Capital Comment
STOUT, JONATHAN
Capital Comment By JONATHAN STOUT What Does Reshuffling of the State Dep't Mean? WASHINGTON, D. C.—What portends in the almost complete change of top personnel in the Stat* Department? The best...
...America, feeling iwure in its strength and industrial powers, is opposed to cartels and wants free trade lieeatise it fears cartels mine than it fears competition...
...That was one month ago...
...No department of the government receives closer super-TaSon from Mr...
...If conditions become intolerable, strike/ will occur—whether they are called or not...
...They haven't sought the truth...
...The workers have waited patiently...
...In charge of the granting of visas, Berle 9tfi it possible for hundreds' to And refuge on the>e (liores...
...RooeereU gee* farther, It will mean no such guarantee* of equal opportunity ia Italy...
...In the case of iHe State Department changes, once again, the so-called liberal voices have failed the public...
...In appointing Clayton, as Assistant Secretary in charge of foreign economic affairs, Mr...
...The real reason for the smearing of Rockefeller is because he is 100 per-*Wt loyal to the interests of Uncle Sam* instead of Uncle Joe, because he has resisted handing South America on a silver platter to Lombardo Toledano, "««ican agent of Moscow...
...They arc ready to call for a boycott of the recalcitrant stores...
...Roosevelt is following the theory thst what better instrument with which to cope with the schemers who will be busily trying to build cartels, after the war than a man who knows cartel-building— and therefore cartel-busting—from the inside...
...7" ' * * * FDR Determines Foreign Policy To understand the changes in the State Department, 'tis necessary to remember two basic truths: 1. 'Franklin D. Hootevelt is his own foreign minister...
...SlNILARLY with Jimmy Dunn, who is in charge of political affairs outside the Americas...
...If Montgomery Ward could defy the union and the government, other concerns would do so...
...There is every indication here that Mr...
...AH ever America there are hundred* of democratic fnM* from the Nasi terror who literally owe thein itvm to Berle...
...Because he denounced the Communists during tto|dtl#r-wtali>> Pact days, the Red tolalitarians have iiishsrtrd »n unremitting smear campaign against * fjerle...
...Teamed with Dunn in direction of the State Department's political affairs division is Nelson Rockefeller, is charge of Latin-America...
...The Communists are lined up with Sewell L. Avery and against, the workers...
...Roosevelt wants him to do a similar job for the State Department...
...Its object was to secure full production...
...His policy has an American orientation °f its own, and it is coincidental when his policy agrees witn *h*t of Churchill or Stalin or both...
...Nothing happened...
...For two years legal prosecution by the Government of German-American Bundists, and similar Nazi organisations here, has leaned heavily on a State Department document entitled "National Socialism...
...An amusing sidelight is the howls of anguish going up over Will Clayton, Nelson Rockefeller, Jimmy Dunn, Julius Holmes and Joe Grew...
...The issue vitally affected all unions...
...And, while I don't know for sure, I believe it may safely lie assumed the same is true of Clayton...
...Avery has fired men for organizing the Montgomery Ward workers in the United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees Union...
...It is small wonder the public is confused...
...Roosevelt intends to see to it that his new diplomatic campaign does not lack for a good press or smooth public relations...
...They demand that industry and the government carry out their part of the ao-atrikc pledge...
...A year ago he brought suit against the Board...
...Fbr that reason it always has been a lie of first order to drape bunting on Mr...
...Are Dsaa and Rockefeller Reactionaries...
...They are for full war production, They will stand by our alliea and our country to defeat Hitler and Hirohito...
...By concentrating on the personalities in the State Dspartment, the moaners and howlers serve only to •secure the issues, the problems and the truth...
...Of the 2,000 employees of ths four Montgomery Ward establishments in the Detroit area, 1,500 are out...
...For Mr...
...Dunn happens to b* a liberal Catholic...
...And the changes in the State "?PWtment indicate we are about to embark on a rigorous policy to advance those interests...
...On this account the Auto Workers have taken a hand...
...This latter gentleman has just signed an agreement for a local of his Warehousemen's Union Including a no-strike pledge running into the postwar years...
...Where is that money coming from...
...Roosevelt while *«pmg crape on the State Department...
...The hysterical charge that Dunn is a Catholic reactionary, a friend of Franco, a pro-fascist, etc., is at best simply ignorant and at worst a plain lie...
...One may, if one acares easily, regard Will Clayton „ the man who built a cotton cartel, and see as a result of his appointment a stream of cartels flowing out of the SUte Department This view overlooks completely, however, the fact thst at this very moment British and American foreign policy are at dagger points on the subject of cartels...
...It doesnt follow, of course, that Mr...
...Sewell Avery had lost...
...A sounder view on Clayton, therefore, is to remember that Mr...
...If Macl^eish hasn't forgotten that, he may turn out to be a valuable addition to the State Department...
...Dunn initiated this study i n January, 1941—almost exactly a year before America's entrance into the war...
...The loss of A. A. Berle, Jr., from the State Depart-™*nt is a serious loss to democracy...
...American labor's no-strike pledge ¦ was necessarily conditional...
...We have in-jjwsts of our own...
...None makes »« issue of this...
...a parallel situation to 08 found among: all reilgious faiths...
...But that's the meaning behind the (layton appointment...
...Heir lonf will these maudlin minds who persistently do their thinking with the wrong end of the spinal eelamn continue to cry, "Wolf...
...wilt b* presented...
...If things continued to go on as they were going in the Montgomery Ward enterprises, disturbances were bound to spread...
...a On the other hand, of the new men in the State Department, it can definitely be understood thai Nelson Rockefeller, Jimmy Dunn and General Holmes have no use for American traitors of the same type, and are not being fooled by their subsequent phony flag-waving...
...General Julius Holmes has been doing an excellent political intelligence job as adviser to General Kisen-hower...
...This stoppage is merely the last incident in the long struggle of Sewell L Avery against the trade union movement and the government of the United States...
...But obviously that is not enough...
...The Wolchok-Auto Workers' idea, ia different...
...Tn« President is of the opinion that he needs certain **jent...
...Roosevelt to support democracy against British imperialism and Russian totalitarianism...
...The plan for the revamping of the State Depart -neat as a well-guarded secret, and much of it stilt-remains shrouded in question marks...
...the evidence here is contradictory, On one hand, it remains a fact that our Russian policy has actually been pro-Communist in that it has concurred in betrayal of Yugoslavia and Poland to the internal traitors of those nations who were pro-Nazj from 1939 to 1941, and is putting pressure on Chiang Kai-shek to open the doors of China to the same traitors in that stricken nation...
...And this study gets universal credit from Government prosecutors everywhere for helping get convictions of the Bundists...
...These strike a pose as "liberal voices...
...Roosevelt knew* very well tkat taw Hforsa incident i* the by-product of diplomatic warfare between Churchill and Stalin for political hegemony over Italy...
...Why isn't the same attitude extended to Dunn's Catholicism ? There are liberal Catholics as **H as reactionary Catholics...
...And what's that to moan about...
...This involved not reinstating employees who had been fired for union activity...
...A Strike to Save the No-Strike Pledge THE whole matter of national unity in the war effort is involved in the present Detroit strike...
...Look where moat of the dead cats are coming from . . . PM, The Nation, The Sew Republic, the CIO, etc...
...The walkout was called to induce Sewell L. Avery and the WLB (o live up to their part of the no-strike agreement...
...These are qualifications that run and piobably will lie very useful in internal administration and management of the depart merit and of the foreign service personnel Having assembled a crew of high-speed experts, the question now is what is the ultimate objective for which Mi Roosevelt intends to use then talents...
...It i* clear, therefore, that ualeee Mr...
...And that's MarLeish's job...
...The British, seeking security in a postwar world where they feel they will lie much weaker than their two giant allies, want cartels as a measure of protecting British industry from competition...
...The War Labor Board had full authority to go ahead and enforce Its decisions...
...backgrounds and abilities for his diplomatic offensive which he does not feel he had in adequate •apply before...
...Then followed the famous strike, the taking over of the plant by the United States Army and the elimination of Mr...
...But it can be stated definitely that the changes are the prelude to s diplomatic offensive on a scale (thal has not prevailed is,United States foreign relations for many years...
...Samuel Wolchok, national president of the Department Store Employees, stands ready to call out all of his union members in and about Detroit...
...The enemies of labor, especially the fac-tionalist within the labor movement, have done their best to obscure them...
...At last, on November 13, the Supreme Court called a halt to this sort of dog-in-the-manager business...
...There's another reason for Dunn's appointment...
...MacLeish has mads the rounds in former years...
...It is of the utmost importance that the general public-and trade unionists in particular—understand the issues...
...Also, he knows the technical State Department structure from the inside through his previous service m the department...
...And so he brought in what he needed...
...Roosevelt's Nicy...
...This State Department study was made by Raymond ?. Murphy, chief of a special unit in the Division of European Affaire which was headed by Dunn...
...There is some reason to believe that with this announcement of policy, Mi...
...To paint him otherwise is simply ¦ '•*, as the propagandists well know...
...The War Labor Board was set up to see to It that problems were settled and demands met as far as war conditions permit...
...That is the truth, and, good or bad, should be seen in its proper light, and put in its proper place...
...They have only screamed...
...Rockefeller is a Protestant, « case anyone's interested, although the area he has to deal with is predominantly Catholic...
...Since June the struggle has been continued in the courts...
...On December 13 The Daily Worker featured a contrast between Samuel Wolchok and Harry Bridges...
...Roosevelt's theory will work...
...And such a campaign would mean real support for democratic principles if, for instance, in Italy it really gu»i anteecl equal opportunity to all political parties...
...So real i cooperation of labor, the government, and industrial leaders is essential...
...Roosevelt in his foreign policy does not try to follow either British foreign policy or Russian foreign policy...
...That is why men in Detroit are striking...
...Last April he refused to obey an order from the President of the United States...
...Wolf...
...The trade unions pledged themselves not to call strikes...
...Walter Scholle, the Mjdwesl representative of CIO has said: "This strike is an attempt to save the no-strike pledge...
...Roosevelt believes in the old maxim of "set a thief to catch a thief...
...Jonathan Stout'i analysis of the significance of th* changes in the State Department differs widely from that of many hherall, and it will be followed by a » y minis in m on American Foreign I'uhry and the Stat* Department, in which varying viewpoint...
...The suits were thrown out...
...And much should . exP«cted from the new men to compensate for that gfc An early New Deal "braintruster," Berle never . ken publicity-minded...
...But they refuse to accept slavery at home while their brothers are fighting it abroad...
...In the end the loss of production would go far beyond anything that will result from this one flare-up...
...What about the men who aye now stepping into the Stat* Department...
...Rockefeller was picked by Roosevelt because he Probably has a better personal relationship with the Americas "south of the border" than any other Amer-,c»n- The hysterical outcry against him by PM, and *** other pseudo-liberals, is not because he is the trsndson of John D. Rockefeller...
...Roosevelt is opening a leiiKwed campaign for the war aims staled in the Atlantic Charter, and for which America has been pouring out its blood and treasure...
...i * • * *H*Me/M „d NonJnrervenrioii SIMILARLY, Archibald MacLeish was picked as AMistant Secretary for Public Service and Information beesuse he did a good job as head of the Office of Facts and Figures early in the war...
...However, it should be remem-l>eieil that not long ago the American Communists were attacking MacLeish as a "fascist...
...The best answer to that it, it's still too early to tell about ultimate direc-ion...
...He is right...
...Hut how can it guarantee equal opportunity when the tinted States limits by law the amount of money which Americans may send to Italf...
...Stoppages would obviously interfere with production of arms and munitions...
...The Si el 11 ii ins statement on Italy may be regarded as lice opening gambit of the new diplomat ic offensive In his statement slamming the British for interfering in the internal political affaiis of Italy, Secretary Stettimus enunciated a policy which is very sound as lac as it goes The trouble with it, of course, is thai il doesn't go fai enough...
...He has refused to rsise wages when the War Labor Board has ordered it...
...I he anxious question now is whether the changes in the State Department presage a virile campaign by Mr...
...Today the public hears the same voices equally shrill and hysterical in denunciation of Roosevelt's changes in his State Department...
...Roosevelt than the State Department...
...As for MacLeish, poets of course have a license for keeping strange company...
...The objective American support of Franco in 1936, which currently ia being attributed to Dunn, should b* attributed not to him but directly to Roosevelt...
...In addition, he knows the internal political'problems of Kurope...
...That sounds pretty funny when It ss recalled how recently the same maudlin minds were moaning about how terrible the State Department was with men like Berle, Long, and Shaw nmning its affairs...
...Telliag Britain to keep its hand* off internal Italian politics must a* , balanced by telling the Soviet tnion the aaese thing...
...Mr...
...As a result, only a narrow "fele of his intimates are in a position to know about and Appreciate the yeoman work Berle has done for tMOorrny, for true liberalism, and for humaniurianiam...
...whereas the Soviet Union places in) limit on the amount of funds which may lie sent from Russia to Italy'' Reports from most reliable sources say that the Italian Communist I'arty is rolling in money...
...Avery, feet-first...
...Short days ago, these voices were hysterically shrill in exhorting the public about the doom that awaited if Roosevelt failed to win a fourth term...
...But this will be forgotten when history weighs I,,, w4r% for humanity, and when it evaluates the important foundation of international law and procedure with iaspect to international civil aviation he has quietly built at the international conference recently concluded in Chicago...
...Never in all the 12 years of the Administration has •syonein the State Department acted on an independent Pwiey that differed by a hair from Mr...
Vol. 27 • December 1944 • No. 51
