The Battle of San Francisco
WOLFE, BERTRAM D.
Philadelphia PTC Strike Grand Jury Report Assails Labor By Andrew Khinoy PHILADELPHIA—TIm foreman of (ha (rand jury was » manufacturer. The man who drew up the report was a retired school...
...Scott, "that the CIO and the Government directive (requiring PTC to train Negroes for operative jobs) were the direct causes of this strike...
...Then the Leaders at headquarters themselves don't like that kind of talk—not right out in the open...
...In addition, there were other substantial factors: the intense TWU membership drive, the fact that election of focal officers had not been held, the loss of initiative in deciding local problems, the boost in dues and the taking of orders from a "so-called international officer representing the central organization...
...But "the blunt truth" must be told, h« went on...
...Everybody who has had a cold or a headache, immediately feels a bond of sympathy for the President...
...The report, however, piously declares that the members "agree entirely with the viewpoint which holds for this (the Negro) race the right to higher position and wage wherever they so qualify on the same basis as fellow employees of the white race...
...Honest John Bricker gave it prominence...
...GERONTOCRACY Is the Grim Reaper a GOP Aide...
...It rolled right r'" -a" tongue...
...A THOROUGH study of the PTC corporate setup and its possible effects en the strike had been suggested by Federal Judge George A. Welsh in kin charge to the jury, but all the report had to any on that question was that PTC was reorganised in 1M1...
...What else happens...
...By Robert G. Spivack SoMEBODY shoald have told the Republicans not to change horses in the middle of the stream...
...It was started by John O'Donnell...
...Areh't there enough good issues: the 4th term, the indispensable man, bureaucracy ? As any political observer knows, Death I» non-partisan...
...It was Jight...
...Here they were going along at a merry pace, with probably the biggest propaganda campaign in recent political history...
...It had it all over Tippecanoe and Tyler, too...
...Whv didn't they let well enough alone...
...James J. Fitxsimon, international vice-president of the TWU and close associate of Mike Quill, tiw Communist boss of the union, charged that the "jary was dominated by reactionary, partisan Republican thinking...
...A perplexing factor, in view of the anion's avowed opposition to the strike, ia the union's determination to organise legal defense for several of the indicted strikers...
...If the directive had been withdrawn or suspended temporarily after the trouble developed, tile strike would have been called off...
...The Hearst papers were giving cold cash away for the best limericks containing this penetrating thought...
...They were a representative cross-section of com•«i vativs Philadelphia, and it was evident from their report that they had neither the ability nor the desire to heed the charge given them almost two months ago— to find the "causes behind the Philadelphia Transportation Co...
...There will be much gingery flouncing around and solemn discussions as to the good taste, bad taste, public reaction, etc., etc., etc.," he said, setting up his own defenses in advance...
...After all, Tom Dewey, who is only 42, started it by his talk of "aged" New Dealers...
...The general attitude of management after the strike began, the report said, "seems best expressed in the weak excuse- 'What's the use?' Actually on the first day of the strike a prominent official expressed it thus to the head of the War Manpower Commission: 'It's your baby and it's on your lap.' The official who made that remark is reported to be Dr...
...It's long-winded and humorless...
...What's the first effect of announcing the Grim Reaper is on your side...
...Indicative of this was the comment by Mrs...
...That union had a "no discrimination" clause, but the impression was widespread that the proviso, in the words of the report, was based "more on desire for numbers and income than on good will toward the Negroes...
...There was unrest within the ranks of the employees following the election victory of the TWU...
...You scare awny •II the Townsendites and assorted old-age pensioners...
...Principal action of the jury was to indict thirty operating empolyees of the PTC, including four strike leatkrs already under arrest and out on bail, en charges of violating the Smith-Connolly War Labor Disputes Act...
...Now that Death is voting the straight Republican ticket, how does O'Donnell think these boys are going to feel: Herbert Hoover, aged 70...
...The anion certainly would not aasist James H. MeMehamin, Frank Carney or Frank Thompson, who were leaders of the repudiated PRT union end who loudly cried their opposition to working with Negroes...
...Colonel Robert McCormick, aged 60...
...O'Donnell himself took cognizance of this squeamishness...
...It is my honest opinion," said Mrs...
...The man who drew up the report was a retired school superintendent and former college professor...
...The point is, it's demoralizing...
...Is that the way to win campaigns...
...Joe E. Hanley, aged 68...
...he's 81...
...The lower you go in the social scale, the inort prejudice there is," she said...
...Their strong anti-union bias was revealed in their fearful reference to strong labor union* reaching "tentacles into every community of any site in the land" and their "seeming subversive" principles...
...Why couldn't O'Donnell keep his Wg mouth shut...
...Harrison Spahgler, aged 65...
...1 PTC) strike...
...The jerora, however, ksd a sympathetic word for company unions "which might, with the right motivation on both aides, have seemed the ideal method of relations in our industrial life...
...It had grace...
...They did reveal some significant points about the role of the union, however...
...Ia ignoring thin oaestion, the grand Jary also a voided a aW ¦salon of the cms* connection between the Mitten management and the PRT Employee* Union, an "independent" eetnt which thm year was defeated in a collective bargaining election by the Transport Workers Union (CIO...
...Then there is one of the 26 Republican governors...
...Liz Dilling liked it...
...Walter S. Goodland of Wisconsin...
...It united the party...
...There was prolonged dissension in the jury room over bow far the report should go in condemning the CIO, which some wanted to denounce by name and others only by implication...
...Why, even John O'Donnell himself is just a few weeks out of the hospital...
...A. A. Mitten, chairman of the Industrial Relations Committee of PTC, who at the same time was said to have suggested that the order by the Fair Employment Practices Committee upgrading Negroes, be withdrawn...
...Now (he Republicans nave a new slogan...
...Clare Luce cutely snuggled up to the House microphone and whispered the magic words...
...Dm criticism directed against the CIO . . and the commendation of company unionism dearly show the profound anti-labor bias of the Grand Jary," he said...
...The TWU wss quick to reply...
...Hugh D. Scott, wife of the Republicsn Congressman from the fashionable Germantown district, who once achieved national notoriety with his statement that Republicans were entitled to rule because "we are of the best stock...
...What the hell...
...Despite their evident inclinations, the jurors were unable to pin the blame for the strike on the Transport Workers Union, Communist-dominated though it may be...
...It isn't that Herbert Brownell, Jr., and the others don't accept this line of argument...
...And so the presentment delivered last week by the Federal Grand Jury investigating the PTC strike which paralysed Philadelphia for five days last August and led to Army seizure of the company was a curiously contradictory document that obscured more than it revealed of the background of the walkout...
...Clear everything with Sidney"—the brilliant slogan was sweeping the countryside...
...The fourth-term candidate may die suddenly or become physically or mentally incapable of performing his tremendous duties...
...Tom Dewey thought it was pretty good...
...William C. Dixey Jr., another indicted strike chieftain, was not a member of the TWU, so far as is knoven...
...Among others on the panel were the wife of a Republican Congressman, relative of a Republican ward leader, an insurance man, a real estate agent, a publisher, and assorted housewives and businessmen...
Vol. 27 • October 1944 • No. 42
