The Nation: Put Our People Back to Work'

As a boy in Jackson, Miss., F. (for Freddie) Ray Marshall, 48, got up at 3:30 a.m. to milk the cows. His line of work may have changed since—today he is an economics professor at the University of Texas at Austin—but not his long hours or his determination. When he reaches Washington in January as the Carter Administration's Secretary of Labor, it will be "with my feet running."

Marshall certainly wasted no time in outlining his agenda. He said he would present to President-elect Carter the "strongest case" for repealing Rule 14B, the Taft-Hartley Act's "right to work" provision authorizing states to...