Evening star., 1949-02-05
Unlike Mr.. Truman

Unlike Mr.. Truman
The more one reflects on the extraordi-
nary claim of power which has been made
| by the President, the more desirable it
seems to meet the challenge implicit in his
statement, and to meet it now.
1t would be ridiculous to discuss this
matter on the basis of an assumption that
Mr.. Truman has dictatorial aspirations.
He is not that kind of President. But
there will be other days and other Presi-
dents, and 1t is because of this that vague
claims to vague powers, inherent or i'm
piled, are not to be lightly passed over.
The President cannot be directly quoted
in his press conference remarks. But he
said in substance that the inherent and
implied powers of the President are suf1-
cient to enable him to break paralyzing
strikes without any statutory authority to
seek court injunctions. And he added that
in time of emergency he felt that the Pres
ident had immense power to do what was
right for the country.
When President uses language like this
there is no room for complacency. Who Is
to determine what is right for the country?
| If that Is privilege of the President, one
need only recall that this country might
have had Henry Wallace as its President
| Would Mr. Truman have been willing, as
Senator, to let Mr.. Wallace decide what
was right for the country and use that
immense power of which Mr.. Truman
speaks to impose the Wallace concept of
right on the Nation? 1t is in setting
like this that one ought to appraise Senator
~ hat
that such a power exists is threat to the
people of the United States" Most GER
tainly, it is a suggestion which ought not
to 60 unchallenged.
The Star believes that the President
ought to have power to act, through the
courts, to protect the Nation against strikes
or any situation which would bring the
country to its knees But it also believes
that such power should be conferred by
act of Congress through a statute which
would define the power with care and
incorporate safeguards against its abuse.
Mr.. Truman seems to oppose this, and
certainly it is opposed by those who have
been representing him before the Senate
Labor Committee But in case of need
the President probably intends to seek in
| functions, in the absence of statutory au-
thority, by invoking what he regards as
his implied powers. At any rate, in vetoing
labor bill in June, 1s46, he had this to
say: "Injunctions requested by the Gov
ernment itself, and designed to restrain
strikes against the Government in cases
where refusal to work for the Government
has produced condition of national emer-
gency, are, to my mind, an essential ele-
ment of Government authority"
| If that power was essential in 1946, 1t
is essential now But there is this differ
ence: In 1946, under the Smith -Connally
Act, the Government had authority to
seize struck plants. 1t has no such au-
thority today, unless it may be that the
President thinks he can seize under the
inherent and implied powers to which he
refers. 1t is significant that in the 1916
| veto message the President declared: Men
cannot be forced in a peace-time democ-
racy to work for private employer under
compulsion." If that is true, as it certainly
is, then it follows that when a strike
threatens the life of the Nation there must
be some way for the Government to step
in and take over the function of private
| cHployeI. Lie QueSIlOn Is WNeJQer LnlS
should be done by authority of statute or
under the underlined, unknown and prob
ably inadequate implied powers of the
President.
There are other interesting passages in
the 1946 veto message. For instance, MIR.
Truman, on that occasion, said: Where
excesses have developed on the part of
labor leaders or management, such ex-
cesses should be corrected-not in order
to injure either party-but to bring about
as great an equality as possible between
the bargaining positions of labor and man
agement. Neither should be permitted to
become too powerful as against the public
interest as a whole"
| That was wise and temperate counsel
Watching the current anything but
admirable administration effort to discredit
the Taft-Hartley Act, which tried to bring
about an equality between labor and man
agement, and to revive the one-sided
| Wagner Act, it is easy to wish that Pres
ident Truman felt now as he felt In 1946.
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