Evening star., 1952-10-07
Lewis Likely 10 Join
Political Battle Today
Al Miners Convention
By jones Y. Newton
SioF Sfoff CORRESPONDENT

CINCINNATI, Oct. John. L.
Lewis was expected to join the ma
tional political battle today as he
Opened the 41st convention of his
United Mine Workers.
On politics. as well as for other
questions. Mr.. Lewis in advance
|of the convention. maintained
what he describes as his usual
|enigmatic silence"
There was. however, heavy pres
sure on Mr.. Lewis from the 5000
mine workers delegates for a con-
vention Endorsement of a presi-
dental candidate. A vast majority
Of the. delegates. apparently, IA
vored indorsing Gov. Adlai Ste
venson.
Mr.. Lewis too, obviously favors
Gov. Stevenson over Gen. Eisen-
hover, although publicly he has
said little about his views. But the
best guess was that MIR. Lewis will
decide that the UNIV, as such,
should make no commitment on
the presidential race.
May Chide CIO and AFL.
In fact. it was held likely that
Mr.. Lewis, in his addresses to the
convention, will take the CIO and
AFL to task for their outright in
dorsement of Gov. Stevenson. He
will say. according to advance
word. that organized labor should
not tie itself too closely to any
political party or presidential
candidate. Mr.. Lewis was ex-
pected to have plenty to say about
politics and he may well 60 into
personalities of the campaign.
But. as for outright Endorsement
OF either candidate, those around
him did not think he would 60 so
far.
It was certain that Mr.. Lewis
would not come out for Gen. Eli
senhower. In his only public ex-
preston so far he spoke of "the
fight Of the common people against
the specially privileged group of ex-
ploiters represented by Eisenhower
ana Tom Dewey" He said that
in a telegram to a UNIV official
who was a delegate to the Demo-
cratic Convention, in which he
deplored the action of CIO and
AFL officials in pulling the rug
from under the candidacy of Vice
President Barkley.
Only once has the miners union
Endorsed a presidential candidate.
It backed President Roosevelt in
1885. and later Mr.. Lewis tossed
$500. 900 into the campaign. After
a break in relations with Presi-
dent Roosevelt. Mr.. Lewis came
out for the Republican candidate.
Wendell Willkie. in 1910. Over
the years. Mr.. Lewis has been a
Republican.
Likes Stevenson Personally.
1t is known that. personally,
Mr.. Lewis likes Gov. Stevenson.
1t is also known that he is doubt
ful that an Endorsement from a
labor organization. or any other
such group, is an asset to a presi-
Dental candidate. He feels that
more can be accomplished by
working quietly for the choice.
However. Mr.. Lewis will cam
paign actively this year for the
first time since he pumped for
Mr.. Willkie in 1910. He has
scheduled several major speeches
in West Virginia later in the
month. He will fight for re-elec-
tion Of Senator Kilgore, Demo-
crat, and against Rush D. Holt,
one-time Democratic Senator, who
now is the Republican candidate
for Governor in West Virginia.
Union Publishes Book.
The union announced publica-
ton of a book, "A Pictorial His
tory of the UNIV Under the Guid-
ance of John L." Edited by Rex
Lauck Of Washington, it is a fac
tual record Of Mr.. Lewis actions
from the time he took over as
vice president Of the UNIV in
1917 to date. Copies of the book
were presented to each of the
5000 delegates. In it are 244
photographs Of Mr.. Lewis either
in groups Of people or alone.