Evening star., 1952-05-11
Truman Held to BIume
For Initiation Spiral
Writer Sees President Allied
With Murray and CIO
By Fronk R. Kent

Whatever the outcome of the steel
controversy, one thing about which there
can be no doubt is that the administra-
ton and the CIO have been linked to-
gether from the start. The truth is that
ever since the summer of 1914, when, at
the direction Of Mr.. Roosevelt, Mr.. Tru-
man called on Sidney Hillman and Philip
Murray in their Chicago hotel to "clear''
his candidacy for Vice President through
them, his subserviency to the labor bosses
has been complete. Mr. Hillman is dead.
but Mr.. Murray has the run of the White
House and can get the ear of the Presi-
dent more effectively than any one else.
All one needs to prove how effectively is
to review the history of the defense effort
under Mr.. Truman since. early in 1850,
he told the country of the Russian
threat, asked Congress for appropria-
tionS and powers to meet the crisis,
called on the American people to make
sacrifices for the good of all.
Congress and the country responded
Fundamentally. Mr.. Truman was given
everything he aSked-and more. But he
himself did not measure up. His failure
to do so is tragic tale. 1t is the story
of President who in the face of great
national danger. could not rise above
politics but knuckled under to the
pressure put on him by the labor group
with which he is allied. 1t was Mr..
Murray and the labor group that re-
volted against the first attempt to estab-
lish ceilings on profits, prices and wages.
1t was Mr.. Murray and his friends who
scuttled the first Wage Sterilization
Board and forced the President to ap-
point another well packed in their favor.
1t was Mr.. Murray and his friends who
were responsible for scores of strikes in
key plants which led to the assertion by
those whom Mr.. Truman had drafted to-
direct the defense effort that these
strikes in addition to dangerously Slow
ing down the output had added 20 per
cent to the cost. Though these facts
were forcefully brought to the personal
attention OF Mr.. Truman by the men
upon whom he had placed responsibility.
by neither word nor deed did he move
to restrain these strikes or rebuke those
who promoted them.
Naturally, his inaction was construed
as encouragement and every strike had
certain administration sympathy and
support. The result, of course, was a
series Of wage rises and price rises. In
evitably the combination increased the
chances of uncontrolled imitation against
which every first-class economist has
warned. But it was when the CIO
steel union headed by Mr.. Murray and
the United States Steel Co. locked
horns that Mr.. Truman openly threw
his weight on Mr.. Murrays side. One
n Mr. Mllrroxy'c 1ioIrtnnontc in,
to SteelworkerS few days ago, declared
that I'VE are in very advantageous
position this time because we have
very friendly gentleman in the White
House" This was an inadequate de-
Scription. The facts show that Mr..
Truman was an ally as we'll as friend.
So close were he and Mr. Murray that
comparison Of their speeches led to
the charge that the same ghost writer
wrote them both.
But more convincing was the speed
with which Mr.. Truman publicly in
dorSed as reasonable the recommenda-
tionS Of his packed Wage Sterilization
Board; the prompt acceptance of these
recommendations by Mr.. Murray; the
Truman seizure, undoubtedly with Mr..
Murrays approval, of the steel COM
panieS' plants. No one can consider
these facts without being aware that,
wholly aside from the merits of the
case. Mr.. Truman has been an ally of
Mr.. Murray from the start. One result
was the resignation, in protest against
the state of affairs, of War Mobilizer
Wilson. Another will be that in the
end with the indispensable help of the
President, Mr.. Murray will get close to
what he asked. A third result will be
demands by other unions for wage rises,
under the same pattern.
Inevitably, this means more menacing
imitation. Inevitably, too, it recalls the
striking appeal of B. M. Baruch, made
in 1850, when he urged prompt CELL
ings on prices. profits and wages to-
gether with high taxes as the one way
to control imitation. He begged that
we not repeat the failure to do these
things at the beginning of the Second
World War. That failure, he said. had
cost us 100 billions in money, prolonged
the war six months and increased the
casualty lists of dead and wounded.