BRITISH KJSBASST.
WASHIIOTON, D. C*.
October 81st, 1939
Mo* 1179 S
My Lord.
The autumn is always a eoatparatively quiet
season as far as internal polities in this country
are concerned, and this year in particular the
public has hut little time to give to the consideration
of anything hut the war and its possible effects on
the United States*   Congress has been asked by the
President to deal solely with the neutrality question
at its special session* and it has not hitherto shown
any inclination to tackle other matters*   There is of
course a strong under-current of party politics
"beneath the neutrality debate , although the party
leaders are much divided among themselves over this
particular issue*   The names of new potential
candidates for 1940 keep cropping up*   If the
isolationists were to gain a surprising victory
presumably a good deal would be heard* for instance*
of Senator Wheeler as a Democratic dark horse, while
on the Republican side -Senator Vandenberg would feahance
his already considerable position to the detriment of
such rivals as senator Taft and Mr. Dewey.   The last
named has indeed faded very much out of the picture
of late, because he is not really a national figure
at all and nobody knows what his real views are on
the/
The Right Honourable
The Viscount Halifax, K*G*.
etc*»      etc** etc*
HOC:VALM:DH
the great neutrality issue, or Indeed whether be has
given ejqr time and stuSy to foreign affairs.   If Mr.
Hoosevelt gets his way with Congress at this special
session his own position as a national leader will he
stronger than before, and the testation to run for a
third torn may ho overwhelming,
3* There is however no doubt that at the coming
ordinary session of Congress in January the President
will once more he faced with the question whether to
risk reopening the wounds in his party which have been
healing recently.   If, contrary to expectation, his
New Deal advisers succeed in persuading him to promote
further radical legislation he will have to reckon
with Mr* Garner once again*   Two important New Deal
measures are more and more under the fire of criticism,
the v/agner Labour Relations Act and the Pair Labour
Standards Act of 1938.   The former is now admitted,
even by Senator Wagner pifivately, to need some
revision*   The Labour Relations Board set up under it
has now no friends.   The employers have always hated
it, and the American Federation of Labor has never had
anything good to say for it*   The members of the Board,
sponsored by the President's left-wing advisers, have
always been accused of favouring the Congress of
Industrial Organisations and have frequently been
described as the tools of Mr. J. L* Lewis, r1 Net long
ago the President appointed Mr. William E. Leiserson
to the Board* after having withdrawn under pressure
from the Senate the proposed nomination of Mr*. Donald
Wakefield Smith, who was accused of being too much In
the pocket of Mr* Lewis;   and this was considered to be
a conciliatory measure*   How the Board has incurred
the wrath of the Congress of Industrial Organisations
without/
n
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without pleasing the other groups, and is being
described by Mr. lewis as "an enemy of labour".
Several Congressional Committees are investigating
the Board*s activities and it is under constant
attack from businessmen and the press.
3. Both the Congress of Industrial
Organisations and the American Federation of Labor
have been holding their annual conventions. The
President sent messages to both sides appealing for a
settlement of their differences.   "The continued
conflict and separation in the labour movement",
he wrote, "can hardly be overlooked in these days
when discord in any group is so harmful to world
peace".   For more than a year Mr. Roosevelt has been
saying the same thing without the slightest effect.
On this occasion hip£ advice has been coolly received,
and each side is blaming the other for the deadlock in
negotiations.   The dissension in the ranks of labour
is, as the President rightly pointed out, having a
very serious effect on industry.   Employers have in
the last few years got used to the idea of collective
bar-gaining, but their difficulty is to know with
what group they should bargain in their factories.
They are not allowed under the Wagner Act to insist
on a ballot in their factories;   such a request must
come from one of the trade union groups.   Yet unless
a particular group is certain of winning on the
ballot it usually prefers to avoid holding a ballot,
and in many factories the American Federation of
Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organisations
groups are fairly evenly divided.   Other complications
for employers occur when, for instance, the teamsters
belong/
25
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belong to one group, the doctors to another, and
the seamen again to the first group*
4* Strikes are starting again on a serious scale
in some parts of the country.   The motor industry
is suffering in particular.   Apparently the sit-down
strike has now been abandoned hut the slow-down
strike ("caf canny") is coming into favour.   As an
instance of what is happening I have the honour to
enclose a report from His Majesty's Consul at Detroit.
5. Another difficulty which the Administration
will have to face lies in the administration of the
Pair Labour Standards Act ("Wage-Hour Act") which was
reported on in paragraph 228 of the Annual Report for
1938.   ilr. Andrews, the Administrator, has resigned
and been replaced by Colonel Fleming, an engineer
officer.   Mr. Andrews had only held this appointment
for a year and three months and had been considered
an admirable choice, but he has been so badly mauled
by the critics that he has found it wiser to go. The
task of Colonel Fleming, his successor, is an
unenviable one.   Except for the rigid minima
prescribed for wages and the maximum limits upon hours,
the law gives the Administrator far-reaching
discretionary powers over terms of employment. One
of the effects of the law has been for employers to
re-arrange the shifts in their factories, and now
many employees are complaining that owing to the law
they are actually earning a good deal less than
before.   Their hourly wage is higher but the number
of hours is reduced, and the employer having re-
arranged his shifts does not wish to employ men on
overtime, which would be uneconomical.   Under the
law/
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law the time will soon come when the next annual
increase of wages and decrease of hours automatically
comes into force, and this is quite likely to cause
discontent all round.   Congress may well find it
necessary to clarify this law by amendments during
the next session.
6. I am sending copies of this despatch to
the High Commissioner for the united Kingdom in
Canada, the Prime Minister of Australia, c/o the
Dominions Office, and the Department of Overseas
Trade.
I have the honour to he,
with the highest respect,
My Lord,
Your Lordship *s most obedient,
humble servant,
(For the Ambassador)
(SGD) V. A. U iiALLBT