The 19th Hole

Clarence Decatur Howe, the blunt, prow-chinned Reconstruction Minister, was spang in the middle of a row with labor. His angry frankness had put him there.

One afternoon last week Clarence Howe, who has worked long & hard as wartime Munitions Minister, squeezed in a round of golf at the Lambton Golf & Country Club (near Toronto). He dropped his indifferent golfing before the 18th hole, headed for the locker room, showered, then went to the club tavern for pie and coffee. Before he finished, six men barged in.

They were four officials from the United Steel Workers of America (C.I.O.) local of Research Enterprises Ltd. plus a photographer and a reporter from the Toronto Globe & Mail. Demanded the union men: what did the Government intend to do about the Research Enterprises Ltd., with its 5.000 employes? Within a few weeks the plant, which has made radar, would be idle.

The tavern conference began on a strained, embarrassed note; soon tempers flared, voices grew loud. Finally, Howe boiled, told the union men to "get the hell out of here." Then he clamped his hat on his head, stomped away.

"No Better Time." Quick was the union to shout for a retraction from Howe. They said he had also cried: "Let the workers go on strike. What the hell do I care? . . . There is no better time to strike. . . . Workers have been nursed through the war. They may as well realize that the war is over. I don't give a damn if they do have to take jobs at 25-c- an hour less. . . . The war is through, the plant is through and your union is. . . ."

Said the Globe & Mail: "The incident was an unfortunate one, provoked by ... four hotheaded labor spokesmen." The union men said that when they found Howe was at the golf club they "took the bull by the horns."

Clarence Howe's explanation was that it was a "put-up job"--which nobody could deny. But friends of Canada's able Minister had their regrets. It might have been a meeting of the people and their Government in an atmosphere of good will. Minister Howe muffed the chance.

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