Congress' Week

Space was cleared in Congress last week for the fight over labor. The Lilienthal case was settled. Pushed by Arthur Vandenberg, the aid-to-Greece and Turkey measure was ready to be passed this week. Congress could now concentrate on labor.

Activity so far had been confined to committee rooms. Under the chairmanship of New Jersey's Fred Hartley Jr., the House labor committee reported out an omnibus bill which would hit organized labor almost as hard as some G.O.P. Congressmen had promised they would before election. Among other things, the House would bar the closed shop and most industry-wide bargaining. It would deny any bargaining rights to unions having Communist officers. It would give injunctive powers to the Government in disputes involving "the public health, safety or interest." It would abolish the National Labor Relations Board. Even to think about it made labor leaders shudder. On the floor, House Republicans had the votes to pass the bill in a breeze.

On the Senate side, Robert Taft had run into opposition. New York's G.O.P. freshman Senator Irving Ives, commanding a majority coalition of Republicans and Democrats on Taft's labor committee, had managed to water down Taft's working draft until it was only a pale version of what Taft wanted. For Taft it was one of the worst lickings he had ever taken. In a fury, he prepared to carry the fight to the Senate floor, there try to put back everything that Ives & friends had taken out. There would be high, hot winds in the Senate soon.

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