Evening Star Newspaper, June 7, 1937, Page 11

THE EVE NING STAR, WASHIN C., MONDAY, —_— = 7 5o VAT AN 5. Oy MONDAY, Mail Delivery Not Held Up At Plant Department Ex plains Service in Strike Area Followed Practice. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. N AN effort to find out just what the difficulty is with respect to the delivery of United States mail to a plant in a strike area, inquiry ‘was made at the Post Office Depart- ment by this correspondent. It was explained first that nobody has any authority, neither a post- master nor any carrier, to withhold the delivery of mail to a regularly established point at which mail is customarily de livered. But the estab- lishment in the ; midst of a strike of some unusual or irregular: method of mail delivery or some unusual service is viewed as & pos- sible involvement of the Govern- ment in the merits of a strike controversy. The Post Office Department here states that where mail hitherto has been delivered to the offices of the Republic Steel Co. and not to the plants, it will continue so to do. Hence | any packages of food or anything else which are sent to the o es of the steel company will be ‘elivered there. But any packages of food or anything else addressed to a plant not hitherto on the mail route will not be delivered. This is regarded as abnormal or irregu- lar service. Virtually the same situation existed in Detroit during the Chrysler strike. The mail for the Chrysler company was delivered as usual to a particular address. The trucks owned by the Chrysler company called for the mail. These, therefore, were not in the view of pickets and strikers entitled to the same consideration as Government mail trucks since they were private mail vehicles from the moment they left the post office. Since it was suspected that these company trucks | were carrying food -nd supplies or perhaps strike-breakers, they were held up in Detroit. In one instance a Government truck we. detained by the strikers and the police arrested those who interfered, but later the #trikers were released on the ground that the trucks were mot actually| delivering mail at the time, but were returning from a route on which all the mail had been delivered. Usual Practice. David Lawrence. What’s Back of It All Secretaries Boast Backing of Representative-Em- ployers as Guild Grows Apace. BY H. R. BAUKHAGE. JOHN LEWIS may have lost that key to the White House he was once sald to hdve jangled on his chain, but it appears that he has a gimlet working on Congress. His legions are boring Jrom within. Last week it was taken as a joke when a couple ¢\ Representa- tives’ secretaries announced that they were forming s guild and had sp- plied for a C. I. O. charter, membership fee of 325 inclosed. It was scoffed off. But some of the scoffers might have shuddered if they had slipped into one of several very private gatherings in House Ofice Building offices in the last few days. The meeters were members of the rapidly growing guild, but that wasn’t the half of it. * % ¥ % They have drawn up a five-point program, also very private as yet, which begins and ends with a declaration of allegiance to the C. I. O.; which may raise the hackles of those members of Congress who heard with alarm recently charges by their colleague, Representative Hoffman of Michigan, that Mr. Lewis' organization was full of some of our most prominent Com- munists. What's more, the guilders (41 so far) are secretly boasting that they have their Representa- tive employers 100 per cent back of them, This, the borers-from-within feel, augurs so well for them that they are making ready for a drive that will rival the efforts of their Patron Saint John—geographically, at least. * k% X John E. Kennedy of Hamilton, Mont., secretary to Representative Jerry J. O'Connell, is chairman of the new group. Antony M. Stefano, secretary to Representative John T. Bernard of Minnesota, is vice chair- man. Robert Greenberg is the guild’s secretary. He is secretary to Representative Henry G. Tiegan of Minnesota, Farmer-Laborite, who EDITOR’S NOTE—This is the ninth of a series of articles exposing vicious rackets being practiced in the name of charity (in which the non-combatants are be- ing terrorized even as the combatants are. The Wagner labor relations act, ironically designed to mitigate the causes of industrial atrife, is getting us nowhere. The C. I. O. plainly inter- prets the act to mean the legalisation of any method whatsoever for en- forcing the recognition of its own membership, as sole collective bar- gaining agency, wherever they may try to organize. If that is the purpose of the act, the English language is singularly inexpressive. Breakdown of Law. ‘The capitulation of the post office to force is only another step in the breakdown of law. Strike's and their | allles have been sniping at airplanes, bent on carrying food to the workers in the factories. Some reporters de- scribe strikers carrying rifles, and all reporters agree that they are armed with base ball bats and homemade bludgeons, and that the areas around the plants are policed for blocks by strikers who close the streets to every on innocent victims in Washington. The way in which these crooks operate and the scemes and devices they employ are explained in these articles, which reveal in detail actual cases of chartty racketeering here. Post Office Department Capitulates to Labor Union Officials in Breakdown of Law. BY DOROTHY THOMPSON. T IS not inapropos to ask at this of the United States and who runs the Post Office Department? Be- cause in Niles, Ohio, the United States Post Office has a couple of censors. Mr. Payne. They . are representa- tives of the Steel ‘Workers' Organ- which is conduct- ing a strike against the vari- ous affiliates of Steel Corp. These gentlemen have told the Assistant Postmaster, Mr. according to his % own report, that they “won't al- low” packages of non-perishable food Dorothy Thompson, JUNE 1, years, 1916 to 1923. * * The organization began with se West and Midwest, and within the The progressive ‘“bosses” of the their proteges’ efforts. than the A. F. of L. * * Just to save the Secret Service have you?: 1. To advance the philosophy Industrial Organization. after four years' service. Note—In other words, increase sentatives from $5000 to $10,000 a * % In the case of the Republic Steel Co. the Post Office Department avers | that no special instructions were issued | to the local postmasters and that they | had been given instructions time and again not to establish new routes or unusual service for delivery without going through the regular routine at | the Post Office Department. | This still leaves the question of why | the assistant postmaster at Niles, Ohio, did not deliver a package of medicines for the Niles plant until | after he had consulted representa- tives of the strikers. If the Niles plant was not a point for the regular delivery of mail, then the assistant postmaster was right in withholding delivery, though it is not clear why he permitted the package to be ex- amined by outsiders, and later to be delivered, unless he acted in an emergency as best he could, trying on the one hand to avoid legal difficul- | ties and on the other hand to get | the package of medicines into the hands of the man who needed it. The broad question of protection for the United States mails is involved | only if a regularly established mail | route or service is in any way inter- | fered with. As yet there is no evi- | dence of this, but should it be pre- sented, then a case of negligence may arise with respect to those who fail to deliver mail and prosecutions for those who interfere with deliveries. | The position taken here is that the | Post Office Department does not wish | to be used as a means of breaking | 'smke or as a partisan in the con- toversy. It would be a partisan if it refused to deliver parcel post pack- ages on a regularly established mail youte, and when a clear case of this kind is brought to the attention of | the authorities here, prompt action may be expected to follow. To un- | dertake a food delivery service is looked upon as abnormal. Not Government's Business. ‘The precedent in which President Cleveland used troops to see that the mails were delivered referred to the attempts of strikers to prevent mail trains from passing through a strike area. No interference with mail cars as such has been reported, and it is held here that a mail truck owned by a private company is not in any sense in the same category as a Gov- ernment mail car. The attitude of postal officials here is that if the parcel post should un- dertake a food delivery service at a plant, where a strike occurs, then the local grocers and merchants would begin to send supplies in to the be- lepguered workers that way and the strikers would feel that the Govgrn- ment had taken sides. It is contended in the Post Office | Department that the local grocers and others who wish to deliver sup-} plies to the plants should get the protection of the local authorities, and if necessary of the Governor of Ohio, and that it is not the business of the Federal Government to supply protection for a local delivery service. It is especially pointed out that even when mail trucks arq stopped,' the postmaster must call on the same local authorities for protection and until this remedy is exhausted the Federal Government cannot step in. Briefly, the Post Office Department holds that any attempt to circumvent the pickets by aiding the company to deliver food to the men would cause violence and that this is to be avoided. This, however, appears to be a weak point in the situation of the postal officials for if they have reason to suspect interference with delivery or possible violence they would be justi- fied in putting armed guards on the truck even if they had to get Federal troops from a nearby Army barracks to help put the mails through. As this dispatch is written the postal officials say they have no re- port of any interference with regu- | inevitable, of the subject of vocational training. No attempt is being made to bore into the Senate. capable themselves when it comes to boring). ganization there, the Senate Secretaries’ Club, is, apparently, a lot tighter was general, secretary of the Non-Partisan League during its high tide * % Plans are being laid and are going forward to take in members from districts straight across the country, “including Maine.” cretaries of Representatives from the last few days has spread to take in Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, Washington and Montana, as well as North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. ese young liberals are “glorying” in (They are quite Anyhow, the cld-line or- * a little trouble, here is an authentic copy of the congressional guild's magna charta, bill of wrongs, or what and purposes of the Committee for 2. To obtain for Representatives’ secretaries, travel pay allowances to and from the home district once & year. 3. To 6btain a Civil Service status for Representatives’ secretaries 4. To obtain the passage of the Collins bill, providing an additional clerk in the office of each House member. the clerk hire allowance for Repre- year. (Same as Senators get now.) 5. To supply speakers for the C. 1. O. organization campaign. * % So far, there is no indication that Representative Hamilton Fish has given his blessing, and it can be authoritatively stated that the White House secretariat will not organize a chapter of the guild. How far a little scandal sends its beams, outshines, often, a good deed In this naughty world. But sometimes a good deed gets another chance. That's the story, or part of it, behind the announcement of two more members for the Presi- dent's Advisory Committee on Education and the “further study” There was another “study” made, the report of which will just be forgotten.L It dealt with an investigation of alleged misuse of alleged misuse of vocational training funds in Mississippi, diver- sion of these public moneys into private enterprise. But vocational training has lived down this minor blot on its escutcheon. The current budget f or its activitiea was rather modest when it came before the House committee. That group increased it by seven millions right there, and when it got to the floor it went up to more than fourteen millions. And tl bread and butter. he measure wasn't pork either, it was Vocational training has turned 90 per cent of its trainers into solvent job holders, besides giving & lot of starving teachers bread. (Copyright, 1937, by the North American Newspaper Alliance. Inc.) They constitute interferences with in- terstate commerce, but here again the facts are important, for if the cars are within a private area inside plant grounds and have come to rest, it may well be that the offense comes under State law as being a trespass on pri- vate property. In order to understand the view- point of the administration on the whole strike situation it is necessary to realize that the Roosevelt regime regards labor warfare as logical, as and hence an attitude of detached neutrality prevails. Should companies take the law into their own hands they would, of course, be subject to risks of prosecution by local authorities. Briefly, the point of view in the administration is that law and order is a local matter. This is a bit inconsistent with the unceasing attempts of the administration to cover the activities or production into interstate commerce, but then one inconsistency more or less never | troubles the conscience of the Roose- | veli administration. |COUNTRY GIRLS BEST WIVES, CHURCH TOLD By the Associated Press. OKLAHOMA CITY, June 7.—Buxom country girls are “A-1 insurance” against divorce, Dr. W. A. McKeever, psychologist, told the 1overs’ church. “Certain types of marriage will be rated as safe risks,” he said. “For example, the man who has the good judgment to cast wbout among available farm women and will single out one who is trained in all kipds of work will get an A-1 insurance risk. “The unmarried city man, who can speak at least s smattering of the farm language, should motor into the country regularly for a few Sundays with an eye to spying ocut a buxom country girl for a wife.” . One of many enchent- ing creations in our Summer dance Frocks. Enormous corded sleeves, full corded skirt and grosgrain /bow and belt, trimmed. Slip to match. Open a charge account, Others up to $16.95. Air_Conditioned Foshion Center Second Floor Two New Postal Censors moment: Who is the Government, Their names are Mr. Galloway and izing Committee, the Republic Bert Flaherty, or clothing or of newspapers to be accepted for delivery to men who are still working in the Republic plant, and so Mr. Flaherty ‘regrets.” Now let's get this clear. This col- umn believes in trade unions. This column believes that the industrial union is, by and large, the best form of organization for mass production industries. the closed shop is advantageous. It believes in all these things, subject to genuinely democratic control the union, and their willingness to accept responsibility to collaborate in efficient production and protect the public. But more than in these things, this column believes in law and in government by law. ‘The post office is not the property | of the C. I. O. or of any other trade union. And it is fantastic and unique that a private organization can de- | cide what shall or shall not be sent through the United States mail, and can actually send representatives to open packages and give postmasters orders. The action is revolutionary. Farley Paved Way. The way to it was paved by Mr. | Farley. Some days ago he announced that he would forward only “normal” parcel post packages to workers in the factories which are being struck. The | ground for that remarkable decision was that the Post Office Department does not want to take sides! It was an amazing statement. We had not known, until that moment, that it was the business of the Post Office Department to intervene in any way | There are laws pro- | certain | in labor disputes hibiting the shipment of classes of goods — perishable food stuffs, for instance, and obscene liter- | ature—through the United States mails. But it iS news that any law covers the prohibition of newspapers, which are otherwise admitted to the mails, to specific destinations. And it is news, news uniqye in our history, that trade union officials may open mail and censor it. It is the worst news that the American people have heard for a lony time. Quickly, very quickly, the people of the United States must decide what course they wish to have pursued in the settlement of labor disputes. Be- cause the course that is being taken amounts already to minor civil war, RELAX AN AIR-COOLED COMFORT WHILE HAHN REVIVES YOUR SUM An air-cooled clublike environment for you to relax in a few minutes while our expert repairmen give your shoes a fac- tory-type reconditioning. We work won- ders in cleaning white shoes—or any or repairs they require. It's a pleasant “’breathing spell”” on a hot day, and you have your shoes back, new in appearance, but with all their old shoe comfort, wl_:il. you “catch up on your reading.” Try it tomorrow! This column believes that | in | it believes | pedestrian, whether concned in the dispute or not. All this is patently against the law. No organization, except the forces of government itself, has the right to close off streets. No American citizen has the right to threaten another American citizen with any weapon, | whether it be firearms or a brick-bat. And in the long run, no free people will endure such invasion of civil liberties and basic rights. Kither the law must be clear and function justly, or we shall see in this country the horrible growth of vigilantism. ™ Already, we have had in the course of this strike, one riot with several | fatalities, which occurred when po- lice fired upon picketers. The police are altogether too qujck with their guns. We saw plenty of evidence of | that in prohibition days, and it has | been traditional in labor disputes. | Civilized democracies do not arm| the ordinary police with more than | nightsticks. But civilized communi- | ties also do not permit private citi- | zens to arm themselves, either with | rifles, bombs or base ball bats. In- dustrial plants here have their own| | arsenals, guards, armed private po-\' lice. Now we are beginning to see | unions adopt the same tacticts. The | end of it is chaos. If the police cannot shoot, they must have unques- tioned moral authority, and that de- pends upon general respect for law, | and its prompt invocation. We shall | never be able to disarm the police | until the moment when a man who spits in the face of a policeman goes to jail for it. But that means judges who are mnot dependent upon the votes of organized labor or organized capital. | Al this vitally concerns the little man, whatever his occupation may | be. For wherever law is suspended, | he, eventually, is the victim, | (Copyright, 1937.) { | SUGAR EXPORTS JUMP. NEW YORK, June 7 (#.—United States refined sugar exports for the | first four months of 1937 totale” 23.- 046 long tons compared with 14,852 tons in the same period of 1936, an increase of about 55 per cent, Lam- born & Co announced today. HAHN [4-POINT Shoe Bpas: D ENJOY— MER SHOES 1937. This Changing World Italians Would Play Chief Role in Intervention in Spain, Observer Holds. BY CONSTANTINE BROWN. IELD MARSHAL VON BLOMBERG hes terminated his visit in Rome with a love feast with Mussclini and his advisers. He and his Italian colleagues have “explored” the international situation and have discussed apparently the possibilities of an open intervention in 8pain, It is unlikely that in such an eventuality the Germans would send any more men in the Mediterranean. Another small contingent might be sent to show Germany's desire to co-operate. But the real expedi- tionary corps—if Mussolini decides on an armed intervention—will be composed of Italians. * * X ¥ ‘The reason for this is that the Germans, with an eye on Russia and on the possibility of an inter- vention in Czechoslovakia, cannot spare any soldiers, airplanes and tanks. ‘The Italians, on the other hand, are expected to keep the other powers in check—mainly France, on land. There are over 1,000,000 armed Italians today. This is more than ample for a demonstration on the French or any other border; to take 100,000 men, say, and send them to Spain would not Weaken the strategic value of the Italian Army. * % % x Furthermore, the covering troops on the Yugoslap border have been reduced to a normal force. Mussolini is no longer worried abo® Yugoslavia. That country has decided to keep out of trouble. It was noticed that when King Victor Emmanuel of Italy visited Budapest there were three diplomats to meet him at the station, besides the Hungarian officials. These diplomats were the Italian AmbasSador, the German Ambassador and the Yugoslav Minister, * ¥ X Now the German-Italian diplomacy is Concentrating on Rumania, where the Titulescu government and King Carol are hesitant about Jjoin- ing the Rome-Berlin axis. ‘The fate of the Titulescu government hangs in balance. It may be replaced almost any day by a government with pro “axis” tendencies. It is for this reason that the French Minister in Bucharest is showing a good deal of energy and is talking to the Rumanian King and his cabinet ministers like & Dutch uncle. The French do not want to lose their last stronghold in Southeastern Europe, - x o % Those who maintain that the British are not emotional are mistaken The gigantic naval parade held in honor of King George was to be broadeast by the B. B. C. Nothing came through except the following sentence: “The fleet is assembled here. The fireworks are superb, The fireworks are mar- velous” and this was said in broken sentences. The announcer was Comdr. Woodrooke, who was s0 moved by the grandoise spectacle that he began to cry like a child and could not thing else except that the fireworks were marvelous. Finally he broke down and nothing more was heard over the radio. * K * K Another famous sentence, like the one attributed to Gen. Pershing— the famous: “Lafayette, we are here”—has been punctured. It ap- pears, according to Charles Lind- bergh himself, that he has never said upon his arrival at the Le Bourget Airdrome: “I am Lindbergh,” or “Vive la France." All he said was “For God's sake take care of my airplane and don't let these people (the souvenir hunters) destroy it.” * ok % ¥ Col. Von Papen, Hitler's envoy to Austria, is due to retire to his estate in Germany. He was successful in bringing Austria into the German sphere, but he has outlived his usefulness. He is not a sufficiently strong man. The mew German representative has been selected by the Fuehrer himself. He is Herr Hermann Kricbel, an old guard Nazi who went to jail with Hitler after their first unsuccessful putsch in Munich 1 1923. Herr Kriebel was until recently German consul general at Shanghai. Hitler sent him there in order to get him to learn from the Chinese a few diplomatic tricks. As former commander of the Nazi formations, he is familiar with the organization of such units. The Austrians are afraid that he will put his knowledge into practice should Chancellor Schuschnigg still try to play a double game and prevent the union of Austria to the Reich. Whether such & union takes the form of an official “Anschluss” or is achieved by the introduction of a large number of real Nazis in the Austrian cabinet is a matter of indifference. as far as Berlin is concerned. But it is necessary that there should be no more flirtations ith France or Britain or any other nations. Headline Folk and What They Do Marshal von Blomberg Supreme in Rule of Army. BY LEMUEL F. PARTON. EW YORK, June 7.—Musso- lini's ace artillerymen put Italy's biggest guns through their paces for Marshal Wer- ner von Blomber. With so many chips on so many deflant shoulders along the Spanish front, the thunderous show is suspiciously warlike, but the German war minister sticks to his old, old story. Peace is his heart's desire, Be- fore the League of Nations can . say “Jack Rob- inson.” he may Jift Dark Father Divine's pass- words and drill his Reichswehr to the rhythm of B “Peace Brother! It's Wonderful.” ‘The best Von Blomberg could get out of the World War was a ma- Jority on the general staff, but now, crowding 60, he is tops in Hitler's mil- itary heirarchy. Now and then a cor- respondent pops up with the assertion that he tops even Hitler. Biggest man in Germany, some call him, and in proof submit the indubitable fact that when Hitler tried to Nazify that mag- nificent little army of 100,000 that the Versailles treaty permitted the Reich, Von Blombers. | Von Blomberg said “No!" and made it stick. They add that Hitler could no more | hang on without him than without | Dr. Schacht. The banker incredibly finds money to finance Hitler's shen- | nanigans. The soldier tunes up Der { brother! | Not. so long ago. the sits and bosses the show. Fuehrer's military machine, for peace, It's all a little more than It's mighty wearing, too. the marshal was a ruddy, healthy blooming fellow. But his latest pictures show his face full of harassed wrinkles, and his slit of a mouth has an aged, ironic twist, even as he gets ready to repeat his insistent, “peace.” wonderful. Indalecio Prieto would like some peace, too; but around Madrid vendors of that commodity shy away before barking machine guns, so he substi- tutes a bargain sale on terror. He will, he says, bomb every peaceful insurgent center if the insurgents don’t quit bombing Madrid. Indalecio Prieto is, probably, the most warlike tobacco importer in the world, and the richest revolutionary. He started with hardly a button on his Sunday pants. He pushed up so fast, however, that Horatio Alger's sen- timental heart would have been warmed. ‘Then came the revolution, and there was Prieto reaching ahead of all th: rest. Big, fat, bland, he looks more like a headwaiter in a bierhaus, but he is called the strong man of the Madrid regime. In a sand-bagged nook of his too-often bombed capital He is defense minist as you like them, YAILORED BY GOODALL \\&giggr_n_ Beach )y, = e s eai oy FROM THE GENUINE CLOTH Suits for Men The superiority of the PALM BEACH SUIT needs no elaboration . . . they’re ‘tops.’ And the new 1937 FANCY AND DARK SHADES, plus the same careful GROSNER SERVICE that distinguishes our usual fine suit business gives you a value that is hard to beat at the standard price. 167 GROSNER - HAHN WHILE-YOU-WAIT SERVICE 14th & G—Phone Dist. 5470 Or Leave at Any Hahn Store larly established mail routes or serv- ices to any plant in the steel area and that prompt action will follow if any interference does occur. Attempts of strikers to interfere with the passage to and fro of rail- road cars delivering freight to or car- rying freight from an industrial plant are plainly a violation of Federal law. EISEMAN’S F STREET AT SEVENTH of 1325 ¥ Street ASK ABOUT OUR 10 PAY CHARGE PLAN