| Show 0 national topics interpreted by william bruck bruckart press building WaA hington D C Q washington Washing tom the nation is continuing to witness labor disturbances of an exceedingly more labor serious character troubles many persons thought when the big sit down strikes in the automobile industry were settled without serious bloodshed that we were on the way out of labor trouble in this country the feeling in this regard had some confirmation when the great united states steel corporation reached an agreement by which john L lewis and his faction of i organized labor was recognized as the sole bargaining agency on wages for the greatest single unit of steel unhappily those circumstances were not indicative of an end they did not presage peace between labor 1 and employers the conflict is continuing and I 1 believe holds the elements of much more danger than we we have yet experienced because of the conditions that are now apparent and those which happen to lie ahead the recent speech by edward 1 mcgrady assistant secretary bof of labor becomes both interesting and significant mr mcgrady it win will be remembered made a speech at atlantic city new jersey in which he said boldly to the members of the garment workers union that if bahor labor and capital both are to survive there must be a sincere eff effort ort on the part of each group to understand the problems of the other he reduced the differences between employer and employee to the simple simpie formula namely that representatives of each side if they eap exp expect act to do justice by their own people must sit down at a table and talk things over honestly now the assistant Secre interest in labor cannot be questioned he is a former official of organized labor during his term as assistant secretary he has been exceeds exceedingly angly active and earnest in his attempts to solve labor problems and bring about industrial peace his efforts at conciliation cover the range from the bitter maritime strike on the west coast to the more or less inconsequential sit down strike of a hundred employees in a hotel here in washington so it seems thoroughly fair to assume th that t any advice given by mr mcgrady must include absolute justice for the workers mr mcgrady believes 1 that the irresponsible practices which lead employers to treat labor representatives as agitators are due to ignorance on theother hand you cannot help reading between t the h e lines of his recent speech an inference at least that he regards some labor representatives as quite as irresponsible as some employers pl his view in this regard is indicated by the stress the emphasis which he laid upon the importance of discipline among union members together with his assertion that labor must recognize the sanctity of its contract with the employers just as much as the employers must recognize the validity of their contract with labor mr mcgrady pointed out what losses result from shut downs or strikes and declared that the efficiency in production the country has a right to expect from industry cannot be achieved unless labor and capital work together further the assistant secretary observed that responsible labor leeder leadership ship must place efficiency and elimination of waste and loss among its objectives if organized labor Is to achieve a worthwhile goal mr Mc Gradys exposition of his conception of relations between employer and emsee ray comes a s of hope something of a ray of hope to the great masses of american citizens who are neither employers of labor nor members of labor unions I 1 have said in these columns before and I 1 repeat that the tragedy of conflict between employer and employee organized capital versus organized labor lies in the fact that there are millions of people in the role of innocent bystanders they are the individuals who suffer most it is inevitable that they must suffer because in g a nation whose commerce and industry is as complex as ours every time capital or labor abuses the powers entrusted into its hands those who are not members of either group pay a penalty which is not possible of measurement this characteristic of life obtains not alone in the united states it exists in every civilized country to the extent that that country is industrialized there is no better ei evidence dence of the truth of the statements I 1 have just made than an incident which occurred a few days ago in the house of commons in london stanley baldwin prime minister of england and one of the most powerful men among foreign statesmen today called attention to a dark cloud which he saw on the econom economic i c horizon of time mr baldwin was speaking to his colleagues in the house of commons rom something ething in the nature of a valedictory because he is soon to retire from public office after three dec ades of service to his government I 1 happened to have had the privilege of close contact with mr baldwin when he headed his count rys debt refunding commission to the tha united states more than fifteen fi 11 e e n years ago from that associations association I 1 learned to respect his mental capacity and his ability to foresee coming events when he says therefore that labor and capital must be honest with each other I 1 cannot help feeling that mr baldwin foresees the possibility of bloody clashes and unsound results in the offing conditions that will flow from the abuse of power mr baldwin told the house of commons that you will find in our modern modem civilization that just as H war has changed from being a struggle between professional armies with civilians comparatively uninterested in it so the weapons of industrial warfare have changed from arms that affected comparatively small localized business into weapons that affected directly those who have no concern whatever with the issue except perhaps natural sympathy with their own class the british prime minister added that under such circumstances the one thing we must pray for not only in our statesmen but also in trade union leaders and masters is wisdom it seems to me that mr baldwins baldvins Bald wins admonition can be uttered from high places in our american government with a value just as important as he gave to his words the fact that assistant secretary mcgrady has been the only public official to speak so frankly and so honestly is comforting but it is to be deplored that he alone has spoken since there are ominous signs in a class struggle that unfortunately has been promoted nothing inthis in this country it doing seems to me the attention of the people ought to be directed somewhat more to conditions in congress some months ago I 1 wrote in these columns my fear that the current session of congress was going top to leave a rather dull record for ottav having done nothing thus far my fears have been justified to the fullest congress went into sess an in the first week of january to date therefore e athas been bean in session five months its record of accomplishments includes passage of four appropriation bills providing money for federal government departments the guffey vinson little coal law and the cash and carry neutrality law I 1 do not see how anybody can be enthusiastic about those accomplishments passage of appropriation bills is mere routine usually because in most cases they involve no controversial question at all passage of the neutrality act likewise was an action about which there could be little dispute even though there may have been plenty of grounds for disagreement over the type of law enacted that leaves therefore only the guffey vinson coal bill over which there could have been much delay in house or senate debate all of this makes the picture look even wor sefor congressional leadership there is talk already about adjournment journ ment of congress as soon as hot weather strikes washington and the temperatures can get very high and unpleasant while this undercurrent der current of talk is not yet in an important volume it emphasizes the fact that there is a growing body of legislators who see no possibility of accomplishing anything worthwhile in the current session but what are the reasons having gone rather thoroughly into this situation I 1 think there are two factors to be considered one is the lack of capacity of the leadership among both democrats and republicans and the other is traceable to the white house president roosevelt for four years has told congress what to do and to that extent has destroyed the initiative of the legisla le legislators gisia as a body and now that some members want to reassert the power of congress the presidents organized spokesmen appear not to know what to do it may be said that the immediate cause of the failure of congressional leadership to Lea leadership dersh rp much of the legis get falla fails I 1 a t i v e program out of the way in live five months is the controversy resulting from mr Roosevel ts proposal to add six justices of his own choosing to the united states supreme court that statement in my opinion is only partially true there are many senators and representatives otherwise loyal to the president who now feel that the court organization reorganization re plan cannot be put th through but those spokesmen thus tar far have not advised the president frankly of their views and in consequence the court bill is still in the way to that extent then the legislative leadership has lacked courage and mr roosevelt has remained adamant which possibly charges him with some responsibility in the legislative stalemate 0 western newspaper union i a |
