Tough Talk at N.A.M.

"I know of no time in our country's history when the forces of intelligent conservatism have been in greater danger of obliteration." So said Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield in the major speech before the National Association of Manufacturers' 63rd annual congress. In the kind of rousing talk that N.A.M. members like to hear, Summerfield warned that "America today teeters on the precipice of a labor-bossed Congress." was sure that President Eisenhower will propose legislation to protect workers "from exploitation by unscrupulous and corrupt union bosses." Unless antitrust law principles are applied to the "labor-boss monopoly" and businessmen become active in politics, he said, government and, "heaven forbid, eventually perhaps the White House itself" may be dominated "by a militant group of labor union bosses."

The 2,000 delegates, meeting in Manhattan, also heard some talk that pleased them less. Lebanon's Charles Malik, president of the U.N. General Assembly, and Carlos Romulo, Philippine Ambassador to Washington, both declared that the U.S. is losing prestige in the eyes of other nations. Malik said that "the number of countries which either vote against or abstain with respect to texts sponsored or supported by the U.S. has been on the increase in recent years." Said Romulo, a longtime friend of the U.S.: "The once ingrained belief in the Asian mind of the invincibility, the superiority and the invulnerability of the West is gone, forgotten." The U.S., he said, has lost much Asian good will by confusing "legitimate nationalism" with Communism.

A more direct attack on the U.S. Government was made by Ian F. McRae, board chairman of Canadian General Electric Co., Ltd. and president of the Canadian Manufacturers Association. Apparently smarting from a recent Justice Department antitrust suit against General Electric Co. involving the company's Canadian subsidiary, McRae lashed out at the U.S. for continually "interfering in one way or another with the operation of U.S.-owned companies in Canada," criticized U.S. tariff policies. Said he: "Canadian products, with few exceptions, are rigorously excluded from the rich American market by your high tariffs."

Compared to all the hot talk, the opinions of incoming N.A.M. President Stanley C. Hope, 65, onetime president of Esso Standard Oil Co., were calm and restrained. A native of Springfield, Mass., Hope was president of an oil-equipment company before joining Esso, after his retirement last July joined SoundScriber-Corp. of New Haven, Conn, as president --on a three-day-a-week basis.

At a press conference, Hope said that both labor and management are to blame for their wrangles, added that right now the nation's labor laws "are in pretty good shape." Said Hope: "The quicker we convince the public we are not a reactionary organization, the better it will be for N.A.M."

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