National Affairs: Undeclared Peace

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To a great proportion of the rank & file in both A. F. of L. and C. I. O., the war in U. S. Labor is almost as remote as the one in China. On the Pacific Coast, in Michigan, Iowa, Texas, in many and many a local labor federation, C. I. O. and A. F. of L. unionists still work together for their common aims while their testy big shots snarl in the headlines. Last week this harmony had reached such proportions as to demand the attention of A. F. of L.'s national spokesman.

William Green winced at one of the most painful manifestations of undeclared peace: the preponderance of union newspapers in and out of A. F. of L. which denounce his proposed Wagner Act amendments. In broadsides to all State and city federations of A. F. of L. unions, he complained that C. I. O.'s American Newspaper Guild was seducing the impoverished Labor press with fair words, paid space, cash contributions. Said he: ". . . Many of these so-called A. F. of L. publications have . . . ridiculed the position of the . . . Federation ... on important legislative matters. ... A situation of this kind is ... intolerable. ..."

A. F. of L.'s Pressagent-Columnist Philip Pearl wrote in its Weekly News Service: ". . . BEWARE THE KISS OF DEATH OF THE C. I. O. . . . Is it possible the C. I. O. is out to promote the interests of the A. F. of L.? ... They know they can't get anywhere on their own and they are anxious to gain shelter from public wrath behind the established reputation of the A. F. of L. . . . And the next thing you know, the C. I. O. press and the Communist press are . . . trying to make the public and Congress believe the A. F. of L. rank and file is not loyal to its leaders and is not supporting the A. F. of L. amendments to the Wagner Act."

Meanwhile that incurable optimist, Madam Secretary of Labor Perkins, announced in Denver that Labor's warring leaders will also be at peace within a few months. John Lewis' declaration to the contrary last fortnight, said Miss Perkins, was "by no means a conclusive statement."

Q. (by a reporter): "Could you in your imagination conceive of either Lewis or Green, for the greatest good of the greatest number, blotting himself out?"

Miss Perkins: "Certainly ... I believe that is called statesmanship, isn't it?"

William Green (in Washington): "The cause of peace would be promoted and advanced if Secretary Perkins would keep her mouth shut."