Show Brac karts washington digest lewis lenvis violent blast at garner gamer wrecks influence as labor leader resentment spreads quickly and taint bilings S bet begin in to happen reaction in house labor committee Is immediate strengthens political position of vice president by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press washington D C washington there have been so many instances in history where one act or one expression or one omission has changed the course of 0 events that it is necessary here to make mention only that such things happen everyone has seen them in only a few instances however have those on the scene been able to make a guess as to the far reaching consequences on the other hand a number can be recalled which obviously were going to raise cain from the start it is one of the latter type about which I 1 write now when john L lewis burst forth with angry violence and referred to vice president garner is as a la ii bor baiting poker playing whiskey drinking old man he wrote finis for his long career as a labor leader even with his ability to shake his bushy hair and wrinkle his beetled eyebrows and evolve the most biting of all language into a description of his enemies even with this capacity and a million or so workers paying him dues john lewis is is through as a political influence in in behalf of organized labor it is not meant here that lewis will not continue to shout and tear his hair land and accuse everyone of being unfair to organized labor he still has his vicious tongue and he is still president of the congress of industrial du organizations As long as he has that title he can go places and make speeches and drive home threats and yell bloody murder and of course he will get newspapers to print his statements what I 1 am saying is however that lewis has created such resentment around the capitol building as seldom has been seen and instead of having weasel congressmen obey his dictates their greetings to him hereafter are likely to be of the thumb t to nose variety reaction comes quickly in house labor committee As an illustration of how these things react mention may be made that immediately after the lewis eruption of political lava the house labor committee decided to go forward ara with legislation amending the federal wages and hours law amendments to which lewis was violently opposed true there was no member of the committee had the guts to give lewis a call down in the hearing 0 but they did vote to send the leg legislation lation to the floor for debate and in in eff effect act tell lewis to take his marbles and go home it was the second time that lewis has pulled stupid boners actions so dumb that they seem when they come from a man who has had the buildup build up given lewis as a labor leader and politician it will be recalled how a year ago lewis walked into the office of speaker bankhead of the house and announced what the house must do about some labor legislation mr bankhead a thoroughly level head ed democrat from the deep south fixed things right up for the labor leader to make sure that lewis would lose out one would think that lewis would have learned his lesson from the dictatorial arrogance he displayed on that occasion but he came back for more perhaps the circumstances of the lewis statement should be related to give a clear picture of the consequences that seem certain to flow from his personal attack on mr garner the house committee invited lewis to appear as a witness to give the C L I 1 0 views on the amendments that were proposed lewis spent a few minutes in discussing the text of the amendments and then launched into a sour puss tirade about the democratic party lie ile asserted that the party after having accepted labors gifts C 1 I 0 having supported president roosevelt with money and men in both presidential campaigns had now turned out as a traitor ile he argued that he never had looked for help from most of the republicans but had believed the democrats would stick by him a and nd his dues paying workers but through the last year or more however lewis found someone in in the democratic party who was searching for the heart of labor and that individual he shouted in red faced anger is a labor baiting poker playing whiskey drinking evil old man named garner the vice president was the genesis of a great campaign against labor so lewis declared news news travels rapidly and then things begin to happen well I 1 have witnessed fast traveling of news around the halls of the capitol many times but I 1 never have known word to get from office to office and to the far corners of every 1 guilding huil ding any faster than the lewis statement and things began to happen before the afternoon was over the texas delegation had bad met and had taken a resolution condemning lewis and expressing the deep resentment and indignation at his bitter personal attack upon the vice president there was talk around the house and senate later about a proposition to bar lewis from any further appearance before congressional committee hearings but that faded away nevertheless my guess at this stage is that if and when hen lewis does appear before any congressional committee again he will be subjected to a grilling that will tan him to a deep brown now thus far this column has dealt only with lewis there is more wherever politicians gathered around washington during the week following the intemperate action by lewis one could not fail to hear conjecture as to its effect upon the movement to make the vice president the democratic presidential nominee next year the feeling was almost unanimous that cactus jack could have had no better break politically that is to say an attack by lewis who led the sit down strikers and who has been tied in like a hand in a glove with c certain r of the radical elements could not fail to swerve voting support behind garner most of the politicians know now that the C 1 I 0 is a crumbling and disintegrating mass of badly led workers throughout the rural areas and in the small towns he has hurt the cause of union labor beyond compare factions of democratic party split further asunder er the influence ot of the lewis statement does not stop there however for there is a definite cleavage in the ranks of the majority party already it is to be remembered in this connection that the backbone of the democratic party has been the solid south the south generally speaking has clung to conservative serva tive ways and modes of living and has maintained traditions which have served its people well that viewpoint is quite contrary to the new deal and to the presidents advisors of this month nor have the presidents advisors enjoyed the knowledge that a lot of mr garners garner I 1 s friends have been pushing him very hard for the party nomination in 1940 naturally these folks around the white house are the leaders in the plan to have president roosevelt seek a precedent breaking third term they do not like to see a man become too popular or who might offer real resistance to a roosevelt nomination from these facts it becomes more or less obvious that the lewis attack on mr garner constitutes something of a bombshell in splitting the two factions of the democratic party further asunder with the lewis record of support of everything new cealish de alish it can not fail to convince voters of the brand of garner democracy there is still a further phase or sphere of influence to be mentioned mr garner has long been known as a conservative democrat and he be has long been powerful in the councils of his party to enter upon an assumption then that he may be the democratic nominee next year where does that leave the republicans republican leadership has been steering to the right to the conservative side as far as they have shown their hand the question to be asked after that statement is where does that leave the new dealers lewis does more harm to labor than any other man one could follow these questions on down into the state political situations and a merry time would be had by all I 1 have no guess as to which way the thing will come out probably mr garner will not be the democratic nominee at all but these conjectures I 1 have been making have bee been thrown more as proof of the assertion that lewis demonstrated his lack of political ability than for any other reason and in making that statement I 1 still entertain a belief that lewis has done more harm to organized labors cause than any other one man in america one has only to realize that the lewis prestige already was on the down grade the leadership he has been exerting has been shown in its true colors when these are coupled with the fact that he stooped to make the personal life of a national figure the subject of his remarks some think he started the machinery to drive himself into oblivion I 1 have known mr garner many years I 1 believe there can be no question about his integrity his ability long has been recognized if then by any chance mr ga garner should be the democratic nominee where does that leave john L lewis from this rail fence it api appears ears that lewis has led his faction of union workers into another blind alley released by western newspaper union |