Show 1 THE TilE DAILY W WASHINGTON Round Go I err y G 0 eo ROll n d Trade Tredo Mark MarkBy MarkBy By Ily DREW PEARSON and nd ROBERT ALLEN V WASHINGTON The The Administration has chiefly itself to blame for the thc intermittent ex explosion explosion ex- ex of strikes all over the country The in ingredients ingredients ingredients in- in were mixed many months ago and consisted chiefly of 1 Dela Delay coupled with failure to grasp the new movement nt within the ranks of Labor 2 2 The personal ambition of General Johnson Johnson Johnson John John- son and Donald who refused to let labor problems be taken from the thc theN N R A. A 3 The inability of Miss Perkins to get into the labor situation early or to cope with it after sh she did get in Only one man in the thc early days of or the Administration saw the labor pitfalls ahead and charted a n course to avoid them He was Bob Wagner Vagner German-born German senator senat r from New York appointed last year as chairman of the national labor board Aft After r only a week or so Wagner Vagner realized he was sittIng silting at the thc head of a mere ornamental organization His board could not compel disputes disputes disputes dis dis- dis- dis to be submitted to it for arbitration Long before congress convened therefore he began drafting a new law It was one of the most c carefully prepared pieces of New De Deal l legislation evolved without the stick slap haste of the N R H A or A A A. A Wagner expected a burst of opposition from employers and big business What he did not expect was opposition from within the New Deal Johnson and That opposition came chiefly from his two colleagues Johnson and the latter onetime counsel for the Railway Brotherhoods Secretly they opposed creation of a powerful independent labor tribunal wanted labor problems problems problems lems to remain under the N R B. A. A To this end they set up an elaborate system of or code industrial relation boards persuaded the thc President to keep kep aloof from the Wagner bill Ironically enough the thc maneuver of Rich- Rich berg and Johnson did them no good Johnsons Johnson's inability to guard h his s tongue his practice of jamming through labor agreements which al although although although al- al though temporarily averting strikes left workers work work- ers disgruntled gradually destroyed his use- use fullness In the end the President discarded him as No 1 labor agent gent and turned to Miss Perkins Neglected Lady Mss Miss Perkins had been the labor wall flower of the Administration Appointed amid of praise raise as the thc great labor expert she has watched some of the most important labor battles battles battles bat bat- in a decade from decade from the sidelines Essentially she is a a. social worker Unemployment insurance improved factory conditions conditions conditions condi condi- the protection of women and children workers arc are her specialties Her forte is not labor struggles She had not been in close contact contact contact con con- tact with organized labor abor While a charming talented wom woman m she is also somewhat difficult to get along with For weeks she would not tolerate Ed McGrady a avice avice avice vice president of the A. A F. F of L. L whom Roosevelt Roosevelt Roosevelt Roose Roose- velt wanted to be assistant secretary of labor Instead she has lean leaned d heavily on her so solicitor solicitor solicitor so- so Charley Chancy Born of wealthy Polish parents never had dirt on his hands lives in luxury knows nothing of the labor movement The New Deal has been a I great experience to Charley but he has not been such a great experience for it Gradually he has broadened and improved but he was not the key man for Miss Perkins to lean on She needed knuckle bare-knuckle tactics Miss Perkins therefore came on the scene late Her ideas were excellent her execution mediocre Even an A I person in both however however however how how- ever could hardly have salvaged things at that late date Unaware of New Leadership With strikes popping all over the country the thel Pl President finally had swung round to the idea of labor legislation but only during the thelast thelast thelast last days of congress And the idea he swung round to was not the old Wagner Vagner bill but a amere amere amere mere remnant of it Thus Miss Perkins found herself hamstrung both as to time and power One other difficulty has cropped up throughout all the labor difficulties It is the Presidents President's apparent lack of realization of the then n new w ferment among workers While he has been dealing with Bill Green et a al a new leadership leadership leadership leader leader- ship has developed which threatens to leave A. A F. F of L. L moguls with nothing but their fat gold watch atch chains and heavy paunches It It is a belligerent youn younger cr leadership which disgusted with the endless stalling of the Weirton case sore over the empty automobile automobile automobile automo automo- bile settlement and above all embittered bythe by bythe the scuttling of thc the Wagner bill has grown with forest fire rapidity Realization of this movement now is dawning But ut the Administrations Administration's hands arc empty It will have to do battle with a la lamentably weak Wagner Waner act and personnel that is panting out of step half a mile behind UH 1014 br by United Feature Syndicate Inc inc |