Evening star., 1949-03-25
Truman Plan 10 STAY
In Capital Emphasizes
Mess With Congress
Intensive Effort Seen
To SoIvoee Something
From Bod Situation

To SoIvoee Something
From Bod Situation j..
By David Laurence
President Truman's decision to
give up outside speaking engage
ments and concentrate on confer
ences with members of Congress
is a sign Of the seriousness with
which the administration views
the mess it has on its hands in
the legislative branch of the Gov
ernment.
Having lost the confidence of
q majority Of Congress by insist
ing on the ill-advised showdown
at this time on the so-called civil
rights issue and having lost
the confidence of businessmen
throughout the country. who be-
lieve the present recession is di-
rectly traceable to recklessnesS of
statements by the President, it
is not unnatural that the admin
istration shouldk begin now an
intensive effort to salvage some
thing from the wreckage.
Mr.. Truman for a while gave
promise of being the leader of
his party. Members of Congress
felt that they had to 60 along with
his strategy. But now the leader
ship in Congress finds it neces-
sary to steer Mr.. Truman. Re-
Gently Mr.. Truman's absence
from Washington has made it
difficult for the Democratic
leaders to organize or mobilize
their party. The help of Presi-
dent in shaping legislative pro-
grams is essential. =
Nearly three months have gone
by since the 81st Congress con-
vened. Much of the time has
been wasted in fruitleSs debate.
The momentum which was be-
lieved to be behind the admins
tration as a result of its surpris-
ing victory at the polls in Novem-
Der has diminished. The fact that
presidential appointments are re-
jected and administration-spon-
sored measures are defeated by a
break in party lines shows that
all the argument about the coun-
try needing a Congress of the
same political complexion as the
President is largely theoretical.
Truman Must Compromise.
The truth is that the headlines
and the debates read very much
the same as when the 80th Con-
gress was in session, only at that
time it was easy to lay the blame
on the difference in party between
the executive and legislative
branches. That excuse no longer
holds.
Mr.. Truman will not be able
TO jam through his program. He
Is in for a long series of negotia-
tions with Congress to get the
best compromises he can.
Perhaps the hardest fight and
the one involving the biggest risk
for the Truman administration is
involved in the attempted repeal
of the Taft Hartley Act and the
substitution for it Of a one-sided
labor law. The same Southerners
who banded together on the So
called civil-rights issue will be
found fighting against union DOM
ination of the politics of the
South. The conservative South
ern Senators will be committing
political suicide if they allow the
labor unions millions of dollars to
be spent in the South to unseat
them.
The provisions in the Taft
Hartley Act which forbid the po-
litical use of union dues can be-
come the center of another civil
rights controversy, with the South
erners on the liberal side. For,
shall a worker be assessed out OF
his wages sums that shall be used
to elect candidates with whom he
is out of sympathy? Or will the
unions be permitted to use money
derived from wages to establish
single political party without free
expression by the workers?\
Worker Has No Voice.
In totalitarian countries die
tatorship tells the voters how to
vote and does not permit any dis
sent. When a worker joins a
union and his dues are taken for
political purposes. he has no voice
in what is being done with the
dues. If he attempts to express
himself. he can be expelled from
the union and. in closed shop"
situations, he can lose his job.
The cause of political freedom
is wrapped up in the retention OF
those provisions of the Taft-Hart-
ley Act which forbid corporations
from using stockholders funds
and unions from using members
dues and assessments for political
purposes. Naturally the Truman
administration and the Northern
Democrats want to get the benefit
of the union funds, so it is not sur
prising that the President is fight
ing so hard to get the administra-
ton bill through Congress, for it
eliminates any restrictions on the
use of union treasures for politi-
cal purposes.
MIR. Truman is certainly well
advised in sticking to Washington
these days. The future of the po-
litical fortunes of the administra-
ton and the Northern Democrats
are imbedded in the controversies
soon to arise over the kind of la
bor-management law that is to be
enacted.
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