Evening star., 1952-01-06
Trumon, Murray Blamed
For Rising Initiation
Writer Condemns the CIO
For Alleged Selfish Policy
By Fronk R. Kent

Very shortly now two of the most
baSeless claims of the period will be
heard in the land One is that by great
firmnesS and courage, Mr.. Truman
averted a calamitous steel strike: the
other that Philip Murray. president of
the CIO is really an 'unselfsh and
patriotic statesman" whose sole pur-
pose is to promote the national in
tereSts."
So powerful is the combined admins
tration and CIO propaganda that many
will believe these contentious. But
people who know the facts will not
believe them. The facts present a very
different picture. The facts show that
when few weeks ago, this great
patriotic statesman" swung his steel
strike club. what he really did was to
launch the sixth wage-raiSe drive since
1945, each one of which has raised
wages, raised prices and spurred infla-
ton. And in every one of these wage
raise drives the unions have had
administration support and White House
sympathy. Without these they could
not have succeeded.
Now, then. look at the record of the
patriotic statesman" since the defense
effort to put ourselves in position to
meet the Russian threat started. When
the President proclaimed the crisis and
the first billions were appropriated,
Bernard M. Baruch, requested by a
Senate committee. gave his views on
imitation, which he declared our gravest
peril. Failure to place ceilings over
wages, profits, food prices and at the
same time enact an adequate tax pro-
gram, he said, had added O hundred
billion to the cost Of the last war, pro-
longed 1t by six months and added
unnecessarily to the casualty lists. He
urged that we not blindly repeat the
mistakes Of the past.
There was quick, favorable response
to this In the country. Congress
promptly passed laws. unasked by the
President, but giving him full power to
adopt such program. Strong protest
came from the labor bosses, including
the great patriotic statesman" Mr..
Murray. To this day Mr.. Truman has
not effectively used the powers granted
him. Following his failure to act in the
way the country and Congress clearly
wanted, the labor bosses. including the
great patriotic statesman" ignored Mr..
Truman'S feeble sterilization boards.
and long series Of StrikeS-moStly by
Mr.. Murray's CIO unions-have afi1icted
the country and seriously retarded the
defense effort.
Practically without exception these
strikes resulted in increased wages, in
creased prices and more imitation As
pointed out. in every one Of these the
striking union had strong administra-
tion support. Loud cries of pain came
from the non political aides of Mr.. Tru-
man, but not one word of reproof or
appeal from the President. Defense
Secretary Lovett and Air Secretary
Finletter stressed the acute danger to
the whole defense program of these
strike stoppages in industries with de-
fense contracts. War Mobilizer Wilson
declared that imitation, due to wage
and price increases, had added 20
per cent to the cost of the defense
effort.
And now comes the threatened steel
strike, which, If it should occur later on,
would be O national disaster. After
Mr.. Murray had conferred with Mr..
Truman, the President put the prob
lem in the hands of his Wage Stabil-
ization Board, and Mr.. Murray post
poned the strike. No one can doubt
that in the end the board will recon-
mend most Of the Murray wage de-
mands and that the steel industry will
be allowed small price increases. That
result always has followed this proce-
dure. and inevitably 1T means higher
costs for everything and more imitation.
In addition, it sets the stage for the
demands Of John L. Lewis, and for
other union demands in other indus
tries-all Of which have got to be
granted in some degree. In the end
everybody is worse off-the strikers, the
public and the country.