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"Well—if you go on strike for one demand and press it for 40 days and give up, what would you call it?" Plain fact was that on the basis of the agreement, Mr. Lewis had been badly beaten. But Mr. Knudsen's supplementary letter had reasonably saved Mr. Lewis' face in spite of his fundamentally weak position: that only a minority of General Motors employes supported the striking Union. Whether the qualified acknowledgment by General Motors that in 20 plants it would deal with no other union for six months was a substantial gain for Mr. Lewis and the Automobile Workers, only time could tell. Insofar as that acknowledgment is a gain for Mr. Lewis it is also a setback for Mr. Green and the A. F. of L. For six months Mr. Green's craft unionists in 20 plants cannot bargain with G. M. unless Governor Murphy lets them.
By the time the agreement was signed, Mrs. Lewis had arrived at her sick husband's side. Two days later his doctor allowed him to pick up his bed and talk.
Said he, "The situation boils down to this: Seven weeks ago General Motors would not deal with or recognize a labor union—it never had and it had publicly proclaimed that it would not do so in the future. Now, after seven weeks, it has made a contract that is entirely satis- factory and that paves the way for an adjusted relationship in the industry that is rational and constructive. . . .
"Part of the terms of settlement provides that members may wear their union insignia. Previously men had been discharged for doing so, and this made for confusion."
Asked whether he was now ready to call a steel strike, he grinned: "I abhor strikes, as you know."
Homer Martin, president of Automobile Workers, likewise talked of new fields to conquer: "We understand that Mr. Ford has had removed all of his electrified fences and other barricades. A representative of the Ford Motor Company has informed us that union men will be allowed to wear their buttons in the Ford plant and that no union man will be fired for union activities. Protection or no protection, when the men are organized they will collectively bargain with Henry Ford."
Credit. Little difficulty had anyone in assigning credit among the peacemakers. None of it went to Madam Secretary of Labor Perkins. Her box score was three times at bat, three strike-outs swinging clean: .000. In announcing the strike settlement, Governor Murphy at once acknowledged the "wise counsel and assistance" of rotund James F. Dewey, who is rated the ablest of the Department of Labor's conciliation commissioners, who stayed with the peace negotiations from beginning to end. But a lion's share of the praise and congratulations went to Governor Murphy himself and it was soon apparent that the first vehicle to roll off General Motors' revived assembly lines will be a bandwagon labeled "Frank Murphy for President in 1940."