IX.

The determination of labor policy must be governed not by the vagaries of political expediency but by the firmest principles and convictions.  Slanted partisan appeals to American workers, spoken as if they were a group apart, necessitating a special language and treatment, are an affront to the fullness of their dignity as American citizens.

The truth in matters of labor policy has become obscured in controversy.  The very meaning of economic freedom as it affects labor has become confused.  This misunderstanding has provided a climate of opinion favoring the growth of governmental paternalism in labor relations.  This tendency, if left uncorrected, could end only by producing a bureaucratic despotism.  Economic freedom is, in fact, the requisite of greater prosperity for every American who earns his own living.

In the field of labor legislation, only a law that merits the respect and support of both labor and management can help reduce the loss of wages and of production through strikes and stoppages, and thus add to the total economic strength of our Nation.

We have now had 5 years’ experience with the Labor Management Act of 1947, commonly known as the Taft-Hartley Act.  That experience has shown the need for some corrective action, and we should promptly proceed to amend that act.

I know that the Congress is already proceeding with renewed studies of this subject.  Meanwhile, the Department of Labor is at once beginning work to devise further specific recommendations for your consideration.

In the careful working out of legislation, I know you will give thoughtful consideration—­as will we in the executive branch—­to the views of labor, and of management, and of the general public.  In this process, it is only human that each of us should bring forward the arguments of self-interest.  But if all conduct their arguments in the overpowering light of national interest—­which is enlightened self-interest—­we shall get the right answers.  I profoundly hope that every citizen of our country will follow with understanding your progress in this work.  The welfare of all of us is involved.

Especially must we remember that the institutions of trade unionism and collective bargaining are monuments to the freedom that must prevail in our industrial life.  They have a century of honorable achievement behind them.  Our faith in them is proven, firm, and final.

Government can do a great deal to aid the settlement of labor disputes without allowing itself to be employed as an ally of either side.  Its proper role in industrial strife is to encourage the processes of mediation and conciliation.  These processes can successfully be directed only by a government free from the taint of any suspicion that it is partial or punitive.