1,060 Useless Oaths

Preachers who inveigh against those who take the name of the Lord in vain had no complaint last week against those who, without blasphemous intent, took 1,060 futile oaths. Complaint belonged properly to Federal Judge John Percy Nields of Wilmington. Del. He had to shuffle through the oath-takers' 1,060 affidavits in order to decide whether the National Labor Board could legally force an employer to let Labor Board agents hold a union election in his plant.

Judge Nields had to do some heavy reading. Last June Steelmaster Ernest Tener Weir installed a company union, modeled on that of Bethlehem Steel, in the plants of his Weirton Steel Co. at Steubenville, Ohio, Clarksburg, and Weirton, W. Va. Last September the Amalgamated Iron, Steel & Tin Workers (A. F. of L. affiliate) called a strike in his plants and demanded recognition from Weirton Steel. The strike was settled when the National Labor Board got Steelmaster Weir to agree that the National Labor Board should supervise a union election in his plants in December (TIME, Dec. 25). Less than two days before the elections began the National Labor Board drafted a set of election rules which the company union refused to accept. The company union proceeded to hold the election by its own rules, and 9,000 out of 11,000 employes voted for the company union's representatives.

Judge Nields had to read a long Government brief arguing that by reason of these events Weirton Steel had violated Section 7 (a) of the Recovery Act relative to collective bargaining and should therefore be enjoined to let the Labor Board hold a new election. He also had to read a long brief arguing that Weirton Steel had not only obeyed the Recovery Act, but that the act itself was unconstitutional. After that chore he had to read 234 affidavits offered by the Government as evidence that Weirton Steel had bludgeoned its employes into a company union, had even taken a number of girl employes to a country club, served them beer, sandwiches and cigarets, entertained them until midnight, with the result that 1) two girls passed out while 2) the rest cheered:

Ice cream, soda, ginger and pop,

Company union goes over the top.

Thereafter Judge Nields had to wade on through 826 affidavits offered by the company, denying vigorously that it had used threats or debauchery to entrench its own union.

His reading marathon complete, Judge Nields decided that 1) the affidavits were contradictory in matters of fact; 2) the briefs brought into dispute grave questions of law; 3) since the Norris-LaGuardia act prohibited the issuance of injunctions in labor disputes without the appearance of witnesses in open court, the Government could not have the injunction it sought against Weirton Steel. Declared Judge Nields: "The case illustrates perfectly the propriety of the procedure prescribed by Congress. . . . Not only is there a conflict of material facts but there are serious and intricate questions of law involved, particularly the question as to the constitutionality of the National Industrial Recovery Act. Issues of the gravest importance are raised and should be determined only after final hearing."

Steelman Weir was as elated over this decision as union labor was cast down. More embarrassed than either, however, were a number of gentlemen in Washington.

The Norris-LaGuardia act, passed in 1932 by Labor's friends in Congress, was primarily designed to prevent employers from obtaining injunctions against strikers on flimsy one-sided evidence. The Weirton case was the first famed use of the new law which, according to Judge Nields, could be worked backward against Labor just as well as forward against employers. Not since the courts turned the original meaning of the Clayton Act inside out had Labor suffered such a judicial reverse.

For months union leaders have been reproaching the Administration for not "cracking down" on employers. If President Roosevelt really wanted to help organized labor, they said, he would not waste time with tedious court procedure but would invoke his drastic licensing power under NIRA. After last week's decision these same union leaders were able to say "I-told-you-so" to the President. A hearing for a permanent injunction against Weirton Steel with witnesses on the stand for both sides cannot now be obtained until the autumn term of the Wilmington court. Even then any decision will be appealed next winter to the U. S. Supreme Court. And before that august tribunal can make up its collective mind, it is likely that June 16, 1935 will have come and gone and NRA expired.

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