Evening Star Newspaper, October 29, 1937, Page 11

Labor Row Held Test of Leaders Peace Formula Could Be Found in 24 Hours, Observer Says. By DAVID LAWRENCE. HE negotiations between the Committee for Industrial Or- ganization and the American Federation of Labor are fur- nishing the acid test of labor states- manship in America. The obstacles to agreement are many but the chances of a final com- promise cannot be measured by the size of the bar- riers that must be surmounted. Just now as there is a week’s lulll between the scheduled confer- ences, a distinc- tion has to be: drawn between & what the rank and file of the labor leaders are saying and what the public state- ments issued to the press necessarily must proclaim. The practical problem is how !o bring about a merger which results in the minimum amount of friction down the line. When corporations of equal prestige o assets get together, the task is always to. find how to satisfy the top executives as well as the lesser ones. The C. I. O. local union executives are leath to give up their jobs to A. F. or 1, men and vice versa. To a remark- sble degree a labor union and a po- David Lawrence. NG STAR, - What’s Back of It All Elliott Roosevelt Reported Seeking Congress Seat If Fritz Garland Lanham Is Given Another Position. By H. R. BAUKHAGE. I OOSEVELT for Congress!” That's the reverberating whisper that is soon to shiver the walls of congressional corridors. Not F. D. R., or James, credited with ambitions nimself, but Elliott, now a stalwart Texau. It's just a whisper, of course, but it is loud énough to echo all the way from the Lone Star State, perhaps relayed by surprised and sometimes somewhat dismayed members of the delegation that boasts such a firm grip on the legislative branch of Government. Surprise is the word to describe the reception of the report in certain Southern quarters. Perhaps mot s0 much surprise in others. The_ way the tale runs today is this: Some time ago Floor Leader Sam Rayburn, wheelhorse of the ad- ministration, recommended his colleague, Fritz Garland Lanham, one of the best-loved Representatives (on either side of the aisle), for membership on the Federal Communications Commission. Earlier, the Texas delegation went on record in favor of Lanham for the presidency of the University of Texas, no small honor. There is no connection between the two acts. But there is hardly anything within reason that his colleagues wouldn't hand to the popular “Pritz” if 2 EDE AT Caren they could do it. 3 5 But now, whether the cart 20 went before the horse or other- RA wise in either suggestion, the talk is that Elliott Roosevelt would, if it were empty, run for Pritz Lanham’s seat in Congress. Fritz Lanham, worthy Fort Worthian, isn't what you would call a rubber-stamp. In fact, he . is almost as independent as the well-known hog on ice. His modesty is reflected in a four-line biography in the Congressional Directory which would have taken up several pages if some of his friends had written it. x k % ¥ Behind the shadow of those cotton bales soon to pile up in the South there may be a battle that will sound like Jackson at New Orleans. Whether it will be a one-man defense, with the heroic figure of Col. Lawrence Westbrook trying to hold the fort against crop control, or an organized garrison, remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the doughty colonel, who has become an interesting if somewhat mysterious figure on the Washington scene, is consider- ably -shocked by the attack made upon him by Oscar Johnston, adviser to Secretary Wallace. Mr. Johnston called Mr. Westbrook’s “Committee for Cotton” an organization of the “big interests” and declared Westbrook was disloyal to the New Deal. Westbrook has replied nothing so far, but he is soon to be heard litical party are identical. The vested interest or bureaucuracy idea prevails | in both. Men who have hl(hl‘rbo} worked at their union jobs and who now are relieved from daily duty and | can sit in offices and avoid manual | Jabor are not eager to go back to physi cal toil if they can spare themselves that ordeal. Yet if there is to be a merger of unions, something has to be done| about all the officers of the various unions who are on a salaried basis and | something must be done for those who keep their regular jobs but who in ad- | dition enjoy the prominence of labor union office. from. It is said he may be invited to address the grange, and if so, he would take that occasion to come out with rousing support for the Presi- dent and the New Deal, but beg to differ on the subject of crop restriction. He is still an adviser to Harry Hopkins (without pay) and represents at present the Association of Southern States Commissioners of Agriculture, Ij the “Committee jor Cotton,” nmow dormant, awakes to its might, it will launch a campaign to persuade the country that the economic future of the South lies in unrestricted production, sale of cotton in the world markets and subsidy for the producer to make up the differential. At least, such will be the program if Col. Westbrook has his way. Meanwhile, some of Mr. Westbrook's friends, among them Will Clayton, world's largest cotton merchant, have been talking with Secretary Wallace and think (wishfully, perhaps) that Secretary Wallace will lean a little pressed in his Memphis speech, advocating search for world mark- ets, and a little further away from Professional Organizers. Then there are the professional | organizers who do not want to lose | their opportunities for mnney-makmg.} They thrive on conflict between unions | because their membership drives then | become more important than if the | question of affiliation is no longer an | fssue. * i So far as top lcadership is con- cerned, the question has to be settled s to whether William Green or John Lewis is to be the head of the Nation’s merged labor organizations. It is not & question of personalities either, for Mr. Green has a deep devotion to the fundamental principle of the craft union organization, whilst 2 Lewis feels that better progress can be made for the cause of the worker if indus- trial or vertical unions are the order of the day. Again and again in the past when the debate on the various types of union organization has been carned‘ on among labor leaders, it has been psserted that there were ways of recon- ciling the two ideas under the same ingle jurisdiction and the records are full of proposals of one kind or an- other looking toward that end. It is not too much to say that if the men who control the A. F. of L. and the C. I. O. respectively, really want to get together they can find a satisfac- tory formula within 24 hours. Why the Delay? ‘Why then is there delay and charges end counter-charges of “stalling?” It s because the politics of the peace ne- gotiations has not yet settled down or erystallized. There are some observers who think the whole peace negotiation is a sort of strategy. One theory is that the A. F. of L. was getting ready for a real drive on the C. I. O. and was prepar- ing to unloose its friends in Congress for a real investigation by a Senate committee as to how the C. I O. has gpent its funds. The C. L. O,, it might be inferred, felt that the way to check- mate such a drive was to insist on peace negotiations so that the public might have a better understanding of the issues. The C. I. O. stood to gain by the publicity and possibly by avert- ing the strong attack by the A. F. of L. at a time when membership drives mre going full steam ahead. As for the A. F. of L, it has been in the position of holding the door open for the C. I. O. to come in and it could not very well decline to ne- gotiate. If there is no better desire for peace than to make a record before the public of anxiety for peace, then a few statements of policy exchanged will cover the issue and the fight will go on. But another force—stronger than éither C. 1. O. or A. F. of L. or both— drastic control. “Miraculous Escape From In- fernal Tungchow” is the title of a yellow-bound pamphlet “printed in Japan,” which is being circulated in Washington. It is notable no less for the blood-curdling quality i of the adventures of the Japanese war correspondents than for its inimitable style. The first paragraph of the foreword reads: “Since the outbreak of the Lukouchiao incident in the midnight of July 7, the imperial army made up its mind to launch punitive operations against the Chinese forces ever so outrageously challeng- ing.” The account is then taken up in the words of the Japanese corre- spondents. One describes the attack which took place while he was in a Japanese hotel in Tungchow: “‘Bang! Bang, bang!" the rifle report became louder and louder. ‘What, on earth, can be matter?’ he asked to himself. In the next instant, quick as thought, the writer was up out of bed and right on the phone, but all in vain. The wire seemed already cut off * * *.” (Copyright, 1937, by the North American New. AR MIDOLD further toward the ideas he ex- AHUNTING GO* Q% "% 4 aper Alliance. Inc.) is operative in the situation. That force is represented by the President | of the United States, who appoints the National Labor Relations Board, which in turn can exercise through the Wagner Act discretionary power to decide in each case whether the bargaining unit shall be a craft union or an industrial union. Mr. Roosevelt alone stands between drastic amend- ment of the Wagner Act and main- tenance of the present act in continu- ous operation for a while. So far as the general public is con- cerned, the demand is for an end to jurisdictional disputes that cause in- terruption to work, disputes in which the struggle is not between employer and employe, but between workers and workers, Many millions of dol- lars have been lost in the economic battle on this front and until the fric- tion is ended there will be no genuine progress toward the establishment of a progressive and well-poised labor movement in America, so essential to economic evolution. (Copyright, 1937.) LOVERS’ QUARREL FATAL Youth, Said to Have Shot Him- self, Succumbs. WELCH, W. Va, Oct. 20 (#).—A lovers’ quarrel ended in death yester- day for Ralph Barrett, 26. ‘The youth died in a hospital from bullet wounds which Corp. Walter Hampton of the State police said were self-inflicted, after he shot Elizabeth Hawthorne, 23. Miss Hawthorne's condition was reported as “good.” Barrett, who had insisted he did not fire the shots, faced a malicious wound- ing charge if he recovered. 'HE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s e; orth!o atz;lc all sides of questions of interest to its readers, al themsel such opinions may be contradict: ves and directly opposed 5 among to The Star’s. ek ‘What Price Planning? Stock Crash Stresses Need of Critical Analysis of Ideas. . By DOROTHY THOMPSON. HE governors of the Federal Reserve System have reduced margin requirements on stock purchases, and, for the first time, fixed a margin requirement on short sales in an effort to check the deflationary trend. Now that the planners of the New Deal have begun to demonstrate the same hindsight as the non-planners of the new era, we might all sit down together, grin- = ning sheepishly, § and admit that i we are brighter after the event than before. Which leads to the question What price pla ning, and how far can it go? Obviously, it would seem, it can’'t go any farther than there are brains to distribute. You can't take any more wisdom into the counsels than exists. You can, however, very ef- fectively shut out of the counsels part of what little there are. That's what we've been doing. The middle classes have probably taken the biggest loss in their history. The big boys got out early, for cash. The small investors stayed in, because they couldn't afford to liquidate. They went in because there is nowhere that they can get a creditable return on their savings, and because they were afraid of inflation. Became Savings Bank. The stock market savings bank, and now it has had a run on it, to the tune of a thirty- billion-dollar loss—more if you count in the junior railroad bonds that have gone down 50 per cent, involving in- dustrial investments of banks. ‘The Government was protecting us against the panic of 1929, just as Dorethy Thompson. our anti-war legislators are protecting | up against a recurrence of the World War of 1914. The New Deal was hedging against the new era. But the new era is dead, the World War is over, we are wise in terms of the past, and ignorant in terms of the future. To admit it is the beginning of wisdom. Because if we admit it we will move a little more cautiously, be less arro- gant, return to humility and resume critical thinking. Above all, abandon the argument ad hominem, which has become the curse of American intel- lectual life. We have been suppressing thought and looking for scapegoats. We ask of people not how much they know, but how much they own. Whether they ought to own it is one question. Whether in the course of acquiring it they may have learned something is another. We put both things together, and like the Nazis ask of a man being selected for office whether he holds “the right ideas.” “Look! the new LASALLE is here!” “As easy to buy The heating season is here , , . guard against zero temperatures with a bin-full of Woodson's CERTIFICATE ANTHRACITE COAL ., ., rec- ognized as Washington's outstanding fuel. Cer- tificate anthracite is stored in our modern yards; it is thoroughly cleaned over most modern electric Check These Low Prices EGG __$1250 STOVE $12.50 as to want, this year!” became their | This Government has a positive mania for amateurs. If you have ever been in business, it seems to argue, business has corrupted you. Therefore, let us put in control of business any- body except a business man. Let us put laymen into the Supreme Court and lawyers into the 8. E. C. Let us send Columbia students to direct Southern farmers and farmers to direct the Treasury. If a man knows nothing about what he is doing, he won't corrupt it. Stop a minute! Bright new idea! Maybe he’ll ruin it. (Heresy! Anti-liberalism.) Look what England’s done, they say. Yes. Look at it. With an incompa- rable tradition of responsible govern- ment, a trained and incorruptible civil service, and a natural bent to move cautiously. With all its social ameliorations, the British government has never passed a surplus profits tax or a capital gains tax, and even the Socialists have listened to some capi- talists on the subject, on the theory that as long as you live under capi- talism and are not prepared to abolish it and substitute something else, but expect it to furnish the funds to pay the bills, you had better let it function. No Supermen, at That. And the British aren’t supermen, either. They got into a fine jam with ‘Walter Elliott's planned economy for agriculture. When they did, they didn't look around for a villain. They changed the program. They have a weakness for the Royal Commission. They try to pick good, disinterested brains, and put them to work on a knotty problem, with plenty of time. Then they consider the re- sults—oper.-mindedly. Look at the Swedes, people say. They do a lot of planning. But you can park your bicycle on the roadside in Sweden—where bicycles are the people’s automobiles, and come back in a week and it will still be there. They say that in some provinces a man accused of murder is asked to swear on the Bible and say whether he did it o. not. If he says he didn't, he goes free. Maybe this is just a parable, but it reflects something. When Krueger went broke the whole world was appalled. Not because he | was & crook, but because he was a crook and a Swede. In such a country you can do some things you can’'t do in this one. Light From Pericles Oration. In the Pericles funeral oration are these words: “We do not look on discussion as a hindrance to action; the real im- pediment to action is the want of that knowledge which discussion should give beforehand. We have a peculiar power of thinking before we act and then of acting, although other men are courageous from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection.” We don't even discuss between agencies concerned with the same materials and objectives. (Now we shall—through the medium of Jimmie Roosevelt, “my little son,” aged 29.) | efforts to balance the budget. | Federal Reserve decides to raise re- WASHINGTON; D. C., FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29 1937 This Changing World |[Headline Folk Influential British Interested in Their Investments Have Something to Say About Foreign Policy. By CONSTANTINE BROWN, NTHONY EDEN is a first-class chauffeur, but he has & crowd of nervous wrecks as beck-seat drivers. It is these wrecks who hamper ~ his movements and make his driving of the Empire vehicle so un- certain and unsafe, This is Lloyd George's opinion of the British foreign secretary. But it is not the nervous back-seat drivers like Lord Cecil who worry the youthful diplomat. There are others, interested chiefly in their investments, who have a powerful influence on the British govern- ment. It is the city magnates, the exporters of steel, ofl, iron and ammunitions who do not want to lose a profitable business. * kK ¥ Prémier Neville Chamberlain who made a reputation for himself as's skillful Chancellor of the Exchequer is in full sympathy with the sentiments of the British financial and indus- trial potentates. He received cordially enough President Roosevelt’s speech of October 5. He could not have adopted a different attitude. But outside of talking about the “clarion” he contributed nothing to ease the international situation. Not a word of warning to the Japancse and Mussolini passed his lips. Not a word suggested any departure from the majestic posture of immobility in which His Majesty’s government lies frozen. The British government is proud because it can take such heavy punishment as the Japenese and the Italians have inflicted upon it. * K K % Unless there is some other governmental crisis, the Brussels conference will meet on November 3. Everybody knows that its main proposition—arbi- tration and armistice—will not be accepted by the Japanese. Everybody knows now, too, that the British government will not agree to an embargo against the Tokio government, much as other nations might desire it. The idea of a concerted action to refuse to sell Japan oil and other raw materials necessary for the prosecution of the waer in China has been suggested several times in the last few months. The Dutch were quite willing to join in such an unofficial embargo. But they, quite rightly, are not prepared either to take the initiative or to go alone on the limb. And the indications the Netherlands government received from London were distinctly discouraging. In 1931 Mr. Stimson, a great admirer of the British, decided to start the ball rolling from Wash- ington. He was sure that the British would follow him. Sir John Simon, the then foreign secretary of Great Britain, let Stimson down badly. The Dutch do not want to be let down by Anthony Eden. They would be risking & good deal more than we did five years ago. After all, the Tokio government has twice indicated that Java and Sumatra are con- sidered as important assets to the Japanese Empire and sooner or later the Dutch will have to part with those pearls of the Nassau-Orange dynasty. And Queen Wilhelmina does not want to deprive her crown of those Jjewels yet. * Kk K It is unlikely that after the Brussels conference “adjourns’—no con- ference ever fails as far as the diplomats are concerned—the British gov- ernment will remain as quiet as it has been in the last few years. Great Britain has learned the dif- ficult art of yielding and intends to stick to it. ‘The powers which will gather at Brussels are wondering what Russia will do, if it accepts the in- vitation to send delegates to that futile parley. Stalin is not a talker, but he is sometime a thinker and always a man of action. There is no question that the Far Eastern army under Field Marshal Bluecher's command has been rapidly strengthened. More ‘men have been sent from the European section of the Soviet Union and factories which are working day and might to produce war material, have dispatched a good deal of their finished product to Siberia. Stalin has not shown his hand yet. He has many aces up his sleeve. ‘Whether he will play them at Brussels—if he sends delegates there—or later after the Western democracies say: “We can't do anything because we are too proud to fight,” remains to be seen. The Treasury decides to make heroic The At least, now each blames the other. And both the 8. E. C. (Copyright, 1937.) serve requirements and squeeze out into the public a billion and a quarter and What They Do Miss Rose Livingstone, Vice War Veteran, Is Honored. By LEMUEL F. PARTON. IS8 ROSE LIVINGSTONE, stabbed, blackjacked, tossed out of two-story windows, ribs and leg broken, half- blinded, beaten 22 times in her 34 years' war against vice in New York, gets a silver cup. The donor is Mrs, J. Bergeant Cram, and the cup is one of eight, presented to various persons for “peace heroism.” Miss Livingstone received a similar award in 1929, when the National Institute of Social Sei- ences gave her a medal at a ceremony at which John D. Rockefeller, jr., also was honored. She lives alone in an East Side tenement room, sleeps in the daytime and stalks the city’s slums and stews at night, saving girls. She has snatched hundreds of them from the vice lords, sent to the hospital mai times in these encounters. She lives on $50 a month, supplied by the “Rose Livingstone Prudential Committes.” These funds failed several years ago and she had no support, but now her committee is solvent again and once more the “angel of Chinatown” as- sails the hosts of darkness, fighting for souls. When she was stabbed three years ago by a white-slaver, the knife entered ber lung. The wound troubles her. Her sight was impaired by a blackjack blow, but she says “I will go on until God calls me.” “I get up late in the afternoon,” she says, “Eat something out of & tin can and go out for the night's work.” It is lonely work, from dark to dawn, usually in the Brooklyn Navy Yard district. Sometimes she wears a disguise; sometimes she “joins” a gang, to get evidence. She is a little woman, about b feet tall, with graying bobbed hair. She came to New York from her native town of Hamilton, Ontario, in 1903. She was horrified by her first sight of city slums and then and there began her vice war. She turned in her life for a silver cup and a medal, and, possibly more important to her, the gratitude of innumerable girls she has dragged from the pit, She says she isn't very religious. She is disillusioned about social up- lift and social panaceas. She says she would like to endow & “reformatory in which to reform reformers.” (Copyrizht. 1037.) Flies Pursue Party. Swarms of flies recently attacked four Europeans near Tulbagh, South Africa, and caused them to flee in an automobile. One woman was 0 severely stung about the legs that blood flowed freely, and the others were covered with stings. The flies are known as “blinde vliee,” or blind stingers. The party had parked their car and were picking flowers when thousands of the insects appeared. The men and women fled, but were of bonds. All deflationary measures, | pursued and stung fiercely at every and, apparently, too much at once. |step. 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