 It's time for the Lawn Gene Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour brought to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, a presentation of the Lawn Gene Wettner Watch Company, maker of Lawn Gene, the world's most honored watch, and Wettner, distinguished companion to the world-honored Lawn Gene. This is David Ross. May I introduce our co-editors for this edition of the Lawn Gene Chronoscope? Larry Lasser of the CBS television news staff and Merlin Pitzley, labor editor of Business Week magazine. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Dave Beck, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union, AFL. They call our guest tonight a business man with a union button. Well, as boss of the largest and most powerful union in the United States, he believes that a giant union should be run like a giant business, like U.S. steel or General Motors. Now, Mr. Beck, your union controls everything from the delivery of diapers to the driving of a hearse. I wonder if you tell us what you think of the economic picture right now? Well, in my opinion, we're in a very serious economic condition in this country and in my personal judgment, we are in a recession and could very easily go into a serious depression. Well, Mr. Beck, all the economic soothsayers think we're on the verge of coming out of whatever recession we were in. Well, it's my personal opinion that we are not on the eve of coming out of it at all. And I personally believe that if it were not for the tremendous amount of money that's being pumped now in through the payment of unemployment insurance, we would be in a very serious economic position and with a great deal more suffering among the unemployed. Mr. Beck, you mentioned in mentioning unemployment insurance, you touched on one of the public welfare aspects of affairs, which you feel support the economy. I wonder whether I'd like to hear your comment on a criticism, which is heard occasionally these days from certain labor quarters, that the President of the United States, Mr. Eisenhower, is anti-labor. Do you think President Eisenhower is anti-labor? I definitely do not think so. I think President Eisenhower is not anti-labor, though I do not agree with all of his policies and the men that surround him in every instance. But personally, I say very definitely no, he is not anti-labor. Well, Mr. Beck, do you think that this pump priming through the paying of economic of unemployment insurance is going to bring us out of any recession we might be in right now? I think very definitely the only way we can come out of this recession is by the process of priming the pump and putting money into general construction and every avenue of self-liquidating projects, even though they take a considerable period of time to amortize at an interest rate that will give them an opportunity to get the business machine under way and give employment out of which will develop consumer purchase and from that, more employment. Well, Mr. Beck, you don't, wait just a second. You don't have such little confidence in the enterprise system in America. Do you that you think the only way we're coming out of what you call a recession is for the government to spoon feed and pump prime the economy? I advocate, of course, and I'm a great advocate of the philosophy of free enterprise. Of course. But I think under a condition confronting us now until we can get that free enterprise system functioning, it's going to be necessary for assistance from government. Now, I did very definitely state that this money should be pumped into self-liquidating projects, which means that much of it should be given to the avenues of private enterprise and private financing on those projects that over a period of time will liquidate themselves even though it takes longer than normal to amortize. Well, Mr. Beck, you saw the president very recently. Is this what you told him? Is this the advice you gave him? No, I did not talk with the president on this subject matter. I talked with him on my recent trip to Europe. Well, what did you tell him about that? Did you feel that they were doing well over there? I talked with him on the questions of communism in Europe, the necessity of the federal government, of all governments, taking recognition of the fact that if we're going to destroy communism, we must do it by developing an economic situation among the people to improve their standards because you do not make communists from men of material wealth. Men that are incubated into the lap of communism are those people who, in desperation, are turning in every direction because of their economic condition. Mr. Beck, do you think that communism is a problem anymore in America? Do you think that communists have any influence any longer in the American labor movement? I do not think so. I think communism in the American labor movement is of no importance whatsoever at this time. Though I do not think for one second that we should ever keep our eye off of it and should always be on our guard. But again, I want to emphasize the splendid economic position of America for the labor and the common people of this country. So far, it transcends that of any other country that we are not the fertile ground for incubation of communism. Mr. Beck, you're the boss of a very big union. A million, 300,000 members, I believe. Now, I think there are a number of unemployed in the trucking industry right now. What would happen if communists work into some of your locals? Well, if communists got any real foothold in our local unions, they would do the same damage that they would do in any other local union. So we make it our business to see that they do not. Well, what about the other, shall we say, twin evil that has beset the American labor movement? Racketeers. What about if racketeers get in or if there are racketeers in locals or divisions of the Teamsters Union? What authority do you have as general president to deal with that problem? I think I have sufficient authority to deal with racketeering and there's no one can possibly condone it. I am not here to say that from time to time, racketeering may not creep into labor unions, but it is also creeped into business. We've had people in the penitentiaries that were bankers and insurance brokers and every other phase of our economic and social industrial life. But I say that racketeering would destroy labor in the same degree that communism would destroy. Mr. Beck, you have a very fine record in your particular union, but I must confess that some labor leaders think that you work too closely with businessmen, that you tend to stifle competition and control prices at the expense of the consumer. And what about that? There's no truth to that. I certainly do work very closely with the business people that employ our membership because in my opinion, industry must be prosperous. It must get a proper return on its capital if it's going to continue in the status of being able to give employment. And I am interested in every industry employing our people because I know of no other method by which they can get employment other than through a prosperous industry. A bankrupt industry never gave employment to anyone. Larry is quite right, of course, when he says that one of the criticisms directed against you is that your union works too closely with businessmen. But there's another criticism which says just the opposite, Mr. Beck, namely that your union is much too tough and that to deal with when you want an employer deals with the Teamsters Union. He's taken on an awful, rough bunch of people. What is the record of the Teamsters Union in terms of strikes and getting along with the employers with whom they have contracts? Well, it's my personal opinion that the record of the Teamsters Union on the field of industrial disturbance is as fine as it's possible to conceive. For instance, let us take the last six or seven weeks out of a membership of approximately one million three hundred thousand members. We are paying strike benefits to less than two hundred men in the United States and Canada. Heavens. Well, Mr. Beck, there's also another side to the union business besides striking against employers. And that is a question of jurisdictional disputes. Now, what about this rating of other unions? Do you approve of that? I certainly do not approve of the rating of any other union and do not engage in rating on union. We do insist upon the preservation of our jurisdiction, just the same as the doctor does and the attorney and everyone else that wants to protect the lifeline of their operating structure. You've been in the news lately, Mr. Beck, as the result of certain meetings in Washington with David McDonald, who is president of the CIO Steel Workers Union and John L. Lewis, who is president of the Independent Mine Workers Union. And one of the popular interpretations that has been put on that those meetings is that you three eminent gentlemen of labor are trying to develop some kind of coalition around which there might be rallied other unions to start a third federation of labor in America. Is there any truth in that? There's positively no truth in that whatsoever, none whatsoever. Well, Mr. Beck, I'd like to ask you about a situation which is current right now, and that is a situation on the waterfront in the Great Port Cities, particularly in New York. Now, do you intend, as some people say, to move in there and try to get those unions in another position, take them within your own, in other words? We only intend to take part in organizing on these waterfronts to the degree that our jurisdiction is involved, the loading and the unloading of trucks, which is a jurisdiction given to us by our charter from the American Federation of Labor. Now, we are not interested in organizing longshoremen or any other men that do not come within the scope of our jurisdiction. In other words, you don't intend to spread your union out into fields in which you don't feel that you belong. That's right. We do not. Well, I'd like to ask you one more question, Mr. Beck, before you leave. Do you feel that this economic situation, which you say is bad right now, can improve in the near future? I will not say that it will improve in the near future. I will say that the basic structure of American industry and the economic stability of our country will definitely find a way to pull out of the present recession. Now, how long that will take? I do not know, but I definitely advocate a recognition that we are in a serious recession and that we use every avenue of government and every means of private finance and the cooperation of industry and labor with a recognition of all of the problems revolving around it. And under those conditions, this country will very definitely pull out. Well, thank you very much, Dave Beck, for being with us tonight. The opinions expressed on the Laund gene chronoscope were those of the speakers. The editorial board for this edition of the Laund gene chronoscope was Larry LeSere and Merlin Pitzley. Our distinguished guest was Dave Beck, General President of the International Brotherhood Teamsters Union, AF of L. A Laund gene watch is one of the most perfectly functioning mechanisms made by man. On first acquaintance, one is astonished by its day-to-day performance as months pass into years, its qualities of greater accuracy and reliability become truly priceless. These persuasive words are backed by facts. In competition with the finest watches of all the world, Laund gene watches alone have won highest honors. Ten World's Fair Grand Prizes and twenty-eight gold medals are some of these honors. 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