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“President - Feb. 8, 1942 -”

This was a memorandum from which I talked to the President on that date, in outline form.

“I. Type of person now needed: Unimaginative, quiet, orderly, discreet, sensible, not very ambitious. II. Duty: To sit on the lid - keep the professional services alive - let them alone - not fight with Sidney and other seven or eight minor Labor Departments of which I have already spoke to you. A. Tobin too erratic and peppery - will fight everybody - nervous. B. Watt - also erratic - indiscreet psuedo-intellectual- C. Tracy the best, and it's a promotion for him. D. Green, William, would be quite good E. Harrison, George - probably a professional politician. III. Present problems: A. Confusions of direction and purpose in the labor field. W.P.B., O.P.M. have labor hazards. A thousand labor committees sprang up in localities. They made work and trouble. They used publicity for pressure. 1. Too intimate with L - they become too intimate labor - they tend to ask labor what they want - underground methods are operating everywhere-private conversations with labor people unrecorded in advance of decisions make a very bad odor among those who know about it. Government by labor participation is very unfortunate - No. Consult, ask advice of labor on an agenda- Yes.- but no obligation implied or inherent, and only on matters which are clearly the business of labor, narrowly interpreted. Hazardous ideology that labor is a special group and a special genius and must have separate representation and place. They are pressing it - almost unconscious - it's an almost unconscious copy of the corporate state. It heads into totalitarianism very quickly and easily. Bad for the U.S.A. Passions, violence, racketeering, unethical standards, easily arise. IV. Only Government officers sworn to do their duty and comply with the Constitution and the laws should ever govern. No Government by volunteer committees, labor or otherwise. Important: Government officers are under oath and they are impeachable which is the great check on their going off into any wild ideas. O.P.M. makes trouble for the fun of it on a number of occasions. S (Sidney Hillman) had indulged in intrigue, labor politics, self-aggrandizement, using the publicity method to the hilt. Back-handed - a executive order - stop - disorder follows. All around him get nervous. They can't stand it. They can't sit still. Lubin, Tracy, C. Beyer, D. Brown, Woolman, Davis patiently plows back and tries to open the subject. The Walling episode was most unfair. Honor not understood - why not? - “I can get it and I should get it,” reported by Steelman. He would be very bad to follow me in public office. He wants Government officers to stultify themselves and agree with him in advance of their decisions as to what they will do. A line. Define the line if you can between Sidney's present duties and the Secretary of Labbr's. If you want to emphasize and centralize on W.P.B., say so to him, and we won't try to do anything with the Department of Labor except feed the W.P.B. We have done that anyhow. State of the Labor Movement: I. Primarily interested in politics today ('42) II. They have vested interests involved. III. They're too big and too adolescent IV. They are thinking in power terms, but they have no program, no responsibility, no experience or specific knowledge. V. High school education for many, and it's been bad, all froth, prune juice, nothing solid. VI. Too sudden success. Nouveau riche. Copy the worst habits of employers. VII. No code of morals, no religious basis, This is the fault of the U.S.A., nevertheless we have it. The education was very poor. They must not get powerful and strong now. There must be reform, repentance, and personal regrouping. VIII. Scheming and tactics developed by the Commie intelligensia, perhaps prepaganda but no evidence. One, foot in the door. Two, grievance committee gained sympathy. Three, bold, struck and threatened. Episode of Thomas (Automobile Workers' Thomas) Publicity - half the reporters are of the same school and general level of education, or just cheap, without any principles, and they give them the publicity they demand, taking their handouts. Five - for you, hold everything and trade when you give away something. Six - take account of the necessity to trade. Seven - they bargain collectively with the Government. This has been distressing in the War Labor Board. They come up with an argument and really attempt to bargain collectively with the Government. This is very bad. They should give advice, seriously, respectfully, and retire. So also should the employers and the bankers and the agriculturists give their advice to the Board and then retire.”

There's another memorandum about the same time. Is there a date on it? No, but I know from the context that it's about the same time. This was a memorandum again for a conversation with the President. This is called “memo for conversation”, early 1942. This is headed “Too Many Cooks.” “The Navy Department has a minor Labor Department within it. The Navy has hired a raft of young men who claim to be labor relations experts, knowledge recently gained, mostly from newspaper work or college education - has clapped them into uniform and is using them as labor advisors. Theoretically they go out into the factories taking Navy orders and find out in advance, and bet there's dissatisfaction among the help, then report to the Navy who tries to settle the trouble. Never confers with the Department of Labor if it can be avoided. II. The Army. Same thing exists in the Army. III. O.P.M. and W.P.B. have a labor section - steps into every private temporary or projected quarrel between labor and employers - makes suggestions - gives out great publicity. B. O.P.M. has other sections dealing with labor also. This means intennal confusions. It is baffling, and disturbs the effects. They don't give time for the subtle ties of a situation to work out and bring about a voluntary agreement. O.P.M. crosses over and advises the Labor people, sometimes by telephone, what to demand of their employers. O.P.M. needles them and stiffens them. This could become a scandal. Government is to blame for: 1. Allis Chalmers situation. Labor Department partly to blame for not suspecting so many bad actors. 2. For the Bethlehem Lackawanna situation - once settled by Tom Finn of the Labor Department, and the O.P.M. labor representatives snatched it away and brought it down here. Nothing could be done here. It was strictly a local matter which Finn had settled. It's not settled yet. Cambria and Johnstown Steel. We settled this without fuss and are satisfied there will be no more trouble at Lackawanna. 3. East St. Louis Zinc. Our Commissioner of Conciliation found a clash between the C.I.O. and A.F. of L. In conclusion, has C.I.O. agreed to permit A.F. of L. to put in the ovens. The clash was who should put in the ovens. Chalmers of of O.P.M. called our Conciliator direct - told him off and sent an A.F. of L. man down to see to things. The C.I.O. got mad. Called back to Washington. Therefore there are no agreements. Returned to Tracy, and Tracy settled it behind the back door on the same terms as the Conciliator had seven weeks earlier. Tracy was acting both for the Labor Department and for the O.P.M. This is an example of the confusion, and only the fact that Tracy has a level head kept that particular episode right. Also, too much publicity, and publicity that is contrary to other Government Departments' policies on labor matters. At cross purposes - it causes the spread of strikes and hysteria. Also the Army and Navy with their little Labor Departments undertake to settle matters within their field of operations which are related to larger, less local problems, and create great confusion. The Army telephones Hillman, Brander. (Brander was Hillman's assistant). They get all started.