Earle Calls Talk About Business Strike 'Rot' in Answering Queries from Floor

In the face of a barrage of questions from the floor touching on subjects which ranged from the naval armament program to a Mississippi sales tax, Governor Earle last night consistently declined to comment on matters on which he did not feel sufficiently well-informed.

Asked how he could be sure people living on relief would voluntarily give it up in favor of bona fide employment when some solution for economic difficulties has been found, the Governor said. "It has been my experience with the more than a million people on relief in Pennsylvania, that all but two or three per cent will willingly give up relief if they are offered employment with reasonable prospects of permanency and any sort of decent wages."

In response to a question asking his opinion of the soundness of Solicitor General Robert Jackson's recent condemnation of a "sit-down strike of business against the government." Governor Earle said. "I won't comment on the rest of the speech, but talk of a business strike is damned rot. Business is not organized to go on strike."

Believes in Collective Bargaining

Questions on current labor problems elicited the following statement, "I believe profoundly in unionization and collective bargaining: that's the only way labor con meet capital on common ground. As for the A. F. of L. fight with the C. I. O.--that's a family squabble, and not for me to meddle in."

Speaking of the proposed increase in naval armament, he said. "A big army and navy safeguards a country satisfied with its possessions: it puts one with territorial ambitions in danger of war." He did not cite specific examples.