LABOR: Peace for the Duration?

"I congratulate you—I thank you. . . . May I now wish you all a Merry Christmas."

With this airy-fairy wave of the wand, Franklin Roosevelt ended his management-labor conference. He had to do something magical to make it disappear. The conferees had locked horns so dashingly over one basic point that the sound of their snorts and tramplings was beginning to be embarrassing. What the President had widely advertised as a peace conference was about to turn into a battle royal.

Moderator William Davis and Vice Moderator Elbert Thomas, Senator from Utah, had gone to Mr. Roosevelt in despair. There were...

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