Evening star., 1949-11-22

President Would Be Put
On Spot if Forced to
Invoke Toft-HortIey Act
By Dapid Laurence
A game Of adroit maneuvering
seems to be in progress between
President Truman and John l..
Lewis so that each may avoid re-
sponsibility for what happens
after December /, when the coal
miners are supposed to 60 out on
strike or continue for another few
weeks q sort Of truce.
On the face of things. Mr.. Lewis
has Mr.. Truman in a spot. If the
President invokes the Taft-Hart-
ley Act powers and secures an in
junction for 80 days. it will be
tantamount to saying that big
unionisn cannot be restrained
from excesses without use of the
Governments injunction power.
This is an argument that the
administration had hoped to keep
out of the hands Of the groups in
Congress which have been urging
. retention of the injunction pro-
visions of the Taft-Hartley Act.
For it would mean that the out
right repeal Of the law is plainly
not in the public interest and that
restraints must be maintained.
For a while it looked as if Mr..
Lewis could rely on the President
not to use the injunction process.
But it was pointedly revealed by
the President himself last week
that he would not hesitate to in
woke the injunction method be-
cause it is still the law of the
land.
Not Compelled to Act.
The law, however. doesn't COM
pei the President to seek an in
junction. It merely says he may
do so whenever a crisis develops
or may develop which could i'm
peril national health and safety.
BY letting the United Mine Work.
ers Union know that the injunc-
tion would be applied for If the
situation became serious. Mr.. Tru-
man was telling Mr.. Lewis that
the next move was up to him.
Mr.. Lewis, on the other hand,
has been known to play poker, too.
He will not reveal his intentions
until the last minute. 1t has been
assumed that he would not order
the miners out on December but
would await the injunction and
use it as an excuse to keep the
miners at work, while at the same
time denouncing the administra-
tion for using the Taft-Hartley
law.
For some strange reason Mr..
Lewis has not come down to
cases in his conferences with the
coal operators, so that they claim
not to know just what he wants in
q settlement. This is one reason
why the Federal Mediation and
Cancellation Service to date has
not been able to make progress and
why it has reported to the White
House that the parties are far
apart. .
Mr.. Lewis could issue a state
ment just before December 1,
saying he wanted to make the
country q Christmas present. He
could announce that, in order to
meet the public convenience. he
wants the miners to stay at work
another six weeks. This would
mean he was ready to make some
effort to bargain with the oper-
ators and reach a settlement in
the interim. -.s
Sparring For Position.
If. on the other hand, the ad-
ministration waits till the miners
60 out on December l and lets a
coal crisis develop and then ap-
plies for an injunction, the coun-
try vii. criticize the President as
having waited too long to do his
duty. Will John Lewis force Mr..
Truman into that dilemma?
With the White House and John
Lewis sparrtng for position among
the labor-vote groups, it is possi-
bic for the strike situation to
reach a climax after December l..
The big question is when does the
emergency occur? Is it now, when
the mine workers chief says the
miners should work only until De-
cembe1 l? Is 1t when the union
chief announces what is to happen
after December 1? Can the Presi-
dent wait until one day before
December l to make up his mind
what tc do?
The problem Is a very difficult
one for the President to solve. AL
though the labor chiefs generally
want to see the Taft-Hartley Act
repealed. they know Mr.. Truman
cannot afford to jeopardize his
position with the unorganized
workers as we'll as with many of
the organized union members.
They want him to stop a coal
strike.
Around Washington there is
feeling that Mr.. Lewis has lost
this strike already, that many
miners are restless and will not
quit on December l If they should
be ordered out. But there's no
telling what cards John L. Lewis
will play-and this time it looks
as if he must keep the miners at
work after December ! or face the
worst defeat of his career in sub
sequent negotiations.
Reproduction Rights Reserved)
{ \