Evening star., 1950-04-26
Case Of Joe Dickmon
Seen as Emphasizing
Political Hypocrisy
Miner Expelled by Union
For Criticism Of Lewis
Despoirs of Getting Work
By David Laurence

OeSPoirs or 5ettin9 WORK
By David Laurence
Millions of words have been
spoken in Congress and in the
stump about civil rights" and
yet, when the case of Joe Dickmon
is considered, one wonders if it
isn't after all in some of its as
poets just a phony issue which
merely emphasizes the hypocrisy
of politicians.
For Joe Dickmon has lost not
only his civil rights-hiS right to
speak and his right to workout
he has been punished for trying
to exercise them.
Joe Dickmon is a Navy veteran
with a wife and child. He wanted
to work five days a week instead
of three at the only. trade he
knows-coal mining. But he made
the mistake of trying to express
himself in supposedly free Amer
ica-he called John Lewis die
tator."
Promptly the totalitarianism Of
the American labor-dnion move
ment-the CLOSED shop"-closed
In on Mr.. Dickmon and he was
suspended from the union and i'm
mediately the employer was COM
PEELED, of course, to dismiss him
from his job. He has been out Of
work three months. For in free
America under the totalitarian
"closed shop" or union shop"
the union dictates that anyone
who isn't Gin good standing" in a
union can be ordered fired from
his job.
Learned Real Government
Once a union member offends
a union officer, he can be expelled
from the union. He holds his job
not because of the quality of the
work he does but because Of his
willingness to bootlick his union
officers.
With his wife and child hungry,
Mr.. Dickmon decided to apologize
and retract what he had said. He
is hoping now that the union will
give him work. He has despaired
of getting work any other way.
He has learned that in free Amer
lea the real government is the
labor unions government.
For nobody in Congress took
up the cause of Joe Dickmon.
Nobody demanded an investiga-
tion of totalitarian methods in
American unions and put on a
11libuster till he got action. No
body told the "Voice of America"
to soft-pedal its proud broadcasts
to Russia about how free the
American workingman is-and no
body in the Truman administra-
ton, which boasts of a deep in.
terest in the little man." stopped
for q moment to give Mr.. Dickmon
O word of sympathy, much less the
benefit of an investigation by the
Department of Justice or FBI
such as occurs when Negroes are
'lynched" in the South. None of
the so-called liberal organizations
active in promoting civil rights
took up Mr.. Diekmon's plight.
Why wasn't something done
about it? There is. of course, on
the part of the administration noI
liking for the Lewis leadership
in the coal-mining unions but
to act in this case meant acting
in scores of other cases of in
timidation and coercion in other
labor unions separate from coal
mining. 1t meant alternating the
votes and the campaign money
of those big labor unions which
are the chief support Of the DEM
ocratic Party in the North today.
Can Happen To Any One.
The National Labor Relations
Board is supposed to inquire into
cases Of coercion of individual
workers by labor unions, but there
is no evidence that the NLRB
ever interested itself in the case
of Joe Dickmon. If it did, where
would he get the money to pay
lawyers fees?
There was a time when the
American Civil Liberties Union,
q fine organization. interested it
self in cases of this kind and raised
money for defense and to take care
Of a defendent who had been the
victim of injustice. But appar-
emily nobody took care of Joe Dick
mon, so he decided to bow his
knee and beg for work at the
only place where he had found
he could perhaps get his job back.
Says The Washington Star in an
editorial:
I'VE hear a great deal these
days about the dignity Of the
human being. Our public men.
our church leaders, our educators
work themselves into a state OF
Indignation when some poor soul
is dragged before an Iron Curtain
court and forced to confess sins
he never committed so that his
family can eat and survive. But
here in the United States, in
this free land, a young man
who has fought for his country
can be forced to recant a wholly
truthful statement as the price
of being permitted to work, and
It is passed by with few para
graphs in the newspapers.
IF this can happen to Joe Dick
mon, it can happen to any one of
his fellow miners. Why is 1t that
the articulate friends Of the COM
mon man remain silent?"