Show stassen at best bese on labor issues WHERE I 1 STAND by harold E stassen doubleday Doub leJay p pp ap p 42 fa by bill in an age of quasi literate politicians mr stassen the determined candidate tor for republican presidential nomination has tugged at the bootstraps of his social consciousness and raised himself above the hurly burly of the vote getting mob to the rare level of a forthright political thinker who takes as his ken his own national society the former governor of minnesota attempts no probing into the intricacies of foreign policy and makes no bones about admitting it ills his thesis is that once a sound for ward looking domestic organization has been achieved an equally constructive tive foreign policy may be worked out from that basis this is not to say that the lack of an expression on foreign policy is not felt in mr book it is one of the shortcomings more important St asseng lethargic estimate of foreign policy his relegation of it to a secondary position his failure even to touch upon the voluminous subject of foreign aid all would seem to indicate a preference for a kind of tolerant elastic nationalism whether or not this is the right time tor for the emergence of a strong nationalistic philosophy in the united states is a topic which Is being subjected to universal debate the man from minnesota consistently refrains in his book from entering the discussion it is an omission which undoubtedly will be brought piercingly to his attention by his more antagonistic colleagues but it is in the area of labor problems and labor legislation that the writer is most confident of his ground in a single monolithic chapter he dissects and analyzes the varying status of the united states labor movement from 1920 to 1847 1947 and nails down with a ham hammer mer of realism its inevitable relation to the prosperity and soundness of the entire economy stassen offers his theories on labor in the form of the testimony which he presented before the senate labor committee in february of this year during the period when congress was preparing the legislation which ultimately resulted in the tart taft hartley act that law he believes will be the foundation for a fair just and well balanced labor policy in america in total stassen approves of the act specifically he is opposed to three portions of the law as it stands 1 the provision making it unlawful tor for a labor organization to contribute to election funds 2 the noncommunist non communist affidavit rule 3 the ultimatum stipulating that existing union shop contracts cannot be renewed unless and until an election Is held and a majority of all employees lopees votes in the affirmative for the rest of his platform stassen turns to the issues of taxation with which he be deals from the standpoint of dynamic capital housing survival of small business and the paucity of medical care and hospital facilities to each of these he brings an application of the classic republican theory of faire and damns heartily all efforts to give the federal government greater control in those fields |