| Show THE TilE DAILY VAS INGTON Round Merry Trado Trl MarkBy Mark MarkBy B By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT ALLEN V WASHINGTON There WASHINGTON There is distressing news behind the daily headlines proclaiming more strikes more riots more men killed and in in- in Bad as the labor situation is uncontrolled as it is bitter as it is those who have been making a close study of it for the president believe it will continue In fact they think it will get worse fy f Some of them even go so far for as to say that only a dictatorship dictatorship call call it fascism if you like like like- will check the present tide of bitterness and bloodshed which is sweeping the iron and steel areas the textile industry the automobile plants the electrical shops This is blunt blurt language but here are arc the reasons given for this pessimism 1 Lab r always strikes on a rising market 2 The N R A while increasing wages has not increased them in proportion to increases in the cost of living 3 The rank an and file of labor perhaps disappointed disappointed disappointed dis- dis appointed by N R A hopes once once dangled be before before before be- be fore them are arc combatant and militant Employers Em Em- feeling that they have made as big concessions a as they can under N R H A are now stubborn and recalcitrant 4 Perhaps mos most important of all aU Young labor label leaders have have gained control of the locals are brushing aside old-line old union officials who sit complacently in Washington Basic Trouble Basic cause of the trouble probably was the temporizing attitude taken by Roosevelt and Johnson when labor turmoil started The Tho principle o the N R RA A was to keep a direct r ratio tio between betwee consumption and tion During the slump consumer power ap approached ap- ap proa the vanishing point The problem was to bring brine it b back ck Higher wages always will do this So the N R A sought sough t to boost wages permit c. c compensating boost of prices in return But the price boost got ahead of the wage boost The steel kings the automobile barons some of the others stuck wedges in the door of the White House And now the old dangerous danger danger- ous circle where consumption does not keep pace pac with production is seen looming on the theS S horizon again agam Overnight Phenomenon All this might not have brought strikes however had it not been for an overnight phe phe- A militant two-fisted two smash nose ing lag leadership began to capture the seats of the labor mighty For many years the latter had been supreme completely complacent and supreme Bill Green Matthew VoU John Fre Frey Mike Tighe and similar associates had drawn fat salaries issued pious press platitudes grown rown paunchy lethargic and pathetically ineffective in lifting lifting lift lift- ting t- t ing their brethren from the th-e utter hopelessness into which most of organized labor sank during during during dur dur- ing the depression The new men now at the front are arc Ameri Amen can born A. A F F. of L. L members not reds or rad rad- behind the smoke-screen smoke of their nominal union chiefs they are putting up a terrific fight Stee Union Convention Illustrative of this new leadership was the recent convention of the Amalgamated Ass Asso Association 4 of Iron Steel and Tin Workers Yorkers an af affiliate affiliate affiliate af- af of the A. A F. F of L. L A year ago this union was almost dead Its paying dues-paying membership numbered only Today it has more than Last year also when Elmer Cope a militant militant mili mili- tant progressive attacked President Tighe and his coterie of henchmen he was expelled from the convention This year all that was changed Copes Cope's progressives progressives pro pro- took over the convention from entrance entrance en en- en trance to exit When Tighe introduced Senator Jim Davis as the guest speaker and the ex- ex labor secretary began a babble about the co partnership of capi capital al employer and labor delegates ele ates all over the haIl hall rose and walked out Finally sweeping aside its old leadership the convention ordered a showdown fight with the steel industry over the issue of union rec rec- It commanded Tighe to deliver an ultimatum to employers and called on all locals to prepare for a general strike if the demand was laS rejected Then not trusting the execution of this program program program pro pro- gram to the hands of its own officers the convention con con- v directed that each union district be represented on a board of strategy the battle Faced with labor revolutions like this probably probably ably the pessimistic prediction of Roosevelt's advisers may not b b b. so s-i far from wrong Copyright ht 1934 b by United Feature Syndicate Inc |
