The Key West Citizen Newspaper, November 10, 1952, Page 7

Self-Educated Labor Leader Phillip Murray By The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO » — Phillip Murray, who rose from an immi- grant Scots mine boy to become head of the CIO and one of the world’s most powerful and respec- ted labor leaders, died yesterday of a heart attack. At 66 a veteran of half a cen tury’s work in labor’s cause, he was stricken ix. his sleep at San Francisco’s fashionable Mark Hop- kims Hotel. His wife Elizabeth awoke to find him sprawled on the floor beside his bed. Twenty minutes later a physician pro- Bounced: him dead. A priest administered the last Rites cf the Catholic church. Although Murray had not been ete 6 e Dies Sunday in good, health, his death came as a shock to friends, associates, and even his antagonists in some of the bitterest council table bat- tles between management and labor. Telegrams of condolence poured in from all sections of the coun- try ... “from President Truman and high-ranking government of- ficials ... from William Green of the AFL and John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers ... from Ben Fairless of U. S. Steel and Ben Moreell of Jones and Laugh- lin. A thin, white-thatched man who | never lost the faint Scots burr in his voice, Murray likewise never ROUND TRIPS DAILY! Av ALA 47 MIN. NON-STOP NATIONAL Airlines FOR HOME. or cmap CALL 1780 or your travel agent TICKET OFFICE: Meacham Airport COMMERCIAL USE . “ We Are Prepared To Furnish You With Clear, Pure Cube »» Crushed ICE Thompson Enterprises, Inc. (ICE DIVISION) © TELEPHONE NO. 8 SEY WEST. FLORIDA | Overseas Transportation Company, Inc. « ° Fast, Dependable Freight and Express Service between MIAMI AND KEY WEST Also Serving ALL POINTS ON FLORIDA KEYS Be{ween Miami and Key West Express Schedule (No Stops En Route) LEAVES KEY WEST DAILY (EXCEPT SUNDAYS) at 6:00 P.M. Arrives at Miami at 12:00 o'clock Midnight. LEAVES MIAMI DAILY (excerpt SUNDAYS) at 12:00 ofelock Midnight and arrives at o'clock A.M. Key West at 6:00 Local Schedule lost the ardor of trade unionsim from his heart. A mine worker at the age of 10, he spent the night before his death at a meeting of his United Steelworkers, whose presidency he held concurrently with the presi- dency of the parent CIO. There, he spoke with energy of labor’s gains, promised ‘‘whole- some support to any administra- tion that has in mind constructive measures fo: the common people,” and defied ‘‘special groups” to take away labor’s gains. While his advocacy of Roose- velt New Deal and Truman “fair Deal” policies was well known, death sealed his position on future CIO polities. An early backer of Adlai Steven- PHILLIP MURRAY. son for the presidency, Murray de- clined comment last week when Stevenson and the supporting CIO’s Political Action Committee went down to defeat at the polls. “I will indulge myself the lux- ury of comment on the bedlam of the last three (election) months at the National Convention in Los Angeles,” he told steel workers Saturday night. 2 That convention was to open a week from today, but as the CIO’s top leadership turned toward Pitts- burgh and Murray’s funeral there Thursday, there were indications it would be postponed. The CIO’s political stand and a successor to Murray will be the two big questions of the conven- tion. Some unionists want the organi- zation to get out of political ac- tivity and say the political Action Committee’s campaigning did the union movement more harm than good. Others want the political arm strengthened. As.for Murray’s successor, much of the speculation is centered on two men—Allan S. Haywood, vet- eran CIO executive vice president, and Walter Reuther, United Auto Workers president. Haywood, long a stalwart in the CIO’s organizational campaigns, is a veteran administrato: age, 64, could work against him, Reuther, 45, is popular and ener- getic. But he may not want the responsibility of both jobs. The son of a miners’ union of- ficial, Murray was born at Blan- tyre, Scotland, in 1886. He was introduced to unionism at the age of 6, when his father took him to a local meeting. At 10 he went to work in the coal mines. He was only 16—and making 30 cents a day—when his family emigrated to the United States, settling in the bituminous coal fields of Western Pennsyl- vania.. He became a naturalized citizen in 1911. His rise was the familiay story— but the rare fact—of the immigrant lad who made good. He saved his money for a cor- respondence course; worked all day and studied most of the night in his self-education; punched his way into labor prominence when he pummeled a company weigh- master for a dishonest weight. The punch got him fired—but his fellow workers walked out with him and made him a local officer of the United Mine Workers. It was the last time he used his fists to win a point. Thereafter, jhe relied on a native canniness and a rare gift for persuasion. In the union, it brought him to the attention of Lewis, who made him a vice president in 1920. But most of all, his manner had its effect on his antagonists across the table of collective bargaining, Moreell said yesterday: “Murray was not a table pound- jer; he did it all simply by persua- | sion.” | From organizer of the steel | Workers in the hectic mid-30s to their chief in the "40s, Murray had | ample opportunity to display his talent. The union made gains in the hec- | tie 1946 strike. In another strike in 1949, Murray | | Safer cough Relief FOR CHILDREN ited with breaking th ef Se asae tie teat fe vagina | Br idges Asks For Bethlehem Steel—the nation’s sec- ond largest producer—to agree to pensions, hospitalization and other benefits, The rest of the industry capitulated « few. weeks later. Another steel strike this year brought Murray inte contention with the steelmen again This time he sought a union shop. He won a partial victory: a modified union shop agreement, but negotiated a sizable wage boost. When it was all over, he and Fairless exchanged small gifts and expressed mutual pleasure over- the negotiations. “The U. S. has lost a great citi- zen as well as a great labor lead- er,” Fairless said of Murray’s death. “While differing with his Contract Cheek WASHINGTON W—Sen. Bridges (R-NH) has called for a Senate investigation of what he calls too- costly contracts held by Kaiser- Frazer Corp. to build Air Force cargo planes, e There was no immediate com- ment from Kaiser-Frazer or the Air Force. Bridges said one Kaiser-Frazer contract, to build 159 C-119 cargo aircraft, comes to almost 150 mil- lion dollars more than if it had point of view at times, I always | had respect for Philip Murray as | a Christian gentleman.” A devout Catholic and long a+ bitter foe of communism, Murray in 1949 had 10 left-wing unions ejected from the CIO on the grounds their officers hewed too close to the Moscow party line. His great skill as a negotiator won him appointments to various government councils under three | presidents—Woodrow Wilson, War- ren G. Harding and Franklin | Roosevelt. Yet with all his power and pres- tige, he remained at heart a trade unionist—with a trade - unionist’s outlook. 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Air {Force reasoning, Bridges said in a statement yesterday, was that Kaiser-Frazer “has had ‘no experience in the aircraft industry and must necessarily undergo large initial costs.” <This explanation,” Bridges com- mented, “can be considered a strong argument against the con- tract rathe: than any justification for continuing it.” et VALUE More Powerful VALVE-IN- STARS TO ENTERTAIN TROOPS FOR XMAS HOLLYWOOD —More than 60 Hollywood film stars will give up Christmas at home to entertain United States troops’ in Korea, Alaska, Greenland and the Carib- bean during the holidays. This announcement was made today by President George Murphy. of the Hollywood Co-ordinating Committee. The organization han- dles volunteer entertainment pro- grams for armed forces. THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Page? 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