Evening Star Newspaper, April 8, 1937, Page 11

1934 ActGives U. S. Power in Strikes Signed by Roosevelt, Law Held Applicable to Sit-Downs. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. OOR Dr. Townsend of old-age pension fame! All he did was to walk out on a committee of members of Congress who had been brow-beating him with irrele- vant questions and now, unless judg- ment is reversed by the Supreme Court, he must go to jail. Out in Mich- igan, however, thousands of per- sons in recent ‘weeks have booed and refused to obey a court or- der demanding that they release immediately the property that didn’t belong to : them. Instead : they retained pos- session for several days and caused tens of millions of dollars of economic loss to innocent persons, but now apparently those whe committed “contempt” of court are * go free because certain safeguards « Jjudicial authority have virtually gone with the wind in Michigan. The agreement just made settling the Chrysler strike provides definitely that both the automobile company and the union now must withdraw their court suits growing out of the “sit- down” strike. While this does not in any way relieve the courts of Michigan of their responsibility to secure respect for their orders, it does to a certain extent make it difficult for witnesses to be brought to testify as to the facts or for proceedings to be continued in “contempt” cases because both the unions and the company have agreed in writing to drop all court action growing out of the strike. Dropped Under Duress. It might well be asked how public sympathy can justly be mobilized on the side of any automobile company again when two of the leading con- cerns in the industry formally drop proceedings against violators of law and trespassers. The answer presum- David Lawrence. ably given by the companies is that | they had to sign the agreements as the only means of getting their plants re- opened. The State courts themselves, how- ever, are under no such duress and if Michigan courts do not obtain pro- tection, then a Federal statute in force since 1871 requires the President to secure it for injured citizens Some observers have sald that Sec- tion 5299 of 1871 which is still in force and is intended to carry out the mandate of the Federal Consti- tution guaranteeing a republican form of government was adopted too long 8g0 to be applicable. While this is no excuse for non-enforcement, the fact is there fs a later Federal statute which gives the Federal Government power to intervene in “sit-down"” strikes and the law in question was not only passed by a Democratic Congress but it was signed by President Roose- velt himself on June 18, 1934. Applicable to Commerce Violence. The pertinent sections of that law | #s they apply to forcible seizure of | property and attempted extortion are | a8 follows “Section 2—Any person who, in con- | nection with or in relation to any act in any way or in any degree affecting trade or commerce or any article or commodity moving or about to move in trade or commerce— “(a) Obtains or attempts to obtain, by the use of or attempt to use or threat to use force, violence, or coer- clon, the payment of money or other valuable considerations, or the pur= chase or rental of property or protec- tive services, not including, nowcver, the payment of wages by a bona fide employer to a bona fide employe; or— “(b) Obtains the property of an- other, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of force or fear, or under color of official right, or— “(c) Commits or threatens to com- mit an act of physical violence or physical injury to a person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to violate sections (a) or (b); or *“(c) Conspires or acts concertedly With any other person or persons to commit any of the foregoing acts; shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a felony and shall be pun- ished by imprisonment from 1 to 10 years or by a fine of $10,000 or both. “Section 3—as used in this act, the term ‘wrongful’ means in violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State or territory.” | State Laws Involved. | It will be noted that the Federal | power specifically refers here wo vio- lation of State laws. This 1s not novel because the Supreme Court has already upheld anti-trust laws and other Federal statutes aimed at per- sons who make combination which tend to violate State laws. But there is another important paragraph at the end of the same statute quoted above and it reads as follows: i “Section 6—Any person charged with violating this act may be prose- cuted in any district in which any part of the offense has been com- mitted by him or by his actual asso- ciates participating with him in the offense or by his fellow consiprators: provided, that no court of the United States shall construe or apply any of the provisions of this act in such manner as to impair, diminish, or in any manner affect the rights of bona fide labor organizations in law- fully carrying out the legitimate objects thereof, as such rights are expressed in existing statutes of the United States.” Now nowhere in the statutes of the United States is the seizure of property by a labor union justified or validated. As for the phrase “in lawfully carrying out the legitimate objects” of a labor union, no court of law has ever considered it law- ful for a labor union to seize property of an employer. The Federal Government is now prosecuting some leaders of miners’ unions in Illinois who are accused of acts of seizure of the property of various companies, but these leaders happen to be at the head of a union against which John Lewis is fighting. So the Department of Justice co-operates with him in ap- plying the statute for his benefit in Ilinois, but does not apply it to the disadvantages of the Lewis unions in Michigan. Thus is “equal justice under law” flouted and & Federal statute en- forced only when political allies of an administration and campaign contrib- wutors insist upon it. (Copyrisht, 1937.) 4 THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, THURSDAY, APRIL 8, Behind the News Revival of Florida Ship Canal Startles Congress. Sheds Light on Roosevelt Tenacity. BY PAUL MALLON. RESIDENT ROOSEVELT is acquiring an inside reputation for re- lentless persistence. More than one hard-pressed legislator has béen moved to recollect in the privacy of the congressional cloak room recently that not only are the Dutch unbeatable, but their descendants seem to have inherited the same immunity. It is not so much the President's refusal to bend in the face of the storm against his Supreme Court plan, although they consider that re- markable. Nor is it entirely his declination to be moved by the almost unanimous demands of his congressional friends for some action to sup- press sit-down strikes, although they also consider that extraordinary. What has left them limp and befuddled is the news that the White House is reviving the Florida ship canal, which has been defeated by Congress and dropped. Also, things are working around toward a revival of the Passamaquoddy project, which was similarly smothered by Congress, abandoned and forgotten. ‘The way things are going, the weary legislators fear they will next be confronted with the World Court adherence, or perhaps the emancipation of slaves. Apparently nothing is ever decided these days until the President wins. The manner in which the Florida canal was pulled out of the grave and made to walk again has especially encouraged the legis- lators to believe there is no lasting death. A report on the canal project was sent to Congress last week b{ War Secretary Woodring, but i happened wrynrrive just 10 minutes after the House adjourned. The messenger left it in the confidentisl custody of a House clerk, who would not permit newsmen to see it. War officials said they had no extra copies. ‘There was nothing for newsmen to do except to wait until the House reconvened this week before publishing anything about it. This would have been the ordinary course, but the War Secre- tary decided tQ give out an announcement stating that the report by Gen. Markham, chief of Army Engineers, awr_oved the project. This news was published far and wide, until a curious Corn_pnuman went to the House clerk, saw the report and noted that, while Mark- ham approved, his whole board of engineers heartily disapproved. News dispensing agencies immediately sent out corrections, but, as usual, the correction failed to smother completely the original story. One newsman took Woodring to task, requesting an explanation of the deception. Mr. Woodring explained he had no intention to deceive, but things just happened that way. * X K X It is not exactly a secret in the War Department that Mr. Woodring is serving at the President’s pleasure, and that Chief of Engineers Markham is in a position more susceptible to White House influence than his board of engineers. Board members are technical experts on waterways prob- lems, and have a relatively small knowledge of politics and the ways of Washington. 3 Their smothered conclusion was that the project would cost $65,000,000 more then their chief, Gen. Markham, reported, and that it could not be justified economically. Gen. Markham argued that the question of economic justification was a matter of personal opinion, and his personal opinion happened to coincide with Mr. Roosevelt's. No one around the department will maintain that the technical experts would have been overruled if the President had no feelings on the subject. And yet no one there or elsewhere seems to know why Mr. Roosevelt has taken such a personal interest in the much disputed matter. They understand his interest in Passamaquoddy because his Summer home looks out upon that scene. The only suggestion they have been able to offer is the unsatisfactory one that the President favors it because there is so much opposition. * x % X Only those who follow the voice of the people professionally noticed it, but the detailed Michigan election returns did not seem to be as satis- factory to the advocates of sit- down strikes as the general results. For example, citles in four counties outside Detroit, which have been the centers of General Motors strikes or where G. M. is big, went Republican. The factory cities of these counties are Flint, Lansing. Pontiac and Saginaw. Likewise, in Flint, the C. I. O. leaders worked for three candidates to the Board of Education, one of whom happened to be a strike leader. All three lost. * ok ox X Republican national leaders are being severely criticized by some within their organization for having failed to take up any banners lately on sit-downs, the Supreme Court, or anything else. One protesting leader here says off the record: “Any one can do nothing.” The inside fact scems to be the Republican party leuders are doing plenty, but mot waving their hats about it. Mail sent out from national committee headquarters here daily is said to bulk as large as that of Sears, Roebuck. It goes to party workers all the way down to precinct committeemen and is supposed to contain the advice and counsel of the party leaders which formerly was issued through the newspapers. Most of the party leaders in Congress believe these tactics are sound and will be continued. DAD BusT |1/ (Copyright, 1937.) HE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Responsibility for Sit-Ins Real Problem Is Up to Governors and Law Officers, Observer Says. BY MARK SULLIVAN. ARALLEL with action in Con- gress about sit-down strikes, which action is not yet very conclusive, several State Legi latures are taking steps. The Legis- latures seem more forthright than Congress. In Texas a pending bill makes sit- down strikes crime punishable by imprisonment ¥ up to two years. The circum- 3 stances of the in- troduction of this : bill supgests that = 8 the Texas Legis- [ lature feels strongly. The | = time had expired % N when bills of this §44 kind could be in- ¢ 4 troduced in the ordinary way. The Legislature, how- ever, suspended its rules by the four-fifth vote neces- sary in this circumstance. But what if this Texas bill, and simi- lar bills in other Legislatures, are passed? They will add nothing. They do not remedy the real difficulty, or even aim toward it. Sit-down strikes are already illegal under the law as it exists everywhere. Every court in the country will on application declare such a strike illegal and order the strikers to cease occupancy of the building. If the strikers fail to obey the order of the court, the court will direct the sheriff to arrest them and | remove them. Mark Sullivan, It is at this point that the real diffi- culty arises. No sheriff, alone, is able | to arrest and remove the large number | of men who are commonly involved in a sit-down strike. If the sit-down- | ers do not voluntarily obey the order | of the court, the sheriff must have | help. He can get help in two ways. | He can apply to the Governor for use | of the armed forces of the State, the National Guard; or he can swear in as large a number of deputies as he thinks necessary. Both these methods have been tried. In sit-downs in Illinois and California the sheriff swore in deputies. In Illi- | nois the deputies evicted the sit-down- ers by force. In California the sit- | downers quit when they realized that the sheriff and the other law enforce- ment officials were in earnest. Law Not Enforced. The other method was tried in the sit-down in the General Motors plants at Flint, Mich. There the sher- iff asked the Governor of the State for help. The Governor did not reply to the request but conducted conferences between heads of General Motors and heads of the striking union, which re- | sulted in compromise. Only after this | compromise did the Flint sit-downers | leave the plants. The order of the | court in Flint was not obeyed. The law was not enforced. The Flint judge would have been just as helpless if there had been on the Michigan statute books a law making the sit-down strike a felony. The heart of the situation was the lack of action by the Governor when the | sheriff asked him for help. Gov.| Murphy's inaction may have been wise or unwise. It may have averted vio- | lence, or it may in the long run lea | ness lies in & not much ciscussed ac- | sources of newspapers and other agen- to greater violence. At all eveats, the condition in Flint was one which could not be remedied by another law. The lack was a lack of enforcement. What is true of Michigan is true everywhere. What is needed is not a new law, nor more law, but enforce- ment of existing law. The principal effectiveness, if any, of enactment of the Texas measure and of the similar measures in other State legislatures, will be as expres- sions of opinion. When the legisia- ture of any State makes the sit-down a crime, and if the vote in the legis- lature is overwhelmingly to this effect, strike leaders may be deterred from beginning a sit-down. Also, governors of such Btates will presumably take account of sentiment as expressed by the legislature. Up te Governers. It is upon governors and other law enforcement officials that the burden lies, rather than on legislatures. A number of governors, including Gov. Cross of Connecticut and Gov. Hoff- man of New Jersey, speaking in ad- vance of any sit-downs in their re- spective States, have announced that they would enforce the law. In such States, following these announce- ments, sit-downs have not been held. Announcement by a governor of in- tention to enforce the law seems more effective than the course taken by Gov. Murphy in Michigan, for within two weeks after his course in the Flint strike, he had on his hands another sit-down, larger, and more serious, in Detroit. As to the steps taken or proposed in Congress, the best promise of useful- tion proposed by Representative Mar- tin Dies of Texas. Mr. Dies proposes that there should be an investigation by a committee of Congress into all phases of the sit-down strike. Such in investigation would be as illuminat- ing as the one recently made into the use of spies by industrial employers. The investigation, it goes without say- ing, ought to be conducted by judi- cially-minded men. It would summon and hear witnesses having knowledge of every aspect of the sit-down strikes that have taken place and of the par- ticular labor unions that have con- ducted them. Such an investigation would bring out facts which the re- Cies are unable to assemble. It would give to the public light upon many matters of which the public knows little. It would answer questions about which the ordinary flow of news is inadequate. (Copyright, 1937.) HYSONG HONOR GUEST Speaks at Luncheon of Soroptimist Club. | Martin Hysong, funeral director, was an honor guest and speaker at the weekly luncheon of the Sorcp- timist Club yesterday at the Willard | Hotel. | The program was in charge of Mrs. | Nell Hysong, past president of the club and regional director of the | American Federation of Soroptimist | Clubs. | The Board of Directors of the club | will meet tonight at the Willard. | Nature has the first say...and every advance in modern refining 1s employed to make Richfield Hi-Octane® the last word in gasoline performance...It offers the highest anti-knock rating without any premium in price. Enjoy richer all-around performance. Drive into your nearest Richfield dealer and “switch to richer Richfield” today! ICHFIEL OCTANE *Reg. U.S. Pat. Of. Marvrarry R ity, Ihc'l yields the crude oil from which is refined... RICHLUBE® “AN-Weather” MOTOR OIL Free-flowing. . . Heat-resisting . . . Long-lasting 1937. We, the People Writer Credits Woman Journalist With Idea for “Mud Houses”—Not Yet Adopted. BY JAY FRANKLIN. J UST the other day a former New Dealer long-distanced from New York to ask where he could find Ernestine Evans in a hurry. I told him that her last letter was written from German Silesia and that she could be reached through Brown, Shipley in London. He was dis- appointed, as he wanted her advice at once. A few minutes later I had to call up one of the leading W. P. A. officials and ask him whether the relief appropriation would be cut after the President’s statement about high prices for steel, copper and cement. The official said he thought not, as W. P. A. hadn't purchased much heavy stuff. He complained that lumber prices were too high, 80 I asked why he didn't get Resettlement’s Tom Hibben to tell him about the rammed earth houses, if W. P. A. planned any extensive construction in country districts. ‘These houses can be built at low cost, with unskilled labor, and require very little steel, wood, copper and cement. The official said that he already had an appointment with Hibben, for that very purpose, ‘There's justice for you! For Ernestine Evans is the woman who badgered and battered Hibben and the other Resettlement officials uniil they tried the rammed-earth construction method at Birming- ham, Ala. The result proved to be better, cheaper, more comfortable, handsome and durable than frame houses. But that was after Er- nestine had been fired from Reset- tlement. Before then, Emnestine tried desperately to get R. A. to finance construction of a really good automobile trailer design; she interested Corwin Wilson and Ppointed out that the housing short- age would be lessened by the appearance of second-hand trailers on the market. This would help the migratory and seasonal farm workers, in particular, who were on R. A.’s neck and consclence. Naturally, it wasn't done. YOU SHOULD CET1n TOUCK TOM HIBBEN That's the sort of woman Ernestine is. She was regarded as an obstructionist because of her quiet little way of reminding you of simple things—such as the law of gravity—just as you were about to lift your- self by your own boot-straps. She was not pobular with her remote superiors and was a thorn in the side of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides who infested parts of the Resettlement Administration. But she knew her stuff. A large, middle-aged woman, she had seen the Russian revolution and several of the other messier disturbances of the last 30 years as a news- paper correspondent. She always happened to be on the spot Where the accident was about to occur. She had been everywhere and knew every one of importance on two continents. Whenever she arrives in Finland—she is an exper{ on co-operatives—it is front page news in Helsingfors. She wanders over the world, without apparent income, scattering ideas as though they were diseases—which, perhaps, they are. She walked into my office in Resettlement (I used to be a Government official myself) two years ago and sald she wanted a Job. She had been running in hard luck and felt she needed a change. She got the job and for one fantastic year she worked like an energetic housewife in a dirty kitchen, without the proper ingredients and with a cold stove, trying to get out a really exquisite dinner in a hurry. She was, in fact, a first-class cook and succeeded in interesting Sheila Hibben in the idea of a regional cook book of fine American local recipes, for the Government. But the Government—though dedicated to “the more abundant life"—decided that well-cooked and interesting food was a species of boondoggling. The cook- book idea was killed and the money went to supply piccolos to the Ten- nessee mountaineers. After I left Fesettlement, Er- nestine’s official days were num- bered. Her immediate superiors were called in by a girl whom she had offended and ordered to dis- miss her on grounds of inefficiency (Ernestine had simply said that she could imagine nothing more boring than to have lunch with the lady in question). They pro- tested that Ernestine was highly valuable to the organization, but ¥ the plaintiff said that made no difference, so fired Ernestine was, over the protest of her responsible chief. Then she tried to land a job with the commission the President sent to study co-operatives in Europe last Summer. She happens. to know more about the subject than any one else in this country, and also to be on terms of personal friendship with the principal European experts the commission would have to consult, but the job she wanted went to another, younger and prettier girl. So Ernestine went to Europe anyhow, on her own money, and is completing her book on co-operation in Finland. It will be worth reading when it is done, for she is one of the best “no- women” of our times and can criticize as well as praise, can understand as well as indorse. And if the farming families of America ever get cheap, durable and decent housing in our generation, they will owe some of it to Ernstine Evans. The Resettlement “mud houses” at Birmingham will be habitable when the grandiose “Tugwelltowns” are abandoned in disrepeir, but Ernestine will never get the credit for her achievement. That's life, I guess, and not least official life under the first half of the New Deal. (Copyright, 1 1SAID FIRE HER /‘(, BUT B, MISS JONES P WUATS WRONC FROM PENNSYLVANIA’S RICHEST OIL FIELD Peansylvania fields produce the finest motor —but even Pu:n-ylnni- oils vary in qual- nd it is the rich Bradford-Allegany field under all temperatures SAVE $24.48 A YE Certified mileage road tests with Richfield Hi-Octane, compared with the average mileage 10,391 motorists report from other gas- olines, show savings of $24.48 a year with Richfield gasoline! An American You Should Know Dr. Thomas Parran Is Leader in War on Disease. BY DELIA PYNCHON. HE battle against disease rages year in and year out. No quarter is given. No truce de- clared. It is a grim struggle for life, health and the pursuit of happiness. Headquarters for the army of de= fense is located in the beautiful new marble palace on Constitution ave nue. Jt houses our United States Public Health Service, with Dr, Thomas Parran, jr. surgeon gen= eral. In its 138th year of existence, with a total per= sonnel of around 7,000, which in- cludes 400 medi- cal experts, Dr. Parran assumes the hizh com- time in public Dr. Parran. |mand after a service. “Transition from agrarian to indus- trial civilization has brought greater need for health service,” Dr. Parran says. Down the years, either quietly or dramatically, scourges have swept the country. Dr. Parran’s “mass at- | tack” program against these enemies promises a ‘“massed resistance” of con= siderably increased scope. Informa- tion is now available of disease in 700,000 families, through a survey made by W. P. A. workers in various parts of the country, under the di- rection of public health doctors. This will result in increased national “massed control” in those diseases that take the greatest toll of human life. life Born in Maryland in 1892, ‘Though Dr. Parran is new to his present position, he is far from new to Public Health Service. Born at Bt. Leonard, Md, in 1892, this thoughtful and public-spirited man, looking very fit himself, has chalked up an enviable record. He received an A. B. degree from St. John's College, Annapolis, and an M. D. from the Medical School of Georgetown University, besides many honorary degrees. He is on various boards for the control of cancer, tuberculosis, syphilis and others, both national and internae tional. Dr. Parran is no pale pacifist when it comes to public health. Uniformly his attitude and program are militant. He is massing his troops now against the venereal diseases. He feels that our “hush-hush, ostrich-like attitude™ towards an enemy that attacks more than half* a million persons a year is nothing short of suicidal. Syphilis Near Top. Syphilis now ranks with tuberculosis and pneumonia {the leading causes of death in this | country. Death from heart disease | leads the list. Dr. Parran feels that |over a quarter of these may be re- duced by “standardized treatment in preventable cases.” Research in pube lic health has written some thrille ing chapters in the control of pele lagra, spotted fever, silicosis, tule- remia, typhoid fever, etc. Urder the new social security act $2,000,000 has been made available for medical research alone. This, Dr. Parran feels, “insures a continu- ing policy of giving aid to the States.” cancer, among D IS BETTER GASOLINE !