personal
attacks and charges.
This may be dignifed, high-plane and
self-respecting stuff, but against an adj
.versary such as the CIO, whom Senator
Rvrd ch off ha ali
ton with lying. slandering and deliberate
Justification, it gets nowhere at all. No one
expects the steel companies to meet falsi-
f1cation with Justification nor to compete
in name calling contest. But their in
terests would be served if they swiftly and
vigorously nailed every unfounded statement
and denounced every scurrilous attack Fail
ure to do this has worked out to their disad.
vantage. It is true that when great union
is supported by the White House, the diff
culties Of successful employer resistance are
very great indeed. AS has been seen, the
weaker ones surrender quickly. But there
is no sense in a timidity that prevents a clear
statement of the facts. The steel barons'
know the CIO has the inside administra-
ton track. Yet they seem afraid to men,
ton it.
In this case the only issue being whether
the employees should contribute something
to the pension fund or the companies pay
it all, the companies seem to have the sense
on their side. They are opposed not only by
the CIO, but by the full weight of the
administration. With the right on their
side, it does seem the "steel barons" could
do better job of informing the public.
him to college, "after which he became a
physician" But the doctor and his wife
were not happy. Trouble appeared in the
Smith household" The physician was shot
..d aornorons1u mol1nded at Marshall Ill