Evening Star Newspaper, May 11, 1937, Page 11

Wagner Labor Act Puzzles Employers Ban on Discrimination Among Employes Contradictory. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. ANY hundreds of questions are pouring into the National Capital from employers who want to know what the ‘Wagner labor act means as applied to specific circumstances arising in their plants, but there is no question ap- parently on which employers are more puzzled than the contradictory pro- visions of the law on the subject of discrimination against union or non- union employes. One section of H the Wagner law says it is an “un- fair labor prac- tice” for an em- ployer “by dis- crimination in re- gard to hire or tenure of employ- ment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or dis- courage member- ship in any labor organization.” From this it would naturally be inferred that an employer could not in any way dis- criminate against a prospective appli- cant for work by refusing to hire him because of his union or non-union status. But the Wagner law goes on to provide: “That nothing in this act * * * or in any other statute of the United States shall preclude an employer from mak- ing an agreement with a labor organi- zation (not established, maintained or assisted by an action defined in this act as an unfair labor practice) to re- quire as a condition of employment membership therein, if such labor or- ganization is the representative of the employes as provided in section 9-a in the appropriate collective bargaining unit covered by such agreement when made.” Can Agree on Closed Shop. ‘What this latter provision means is that an employer can make a volun. tary agreement with his employes whereby what is known as a “closed shop” prevails—that is, nobody is per- mitted to be employed unless he is a member of the union in existence at the plant in question or unless he is willing to join the employes’ organi- eation which is recognized as the col- lective bargaining unit of the majority of the employes. On the one hand. the law there must be no action on the part of the employer to encourage or dis- eourage membership in any labor organization, yet the moment the | employes approach the employer with | & project for a voluntary agreement to bar anybody except those who are satisfactory to the existing labor; orghnization, the employer, by his| answer, must be careful not to appear | to encourage either his own employes or to discourage prospective employes. When a closed shop agreement occurs, the employer must ask all applicants something about their membership in labor unions. If any other employer asks such a question of an applicant it is a violation of law. Where a closed-shop agreement has been made the effect is to compel the employer to discriminate against | applicants who are unwilling, as a con- dition of employment, to join the labor organization which is in control of the | plant where the application for work | is made. David Lawrence. says |4 THE EVENING News Behind the News Spanish War Uncovers Technical Weaknesses of Contending Armies. BY PAUL MALLON. NGLAND is rejoicing over the good business of her coronation, while launching her tremendous armament program. Mussolini snubs mighty Britannia by withdrawing his London news agents and staging an empire day of his own in military fashion. Hitler lays low, but he and Mussolini secretly are pushing to end their joint Spanish War while the British are busy celebrating. This is 24 hours of news from Europe, full of kings, dictators, displays and guns. Military men may be inclined to overestimate the importance of their profession, but their practiced eyes measure the importance behind most of this news (and news that is likely to come from Europe) in terms of guns more than kings, dictators or displays. To them, international relationship has been based on gun power during the recent era, and is already changing on the basis of still more gun power. National wealth and commertial trade which formerly established the supremacy of nations are not primary influences now. The key to con- ditions, and the future, they say, may be found on the bitter prov- ing ground in Spain. * % ok X British Supremacy to Be Reasserted. Their hasty glance inside the situation runs like this: Britain is likely to reassert her supremacy in the European diplomatic world as soon as her tremendous rearmament program — gets well under way. (Mussolini will not snub her 12 months hence, they say.) The dictators got ahead of her in armaments during the last few years. The Ethiopian and Spanish affairs found her unable to assert herself aggressively. But grave technical weaknesses have lately also developed among the forces of the dictators in Spain, crippling their self-assurance to such a degree that they are unlikely to start anything serious. They will continue to bark, but cannot afford to bite. The most serious thing that has happened to them is the swiftly developed superiority of the Russian air force. General staffs in Berlin and Tokio are said to stand 1n awe of it at present, which may account for the lack of belligerent news from both capitals lately. What may come of it all in the end is not the most obvious thing, war, but the thing now considered least possible, disarmament. Thus the crazy cycle of events may yet end at the beginning. * ox ok % Deficiencies in Equipment Shown. The Spanish war really showed the experts as many deficiencies as advances in the art of war. It proved no effective new weapons of death have been developed since the World War, but tremendous strides have been made in improving the old ones. For instance, it has become evident in recent Spanish fighting that the French have developed an automatic rifle for infantrymen. The gun is believed to be somewhat on the pattern of a new rifle just introduced in the American Army. The recail has been reduced so that a soldier can shoot the eight bullets without changing his sight, or shifting the bolt to reload. Anti-aircraft weapons have been greatly developed. The Ger- mans had the most effective ones in Spain, but the real secret of their effectiveness scemed to be that they wre manned by erperienced Germans. It is estimated that about 80 per cent of all airplanes brought down by the rebels were shot down by anti-aircraft guns, The most effective Russian plane is a light bomber which carries four machine guns. x % x X Tank Development Even. The Italians and Russians seem to be about even in their develop- ment of tanks. The Italians have a light, fast model which will scoot over almost any type of ground. The Russians have a heavier one which carries guns large enough to pene- trate the Italian tanks. The Ger- mans have spent much time lately in improving their tank. They have a high-powered automatic gun which is, in fact, a super- machine gun. It will penetrate even the heavy Russian tank, which is immune to ordinary rifle and machine-gun fire. The artillery has developed no new weapons. The French .75 and the German .77 are thundering at each other in Spain as they did at Ver- dun. Recent fighting also shows the French have lost none of their skill in handling field artillery Developments in {actics are slight. trench still seems to be the best dejense. It is apparent’ from all this that the troops nowadays must be me- chanics, capable of operating improved automatic weapons of death. (Cepyrignt, 1 You HAVE € NOTHING - The zigzag barded-wire makes it an unfair labor practice for“ an employer, regard to hire or tenure of employ- ‘by discrimination in ment, or any term or condition of em- ployment, to encourage or discourage | membership in any labor organiza- | tion.” “The law does permit a closed shop agreement, but only where it is volun- | Can Set Up Monopoly. In other words, a group of men scting in concert with their employer set up a monopoly from which any | other workman is barred unless he sccepts the conditions laid down by | the closed-shop agreement. These agreements, of course, can ‘work both ways. An employer and his employes can sign an agrec.ent whereby all members of a national union are excluded from work or the | agreement can require that only union ten shall be emploved. In either event the employer runs the risk of being accused of encouraging or dis- eouraging membership in a labor | wnion. There is, of course, nothing in the #aw which compels an employer to gign an agreement with his employes &t he does not wish to do so. But once he signs a closed-shop agreement, no matter how broad is the exemption stipulated in the Wagner act, a citi- ®pen would have a right to ask the eourts to remove as a barrier to his securing employment the existence of & discriminatory agreement which | makes it a condition of his acceptance | of employment that he must join the wxisting labor organization. No lawsuit on this point has arisen as yet, but the Supreme Court, in the | famous Adair case in 1898, insisted that membership or non-membership in & labor union could not be by law made a condition of employment or non-employment. | Senator Wagner of New York, au- thor of the labor law, referred in letter to the New York Sun on No- | vember 2, 1935, to the point in ques- | tion: | Agreement Can’'t Be Forced. “The law does not require any em- ployer to sign any agreement of any kind. Congress has no power to im- pose such a requirement. An agree- ment presupposes mutual consent. The law merely requires that an employer bargain collectively with his workers, which means that he shall receive their representatives and engage in a fair discussion, in the hope that terms may be voluntarily agreed upon by both sides without recourse to strife. “The law does not under any cir- cumstances require any employer Lo‘ sign an agreement forcing any worker to join any union, whether it be a union representing the majority of his employes or not. “On_the contrary, it specifically LUGGAGE “Of the Better Grade” Trunks, Bags, Belts Wide Variety, Finest Quality. Men’s Wardrobe Cases. LUTZ & CO Established 1804 1325 G St. N.W. NA. 0244 Voluntary closed shop agreements have of the Union, including New York.” | veniently mean in the parlance of the | tary on the part of both the employer and the majority of his employes. long been in common use and upheld by the courts in many of the States ; y 14th and But at no time hitherto, it might be added, has an employer run the risk of prosecution for discussing a closed | shop agreement with his employes if he fails to complete such an agree- | ment. He is, however, immune from prosecution if he consummates a “vol- untary” closed shop agreement, whate ever that word “voluntary” may con- | labor world. (Copyright. 1937.) S g Paper 100 Years 0ld. Tywysydd y Plant, the children's paper of the Union of Welsh Inde- pendents in Wales, has completed 100 years of publication. 7.@ ESTABLISHED 1865 @ 7 Ventilator Doors At Barker Low Prices Apartment ond home owners should take advantage of pres- ent low prices to install these needed doors for keeping rooms and corridors comfortably cool in Summer. Barker ventilator doors are quality doors that last. Call the lumber-number for quick, free delivery! ' GEO.M. BARKER . ® COMPANY o LUMBER and MILLWOR 649-651 N. Y. Ave. N.W. 1523 7th St. N.W. NA. 1348, “The Lumber Number" N\ N\ N N\ A\ \\ AND MORE The Shoe 6f the Week For modern walk- ing comfort. Styled \ 1o the minute. W ES STAR, WASHINGTO D. C, THE 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. Roosevelt Awaited Country Wonders What President Will Do About Imminent Court Crisis. BY MARK SULLIVAN. N MONDAY morning of this week the important news- papers of the country carried dispatches from Washington speculating on what will happen when President Roosevelt gets back. That is the question of the week. Washing- ton buzzes with it. That Mr. Roosevelt will hold a con- ference with his party leaders in Con- gress is already o annownced. What 7. the leaders will tell him, every well - informed person can sur- mise. The lead- ers will begin with the Presi- dent’s court pro- posal. That is the 77 keystone to every- thing—if a situa- tion made up of confusion & n d suspense can be said to have a keystone. ‘The Democratic leaders will tell Mr. Roosevelt that a crisis is imminent. ‘They will remind him that the Senate Committee on.Judiciary is to take a position on the court proposal on Tues- day of next week. They will tell him that of the 18 members of the com- mittee, 10 are opposed to the measure in the form in which the President put it out; and that, therefore, the proposal will go before the Senate with the black eye of an adverse ma- Jority report. But, the leaders will say, a majority of the committee might support a compromise, preferably a compromise giving Mr. Roosevelt two new justices instead of the six he asked. (In prin- ciple and in the present circumstances, there is little difference between pack- ing the court with two and packing with six; but the harassed and anx- ious leaders will not dwell on that.) In the light of this condition the lead- ers will ask Mr. Roosevelt if he is will- ing to accept such a compromise. Mark Sullivan, Chances in Senate Uncertain. Then, probably, Mr. Roosevelt will ask the leaders a question, a conclu- sive question. He will ask them what are the chances of the measure (in its original form) in the Senate as 8 whole. This the leaders cannot answer with certainty. Perhaps they measure through the Senate by a very small majority, an infinitesimal ma- Jority. informed part of doubt about this.) Washington has to pay the price. Is he willing to see a wide, deep cleavage in the Demo- |of the Democratic Senators vote against the principal legislation on the President’s program? (And most sullen reluctance.) Is he willing to face the question of what he must do about such Senators in next year's congressional election? Is he willing SIDNEY WESTnc G Sts. e L SUITS for. NOW There's only one way of knowing how a suit of clothes fits and looks on you—that's to try it on and see for Yourself. In fact, that's exactly what we hope you will do with these new Westyles. They give you your money's will say that yes, he can force his| But the leaders | will ask Mr. Roosevelt if he is willing | them, according to local legend, sup- cratic party—to see at least a third | of the others vote for it only with | Lo decide now what he must decide later if he insists on his measure— decide whether he will declare the opposition Democratic Senators to be party outlaws, as National Chairman Farley has already said they must be? Finally, is he willing to face the possi- bility of defeat of his measure—for the leaders will tell him they cannot guarantee it will pass. ‘The spirit in which the Democratic leaders ask these questions will tell Mr. Roosevelt the answer they hope for. Indeed, it may not be a question of asking the President, it may be a case of telling him. Practically every leader wishes Mr. Roosevelt would accept some face-saving compromise, and wishes even more that he would drop the measure entirely—and wishes most of all that he had never pro- posed it. Conference to Be Official. The conference between Mr. Roose- velt and his party leaders in Congress will be, 50 to speak, official. But the official thing is rarely the whole story—if it were, history would be easier to write. There are others with whom Mr. Roosevelt will confer, or who will reach his ear in intimacy. There will be his secretaries, one of them his son, the others old and emo- tionally loyal associates. Secretaries give their main devotion to the man they serve, and usually are blind in it; rarely do secretaries take much account of abstractions of public pol- icy. Usually the attitude of a secre- tary, in business as well as politics, is, if the chief wants it, it must be good, and he ought to have it, and any opposition to him is odious sin. Besides the secretaries, there is Mrs. Roosevelt, whose ubiquitous peregrina- tions and multifarious occupations do not deprive her of access to the Presi- dent’s mind, and whose extraordinary energy of personality is the kind that usually gets what it goes after. She has enormous vitality. The President has great vitality, t00, but his is more fitful, more geyserlike. The greater volume of Mrs. Roosevelt's vitality and its more steady flow ordinarily prevails if she makes a point of anything. Also, within the inner intimacies of palace politics are what remains of the brain trust. The principal ones | | 8re two young men who, to sustain | their presence in Washington, have minor legal positions in some of the | alphabetical mazes, but who seem to | { spend much of their (Though much of the b(‘st-: time in the White House where, Washington gos- Sip says, they supply much of the President’s inspiration, and one of plies much of his entertainment, in the form of performance upon an accordion and a mouth organ. And there is yet another, said to be cur- rently in special favor, a pristine New Deal economist whose economic the- ories seem to be achieved by taking | every axiom since arithmet was | invented and putting it in reverse. | From somewhere within the con- TUESDAY, MAY 1 | whether to compromise on his court | told Mr. Roosevelt that certain D | ing to conspicuously walk out of the 1937 We, the People “They Thought of Everything on the Hindenburg but One Thi 2 BY JAY FRANKLIN. HE plantations of Malaya had been rifled of their rubber; the finest of ailk, the lightest of aluminum alloys, the most powerful and economical of engines, the most de}icate and precise of instruments, every provision had been made for the comfort and safety of those ahoard—and the Hindenburg sailed the skies in silver beauty, a portent of the daring and ingenuity of the human mind. They had thought of everything. Hydrogen, lightest of known gases, lifted her bulk above the solid earth. Helium, which cannot burn, was not available. The only known supply is in the United States and is a Government monopoly for reasons of national defense. Hydrogen is light, and when mixed with ordinary air becomes a violent explosive. So they took no dangerous chances and had their crew work in rubber-soled shoes and the men who moved among the great bladders of hydrogen woge asbestos-lined garments lest even the tiny sparks of static electricity which a man can generate as he shuffles along in cold air might ignite the gas as it seeped through tiny holes in the --fabric in its powerful struggle to rise. They had thought of every- thing. They apparently had won. Nation after nation had experimented with these great airships. Nation after nation had met with disaster. With us the Shenandoah, the Akron and the Roma had written the death line across lighter-than-air aviation. The British had seen their giant R-101 burst in flaming wreckage above the dark dank lands of Northern France. The French had seen their Dixmude vanish above the Mediter- ranean in a disaster which is still a mystery. Italy, too, had lost, but the Germans were masters of the art. They had thought of everything. . Voyage after voyage, the Hindenburg shuttled ocross the Atlantic, now to South America, agein to Lakehurst, N, J., carrying freight, passengers and mail. Her motors droning beneath the cold stars, her silver sides flashing through the clouds and mists, her commander at the controls— radio, navigation, weather reports, everything co-ordinated, all her men working like a single man under the discipline of one magical synthesis of applied intelligence and authority. They worked al] the better because they knew that the penalty for disobedience was disaster immediate and horrible, instant death. They had studied the air and old Count Zeppelin's mistakes were all behind them. They knew what they were doing and they sailed the skies like lords, the great swastika banners of the third Reich their insignia and their challenge. They had thought of everything. Something happened. Nobody knows what it was. Perhaps a . Taindrop charged with a particle of electricity from a waning thunderstorm. Perhaps the mantle of static which the friction of her silver skin had gathered about her as a cloak in her passage through the air, released by the ground-contact of the landing gear. Perhaps a tiny defect in one of the roaring motors as it slowed to a atop. Perhaps a sudden gust of wind, carrying the hydrogen-laden air from her valves downward for one fatal moment. For they had thought of everything except the thing that happencd. It happened so suddenly that those who witnessed it are still aghast. At one instant the Hindenburg was moving serenely toward the mooring mast. An instant later it was a flaming wreck, settling to earth in a roaring explosion which scorched the faces of those who saw and which blew men into eternity in an agony of thundering flames or to shed a few mireculously clear of the wreckage. For they had thought of everything « « . everything except—— ——the precise fortuitous combination of circumstances—which made 2 tangled heap of warped girders and charred bodies on that tragic landing field. There is warning there for all who care to draw the iesson, but there is grief beyond all that, grief that so fine a work of human skill should come to such horror and loss for those who trusted their lives to her com- mander They thought of everything, except the tiny spark which ruined all. (Copyright,*1937.) Roosevelt will get advice about panied by vehemence of manner. proposal or go through with it. of the advice will be emotional will probably be the same sort of | advice that urged Mr. Roosevelt to make the violent speech for his pro- | posal which he delivered at the “vic- | tory” Democratic dinner March 4 Before the victory dinner some defiant snapping of his fingers, | doubt. ocratic Senators opposing his court | hand “Go through with it proposal. who were named, were gO- chief; Toom &s soon as he began his speech. It was a preposterous yarn. Neverthe- less Mr. Roosevelt believed it; some the people up.” who tell them wild tales about ene- | harasse mies. So he practiced the strategy | time will tell own. The vehemence of words that | W8S &t the time of the v geries of intimates and influences, Mr. radio listeners heard was accom- | (Copyright, 1937.) | rieties of fisn. Th As Mr. Roosevelt held his manuscript his Most | hand shook; as he finished each page - It/ he turned the sheet with an angry abruptness that had the effect of a | ernment hatc Those who caused that mood in Mr. Roosevelt at the victory dinner will no in the present court matter, ~ie give him advice similarly provocative. em- | They will tell him to take the high be | rough with 'em; ride 'em down; make | another radio speech; you can stir Whether Mr. Roosevelt takes this chiefs are susceptible to associates | SOt Of advice, or that of his sad and | harassed party leaders in Congress, Possibly Mr. Roosevelt, of overwhelming anticipated trucu- | Tested by his vacation, may be less lence by a greater truculence of his | SUsceptible to bellicose advice than he tory dinner. An American You Should Know Fisheries Commissioner Bell Fond of His Duties. BY DELIA PYNCHON. HAVE ploughed the ground recklessly, cut the forests lavishly, caught fish heed- lessly. Pollution of streams by erosion, depletion by overfishing have resulted. Conservation measures on national fronts carry on all along the line. The Bureau of Fisheries, Depart- ment of Commerce, with & personnel of approximately six hundred, pre- serves for future use an important in- dustry, and recreation. Frank T. Bell is commissioner. He is & sportsman by inclination and consummation. In other words, he likes to fish, and does fish, when time permits. He prefers black bass to trout. Born in Missouri, Bell grew up in a family of 11 children, near Amarillo, Tex. Raised in the saddle, he grad: ated at the State College in Tecumseh in 1905. With his Southern drawl, obvious vitality, quiet force, he bears witness to Texas ranges, quiét streams, activity in many fields. In the State of Washington he took a hand at homesteading, banking, real estate, He was county treasurer for two term. coming to Washington in 1923 as sec- retary to Senator Dill of Washington, for 10 years. Remedial and protective measures in the bureau cover national water fronts, from little streams, recreation for 1 vearly, to coastal commercial employing more than 200,000, with food products in excess of $75,000,000 annually. Coming under e bureau's piscas 1 eve is a n; al census of 45 va« covers vital sta- tistics such as birth and death rates, behavior, feeding hal Sturgeon are now mon, halibut, s y the bureau | can pass on to fisheries fairly | rately what the production w for the coming year. § know about State lines,” 1 To prove this the fish are tagzed, rewards offered for their cap- 1l feels that States should r co-ordinate fist seasons, so that the “poor fish” may not swim off State, arr Jjust in time for Spring openings causes serious depletion Fish cult his ear in 87 Gove Ited in 8,000,- Fing purposes. A nning council, organized 000.000 fi. national s and Territories the bu= reau writes all fishing regulations. By trealy with England and Japan, the United States operates the Pribloff Islands, Alaska, where most of the seals of the world live. For operating expenses the Government takes 70 per ome from the semi- annual sale of 26,000 seal skins. The Alaska salmon indus a $40.000,00 18 supply, Bell feels, through conservation res now in force. ON HER HONEYMOON STRANGEEXCURSION on the Nile will bring tragedy to Linnet Ridgeway, heiress to a fortune. Her honeymoon will end in disaster. Who among her friends can possibly hate her this deeply? Hercule Poirot, wise in unraveling twisted minds and crimes of violence, is to follow trails that lead three. Begin this newest Agatha Christie mystery novel in the Post today... not to one murder, but to y A new Hercule Poirot mystery novel “DEATH ON THE NILE” b AGATHA CHRISTIE Sidney West, Inc. 14th & G Sts. most in quality, tailoring refinements and wearability. Sports backs, lounge and regular models in spirited patterns . . . You feel better and look better in West clothes, because they ARE better. Sidney West, c. 14%: G EUGENE C. GOTT, President IN THE SAME ISSUE “Flood,” a remarkableshortstory by Paul Gallico +..“Night Interne,” a romance of the hospital wards... A north woods ad- venture ... Another Indian tale by ‘WalterD.Edmonds... AnOctavusRoy Cohen story...and more stories of love and humor. SPECIAL FEATURES—Read an eyewitness account of the Macon crash...An intimate sketch of Emily Post...Security buying for small investors... Plus features, seri. al stories, editorials and 14 cartoons: Get the Post at yowr newsstand now!