The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Senate Debate on Labor Legislation The seating arrangements in the U.S. Senate must have been designed with an eye to drama. From the presiding officer's point...
...And all that some scribes can think of to elucidate the situation is to raise the cry: "They have been bribed...
...The men in the Senate, including some liberal Republicans, announce that they will consult these men in drawing up legislation which affects their organizations...
...Insurance funds to he protected by the provisions of this bill amount to more than 86 billion a year...
...The intentions of the drafters might be good, but no one could guarantee the results...
...It was ready to go through and its enforcement could be expected with confidence...
...On the other hand, Lyndon Johnson, if he takes it into his head to do a little campaigning in the populous and popular West Coast state, can fire back: "The man is obviously a faker...
...I pulled for all of these good laws and the wicked Democrats turned them all down...
...As Senator Irving Ives (R...
...When I strolled into the gallery on April 28, the two party leaders were eyeing each other so closely that one might have thought that they were squaring off for a fight...
...On behalf of their party, the Democrats solemnly promised immediate hearings on these proposals...
...There are some 18 million trade unionists in the United States...
...Three successive subcommittees of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare have gone into this subject...
...The Democrats were for this bill, the Republicans were for it, the President was for it...
...He tried to put through a mess of half-baked laws which trade-union men had never heard of...
...They began their deliberations in the 83rd Congress, in July of 1954, pursuant to a recommendation by President Eisenhower...
...It is the story of how labor-union money keeps a majority of members of Congress from enacting laws that would do away with rackets whereby the dues of workingmen are stolen or misused...
...Senator Knowland's reply was that if the amendments were not passed then, they would have little chance of being passed at all this session...
...He began: "The story of the year is being unfolded right now in Congress...
...When various Republicans proposed amendments, they were not trying to defeat the bill...
...The final vote on the original bill was 88 to 0. Now Senator Knowland, who is running for Governor out in California, can go back to his campaigning and say to the union men in his state of gold, wine and movie queens: "Look, I am the real friend of the working class...
...The Senate was considering S. 2888, "to provide for registration, reporting and disclosure of employee welfare and pension benefit plans...
...Others dealt with similar matters...
...As a matter of fact, they were...
...With great patience, they explained over and over again that this bill had been worked over year after year, had been discussed with the experts and the representatives of labor and industry...
...But these amendments—about 40 of them—had been thought up on the floor...
...In fact, only the devil could be against it...
...William Knowland of California, the minority leader, occupies the Republican seat nearest the Democrats...
...A narrow aisle separates the two parties...
...It was amazing to see how solidly tne supporters of the Johnson position stood up during the monotonous voting...
...said: "This is the fifth year we have been considering this matter...
...David Lawrence wrote a sob-story column the other day...
...The leaders of the AFL-CIO had promised help, and their collaboration would give some assurance that the bills finally passed would be practical and enforcible...
...The amendments sounded good—or, at least, most of them did...
...The leader of the majority, Lyndon Johnson of Texas, occupies the front-row seat on his side nearest the Republicans...
...Their top officials are almost universally respected as honest, able men doing their best to help solve tough problems...
...One of them was intended to compel the unions to hold honest elections...
...We Democrats are inviting honest union men to help us write laws which will cover the points about which your man talks tearfully...
...From the presiding officer's point of view, the Democrats occupy the right side of the auditorium and the Republicans the left—precisely opposite to the French Revolution arrangement which gave political meaning to the words Right and Left...
...A good deal of the thievery which goes on in the handling of these funds has been known for years by members of Congress...
...Three or four amendments Senator Knowland introduced himself and pleaded for with tearful eloquence...
...This may forecast the campaign which we are to have next fall...
...The Democrats, Knowland cried, were denying the poor working class the protection of these laws...
...Through the long afternoon and into the evening, the votes ran about 35 for and 50 against the amendments...
...The reply on behalf of the Democrats was rather dryly and pointedly delivered by majority leader Johnson or, if he was absent, by the youthful but very confident Jack Kennedy...
Vol. 41 • May 1958 • No. 19
