Taft Versus Green

Speaking over a nationwide radio hook-up on Sunday night, Senator Taft and the AFL's William Green presented their conflicting views on the labor legislation which Senate leaders expect to bring to a vote tomorrow. The Senator defended the legislation as being designed merely to restore the balance of bargaining power which he claims was destroyed by the "one sided" Wagner Act. The logical structure of his statement is weakened by the contradictory argument which it contains. He declared that the bill which his committee drafted is for the protection of the "little business man. "Large employers are able to look after themselves. But further on he stated that the bill will shield the public from paralyzing, nation-wide strikes-which can occur only in the largest industries or utilities.

Mr. Green stood firmly on the status quo. As a result he has been criticized for not being aware of the changes that have occurred in industrial relationships since 1935. But in this case it is the standpatter who has the greater insight into labor-management problems. Ever since Alexander Hamilton discovered that a character obtained in New Jersey offered certain advantages to the rising young magnate, the working rules of society have been shaped by business men. As industrial relationships became more complex and more impersonal, labor found that even though its greater productivity justified higher wages, shorter hours, and more consideration for workers as individuals, its demands were blocked by archaic social and legal structures, adapted to an era of elipper ships and water wheels.

Only since the passage of the Wagner Act has labor been able to express its desires through peaceful channels. The infrequent and over-publicized instances of labor abuses are insignificant when compared with the gains that unions have brought not only to themselves but to industry as a whole. Senator Taft would do well to study the history of the United Steel Workers for an example of what a mature union, working with a cooperative management, can accomplish. The process of collective bargaining, conducted with the very minimum of government supervision, can produce more stable and peaceful industrial relations than can result from Congressional fiat.