Evening star., 1950-03-03
Judge Keech Decision
Seen Putting Truman
In a Terrible Spot
9. O. P. Hos Been Handed
Major Issue on Lack
Of Restraining Laws
By David Laurence

clsion acqultting the miners
union OF contempt, has put
President Truman in a terrible
spot, politically and otherwise.
But he had right to reject con
lecture" and insist on evidence"
Of collusion by the leaders with
the striking miners.
Whether the Justice Depart
ment was overconfident and pre-
sented what it believed was an
adequate case based on the
precedents created when Judge
Goldsborough uttered his now
famous wink and nod" doctrine
or whether Judge Keech, who was
q former White House assistant,
leaned over backward to pro-
nounce judgment on the basis of
lack of proof will be debated for
q long time to come.
Certainly the Republicans have
been handed a major issue on
platter. This would tend to refute
any idea that the case was not
pressed in good faith. For today,
instead OF Taft-Hartley law
that is Oppressive" especially in
Its injunction feature, the coun-
try suddenly discovers that it's
labor arrangement laws are not
strong enough.
Opportunity for Speakers.
Plainly nobody in the Demo-
cratic administration has wanted
to see such a contingency arise,
for it affords an opportunity for
Republican stump speakers to put
further blame on the Democratic
Party. -
Most important is the blunt
fact now dramatized beyond any
doubt that there is no law on the
statute books that restrains an
economic group bent on causing
suffering and impairing the ma
tional health and safety.
Obviously. the mine workers
union could have gotten the
workers back on the job if it
wished to do so. There Is no
lack of discipline in closed shop
type Of union. Undoubtedly also
the strategy to circumvent the in
junction if it came was worked
out in great detail long before
the strike occurred. 1t is a ques-
tion whether anyone can be tried
for conspiracy to take steps to
circumvent an Injunction before
1t is issued.
But, on the other hand, there
can be little doubt that the Gov
ernment. by using the resources
Of the FBI and serving restrain
ing orders on every officer of local
unions, could secure the necessary
evidence of concerted refusal
to go back to work. AS Judge
Goldsborough said. many hun
dreds of thousands of men in a
union do not operate as individ-
uals but in unison when they dis
regard plainly worded orders to
go back to work. If. in truth,
there has been such a collapse of
discipline. then the right of a |
national union to conduct an in
dustry-wide negotiation can also
be questioned. So can the effec-
tiveness of any signatures that
may be affixed to a contract by
union officers who have lost con-
troll Of their men.
Won't Resolve Issue.
Seizure of the mines will not
resolve the larger issue that has
arisen-the arbitrary manner in
which the public interest has been
damaged. Nor will any one sided
seizure bill get through Congress.
II profits are held up. so probably
would wage rates and working
conditions be frozen until such
time as both sides agree on a set
tlement.
Demand for a general revision
Of the labor management laws
will be pressed, too, and Congress
may find itself taking up the Taft
Hartley amendments which have
been pigeonholed by the Democ-
ratio party at the behest Of the
union leaders.
The American people now are
face to face with the fact that
economic groups have arisen which
are apparently more powerful
than the Government and which
can make mockery of court
orders and the whole collective
bargaining process. 1t certainly
calls for a leadership which thus
far neither party in Congress has
been willing to assert.
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