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Show Using Herbert Hoover As A Cat's Paw 1 ' by Wilford I. King When fate brought Harry S. Truman to the White House, many felt a sort of pity for the naive little man from Missouri who was suddenly called upon to step into the shoes of the most adroit politician ever serving serv-ing as President of the United States. Largely forgotten was the fact that Truman had trained train-ed under Pendergast a man who was no amateur in the game of politics. Hence there was great surprise throughout the nation when, on the evening of November 2, 1948, the returns showed that Truman had turned into victory an election which all pollsters had predicted would be a walkaway for Governor Go-vernor Dewey. And, since that day, he has shown so much political astuteness that his erstwhile erst-while critics are beginning to wonder whether, as a politician, he is really inferior to the great Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself. One example of his cleverness is the way in which he has used the FEPC issue to keep the Republicans Re-publicans and Dixiecrats from ' forming an alliance against . him an alliance which, if con-Isumated, con-Isumated, might be a great menace men-ace to his future political career. Another example is his handling of the coal strike. He carefully avoided intervention until the fuel shortage became acute. He then used the threat of seizure as a whip to force the employers ito grant most of the miner's demands. By refraining from ! seizure, he "avoided open con-iffict con-iffict with the mine owners; by ' settling the strike before most areas actually ran out of coal, he escaped calling down upon j himself the dire wrath of the general public; and, by securing ! higher wage rates and more pension money for the e p a 1 j miners, he intensified the loyalty loyal-ty of his mast dependable group 'of supporters the members of labor organizations, But, for thorough-going political politi-cal adroitness, his latest move probably eclipses any of his previous pre-vious political maneuvers. He is actually arranging to use the prestige of Herbert Hoover to solidify the hold of Harry S. Truman upon the labor unions. Here is what is asked for in the message which he sent to Congress Con-gress on March 13, 1950. It requests Congress to adopt 21 plans for reorganizing various agencies of the Executive ! branch of the government, thus ostensibly merely carrying, out the recommendations outlined in the monumental report pf the Commission on Organization of the Executive branch of government govern-ment a report which was prepared pre-pared under the direction of Herbert Hoover, and which has received almost universal ac-i ac-i claim for its unbiased and scholarly schol-arly analyses and discussions of ways and means to secure greater great-er efficiency and economy in governmental administration, all of which seems highly laudable. But, hidden away in' the middle mid-dle of the message is the seemingly seem-ingly innocuous" Plan No. 12 through which, according t o President Truman, "unified re sponsibility is once more established es-tablished in the National Labor ! Relations. Board by transferring to the Board and its Chairman the functions of the General Counsel and by abolishing the statutory office of the General Counsel. This plan will bring to an end the confusion which has resulted from divided re-sponsibiltiy." re-sponsibiltiy." Evidently, by this explanation, explana-tion, the President hoped to lead Congress and the public to look upon this step as being merely a move to systematize the operations. In reality, however, the National Na-tional Labor Relations Board has little resemblance to an administrative ad-ministrative bureau. For all practical purposes, it is a court, the chief function of which is to adjudicate disputes between employers and employees. Un der the Wakner Act, it really operated merely as an arm of the C.I.O. Following the Russian Rus-sian model, the functions of prosecutor and judge were combined,- and, in most instances, regardless of the evidence, the case was decided in favor of labor la-bor organization involved. One of the main reasons for repealing the Wagner Act and adopting the Taft-Hartley Law was to get rid of this un-American set up. In the new statute, the functions of the prosecutor were separated from those of the court. As General Counsel, Robert N. Denham, by his fair and unbiased enforcement of the law neither employer nor employee em-ployee being shown any favoritism favorit-ism has gained the respect of all parties, not only for himself but for the Taft-Hartu I as well. And now h ,7 Lw I man proposes to ei,2nl the picture both his oxfice and g0 baa?? an iniquitous system prevail & aer the Wagner Act mg t But the super-ironifai . i this scheme is that i tWlst to i posed under the guise pr- ing out a mandate ot th t mission headed bVu1 i Hoover! And. to aaa i injury, unoer the gener? 10 organization act passen t al gress, tnis plan w& C iy go into effect specifically repudiated bv i 15 ' sitive vote of at least on! ka P-' ot Congress. Does a ranc 6 Thomas" still remain8 unwilling to conceoe Cm i ry S. Truman is a Dast iHaf- of political strategy ma"t I |
