Thumbs Down

Having used up his full ten days of grace, President Truman must tomorrow either approve or reject the 80th Congress' stab into organized labor's bowels, the Taft-Hartley Bill. Faced with this and three other measures designed to break finally the New Deal's influence on the country, the President must realize that this week the long-pending fight between a Republican legislature and Democratic executive has come out into the open, and will remain aired until next year's crucial elections swing political fortunes either way. Should Mr. Truman concur with his generally conservative Cabinet and approve the bill, he will not only commit his party to a course almost parallel to the Republican route, but also will keep the desperate unions away from the polls next year, or possibly tempt them to form a third party under eager Henry Wallace.

The alternative, of course, is to veto the measure, perhaps be overridden, and surely incur the displeasure of many important Democrats. In rejecting the income-tax reduction bill, Mr. Truman certainly took a firm stand in administration policy, but his veto was barely sustained. In addition, the fact that he was merely following previous speeches shows convincingly that he has not yet committed himself to any long-range plan of resistance to the opposition Congress. But a veto tomorrow will indicate that the President intends at least partly to stand by Roosevelt's political policies.

As Harry S. Truman turns the alternatives over in his mind, election consideration without doubt will play an abnormally large part in the decision. Labor, in danger of losing the legal rights accumulated in the last fourteen years, has played this argument for all it is worth. Though Truman may not get a second term, even with labor's support, his party will have little chance murmuring a faint echo of the Republican song. But to come out strongly is to run a great political risk in a country that gives strong indications that it wants to return to the decepive "normaley" of the twenties.

The Taft-Hartley Bill, as well as being disastrous to organized labor, has been called impractical by a number of industrialists who realize the immense power of labor whether or not they have the legal sanctions to use their power. The Wagner Act, far from giving power, allowed the unions to argue in the conference room rather than fight in the street. The men in management who realize that laws do not give power but only recognize it, see that the bill will hurt them almost as much as it will hurt labor. If the President uses his veto, he would do well to understand the predominantly sensible reasons from the point of view of industrial relations, rather than only the political picture of the moment. At any rate, a vote is needed for the second time in one week.