Evening star., 1950-03-21
The Political Mill
Senator Ebert Thomas
Backed by Labor in Race
Lowmoker Faces Hard Fight;
Now Campaigning in Utoh
The Political Mill
By Gould Lincoln

Now Campaigning in Utoh
By Gould Lincoln
Organized labor is expected to fight
just as hard to re-elect Senator Ebert
D. Thomas. Utah Democrat, as it is plan
ming to fight against the reelection Of
Senator Bob" Taft of Ohio. Should it
fail in Utah, it will be almost as much Of
a black eye for political labor as it will
be If Mr. Taft is reelected in Ohio.
Senator Thomas, so far as the labor
leaders are concerned, is the direct anti
thesis of Senator Taft. 1t was Senator
Thomas who sat successfully on the lid
as chairman Of the Senate Committee on
Labor-When the House passed bill after
bill seeking to curtail the dictatorial
actions of organized labor from 1910 on.
Never, while Senator Thomas was on the
job, were any OF these measures allowed
to come up for consideration.
Next to former Senator Wagner Of
New York, whose name was attached to
the National Labor Relations Act super
seded by the Taft-Hartley Act, Senator
Thomas has been more prominently
identified with the labor group in Con-
gress than any other. And labor, accord
campaign all the funds that are neces-
sary.
Backed by Organization.
Utah Democrats insist that Senator
Thomas will be renominated and re-
elected beyond doubt. They point out
that he will have not only the active sup
port of organized labor but that he win
have all the school teachers-who favor
Federal aid tn odrlpo tior- hoc ~ bir,
Also. they say, the Democratic organiza-
tion in the State will be strongly back Of
Senator Thomas.
Senator Thomas, however, is back in
the State now, campaigning vigorously,
long before the State conventions and
primary Notwithstanding which he
has not felt essential for long time. He
has gone back there, it Is believed. to
mead OH possible race for the Demo-
cratlc senatorial nomination by former
Gov. Nav. If Mr.. Nav made contest
1t might split the Democrats wide open
and leave scars which might not heal be-
fore the election next November. Mr..
Nav, politically ambitious, was twice
elected Governor-and failed in 194s,
when he ran some fifty thousand votes
behind the Democratic ticket.
Senator Thomas however, remembers
that in 1916 the Republicans elected
Senator Arthur " Watkins when no one
believed they had a chance for victory.
And he remembers, too, that the Re-
publicans in l948 elected a Governor,
j. Bracken Lee. So he is out there beat
ing the bushes and mending his political
fences.
Strikes Anger Farmers.
Labor support IS not entirely an un-
mltlgated advantage for Mr.. Thomas.
Inc coal strike made a lot OF Utah
farmers and other citizens angry, for
example And, on the other hand, de-
spite his firm stand for everything labor
mas wanted, Senator Thomas has not
been able to deliver: he was entirely
unable to lead the Democratic Senate
last year to repeal the Taft-Hartley Act
and when the Thomas labor oil did
pass, it had been entirely rewritten to
fit the ideas of Senator Taft himself. So
there might be slight lack OF enthu-
siasm on the part of some labor leaders
for Mr.. Thomas.
Also, although Mr.. Thomas has
fathered bills for Federal aid to educa-
ton time and again, he was never able
to get one through the Senate, and it
was Senator Taft, in the Republican
80th Congress, who put such measure
through. This measure was repassed in
the 81st Congress, with Senator Tafts
aid.
The COP has number of available
candidates for the senatorial nomination
to run against Senator Thomas, among
them Wallace Bennett, recently presi-
dent of the National Association Of
Manufacturers; Brigadier Gen. Franklin
Ritter, a Salt Lake City attorney, who
saw service in the last war; former Rep
resentative William A. Dawson State
Senator Rue L. Clegg of Salt Lake City.
and Preston D. Richards, an attorney
also in Salt Lake City Utah has the
convention-primary system for sena-
torial nominations. The conventions are
held first and select two candidates-no
more-who fight it out for the party
nomination in a primary.
Republicans insist that Senator
Thomas is vulnerable-as was Repub-
lican Senator Smoot whom Senator
Thomas defeated in 1932-because he
has given his time and attention to
national and international affairs, rather
than to legislation which was OF par.
ticular interest to Utah. Senator Wat
kins. on the otrer, hand, was in
volved in reclamation and irrigation
projects for number of years before
he oame to the Senate and has concen-
trated on getting things done for tho
State. Further, the Republicans claim
that they have an even better chance to
defeat Senator Thomas than they had to
elect Senator Watkins four years ago.
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