Editorial: Flank in Brittany
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Editorial: On the right track
We’ll have more to say about the St. Louis conference of Republican governors, under the leadership of presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey, when we see the complete result of their deliberations. Meanwhile, it seems to us, the six reports they made yesterday were a good start in their effort to define clear “areas of responsibility” between the states and the federal government.
Criticism of the trend toward federal centralization which has been so marked in the last 11 years will be most effective, we think, if it emphasizes the truth that concentration of power in Washington leads inevitably to confusion, duplication of effort, waste, inefficiency, and invasion of legitimate and necessary local rights. This, as the governors are pointing out, has been happening in many fields, and nowhere more strikingly than in the matter of increasing federal ownership of land.
Heath: ‘Little Steel’ formula may be scrapped by FDR
By S. Burton Heath
Mr. Heath visited Pittsburgh last Monday when Governor Dewey was here. This column is the result of his visit. Peter Edson, who regularly writes the Washington Column, is on vacation.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania –
The subject did not come up publicly white Republican presidential candidate Dewey was here. But it is a pretty safe bet that one topic that business visitors brought up, in their private conference with Mr. Dewey, was the steelworkers’ wage negotiations.
There are many here who feel very certain, off the record, that the demand of Phil Murray’s union for a 17-cents-an-hour raise will go to President Roosevelt about mid-October and will be decided between then and Election Day. In that case they expect that the steel workers will get a raise of from five to ten cents an hour – which would bust the stabilization program wide open.
The background is this, in brief:
Most of the contracts were “open end.” That is to say, they were perpetual until a specified notice of intention to terminate them had been given. Such notice was given last year and the unions now are working in effect without a contract.
May find subterfuge
President Roosevelt assured Mr. Murray that if the men kept at work under the terms of the old contract, any increases granted within the limitations of the stabilization formula would be made retroactive. That, in the words of one observer, was “doubletalk.” There can be no raises within the limitations of the stabilization formula. Any raise, however small, breaks through the formula.
But the union people do not think that the President promised such a thing to no powerful an organization of his strongest supporters without intending to make good in some fashion. One way would be to find a subterfuge by which the men could be paid for something they do now without pay – such as going into the mill, punching the clock and walking to their posts of duty.
The importance of the steel wage negotiations is evidenced by the time and labor that have been devoted to it already. There have been almost five months of public hearings, completed in mid-July, before a fact-finding panel of the WLB, during which around a million words of testimony were recorded in some 4,000 pages of stenographic transcript.
The case is important because it was in the steel industry that the stabilization formula for wages – a cost of living adjustment of 15 percent above the scale for Jan. 1, 1941 – was evolved.
Formula broken
That formula has been broken in a number of instances on the theory that an adjustment was being made in favor of the previously underprivileged. No such excuse can be made in steel, because the formula assumes either that steelworkers were not discriminated against or that the cost-of-living adjustment relieved any discrimination.
If the President concedes anything here, it will mean that he, personally, will have discarded the Little Steel Formula. In the opinion of many, that would mark the end of any firm, realistic struggle against inflation.
Nevertheless, few believe that he will be able to resist. After all, Mr. Murray is not only head of the steelworkers; he is head of the whole CIO. The CIO sponsored and finances the Political Action Committee, which is so influential in Democratic circles that top party and administration leaders from Vice President Wallace down sneaked up fire escapes to get Sidney Hillman’s okay on what they planned or wanted to do at the Democratic National Convention.
Dewey filled in
It is considered doubtful whether the case can be kept from the President until after election – whether, if the race is close, he will dare go to the polls with the Murray union’s demands undecided. Nor do realists think that, two weeks or a month before Election Day, he will send the union away empty-handed.
Pennsylvania being a doubtful state with the second highest electoral vote in the country, the implications of this situation are important to the Republicans. It is pretty much a certainty that Governor Dewey has been given a fill in, so that he can be prepared, when the time comes, to make all possible capital out of whatever course the President may take.
Bay State gives edge to Roosevelt
52% for President, over Dewey
By George Gallup. Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
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New Deal promoting industrial strife, GOP governors claim
Administration accused of mishandling welfare agencies, usurping state rights
St. Louis, Missouri (UP) –
The Republican Governors Conference concluded its work today with final reports charging the New Deal with chaotic administration of welfare agencies and arbitrary handling of labor problems in a manner tending to promote industrial strife.
Under the leadership of Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate, the governors submitted the last of their bill of particulars challenging the Roosevelt administration in the form of five reports and a statement of conclusions. Mr. Dewey said the action of himself, vice-presidential candidate Governor John W. Bricker, and the 24 other GOP executives was unanimous in all instances.
With the conference out of the way, Mr. Dewey began today a series of conferences with Missouri politicians and representatives of other groups. He will entrain for New York this evening, ending a one-week, three-state campaign organization tour which led through Pennsylvania and Illinois to the banks of the Mississippi.
14 domestic issues
The five reports today completed the conference agenda of 14 domestic issues in which the GOP cited conflict between state and federal interests in a broad field of governmental relationships and demanded greater scope and responsibility for local government.
Today’s reports dealt with social welfare, education and public health; public expenditure; labor, water resources; and state-federal tax coordination.
Charging the administration with inefficient and arbitrary approaches to labor problems, the governors demanded “an immediate and drastic change in the spirit and methods of administration of these [labor] laws.”
They objected to a general policy of federal collection of tax funds to be shared with the states and said “taxes must be simplified and reduced after the war is won.”
The governors hit at the Wagner-Murray Bill to provide medical care for the population generally with a federal subsidy.
There is too much duplication of state and federal effort, the governors said in discussing public expenditures, and they called for action to make “the cost of government fit the American pocketbook.”
Ask powers for states
In three reports issued last night the governors demanded continued state control of the insurance business, return of the public employment service to state administration and the freeing of agriculture from “the unreliable controls and whimsical restraints that now hamper production.” Six reports were issued early yesterday.
The administration, the governors charged, is using the public employment service to extend its political power over labor.
In their conclusion made public today, the governors complained that the federal government has not been attentive to the needs of all parts of the country for lack of personal contact between the President and the governors.
Bricker speaks Sept. 9
Columbus, Ohio –
Governor John W. Bricker, Republican vice-presidential nominee, said today he will make his first campaign speech at Indianapolis Sept. 9 before the Indiana Newspaper Association.
Texan finds new polio treatment
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Circulation of cash hits new peak
Money in use jumps to near $23 billion
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Farm report shows –
U.S. better fed now than in any other war
Trend is toward higher priced foods
By Daniel M. Kidney, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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How G.I. Bill of Rights works –
Servicemen faring better than World War I veterans
Men still on active duty already have benefits it took fathers 25 years to win
By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent
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Big ports to aid in Allied drive
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‘Tank-dozer’ aids Normandy Yanks
Washington (UP) –
The Allied battle through the hedgerows of Normandy was aided by a new U.S. Army “tank-dozer” equipped with a powerful blade that can snap or push over trees up to 18 inches in thickness, the War Department revealed today.
The tank-dozer had a huge 3½-ton bulldozer blade mounted on an M4 Sherman tank, combining the terrific work power of one and the striking power and protection of the other. In Normandy, it was used to slash passages through earth walls and hedgerows where Nazi soldiers had taken cover to oppose Allied attackers with machine guns, mortar and tank fire.
Senate group lays shortage to distillers
Says hoarding practice hurts public’s purse
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Police spread net for three gunmen
Service deserters terrorize whole area
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CIO-PAC causes split in ranks of organized labor
Rebuffs come from all sides and labor movement is worried over outcome of stand
Few political ventures in recent years have aroused the intense interest caused by the CIO Political Action Committee, and its effort in the 1944 elections – and few have so completely split the ranks of organized labor.
Both the American Federation of Labor and the United Mine Workers Union, in their national publications, have rebuffed the PAC.
Railway papers caustic
Most biting of all labor comment, however, has come from the weekly publication of the railway brotherhoods, Labor. In an editorial entitled “Mr. Hillman’s Fantastic Proposal,” that paper declares flatly the PAC will “strengthen the hands of organized labor’s foes, and increase the demand for more rigid regulation of labor unions.”
Because of the great interest in the PAC, and because the Labor editorial has been discussed but briefly in articles published here, the text of the editorial is reprinted today:
Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, is chief director of the CIO’s political activities. In order to comply with the provisions of the Smith-Connally Bill, he proposes to operate through two committees, one made up of members of the CIO and the other of citizens who sympathize with the CIO’s objectives.
Mr. Hillman says that each of these committees will have a campaign fund of $3 million. That’s a total of $6 million. In addition, he proposes to “freeze” what is left of a fund of $700,000 raised influence this year’s primaries.
Never before attempted
Never has any group in the labor movement attempted to raise such huge sums for political purposes. for example, the Standard Railroad Labor Organizations, which during the last 25 years have been more active in the political field than any other labor group, have never spent in any campaign as much as one half of one percent of the amount Mr. Hillman says he and his associates will throw into the 1944 campaign in order to reelect Mr. Roosevelt and members of Congress approved by the CIO.
Parenthetically, it might be pointed out that the CIO “tests” for candidates are not trade union “yardsticks,” and frequently emphasize issues of no direct concern to the working man.
As a consequence, candidates with good labor records are being viciously and even viciously opposed by the CIO, while candidates with comparatively poor labor records are ardently approved by the CIO.
Labor movement worried
However, that is a comparatively minor issue. What concerns us at the moment is Mr. Hillman’s proposal to raise great slush funds to carry the coming election.
Coupled with Mr. Hillmans open alliance with the Communists in New York States and elsewhere, we have a situation which is full of ominous possibilities for the entire labor movement.
No fair-minded American can question the right of workers to organize for political purposes and to ardently support their friends and oppose their enemies.
However, if Mr. Hillman, or anyone else, imagines that a proposal to raise $6 million to control a presidential campaign will not cause the most serious repercussions from one end of this country to the other, he simply does not know the American people.
Inevitably Mr. Hillman’s program will strengthen the hands of organized labor’s foes and increase the demand for more rigid regulation of labor unions.
If only the CIO were affected by such hostile popular reaction, we might shrug our shoulders and say, “It’s none of our business.” Unfortunately, while the great majority of trade unionists have no interests in or sympathy for Mr. Hillman’s grandiose plan, the entire labor movement is likely to feel the sting of popular disapproval.
Reds dominate organization
Mr. Hillman’s alliance with the “Reds” is also a matter of moment to all trade unionists. For years, AFL unions were plagued by Communist efforts to penetrate their ranks. There were successfully resisted, but only after long and bitter and costly struggles.
Now, with the approval of the CIO, Mr. Hillman has thrown the doors wide open to the “Reds.” They dominate his political organization. They write the propaganda the CIO circulates in political campaigns. They will direct the expenditure of the millions Mr. Hillman proposes to raise for this campaign.
Labor seriously questions if Hillman’s tactics will aid the Roosevelt-Truman ticket. It is much more likely to injure it. But whatever the effect may be on the presidential campaign, Labor fears the consequences may be most disturbing to the regular labor movement. Therefore, it seems advisable to repudiate Mr. Hillman’s unprecedented program at the very beginning.
New Dealers win in Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee (UP) –
The administration’s handpicked candidates for Tennessee’s top political job were returned to office by apathetic voters in Thursday’s dual primary election, latest returns from the predominantly Democratic state showed today.
The balloting was the lightest in more than a decade.
Jim Nance McCord, Democratic candidate for governor, led the parade with more than 50,000 votes over the combined totals of two rivals, while, in the highlight race of the ticket, Rep. Albert Gore of Carthage easily won the Democratic nomination for 4th district representative in Congress.
Reports from 1,308 of the state’s 2,000 precincts gave Mr. McCord, a former Lewisburg publisher, a 68,757-vote count, compared to 4,398 for Dr. John R. Neal of Knoxville and 3,150 for W. Rex Manning of Nashville.
John W. Kilgo of Greenville, seeking the Republican nomination for governor, led his party with 10,107 votes, followed by W. O. Lowe of Knoxville, with 3,501, and H. C. Lowry of Knoxville, 1,010.
John Hammer of McMinnville was unopposed in the race for Tennessee Railroad and Public Utilities Commissioner following the withdrawal of Nashville attorney Bradley Walker and E. W. Cazmack of Murfreesboro.
County Judge Harold H. Earthman polled 9,923 votes in the 5th Congressional Democratic contest, to lead Dr. T. R. Ray of Shelbyville, who received 6,004.
Stokes: Dewey pleases in meeting with governors
Generous promises made by party heads
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer
St. Louis, Missouri –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey did quite a nice bit of work for his presidential candidacy in his conference here with the 25 other Republican governors. The conference should pay dividends, politically speaking, both from the standpoint of organization and campaign contributions.
The governors were highly appreciative, and indicated as much, for Governor Dewey’s gesture in calling them in and giving them an opportunity to let down their hair about their particular political problems and grievances. They left here with a new injection of enthusiasm to gear up their state machines, fairly optimistic, but knowing that they face no easy job in beating President Roosevelt in November.
Cooperation promised
They got generous promises from both their candidate and Republican National Chairman Herbert Brownell Jr. of cooperation from the national organization, and, it was reported, of the benefits that can be bestowed by the White House in the way of patronage and preferment if the Dewey-Bricker ticket is elected.
They learned that they may expect to see more of their presidential candidate on their own home grounds, for the campaign plan includes a personal stumping tour by Governor Dewey that will carry him from one end of the country to the other.
Governor Dewey did not spare himself. He was up early and worked late, one night until 3:00 a.m. CT with the various subcommittees of governors drafting a program of federal-state relationships, all of which gave the governors an opportunity to visit with him informally and get a shirtsleeves view of the candidate. He was, once again., the young District Attorney burning the midnight oil preparing a case.
Free-for-all discussion
Between times Mr. Brownell talked with the governors, consulting them about their state situations, getting their advice. The political phase of the business here was concluded with a three-hour, free-for-all discussion with the candidate and the national chairman.
There was no talk whatsoever about old-fashioned “states’ rights,” except in one instance.
Insurance aid assured
This was the opposition of the Republican governors, including the presidential candidate, to regulation of insurance companies by the federal government, but for regulation exclusively by the states, even though the Supreme Court held recently that regulation of insurance companies lies within the province of the federal government.
The governors gave their backing ton a bill, already passed by the House, and pending in the Senate, which would lodge insurance company regulation exclusively in the states by act of Congress, which the administration is fighting. The Justice Department has brought cases charging violation of anti-trust laws by insurance companies, on the theory that insurance companies are operating in interstate commerce and are subject to anti-trust laws like any other business.
The Republicans, by giving their backing to the insurance interests, which are powerful politically as well as financially, thus insure their support in the campaign, which should be good for handsome campaign contributions.
Nebraskan heads GOP campaign in Midwest
Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Samuel R. McKelvie, 63-year-old cattle man from Lincoln, Nebraska, has been chosen Midwestern Republican National Chairman Brownell Jr., GOP leaders said today.
Mr. Brownell arrived today to hold organization conferences with party representatives of 10 Midwestern states.
Mr. McKelvie, former Governor of Nebraska, was a member from 1929 to 1931 of former President Hoover’s Federal Farm Board and for many years has been editor of the Nebraska Farmer.