Evening star., 1954-10-16
The Political Min
Dog Vote Is Not Likely
TOGO 6. O. p. This Year
Wilson No First Offender
In Making Inept Remarks
Bv Gould Lincoln

In Making Inept Remarks
By Gould Lincoln
KANSAS CITY, MOTOR better or
for worse. Secretary of Defense Charles
e. Wilson tossed out in Detroit-where
there has been, and is. unemployment
his preference for bird-dogs over ken
nel-fed dogs.
It was easy to interpret his remark
as meaning that the unemployed are
dogs. which the Democrats and leaders
Of organized labor promptly did. Mr..
Wilson has said he is sorry he ever
spoke of dogs of any kind when he
was discussing the unemployed, and
certainly that he did not wish to imply
that workers, employed or unemployed,
were "dogs," that he has always had
the problems of the workers at heart.
Obviously he has not helped Re-
publican candidates for Congress. He,
as an important figure in the Repub-
lican administration, has opened the
way for his opponents to snatch new
phrase out Of the air-"the dog vote"
The labor vote, during the Roosevelt
administration and that Of former
President Truman was largely Demo-
cratic. It split four years ago and
helped re-elect the late Senator Bob
Taft Of Ohio, and two years ago, to
help elect President Eisenhower. The
"dog vote" however. is not likely to 60
for the Republicans in 1854.
Helped Democrats.
An eoiI that tI,n
labor vote was lost to the G. o. p. be-
fore Mr. Wilson opened his mouth.
But what Mr.. Wilson did was lend aid
to those Democrats and left wingers
who have charged that Gen. Eisen-
hover has turned the Government over
to big business and that big business
has no heart when it considers labor
and its problems. What will be the
effect, for example, in Illinois. where
Senator Paul Douglas Is running for
reelection against Joe Meek, Republic
can. who for years has been repre-
sentative and lobbyist for business?
Senator Douglas more than year ago
declared that the big issue for the
Democrats in the campaign this year
would be "big business in Government"
long before he talked of an ap-
preaching recession, and got himself
called a prophet of gloom and doom.
Adlai Stevenson made similar COM
mentS about the. Eisenhower admins
tration, in his first public address after
Gen. Eisenhower took Office. The Pres
ident'S answer was he had picked the
best men possible to give the country
an efficient administration Of govern
ment-and he named Mr.. Wilson as a
case in point. Senator Douglas has gone
right back to his first choice issue. Nor
will the Wilson remark help Senator
Ferguson, another Republican, in his
race for reelection in Michigan,
where the labor vote Is large.
A reading of the full text Of the
Wilson press conference leaves still an
impression that Mr.. Wilson was trying
to say he preferred unemployed work.
ers who would travel 100 miles to get
a job to"those who remain at home and
ask help of the Government.
He referred, particularly to young
men of draft age who joined the ranks
of labor, after the war in Korea had
ended and did not have to go to the
Far East. The bird-dog, kennel-fed
dog comment Immediately followed.
sifr VIZ Fantastic Charges. aca
The charges made by Walter Reuther.
head Of the CIO, and the Democratic
leaders, are fantastic in language and
range. But the Wilson remark neverthe-
less gave them an opportunity to try
for political capital and they loved it.
Their denunciations of the Defense
Secretary, who formerly headed Cen
eral Motors, added up to charge that
he and the Eisenhower administration
have no real feeling for the workers.
Gen. Eisenhower Immediately came to
the defense of both his Secretary of
Defense and his own administration.
He has always maintained he is
friend of all the people of America,
and of course, of labor. Most Americans
believe him and probably most of the
workers., men and women, organized
or unorganized. 1t was rather a bitter
experience-the Wilson faux pas-at
the very time the President was doing
his level best to help bring about the
election of a Republican Congress.
Mr.. Wilson has done the best he
could to straighten out the mess. He
is not a new offender when 1t comes
to making inept remarks, for which
he seems to: have talent. Perhaps this
latest experience will give him the
idea silence, after all, has its good
points.