Evening star., 1952-04-13

ON THE face of it, things were
" normal this week end In the
murky steel towns. Fires that had
been banked in preparation for the
strike were burning high again.
Men who had been looking forward
only to jobless, dismal Eastertime
were trooping through the gates of
mills, back to their hearths and
forges.
The picture was pleasant, but it
did not reveal the true state of
affairs. An X-ray photograph
would have shown vast and in
creasing turbulence under the sur
face. The pressure of trouble had
been building since last November.
It still showed no disposition to
SubSide.
Money was the root Of the evil
money the millhands wanted for
their days work, money the own
ers wanted as a return on their
investment. It was a familiar
story of collective bargaining come
to naught, but the overtones of the
story this time were more ominouS
than usual. When collar button
manufacturer cannot get together
with his workers, no one suffers
except the businessman and his
employeS-and few people who
wear collar buttons. When steel
owners and steel workers come to
loggerheads, the entire national
economy-built, like SkyScraper,
on a framework of steel-iS threat
ened with collapse. And, these
days, economic collapse in America
could spell the doom of the free
world.
Presidents Act
The steel industry was operating
again this week end only because
of an unprecedented action by
President Truman. Last Tuesday
evening he took over operation of
the mills of some 70 strike-threat-
ened companies, less than 80 min
utes before a strike by $4,000 CIO
steel workers was scheduled to
begin.
Mr.. Truman's address to the Ma
ton on this occasion turned out
to be round in a top-level free-for-
all virtually without precedent In
American history. Within So hours
after he had started to speak, all
parties to the controversy-Govern-
ment, management and labor-had
been accused of bad faith or worse.
The President accused the steel
companies of greed. "The steel in
dustry," he said, doesn't want to
come down and make its case, and
abide by the decision like every
body else. They want something
special, something nobody else can
get"
Clarence Randall of Inland Steel,
spokesman for the companies,
charged the President with perform
ing a sordid political act: "This
evil deed . discharges political
debt to the CIO. Phil Murray now
gives Harry S. Truman a receipt
marked Paid in full" T..
Philip Murray, head of the CIO
and the steelworkers, fatty called
Mr.. Randall liar: "The complete
answer to MIR. Randall's entire
statement is that he is a prevari-
Gator of the lowest type"
Not Merely Bod Blood
Bad blood, evidently, was not a
strong enough expression to de-
scribe the situation prevailing be-
tween the Government and the
union, arrayed on one side, and the
steel industry on the other.
When the mills went back to
work last week, they were operat-
ing under the nominal control OF
the Government. Management con-
tinued to function, but only under
the bitterest protest. Actually,
there was scant practical difference
in the way they had been operating
and the way they now were operat-
ing. The same people were working
in the mills, the same people were
bosses. But the big change lay
in the fact that the bosses were
responsible, now, not to the stock
holders but to the Secretary of
Commerce, and through him to the
President.
The industry's attitude could be
briefly summed up: "You can't do
this to U.S." Whether Mr.. Truman
could or could not, legally, was a
matter for the courts Cor perhaps
Congress) to decide. The fact was
that he tDds doing 1t.
What sequence Of events had
brought the Nations basic industry
to its current condition Of crisis?
What was really at the foundation
of the dispute? Where and how
would it all end?