Evening star., 1949-01-28
Senators Cancel
Labor Hearing
Al Last Minute
Bill Still Incomplete,
Tobin's S Appearance
Sought Tomorrow

"A 0cildGC LdDO1 NUIIllulGCe6
hearing on the administration S
new labor bill was called of sud-
denly today for reasons not fully
explained.
The committee Cancelled the hear
ing until further notice" only 80
minutes before Secretary of Labor
Tobin was scheduled to appear at a
session starting at 10 am. to explain
the proposed measure
Senator Pepper. Democrat. of
Florida said Secretary Tobin in
formed Senator Murray, Democrat,
of Montana, chairman of the hear
ing subcommittee, that he could not
get the new bill in shape in time to
testify today.
Senator Pepper said he assumed
that differences of opinion" over
what the measure should contain
were responsible.
Seeks Appearance Tomorrow.
The Senator said the committee is
trying to get Mr.. Tobin to agree to
testify tomorrow.
1T isn't necessary for him to bring
"a completed bill because the COM
mite probably will want to make
some changes in it anyway" Senator
Pepper commented.
A cabinet meeting was scheduled
for the hour the committee had
planned to meet. 1t was not known
however, whether the new labor Law
was discussed at the meeting.
There are said to be two major
points of conflict in the proposed
legislation proposed by Mr.. Tobin
and his aides to repeal the Taft
Hartley law and restore the Wagner
Act with certain improvements"
desired by Mr. Truman.
One is the use of injunctions to
halt national emergency strikes. a
provision of the Hartley Act
criticized by all labor spokesmen.
The proposed new law is reported
to contain hidden injunction fea-
ture which provides that the Norris
La Guardia Act would not apply in
strikes affecting the national well
fare The Norris-La Guardia Act
bans the use of court injunctions as
an instrument for combating
strikes.
The second point of conflict is
the proposed shifting of the Concili-
alton Service, now independent.
back to the Labor Department.
Cyrus S. Ching, director of the Con-
ciliation Service, was reported ready
to resign II the agency is returned
to the Labor Department.
The hearing delay was the more
unexpected as the committee had
indicated it would act speedily in
carrying out one of Mr.. Truman's
campaign promises to erase the
Taft Hartley law from the books.
Over the vigorous objections of
Senator Taft of Ohio, coauthor of
the 194S labor law passed by the
Republican-controlled 80th Con-
gress. and other Republicans. the
committee plans to cut of hear
ings February 10 and conf1ne testi-
mony to changes sought by Mr..
Truman In the Wagner Act.
Taft. Morse Attack Plan.
A preview of the bitter congress
sional debate expected to mark con-
sideration of the proposed new law
occurred in the Senate yesterday.
Senators Taft and Morse, Repub-
Iican, OF Oregon assailed the Demo-
cratic proposal to speed up hearings,
with Senator Morse declaring that
the steamroller tactics you are
using will serve only to crush
labor"
Democratic spokesmen defended
the speedup and retorted there was
"a public hearing on this issue on
November 2" and that the election
outcome was a clear mandate for
repeal of the Taft-Hartley law.
Describing the Democratic pro-
cedure for handling the hearings as
utterly fantastic" Senator Taft
signaled the fight he will make on
a new labor law by introducing Is
amendments to the proposed new
legislation which would keep some
of the basic Taft-Hartley provisions
on the books. These included ban
on the closed shop and other sec
tions Mr., Truman wants revised.