Evening star., 1950-06-24
Gunmen on the Picket Line

Striking CIO textile workers at the Enka
rayon plant in Tennessee have demonstrated that
they would not hesitate to kill nonstriker TO
prevent him from getting to his job. This is an
important point to keep in mind in considering
some of the other aspects of this strike.
About 700 textile workers went on strike at
the Enka plant three months ago. At first 1t
followed a routine pattern. Then, late In May,
the plant reopened with employees who had re-
turned to work and with new employees. The
strike was being lost and violence began. Auto
mobiles were overturned stones were thrown and
dynamite blasts were set off. State highway
patrolmen were sent in. Then, when the local
authorities reported that the situation was out
of control Governor Browning sent in the Ten
. nesSee National Guard. The Guard stayed there
until union leaders promised there would be no
more violence at the plant.
Meanwhile, CIO President Philip Murray de-
nounced the calling out of the guardsmen and
charged that they were being used as strike
breakers This stirred into action two ardently
pro-labor members of the Senate Labor Com
mittee, Senator Murray, Democrat of Montana,
and Senator Humphrey, Democrat, of Minnesota.
They went to Tennessee and held a hearing.
Their conclusion was that injunctions (an in
junction forbidding violence had been issued)
and the National Guard do more harm than good.
Senator Murray said: Bringing in the National
Guard is favorite pastime of big organizations
that want to break strike"
That was last Saturday. Four days later
group of heavily armed "pickets" assembled at
the main gate of the plant Three plant-bound
workers tried to cut across field to avoid the
picket line. When their car was stopped, they
got out and ran. The pickets opened fire and
Victor Mcdaniel was shot five times, twice in
the head and three times in the hodV His
condition is critical. William McGinnis was shot
three times and James McCamey once Their
condition is serious. This occurred after police
had been withdrawn pursuant to the unions
no violence" pledge. Two hours later shots
were exchanged between strikers and workers
inside the plant. Windows were shattered but
no one was hurt. Some distance away striker
was shot in the arm, allegedly by nonstrikers
State police were rushed back to the scene and
order was restored after a number of strikers
had been arrested
All of this is another illustration of the
readiness of some unions to resort to force when
they cannot get what they want by other means
If this case is exceptional, it is only in its
revelation of willingness to kill man. if neces-
sary, to keep him from getting to his job But
men who want to work will not be content to
serve as docile targets for picket-line gunmen.
They will shoot back, as they did in Tennessee,
and that poses most serious problem for State
authorities charged with responsibility for main
tanning order. To say the very least, it is a
problem that is not made easier when partisan
Senators try to diScredit the of the National
Guard and 1nJunct1ons against violence. MessrS
Murray and Humphrey should remember that
people who want to work have a right to do so,
and that they are also entitled to protection in
the exercise of that right.