Evening star., 1949-01-31
Continued From First Page

new uIllOIlS, MI" 1OUlll tCpllcO. I1e
added 1t was a condition that went
with the war.
Il am older than you are. Mr.
Secretary" Senator Smith went on
and I have not seen the temptation
to racketeer disappear unless you
legislate against it"
The committee adjourned at 1915
before Senator Taft, Republican, OF
Ohio. crosS-examined Mr.. Tobin, but
the co-author of the Taft-Hartley
Law made it clear he had plenty
of questions to ask later in the
hearing
The Taft-Tobin set-to will be put
off, however, until Wednesday,
since the committee has called three
other witnesses for tomorrow. They
are Cyrus Ching, head of the inde-
pendent Cancellation Service, which
the President wants back in the
Labor Department: Chairman Paul
Herzog of the National Labor Re-
lations Board, and Attorney General
Clark
In his statement, Mr. Tobin said
the present law has limited the scope
of collective bargaining. "unneces-
sarily injected the Government into
labor disputes and has abridged the
rights of our working men and
women"
Gives Other Criticisms.
"It has emphasized individual
bargaining" he continued. 1T deals
with collective bargaining as if it
were inimical to the public interest
instead of the foundation of our
national labor policy. 1t has un-
necessarily limited the rights OF
workers to strike, and even in some
cases compels members of the same
local union to strike-break against
their own fellow members by fore
ing them to work on struck goods.
He urged replacement of the
present law with a measure EN-
ccuraging free collective bargain
ing" When labor and management
are assured once again" that this
is the national labor policy, the
Secretary said, they will. fee
sure, comply with the procedure
provided in the administrations
bill.
The Taft-Hartley Act gave the
Government the right to get 8O-day
injunctions against national emer.
gency strikes, and was used several
times last year. The new bill drops
the injunction weapon and makes
a voluntary approach by providing
for the 30-day cooling-off period.
Before Secretary Tobin took the
stand. Chairman. Thomas Of the
Labor Committee reminded those
who advocate separate repeal of
Taft-Hartley before anything else
is done would also wipe out the
Wagner Act. This would happen
because Taft-Hartley was itself a
revision of the Wagner law. This
has made it necessary for even the
friends of labor to recognize that
the proposed new law must be
written simultaneously with repeal.
Tobin Backs Wagner Act.
! I'm summing up his case, Secretary
Tobin said it is his firm conviction
that the original Wagner Act, with
the improvements proposed, contains
the essential elements of a sound
national labor policy.
Mr.. Tobin argued that Congress
wrote the Taft-Hartley Law in an
emotional atmosphere" brought on
by strikes which occurred between
August, 1945. and June, 1947.
He asked the committee to remem-
Der that between June, 1916, and
June, 1947, the cost of living in
creased 17.8 per cent, while wages
exclusive of overtime, advanced only
11.4 per cent.
; Throughout this period, the
widening spread between wages and
the cost of living caused disloca-
tions, which inevitably produced
evaporation and conflict Secre-
tary Tobin went on.
Cites Pressure on Congress.
"A law written at such time
inevitably reflects such exaspera-
ton and emotional reactions to such
conflicts. The Congress was under
great pressure from the people to
pass legislation to deal with these
conflicts. Had the Congress been
faced during the spring and summer
OF l947 with writing Federal labor
law under different economic and
psychological conditions, the result
would undoubtedly have been very
different from that act.
Today, the balance between
prices and wages is. beginning to
adjust itself and economic condi-
tions are on more settled basis
of course, on a level of production,
employment and income substan-
TALLY higher than that which pre-
vailed in the years 1885 to 1899.
There is an opportunity now again
to return to the basic principle of
free collective bargaining with the
National Labor Relations Act of
1885 established as the fundamental