Milford chronicle., 1949-06-03
WHY NOT LEAVE WE'LL
ENOUGH ALONE?

The State of the Union hasn't improved
since the President described it to Congress
on January 5. He expressed the belief that
the economic system should rest on Demo-
cratic foundation But the foundation has
been tumbling down. He said economy
faced the evils of boom and bust'-but that
all would be well. He specified a number of
things that the Congress should strengthen.
Among these necessities he listed consumer
credit and bank control credit by the govern
! ment; rent control should be extended and
strengthened; the Government should be
given power to make loans for the expansion
of production facilities to relieve shortages;
Government construction of facilities should
be speeded up if private industry fails to
meet the public needs. He hammered away
at the Taft-Hartley Act and demanded its
repeal. He expressed the idea that the De-
partment of Labor could be rebuilt and
strengthened and minimum wage fixed by
law at Is cents an hour. The Chief went to
considerable length to defend farm price sup
ports. He told Congress to help raise the
standard of living of our citizens, specifically
in the fields of social security, health, edu-
cation, housing and civil rights From the
day he laid down these recommendations he
has specialized in demand that the Taft-Hart-
ley Act should be repealed-and the Wagner
Act restored. So far the Presidents fight to
, repeal the present labor-managemen rela-
tions act has not aroused support in Con-
gress. What is this Taft-Hartley Act that
Congress deliberated, studied and passed af-
ter five months struggle? Each of the two
Chambers finally agreed upon the Taft-Hart-
ley Act. The House passed the measure by
vote of 800 to 79. The Senate approved the
Act by vote of 81 to II. The President We
toed the bill twice. The vetoes were prompt
ly over-ridden by Congress. AS this is the
top question (from political standpoint) let
us store up, for reference, the foregoing rec
ord, and decide for ourselves whether this
labor legislation is good enough to keep and
be left alone. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
has among its outstanding provisions the
following features: The right of employers
to organize and bargain collectively. The
labor organizations and the employees have
the right to seek collective bargaining elec-
tions. In cases where labor disputes involve
an interstate or nationwide industry, the
Government and the Courts may step in and
bring the labor strike to close. Officers of
the union file afidavits that Communists are
not in control of any local union Strikes by
/ employees of the United States Government
: and of Government-owned corporations are
forbidden. Labor unions and their top Off
cialS may be hauled into court. The arrest
and conviction of John L. Lewis showed very
clearly that the labor unions can be hauled
into courts under the provisions of the Taft
Hartley Act. These and hundred other rea-
sons are matters which the American public
should understand. The history of labor leg
islation for all these long years produced the
existing Labor-Managemen Relations Act
Republicans, Democrats and Dixiecrats have
made it very plain that they intend to keep
the Taft-Hartley Labor Laws in force Con
gress has made it clear that the President's
demands to outlaw the present labor act will
not succeed
To sum up the long battle the answer is
that the United States Government shoulC
leave Well Enough Alone"-which means
that the Taft-Hartley Act will remain il
force. It may be strengthened by some
changes, among which are the recommends
tions by Senator Taft. Why? Because HI
seems to know more about the subject of fail
and just legislation than anybody else il
Washington.