Evening star., 1950-01-26
Truman Being Urged
To Do Court Packinq
Job on Labor Board
Styles Slated for Post
Held by Gray Because
AFL, CIO Won't Him
Bv David Lawrence

By David La,crence
President Truman is being
urged to do another court pack
ing" job such as his predecessor
tried with the Supreme Court
but this time it's the National
Labor Relations Board. a judicial
institution, which may be the vic
tim.
With amazing frankness, the
White House let it be known the
other day that the vacancy on
the board would be filled only
after consultation with the major
labor unions, and not a word was
said as to whether anyone in
management would be given
similar opportunity.
When the term of ]. Copeland
Gray was recently allowed by the
President to expire without the
courtesy of telling him, even on
the last day or thereafter, that
he wouldn't be reappointed, there
was no clear evidence as to what
was back of the move. Now it ap-
pears that the President has
called to Washington the regional
director of the board in the At
lanta District, Paul Styles, who
probably will be offered the ap-
pointment because the AFL and
the CIO want him.
Demand Made by CIO.
This means that the board
would have at all times a three
to-two majority in favor OF the
labor union viewpoint. The de-
mand of the CIO that Mr.. Gray
not be reappointed was expressed
recently in "the CIO union leader
Of Cleveland, as follows:
Perhaps the most effective
thing that President Truman
could do this year to mitigate the
ravages Of the Taft-Hartley law
upon the unions would be to ap-
point an outstanding, impartial
industrial relations expert to re-
place Gray on the NLRB."
The CIO publication went on to
say that the NLRB now is heavily
loaded against the unions" that
the board in key cases had divided
three to two against labor" that
John M. Houston had been the
most consistent defender" of Ia
boris rights and that Chairman
Paul Herzog had frequently Joined
Houston "in dissenting from the
union n-hampering rulings Of their
colleagues" Then it adds:
"The three pro-employer men,
bers Of the board are Abe Muir
dock, a time New Dealer who
seems to have gone sour; James j
Reynolds, who was appointed as
the representative Of enlightened
management, but whose light
seems to have grown dim since he
got the job, and j. Copeland Gray,
an out-and-out conservative.
Gray. according to some union
lawyers who've argued cases be-
fore the board, is the best of the
conservatives. He is. they say. a
man of real personal integrity who
tries to be fair in his judgments.
But he Is a conservative legalist-
a man whose invariable tendency
is to give the most rigorous inter-
pretations to the law-and the
Taft Hartley law is a harsh law"
Attempt to Fix Court Seen.
So Member Gray-who. by
union testimony, is honest and fair
was punished for his judicial
opinions. Apparently the fact
that President Truman himself
appointed Messrs. Gray, Murdock
and Reynolds or that Mr.. Tru-
mans intelligence in the first in
stance is being questioned doesn't
bother him.
The campaign against the board
members and the threat to use
political influence to keep them
from being reappointed is a pal
pable attempt to fix q court. It
shows the depths to which NOR
ality in politics has descended
these days.
VIII MIR. Truman Succumb to It?
He has had several names placed
before him-Paul Broderick, q
labor-relations expert of Cleve-
land: Ivar Peterson of Oregon
another labor specialist, who was
the head Of the reveiew section OF
the NLRB. and Garnett Patter-
son, now general counsel for the
Rubber Workers Union of the
CIO. All have been heralded as
men who can be counted on to
take care Of the labor unions wher
cases come up before the board
There certainly will be a fight
to prevent confirmation of any,
one who is a partisan of either la
Dor or management and the coali-
tion in the Senate of Republicans
and Democrats may have the last
say as to whether the board is
really to be packed"
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