OCR Text |
Show THE SEARCHLIGHT 7 cape from a very embarrassing situation of his own clumsy making. Second, he desired to provide Mr. Grover with a good-paying State job. Third, he wanted to see if Wendell could finish a job that had become too tough for the idle dreaming of His Excelleney— dreamimg that has had to suffice for general administration. There coal are only problem. two First, feasible obtain solutions more a virtual impossibility. Second, of work per day for the duration coal of the miners— extend the hours of the emergency. Safety measures and the need for reconditioning machinery require one day a week in the mechanized mines, work week. and therefore preclude a seven-day His Excellency couldn’t retain that fundamental premise in his mind when confronted with the views of Mr. Lewis’ helpers. He blandly ignored the real situation. Instead, after floundering around himself, he assigned Mr. Grover to mateh wits with John L. Lewis. Perhaps he wanted to see if Grover’s efforts would prove as grotesquely futile as his own. His Excellency had ealled on John L. Lewis in Washington. Mr. Lewis couldn’t be bothered. He shunted the hopeful leader of Utah Democracy down to his fifth has a free hand, he will have a certain prominent member of the United Mine Workers union—a trusted henehman of the Governor— prefer charges against Mr. Jugler. The charges will be acted upon immediately. Mr. Jugler will be fired all over again. Grover will take his place on the Commission again. Of course, the Searchlight’s exposure of that clever bit of conniving may disarrange the scheme and possibly may frustrate it. Otherwise it will go through on schedule. Does Maw has now become a yes-man for John L. Lewis. He ignores the majority of the miners and the more enlightened union officials who believe the work day should be adjusted to production needs immediately and for the duration of the war, by permitting the miners to work 8, 9 or 19 State the official $4,000 of Utah have a year pay to a special to John a yes-man to be Can’t His Excellency Lewis? cnough in person? or sixth secretary—a Lewis version of Maw’s own mourners’ bench. The Lewis appraisal of His Excellency was painfully accurate. He quietly oozed the Governor out of Miners’ headquarters in Washington, and sent word to the local boys that they could have a little fun tying His Excelleney in a few knots. The local officers had little difficulty. The Governor thought he saw an opportunity to revive his ebbing labor support by siding with Lewis officialdom in the United Mine Workers. But the boys only used him for their own purIn a few days he actually was ballyposes. hooing the very thing he had gone to Washington to protest against—a trial of the sevenhour, seven-day work week. hours a day. The net accomplishments of Maw’s intrusion into the coal problem are two. First he actually has delayed final determination of the work-day. controversy. Second, he has Mr. Grover on the State payroll again. He plans to keep Wendell on the payroll until after the Legislature concludes its sessions when he expects to re-instate him on the Industrial Commission, after firing Mr. Jugler all over again. The technique of that little game is simple. Reports at the Capitol indicate that when the legislature adjourns and His Excellency again L. job abjectly do the Can the Democratic Party afford to follow longer a leader whose political immaturity 1s Does the party relish having its s0 obvious? leader play fifth fiddle to John L. Lewis? Can it point with pride to the coal-Grover episode when the campaign of 1944 comes along? Will His Excellency’s ‘‘solution’’ of the coal proprosenhance Democratic duction problem pects in 1944? Editor’s Note: This discussion Herbert ond Maw B. part will 1943—Vol. KILOWATT of the political is written in two appear in leadership parts. The the issue of January from page 5) of sec- 8, ITI, No. 18. (Continued Often he lays back his ears and kicks. down. But he won’t go forward unless he is jJabbed viciously in the rear end. The Bond & Share has a mule complex. only laws it complies with are those it has All others it slipped into the books itself. views with disdain. It hangs on to its ancient sins with a tenacity worthy of a better cause. |