The Butler County Press

FACING THE FACTS With PHILIP PEARL

How much weight will the CIO Political Action Committee swing in the November elections?

It's hard for the public to tell because the PAC is a rather tricky outfit. Already it has gone underground and left a new organization to front for it, called the National Citizens Political Action Committee.

This is in accordance with the typical Communist technique. The reason given is that unions, under the Connally-Smith Act, are forbidden to make political contributions and that therefore a new committee was necessary to raise campaign funds by voluntary contributions.

But a more practical reason is apparent. That one is to take the CIO name out of the organization's title. The Communist stooges behind the PAC are canny enough to realize that the initials CIO are enough to give any outfit a black eye.

Confirmation is provided by a recent survey conducted by the Gallup Poll. We don't always hold with the accuracy of this poll, but we believe in this case their conclusions were right, said conclusions being that a majority of the people in this country would be inclined to vote against, instead of for, candidates who bear the CIO label.

An Emergency Call

Right in line with these asseverations, we'd like to relate a significant incident. The newspapers emphasized the fact that the mayor of a New England city, who was endorsed by the CIO, won the Democratic nomination for governor of this state.

The morning after the votes were tabulated and these newspapers stories appeared, the official in question telephoned to AFL headquarters in Washington. He sounded very disturbed. He said he wanted to make it clear that he was not a CIO candidate.

He indicated that he did not believe the CIO endorsement had been of much help to him and might turn out to be a boomerang. He urgently sought to be assured that the circumstance would not cost him the votes of AFL workers in his state, who are much more numerous than the CIO.

Since his relations with the AFL have always been friendly and cooperative, the candidate's fears were groundless.

We decided to investigate the matter more closely to find out a little more about why the mayor was so deeply disturbed. We discovered that every candidate for Congressional nomination in his state who was endorsed by the CIO had been defeated in the primaries. We also discovered that in the one clear-cut contest-between opposing candidates--one endorsed by the AFL and the other by the CIO -- the one approved by the AFL had won.

No wonder those seeking public office are inclined to get the jitters when endorsed by the CIO!

Let us cite an additional factor.

Curiously enough, reactionary writers and newspapers are the ones who emphasize the CIO's political activities most strongly. Why? Do you suppose for a moment that they're trying to advertise the CIO or its political aims? The answer is obvious. They figure a CIO endorsement is the strongest campaign argument against a candidate.

Now we come to the real root of the question. In order to determine how much weight in the CIO Political Action Committee will swing in the elections, we must first find out how much it is doing.

This was the question that occurred to a top writer for PM, New York City's liberal tabloid whose editorial and political policies are very much in line with those of the CIO.

The reporter investigated the matter carefully and wrote an honest and blunt report. In effect, he said the CIO Political Action Committee was merely shadow-boxing. The only activities he could discover were getting out releases to the press, printing pamphlets for the guidance of campaign workers and making a lot of noise for publicity purposes.

This story hit the PAC where it hurt the most. As a result, one of the leading figures in the PAC, formerly employed by a government agency, started a feud with the reporter. It is a fair deduction that the PAC boys would not have been so peeved by the story unless it were true.

Summing up the evidence, we must conclude that the PAC is putting on an act rather than action-an act full of "sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Naturally, if President Roosevelt is re-elected the CIO will loudly claim all the credit. But if the President is elected to a fourth term, it will be in spite of rather than because of the CIO's help.

As for candidates for lesser office, they are likely to find that the benison of the CIO in 1944, as in former years, will turn out to be the kiss of death.