THE PRESIDENCY: Working the Unworkable

Harry Truman's duty was clear. As Chief Executive, he had to enforce the Taft-Hartley Labor Act, which he had vetoed and denounced as "unworkable," "burdensome" and "disruptive." Solemnly, last week, he pledged himself to see that the new law was "well and faithfully administered." He called on management and labor to exercise "patience and moderation." Said he: "Industrial strife at this critical time can result only in economic dislocation injurious to all of us."

End of the Debate. Harry Truman had no choice. Others did. Minutes after the Senate overrode the President's veto, the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel, Gerhard P. Van Arkel, resigned, declaring that he had "grave doubts concerning both the workability and the fairness of this act."

The three members of the NLRB (Chairman Paul M. Herzog, John M. Houston, James J. Reynolds Jr.) answered a summons to the White House. After an hour's talk, they issued a statement: "The debate is over. . . . This board will. . . give the new act the fairest and most efficient administration that lies in its power."

While Congress Watched. Harry Truman's most immediate problem was selection of two new members of the board, provided by the new law: a general counsel (who will assume the old board's duties of investigating and prosecuting unfair labor practices) and a chief for the new, independent Mediation and Conciliation Service. The President promised to pick men who "have the confidence of management and labor." It would be hard to find men on whom Harry Truman and a Republican Senate could agree.

Meanwhile the Labor Department prepared for mutilation. With the loss of its Conciliation Service, the Department was left with the Women's Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Wage and Hour Division, and a couple of minor sections. The crack-of-the-week in Washington was that Secretary Lew Schwellenbach is the only bureau chief in the capital who has cabinet status.

G.O.P. Congressmen watched suspiciously. In spite of all the fine words, they felt that their brainchild was in unsympathetic hands. But they were determined that it should work. They prepared to double the funds for the expanded NLRB, promised that the Mediation and Conciliation Service would get all the money it needed.