Evening star., 1952-04-10
Congress Squares Of
For Bitter Fight Over
Steel Mills Seizure

Congress squared off today for
a bitter, running fight over
whether the Government has the
legal right to seize the steel mills
Some legislators cried "dicta-
tor" and "usurper" at President
Truman for his order seizing the
plants to avert a Nationwide
strike. Some others defended his
action.
The President himself fired back
with a tart special message in
viting the lawmakers to write
their own law for handling such
a situation if they did not like
hi. methods.
Fight Spreads on Hill.
The fight sprawled out on
many fronts on Capitol Hill:
l. The Senate Banking Commit
tee. headed by Senator Maybank,
Democrat of South Carolina,
called a weeks recess in its efforts
to write bill continuing author
ity for the Governments wage
price. rent and credit control pro-
gram. Senator Maybank charged
the President with a comedy OF
errors in handling the steel dis
pute, and said he feared "these
mistakes" had imperiled the whole
inflation-control program.
2. A Senate Labor subc Jmm1t'
tee headed by Senator Humphrey
Democrat of Minnesota, frankly
favorlng the Presidents stand,
won jurisdiction over the handling
of any labor legislation that might
result from the Presidents mes
sage. Senator Humphrey predict
ed there would be none. but called
the group to meet Monday and
consider its next step.
War Powers Extended.
3. The Senate and House passed
a bill extending the Presidents
emergency war powers until June
/, but wrote into it a provision
that nothing in its language should
be construed as authorizing Gov
ernment seizure of privately
owned plants except public utili-
ties. Whether it could affect the
steel seizure remained in dispute
4. In the House, Representative
Harrison, Democrat, of Virginia
introduced resolution urging
Congress to declare the steel plant
seizure illegal But Senator Muir
ray, Democrat, of Montana, chair
man of the Senate Labor Commit
tee, worked on a bill to give the
President broader powers to seize
any plants as a strike settling
device.
5. Senator Morse. Republican, OF
Oregon beat Senator Murray tC
the punch. He introduced bill
to write into the Taft-Hartley
labor relations law section giving
the Government broad powers tc
seize plants in industrial disputes
It would set up procedures for
running the plants.
Message Draws Sparks.
Some of the language OF Mr.
Truman's message to Congress
he called the seizure my duty
and within my powers drew
sparks from legislators.
Senator Taft of Ohio, seeking
the Republican Presidential nomi-
nation, charged the President hae
"usurped" the powers he invoked
to seize the plants. Representa-
tive Cole, Republican, of Kansa:
called the seizure IAN act of dicta-
torship." Senator Ives, Repub-
lican, of New York told the Senate
1t was "totalitarian in flavor
Senator Hunt. Democrat. OF
Wyoming accused Mr.. Truman Of
"going along 100 per cent" with
union demands and trying tt
arouse public opinion against the
steel companies. But Senator
Moody. Democrat. of Michigan
expressed hope the country will
not be fooled by the enemies Of
stabilization who may attempt te
use this situation as a weapon tc
torpedo the anti-inf1ation law"