Evening star., 1950-01-21
Letters to The Star
Argues for Compelling Parties to Strikes
To Submit Themselves to Equitable Court

Argues for Compelling Parties to Strikes
To Submit Themselves to Equitable Court
To the Editor of The Star
The people of the United States long have
proclaimed very proudly that our Nation is
governed by laws and not by men. But that.
despite the multiplicity Of our present laws.
Is fast becoming untrue. Increasingly. we
are being governed by men who are not even
elected by those people most affected by
their manifeStoeS.
Take up any newspaper on any day, and
on its front page it tells about strikes that
are going on and other strikes impending;
strikes which threaten to cut off supplies and
services on which we depend not only for
day-to-day maintenance OF our way OF life,
but even for maintenance of good health and
life itself. One man can-and often does
stop the flow of coal to our homes, factories
and power plants; another man can stop
truck deliveries; another can halt telephone
services; another can prevent us from getting
milk: another stop bread; and so on with
respect to each and every commodity and
service we need in order to keep on living.
That trend towards dictatorial control of
the necessities of life by men who have
placed themselves in private positions of
great power has been increasing by leaps
and bounds over the past 20 years.
What are the people for whose benefit this
Nation was created now doing to get back to
a government by law? What are we doing to
curtai the power over our lives held in the
tight fists of men who hold no public Offices
and so cannot be reached through the ma
chinery of our elections? Very little indeed
only weak finger here and there in scanty
few of the many holes in the dyke built by
our forefathers out of laws dedicated to the
public welfare.
Favors Shotgun" Approach.
Use of the Taft-Hartley act is much like
taking a childs pop gun to kill an elephant,
and the wartime Smith, Connally act was
only uble-barrelled pop gun. Now, the
Junior senator from Virginia Is reported in
the press to favor law which would apply
certain antitrust legislation to labor unions.
Why use switch off the old peach tree when
Uncle's shotgun is ready at hand, wanting
only to be loaded with available ammunition.
What can we do to be free from these
perils to our welfare? We can do the same
thing that our forefathers did to be free
from the perils of highway robbery, felonious
assault, murder, and host of other threats
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We can enact laws to penalize any and every
person who hinders the flow of the necessi-
ties Of life; we can make strikes and lock-
outs crimes; we can compel every labor dis
bargaining by employers and employees to
come before court of law for final adjudica-
ton.
Would employees suffer II strikes were out
laWed and courts set up to adjudicate I'M
settled labor disputes? Not at all. For the
arbitrary actions and ill-based guesses of
self-perpetuating labor bosses they would
have the deliberate judgments of impartial
courts of law; for catch-as-catch-can mid
,s,1,{ -1tt to- II a41I
through coercion and WEAKNESS, they would
have orderly judicial determinations; for di-
rection of their lives by men they would have
direction by law.
Value of Labor Tribunals.
Taking labor disputes out of the field OF
settlement by the primitive means Of eco
nomic combat would enhance the welfare of
the public of our Nation, and every employe
and every employer is or should be member
of that public first and of his own little group
second. A strike hurts everybody affected
by it; it is economically wasteful. In the end
it can accomplish nothing except to get
little more wages for those engaged in it
increases which usually are sought by means
which ignore the much greater number of
people who will not be helped at all thereby,
but who will instead suffer deprivation of
necessities during the getting of raises for
few. Labor courts could and would order
those increases when proper, without the
necessity for any cessation of work and
without inconvenience to anyone.
This communication has been written by
retired businessman who most earnestly
wants those of our citizens who work for
wages to have more and ever better helps
towards safe and comfortable living and eco
nOmic security, and who strove for that OBJ
jective in his own dealings with labor both
organized and unorganized. There are many
ethical and considerate gentlemen repre-
senting organized labor, just as there are
many many citizens who do not steal. I
have known my full share of both. But the
fact that most citizens do not steal does not
keep us from having in effect statutes which
penalize stealing when it is done. Nor should
the existence of many public spirited labor
leaders prevent us from having the legal ma
chinery to eliminate government by those
labor leaders who apply their own will where
there are no laws to prevent.
Let us have government by law in labor
matters as well as in property rights and do
mestic relations. It is high time that our
Nation imposed on organized labor re-
sponsibilities to the public commensurate
with it's growth. LINTON w. MASON.
Suggests Organization of Competition
For Transit Company
To the Editor Of The Star:
Is the Capital Transit Co. once more to be
allowed to raise its fare, and to discard the
weekly pass?
It is time the people of Washington pro-
tested not only at the proposals of the
transit company but on the general made
quacy of it's service. Every day at every
bus stop there are groups of dissatisfied
citizens complaining of the irregular timing
and the long intervals between buses,
Thousands of Government clerks and
domestics, in fact large part of the popu-