Show I v v It Could Overthrow the Government The return of the coal miners to work has not solved the basic issues involved in the coal controversy The glaring fact remains that the miners stopped production at the order of one man Inan that they went back to work at the order of one man that they can again walk out at the order of one man This great nation in effect is existing on the sufferance of one man It is a misnomer to describe the present day dy coal strikes as strikes against the mine ne operators They are strikes against the American people The last coal strike was aimed straight at every home in America every job in America every business in America The return of the miners to work vork has not changed a situation which Judge Goldsborough Goldsboro ugh put effectively into words in his decision decision decision deci deci- sion when he said If action of this kind could be successful it could overthrow the government It could in short do what Germany and Japan were unable to do in the greatest war of all time Furthermore as one of the most prominent Senators said the obligation of Congress to overhaul our labor laws and our labor policy has not changed and it will not change regardless of the final decisions of the Federal courts The duty of the courts is to say what the law means the duty of Congress is to put into the framework of law the needs and desires of the people And Ana there can be no question of public sentiment when coal miners place their interests above the interests of men women and children It is clear now that the Wagner Act has failed completely in its purpose the elimination of strikes It must be revised in principle as well as in detail It is clear that labor must be forced to o assume responsibilities commensurate with its power precisely as industry under strict laws has been forced to assume such responsibilities On what logical grounds can we continue to allow great unions with millions of dollars in resources to operate scot free of laws passed in the name of the public interest which govern all other enterprises The extremists in the labor ranks prattle of their rights and freedoms freedoms freedoms free free- doms and hysterically oppose every suggestion that would curb abuses What these extremists really want is not freedom but license No man no group of men can be free deliberately to force this nation into industrial stagnation widespread unemployment ment and unimaginable destitution The goal Congress must seek is not punitive treatment of labor It is on the contrary the placing of union labor on a basis of equality before the law instead of exempting it from the laws that apply to industry and all citizens We must reassert the authority authority authority au au- au- au of the government which is simply the of the people All other domestic problems pale into obscurity beside this one |