Some Employer: Gov't. Becomes Worried hone un Own Coscaonmenr Washington, July 14.
The: front pages of the American newspapers are filled with monotony ous regularity day after day with news of strikes and labour unrest.
The name of Mr. John L. Lewis, the strike-maker-In-chief is men= tioned more times than that of any public figure not even excluding that of the President, The contests are no longer regarded by the general Public as disputes over hours, wages or conditions of work but each strike regarded as another battle in the Lewis campaign for industrial and political leadership.
The strikes are looked upon in other words as personal tests of strength between Mr. Lewis and some employer who has refused to accede to his requests, The general public is In most cases correct for very few recent strikes Move been due to a feeling of dissatisfaction with wages. The chief question has been "organiza tion." Employers do not like the idea of Mr. John Lewis as a partner, and they fee} that that is in effect what Mr, Lewis fs demanding; the right to be the partner in every business enterprise which he may happen to select, Conditions May Grow Worse The prospects are that labour conditions will grow worse before they grow better and that. they will at the same time become more and more entangled in the political situation. The President is praised (or accused) for being pro-labour, prounion and provstriker. He remained silent during the epidemic of sit~ down strikes much to the irritation of his own party leaders in Congress, He likewise remained silent during much of the violent efforts made by "Inbour pickets to keep non-strikers from returning to. work though he id finally condemn both sides in the steel dispute by declaring "a. plague fon both your houses."
Mr. Lewis and his organizers use the President's name frecly—"the, President wants you to organize" is their slogan. John Lewis declared on. one occasion that three agencies of the government were working. for him; the Labour Department, the Reliog Administration and the Labour Relations Board. The White House has said very litre to discredit these assertions, The President's Views The President holds the view, according to those who feel competent of interpreting it is that disorder, violence and disruption of produc tion and employment must be expected, in fact are inevitable, during recovery period such as the present. He feels much as Jefferson did that little rebellion never harmed a democratic country, in fact was a healthy sign. He doos not exactly welcome strikes when carried to extremes but, never considers the strikers primarily to blame. He thinks that Labour should and wilt win most of these disputes with employ ers, The current show of aggressive force by Labour is welcomed by him as showing employers that Labour means business, 'There is also another reason why the growth of Labour unions and particularly John Lewis's CLO. unions should' be welcomed by the President, Each C.L0. recruit is a potential voter for President Roose~ velt (should he defy tradition and tun a third term) of his New Deal successor in 1940, The unions of the GLO, are not building only an ecunsmie but a political machine. The President, seeing the widening rifts in the Democratic party, welcomes this new source and basis of power, It Is worthwhile securing even at the expense of little disorder.
When you get away from the New Deal atmosphere, away from those within reach of the President's smile, you get a very different picture painted, You do not have to pone trate the castellated towers of the economic royalists to find people who consider the close association of the President and Mr, John Lewis to be unfortunate, They feel that it is one of the chief reasons for the growth of labour violence. The one and only source for Imparilal intervention is the Government and the present Government is committed to one side. Tustice cannot be dispensed by one of the parties to the struggle.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.